A new technique that allows the growth of both normal and cancer cells and keeps them alive indefinitely is transforming and expediting basic cancer research. "We've had a glimpse of how these cells can provide an amazing advance in human cancer clinical research in preliminary work, and now we demonstrate how incredibly useful they are in laboratory cancer research," says the lead researcher. ...
Complex interactions among diet, mitochondrial DNA and nuclear DNA appear to influence lifespan at least as much as single factors alone, a new study of the biology of aging shows. The findings may help scientists better understand the underlying mechanisms of aging and explain why studies of single factors sometimes produce contradictory results. ...
All living cells are held together by membranes, which provide a barrier to the transport of nutrients. Little was known about the relationships among membrane proteins and interior proteins. A team of scientists has revealed how membrane proteins were networked with each other and with the signaling proteins inside the cell. ...
A future where lignin is transformed from a waste product into valuable materials such as low-cost carbon fiber for cars or bio-based plastics is in sight, suggest researchers. Using lignin in this way would create new markets for the forest products industry and make ethanol-to-fuel conversion more cost-effective. ...
A tiny nanoscale syringe is Salmonella’s weapon. Using this, the pathogen injects its molecular agents into the host cells and manipulates them to its own advantage. A team of scientists demonstrates that a much investigated protein, which plays a role in Salmonella metabolism, is required to activate these needles and makes the replication and spread of Salmonella throughout the whole body possible....
Wednesday night's big round of ASCO news highlighted a few key memes with major implications for cancer drug development and everyone who works in the field. Overall, there were no big surprises in the news. And that's news in itself. ...
Bristol-Myers has one of the best drug development track records in the industry, and the big biotech is devoting major resources to its immuno-oncology lead. Bristol-Myers issued 5 new releases on nivolumab last night, and they all followed an early-morning statement on a new nivo combo study being mounted with Celldex. ...
Earlier in the month AstraZeneca, the longtime poster child of R&D dysfunction, was reduced to making some bold--possibly ridiculous--sales projections on early-stage programs. Now their research teams are coming up with some hard numbers, and they look good. ...
ZS Pharma is executing a familiar biotech gambit. The Texas-based biotech raised $55 million from some top venture groups just a few weeks ago and now it's formally moving ahead with an $86 million IPO....
Shares of Cambridge, MA-based bluebird bio shot up after CEO Nick Leschly noted the looming arrival of early-stage data for its drug LentiGlobin, designed to treat the rare blood disorder beta thalassemia. ...
As the single worldwide repository for the three-dimensional structures of large molecules and nucleic acids that are vital to pharmacology and bioinformatics research, the Protein Data Bank (PDB) recently archived its 100,000th molecule structure, doubling its size in just six years. ...
Johnson & Johnson's Janssen arm is planning to open another biotech incubator, this time setting its sights on South San Francisco in hopes of finding a few promising drug developers. ...
In the absence of any new bids or hard news to report, the top guns in the media world on both sides of the Atlantic focused on the war of words now being fought between Pfizer and AstraZeneca over a proposed megamerger. ...
France's Servier has struck up a deal with Novartis to develop oncology drugs that invade tumors and lead them to self-destruct. ...
The final step in the production of a biotech medicine is finishing with the correct sugar structure. This step is essential for the efficacy of the medicine, but it also makes the production process very complex and expensive. Researchers have developed a technology that shortens the sugar structures whilst retaining the therapeutic efficiency. This technology has the potential to make the production...
A system similar to random access memory chips that allows the fast, efficient control and separation of individual cells has been developed by engineers. Once scaled up, the technology promises to sort and store hundreds of thousands of cells in a matter of minutes, enabling biologists to study vast arrays of single cells. ...
The modern New Zealand sea lion is a relative newcomer to the mainland, replacing a now-extinct, unique prehistoric New Zealand sea-lion that once lived here, according to a new study. A team of biologists estimates that this prehistoric mainland sea-lion population became extinct as recently as 600 years ago, and was then replaced by a lineage previously limited to the waters of the cold subantarctic....
With Pfizer pounding on the door amid a full-blown ruckus in Parliament, AstraZeneca took another step forward in its quest to quickly advance its high-profile immuno-oncology program for MEDI4736. ...
Isis says its lead diabetes drug scored a success in a Phase II study, with both doses of ISIS-GCGR spurring a significant drop in blood glucose levels after 13 weeks of therapy in a group of treatment-resistant patients. And the antisense therapy hit its marks on HbA1c without spurring some of the troubling side effects that may hinder rival therapies in the pipeline. ...
For years, the FDA has been unveiling its plan for regulating knockoffs of blockbuster biologics in fits and starts, this week outlining just how it wants to define biosimilarity for would-be copycat drugs. ...