Stem cells are supposed to be the fountain of youth for other tissues. But stem cells themselves age, too, meaning that sooner or later, the fountain of youth could use some rejuvenation itself.
"For much of the 1900s, we studied neurons" to understand brain function, Philip Haydon told BioWorld Today. "And the reasons were purely technical. . . . We could listen to neurons, and we could talk to them." Neurons communicate electrically, and electrical recording and stimulation techniques made them amenable to studying. But in terms of what goes on in the brain, looking only at neurons is bound to deliver a minority report.
Autophagy, Beth Levine told BioWorld Today, "can very simply be understood as a cellular housekeeping mechanism." But that simplicity is deceptive. Autophagy's housekeeping, it turns out, sits at a crossroads that gives it a role in many diseases.
Researchers have created a mouse with a reporter gene that appears to light up at the earliest stages of tumor development, regardless of the tissue type in which the tumor is developing.
Mutations in the genes for BRCA1 and BRCA2 were the first mutations identified that could predict an increased risk of cancer for their carriers. Some of them remain the strongest predictors of such increased risk – carriers of certain mutations have a 75 percent lifetime risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.
Leading influenza researchers published a letter in the Jan. 24 and 25, 2013, issues of Nature and Science, respectively, declaring an end to a voluntary moratorium on research about how the H5N1 avian influenza could become easily transmissible from person to person, though with a notable exception: "Scientists should not restart their work in countries where, as yet, no decision has been reached on the conditions for H5N1 virus transmission research," they wrote in their letter.
Autoimmune diseases are one area where it's a man's world. "Many autoimmune diseases are much more frequent in females," Jayne Danska told BioWorld Today. "That's been known for decades. But we don't have any insight into how to take that insight and do something useful for women with it."
Privacy concerns related to DNA sequencing got yet another airing today when a team from the Whitehead Institute reported in Science that using only publicly available information, they have been able to identify about 50 men who had anonymously donated DNA to projects such as the Thousand Genomes Project. While research subjects and sperm donors by and large want anonymity, others use DNA to find their relatives on the Internet, on sites like Y Search and the Sorenson Molecular Genealogy Foundation. In other words, there is plenty of DNA out there that has an identity attached to it. And if...
It may be a bad environment for early stage deals for most companies. But not for start-up EnBiotix Inc., according to its CEO Jeffrey Wager. The company, which was founded in 2012, is "in discussions with multiple pharma companies" for partnering opportunities.
