PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative and Crucell to test new malaria vaccine approach

30-Jul-2009 - The US-based PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Malaria Vaccine Development Program (MVDP), and Crucell N.V. announced a collaboration to accelerate development of a promising type of malaria vaccine. Through funding from the ...

'Corrective genes' closer thanks to enzyme modification

Universite de Montreal - McGill University scientists detail modification of enzyme structure

30-Jul-2009 - Scientists from the Université de Montréal and McGill University have re-engineered a human enzyme, a protein that accelerates chemical reactions within the human body, to become highly resistant to harmful agents such as chemotherapy, according to a new study published in The Journal of ...

Mapping the crocodile genome

30-Jul-2009 - The first ever genetic linkage map for a non-avian member of the Class Reptilia has been developed. Researchers writing in BMC Genomics have constructed a first-generation genetic linkage map for the saltwater crocodile Crocodylus porosus. Dr Lee Miles, from the University of Sydney, worked with ...

Googling emerging infectious diseases with Roche

Roche and Google Start Initiative for Early Discovery of New Diseases

29-Jul-2009 - Roche and Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.com, recently started a joint project to demonstrate the feasibility of developing a multidisciplinary surveillance, research and response system. This system will enhance the ability to predict and prevent emerging infectious diseases in East ...

Why retroviruses such as HIV love their neighbours

29-Jul-2009 - Retroviruses such as HIV that are already within cells are much more easily transmitted when they are next to uninfected cells than if they are floating free in the bloodstream. "Cell-to-cell transmission is a thousand times more efficient, which is why diseases such as AIDS are so successful ...

Researchers develop 'brain-reading' methods

Rutgers research discovery sets direction for decoding large-scale structure of brain

29-Jul-2009 - It is widely known that the brain perceives information before it reaches a person's awareness. But until now, there was little way to determine what specific mental tasks were taking place prior to the point of conscious awareness. That has changed with the findings of scientists at Rutgers ...

Researchers capture bacterial infection on film

Researchers have developed a new technique that allows them to make a movie of bacteria infecting their living host.

29-Jul-2009 - Whilst most studies of bacterial infection are done after the death of the infected organism, this system developed by scientists at the University of Bath and University of Exeter is the first to follow the progress of infection in real-time with living organisms. The researchers used developing ...

All-in-1 nanoparticle: A Swiss Army knife for nanomedicine

29-Jul-2009 - Nanoparticles are being developed to perform a wide range of medical uses – imaging tumors, carrying drugs, delivering pulses of heat. Rather than settling for just one of these, researchers at the University of Washington have combined two nanoparticles in one tiny package. The result is the ...

Natural born killers: How the body's frontline immune cells decide which cells to destroy

28-Jul-2009 - The mechanism used by 'Natural Killer' immune cells in the human body to distinguish between diseased cells, which they are meant to destroy, and normal cells, which they are meant to leave alone, is revealed in new detail in research published in PLoS Biology. Understanding how this aspect of ...

URI awarded $13 million grant to develop vaccines for emerging infectious diseases

28-Jul-2009 - University of Rhode Island Professor Annie De Groot has been awarded a $13 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to pioneer the development and application of an integrated gene-to-vaccine program targeting emerging infectious diseases. It is the second multi-million dollar NIH ...