The Ferryman

Removal of master control gene function in stem cells

Removal of master control gene function in stem cells allows expression of normally suppressed genes, hence expanding potential clinical use of the cells.

The control gene - microRNA 126 (miR-126) -- normally governs the expression of hundreds of other genes by keeping them silenced, which in turn keeps the stem cells in a non-dividing dormant state. Design and introduction of a viral vector was able to shut down the control gene, after which was observed a long-term expansion of the blood stem cells without exhaustion or malignant transformation.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/11/121108141024.htm

C4C cell therapy industrialisation initiative

C4C cell therapy industrialisation initiative in France pursues public-private partnership approach and establishes large scale production facility for cell-based therapeutics.

http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/permalink/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&newsId=20121021005017&div=16486113

Free downloads are available on new safety evaluation research aiming to replace animal testing

Free book downloads are available on our predictive toxicology research
carried out within the public private partnership of SEURAT (Safety
Evalua tion Ultimately Replacing Animal Testing) -1 (where 1 indicates the first phase of 5 years).
 
The SEURAT-1 annual books called "Towards the replacement of in vivo
repeated dose systemic toxicity testing", aim to inform policy makers
about scientific progress relevant to the implementation of European
Directives and Regulations and about essential gaps in knowledge
corresponding to research needs.

http://www.seurat-1.eu/pages/library/seurat-1-annual-report.php

New Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Initiative (HIPSCI)

Wellcome Trust and MRC invest £13 million to create a new national stem cell resource.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-11/wt-wta110512.php

Drug shows clinical benefit in maintenance of cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease patients

Drug antagonising the Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE) pathway is shown to provide clinical benefit in maintenance of cognitive function in Alzheimer’s disease patients. The drug acts, in part, by restoring the normal balance of amyloid protein transport into and out of the brain. 
 
(Note on tox/clinical trial halting "...although individuals enrolled
in the trial at the highest tested dose experienced signs of toxicity,
those effects were reversible, and the lower dose resulted in the
benefits and lack of adverse events reported here...")

http://www.drugdiscoveryonline.com/doc.mvc/novel-oral-drug-disease-modification-alzheimer-s-patients-0001?sectionCode=News&templateCode=EnhancedStandard&user=1935203&source=nl%3A35474

Crowdsourcing 10,000 Guts

Get a profile of your stomach bugs, and help drive data collection of new research project ...

... Nice looking crowdsourcing approach to quickly gather lots of data on the bugs in 10,000 stomaches:

http://www.genomeweb.com/team-gearing-gut-microbiome-crowdsourcing-project

Tamoxifen pathway crosstalk point

Tamoxifen cancer resistance may be driven by a novel molecular "crosstalk" point between the estrogen and HER2 signaling pathways

http://www.firstwordpharma.com/node/1030352

A Shared Moment of Great Happiness

Barry Hardy and Spela Predan, Just Married.

 

OpenTox 2011 Technical Reports

The following #OpenTox 2011 technical reports in predictive toxicology are available for downloading:

OpenTox D1.4 Report on Evaluation of the Final Implementation

OpenTox D2.4 Report on Final Framework

OpenTox D3.4 Report on Final Database with Additional Content

OpenTox D4.3 Report on Final Version of (Q)SAR algorithms

OpenTox D5.3 Report on Validation Against Confidential Data

OpenTox D5.4 Report on Final Validation Routines with Facilities to Validate Against Confidential Data