ALSO NOTED: Online journals threaten peer-review approach; Researchers criticize stem cell policy; New research on GVHD;

MORE RESEARCH

Online scientific journals like PLoS ONE and JoVE are pointing the way to a new approach to publishing scientific research. The online approach is threatening to upend the traditional approach of publishing in a peer-reviewed journal. Report

A group of leading stem cell researchers say that the Bush administration's approach to the field is holding back progress in the field. The group, testifying to Congress, also said that alternatives in adult stem cells are not as promising. Report

New research from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center shows that adding a widely used topical corticosteroid to the standard treatment for GVHD kept the disease in remission and significantly reduces deaths one year after therapy. Release

Professors University of Central Florida and University of California Riverside got an adsorbate molecule (anthraquinone) to pick up two carbon dioxide atoms and carry them in a specific direction on a flat copper surface. Their discovery helps scientists understand how they someday may be able to attach therapeutic drugs to molecules. Release

Researchers at Medical College of Georgia have been making advances in understanding how neurons communicate with each other. A motor protein called myosin X runs the main road of a developing neuron, delivering to its tip a receptor that enables it to communicate with other neurons, scientists say. Researchers have also found that myosin X travels a portion of a neuron's backbone called the actin filament, a sort of two-way highway in the cell's highest traffic area. Release

A group of scientists at the Scripps Research Institute has identified a mechanism that enables certain compounds to activate a pain sensing protein. The findings could lead to the development of potential new therapies for managing acute and chronic pain. Release

A single protein plays a major role in deadly prion diseases by smashing up clusters of these infectious proteins, creating the "seeds" that allow fatal brain illnesses to quickly spread, new Brown University research shows. The findings are exciting, researchers say, because they might reveal a way to control the spread of prions through drug intervention. Release

New research published in the December 22, 2006, Journal of Biological Chemistry, should in time help researchers to identify potential targets for docking inhibitors that will slow down, but not fully eliminate, the body's overproduction of glucose. The study investigates ways to control the activity of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase--a key enzyme involved in the metabolic pathway used by the human body to produce glucose. Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase helps to control blood sugar levels during fasting. An overproduction of this enzyme, among other events, may lead to type 2 diabetes. Release

Scientists at the University of California-Irvine have concluded that the learning process can slow the development of brain lesions in Alzheimer's. Release

A test developed by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists is the first to identify which malignant blood cells are highly vulnerable to a promising type of experimental drugs that unleash pent-up "cell suicide" factors to destroy the cancer. Release

Professor Simon Carding of Leeds' Faculty of Biological Sciences has adapted a bacteria in our own bodies to make it produce a treatment for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Bacteria and viruses have been used before to deliver drugs in this way, but Professor Carding has solved the major problem with this kind of treatment: he uses a sugar to 'switch' the bacteria on and off. By eating the sugar, a patient will set the medicine to work and then can end the treatment simply by stopping consumption of the sugar. Release

Scientists in South Korea have developed pancreatic cells from cord blood cells, offering a new approach to spurring the body to develop insulin. The research could open a new approach to fighting diabetes while avoiding the ethical arguments related to embryonic stem cells. Report

Canadian researchers have identified a dopamine signaling complex in the brain composed of two dopamine receptors that could play a role in treating schizophrenia. Release

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have demonstrated that estrogen shields breast cancer cells from immune cells. Their work demonstrates that estrogen spurs the production of an inhibitor that blocks the immune cells' capacity to attack tumor cells. Release

A research team lead by Xinzhi Zhao and Ruqi Tang of Shanghai Jiao Tong University present evidence that genetic variation may indicate predisposition to schizophrenia. Specifically, their findings identify the chitinase 3-like 1 gene as a potential schizophrenia-susceptibility gene and suggest that the genes involved in biological response to adverse conditions are likely linked to schizophrenia. Release

A simple blood test may be able to identify those most at risk for developing head and neck cancer as a result of smoking. Release

Researchers have opened the way for improved study of hepatitis C virus by devising a novel virus culture system that allows replication of patient-isolated virus in nontransformed hepatocytes, instead of culture-adapted virus strains in transformed cell lines. The related report by Lázaro et al, "Hepatitis C virus replication in transfected and serum-infected cultured human fetal hepatocytes," appears in the February issue of the American Journal of Pathology. Release

Deals & Dollars

The Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation is waiving licensing fees to stem cell researchers who work for companies that fund programs at academic and non-profit institutes. Report

The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research today announced $4.6 million in total funding to 10 industry research teams under its Therapeutics Development Initiative. Release

The NIH has given Advanced Cell Technology a $204,000 grant to advance its work in embryonic stem cells. "We're utilizing the presidential stem cell lines to discover how we can better track differentiated cell lines as they flow through the body to make sure where they're going," ACT CEO William Caldwell told investors. Report

TOOLS & TECHNOLOGY

Yale University's new research center will open with advanced scanning technology that allows scientists to determine how effectively a therapy is able to penetrate the brain. The $20 million facility will have Positron Emission Tomography can be used to help determine the safety and efficacy of a drug. Researchers at the center will initially begin work on new therapies for schizophrenia, depression, anxiety disorders and alcoholism. Report