Howard Hughes Medical Institute news from FierceBioResearcher

Stem Cell Research The Jefferson Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Center has been founded in Philadelphia. The new research center will probe stem cell therapies for neurological diseases, Read more...

Spotlight The Gates Foundation has put up $19 million to fund a hunt for a new drug to treat sleeping sickness, a malady that affects huge numbers of the world's poorest people but rarely attracts Read more...

A synthetic compound developed in the lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center mimics the cellular protein Smac, broadcasting a message to cancer cells that triggers their destruction. In a study Read more...

Stem Cell Research Renowned scientist Ian Wilmut predicts that the first stem cell therapies will become available in about a decade and quickly become as common as antibiotics. Read more...

One route to a long and healthy life may be establishing the right balance in insulin signaling between the brain and the rest of the body, according to new research from Children’s Hospital Read more...

Scientists at Penn and Howard Hughes Medical Institute believe that their investigation of the role fat metabolism plays in the development of Type 2 diabetes has pointed to a new drug target. Their focus is a protein that plays a role in fat metabolism. The protein Akt2/PKB prevents fat metabolism by adding a phosphate group to PGC-1a, which is needed to trigger the genes needed for fat metabolism. Both PGC-1a and Akt2/PKB are good targets for new drug development, according to the …

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Stem cell research

Researchers have cloned mice from mouse skin cells, raising the prospect of gaining human stem cells for therapeutic use that would be free of immune reactions. Release

Japanese scientists have developed a process to use stem cell-enriched fat cells in breast augmentation procedures. They're hoping to develop a more natural looking alternative to …

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A team of researchers at MIT, Harvard Medical School and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have successfully reactivated the tumor suppressing gene p53, dramatically reducing and in some cases eliminating tumors in mice. And if a drug that reactivates p53 can be developed, they say, it could play a major role in fighting cancer. P53 mutations are involved in up to half of all cancer tumors. Several compounds have been identified that can switch the gene back on, but this new research …

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More Research

A panel of experts in the U.K. has concluded that the use of primates is a moral necessity in drug research. While each case requires individual review, primates offer crucial insights into potential cures for diseases that kill millions of people each year. Report

Researchers have been exploring ways to create a biotech mosquito that can …

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Researchers in France have published new findings that support the idea that alterations in a single gene can make people susceptible to certain infections. Their work suggests a new approach to treating potentially deadly cases of brain inflammation. The scientists from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the Necker Medical School in Paris reported on two patients who shared a genetic mutation and a susceptibility to herpes simplex encephalitis, which infects 80 percent of adults. In …

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