Research

Discovery Could Become a New Drug Target for Metastatic Brain Cancer

LA JOLLA, CA, June 8, 2009—As survival rates among some patients with cancer continue to rise, so does the spread of these cancers to the brain—as much as 40 percent of all diagnosed brain cancers are considered metastatic, having spread from a primary cancer elsewhere in the body.

Now, scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have discovered a molecular mechanism that plays a pivotal role in controlling cancer growth in the brain. The discovery could provide a basis for potentially effective therapies for the treatment of brain metastasis.

The study was published in an online Early Edition of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) the week of June 8, 2009.    » read more »

June 8, 2009 -- WASHINGTON -- Senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) today introduced legislation that would extend and expand the research tax credit, which would provide a boost to thousands of research-based companies in Utah. Hatch, a senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, was joined in the bill's introduction by Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.).    » read more »

SIMSBURY, Conn., Jun 08, 2009 -- The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. (NYSE: HIG) today announced it is joining forces with the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF) to offer a product aimed at helping Americans protect their physical and financial health against cancer.

In an ongoing effort to battle the disease and support cancer survivors, The Hartford has launched the LIVESTRONG Wellness Protection Plan, a guaranteed-issue, multi-benefit product that helps promote early detection of cancer and financial protection in the case of a diagnosis.    » read more »

June 5, 2009 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - Maine Governor John Baldacci joined Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins and Representatives Mike Michaud and Chellie Pingree at a meeting with Energy Secretary Steven Chu this morning at the U.S. Department of Energy in Washington, D.C. to propose a National Deepwater Offshore Wind Research Center to be operated by the University of Maine.

Dr. Habib Dagher, UMaine Professor and Director of the Advanced Engineered Wood Composites Center, also attended the meeting in Secretary Chu’s office.

After the meeting, the Governor and Congressional Delegation issued the following statement:    » read more »

Tasigna® shows rapid and deep responses in newly diagnosed patients with a form of chronic myeloid leukemia

Basel, June 5, 2009 - New data show that at 12 months newly diagnosed patients taking Tasigna® (nilotinib) to treat a life-threatening form of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) had rapid responses and a deep reduction in the amount of the abnormal protein that causes this disease.

"Tasigna now demonstrates potential to achieve remarkable responses in newly diagnosed patients," said Gianantonio Rosti, MD, Institute of Hematology Seràgnoli, Bologna University, Bologna, Italy, and lead study investigator. "These positive data suggest that, one day, Tasigna may offer patients another front-line treatment option."    » read more »

June 4, 2009 -- The first-ever national estimate among a nationally representative sample of U.S. children revealed that 3 out of every 1000 children between the age of 6 and 17 in the United States have been diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome (TS), according to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- London, UK -- GlaxoSmithKline (NYSE: GSK) and Concert Pharmaceuticals announced today that they will collaborate to develop and commercialise deuterium-containing medicines. The deal includes three of Concert’s research and development programs; namely, CTP-518, a protease inhibitor for the treatment of HIV expected to enter Phase I clinical trials in the second half of 2009, a preclinical compound for chronic renal disease, and a third research product in Concert’s pipeline.

Concert will also provide GSK with deuterium-modified versions of three GSK pipeline compounds for GSK to develop.    » read more »

Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) developing bivalent vaccine to prevent Typhoid, which affects over 21 million people worldwide annually

June 04, 2009 -- Basel, June 4, 2009 - Novartis announced that the Novartis Vaccines Institute for Global Health (NVGH) has been awarded a grant from the Wellcome Trust to develop a bivalent vaccine for Typhoid fever, a disease that affects more than 21 million people worldwide every year.    » read more »

June 2, 2009 -- WASHINGTON — U.S. Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI) announced today that the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, Wayne State University, Michigan State University, Calvin College, Van Andel Research Institute, and Oakland University received a total of $2,722,910 in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding through the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

“I’m pleased this recovery funding will help support important health care research and training across our state,” Stabenow said. “By investing in health care research at our universities and research institutes, we will help keep our families healthy and help create good-paying jobs in the process.”    » read more »

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 Will Invest Over $1.3 Million at Medical Research Facilities in Western NY

June 2, 2009 -- U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand today announced that the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) will provide a total of $1,346,463 to two research institutions in Western NY through the National Institutes for Health. The University at Buffalo will receive $212,022 and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute (RPCI) will receive $1,134,441. This funding will create jobs for those in the field and bolster research efforts on important areas of medicine. A total of $9.9 million will be administered to New York State research institutions.    » read more »

Stream Computing Provides Real-Time Analysis For New Insight into Effects on Earth

BERLIN - 03 Jun 2009: IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Uppsala University and the Swedish Institute of Space Physics announced today a major new Stream Computing project to analyze massive volumes of information in real time to better understand “space weather”. By using IBM InfoSphere Streams to analyze data from sensors that track high frequency radio waves, endless amounts of data can be captured and analyzed on the fly.

Over the next year, this project is expected to perform analytics on at least 6 gigabytes per second or 21,600 gigabytes per hour – the equivalent of all the Web pages on the Internet.    » read more »

Development May Help Shed Light on Disease in Animals and Protect Human Populations

JUPITER, FL, May 28, 2009—Current tests to identify specific strains of infectious prions, which cause a range of transmissible diseases (such as mad cow) in animals and humans, can take anywhere from six months to a year to yield results—a time-lag that may put human populations at risk.

Now, a group of scientists from The Scripps Research Institute's Florida campus have developed a new method that cuts this critical time lag by several months.

The new research was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE on May 29, 2009.    » read more »

01 June 2009 -- AstraZeneca and Merck & Co., Inc. today announced a collaboration to research a novel combination anticancer regimen composed of two investigational compounds, MK-2206 from Merck and AZD6244 (ARRY-886*) from AstraZeneca.

Preclinical evidence indicates that combined administration of these compounds could enhance their anticancer properties. This is the first time that two large pharmaceutical companies have established a collaboration to evaluate the potential for combining candidate molecules at such an early stage of development. The collaboration will more quickly advance a potentially promising anticancer treatment. In general, such combinations would only be studied when one or both of the drugs has entered late-stage development or received marketing approval.    » read more »

29 May 2009 -- The proliferation of non-government laboratories handling dangerous microorganisms, combined with a troubling incident or two, has prompted the government to consider costly new security measures that scientists fear may be unnecessary and could do more harm than good, according to a new report.    » read more »

In radio address, governor says we can no longer depend on industries that once were our bedrock

May 29, 2009 -- LANSING - In her weekly radio address, Michigan Governor Jennifer M. Granholm today said that Michigan's ongoing efforts in fostering the alternative energy sector and a green economy are more imperative than ever, given this week's particularly gloomy economic news.

"Michigan is going to lead a green industrial revolution in our nation," Granholm said. "We'll be a beacon that guides this country along the path to energy independence."    » read more »