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Humans and chimps share genetic strategy in battle against pathogens

Nature A genome-wide analysis searching for evidence of long-lived balancing selection — where the evolutionary process acts not to select the single best adaptation but to maintain genetic variation in a population — has uncovered at least six regions of the genome where humans and chimpanzees share the same combination of genetic variants. The finding, to be published Feb. 14 in the journal Science, suggests that in these regions, h Read more...

Posted
February 16th, 2013

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Achilles heel: Popular drug-carrying nanoparticles get trapped in bloodstream

Many medically minded researchers are in hot pursuit of designs that will allow drug-carrying nanoparticles to navigate tissues and the interiors of cells, but University of Michigan engineers have discovered that these particles have another hurdle to overcome: escaping the bloodstream. Drug delivery systems promise precision targeting of diseased tissue, meaning that medicines could be more effective at lower doses and with fewer side effec Read more...

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February 7th, 2013

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Proteomic analysis of immunocamouflaged surfaces

The transfusion of red blood cells (RBC) is a critical component in the treatment of a number of acute and chronic medical problems. Indeed, approximately 75 million units of whole blood (~34 million liters) are annually collected worldwide for processing and eventual transfusion. Despite this massive collection effort, the need for blood constantly exceeds availability due to a combination of collection, manufacturing, storage and biological (i Read more...

Posted
May 29th, 2012

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Pigeons’ homing skill not down to iron-rich beak cells

The theory that pigeons’ famous skill at navigation is down to iron-rich nerve cells in their beaks has been disproved by a new study published in Nature. The study shows that iron-rich cells in the pigeon beak are in fact specialised white blood cells, called macrophages. This finding, which shatters the established dogma, puts the field back on course as the search for magnetic cells continues. “The mystery of how animals dete Read more...

Posted
April 12th, 2012

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UBC researcher invents ‘lab on a chip’ device to study malaria

University of British Columbia researcher Hongshen Ma has developed a simple and accurate device to study malaria, a disease that currently affects 500 million people per year worldwide and claims a million lives. Spread by mosquitoes, malaria is caused by a tiny parasite that infects human red blood cells. Ma and his team designed a “lab on a chip” device to better understand the changes in red blood cells caused by Plasmodium fal Read more...

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February 29th, 2012

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Long non-coding RNA prevents the death of maturing red blood cells

Source: Whitehead Institute for BioMedical Research – Cell Biology Tags: gene expression, biology Read more...

Posted
February 20th, 2012

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Long non-coding RNA prevents the death of maturing red blood cells

Source: ScienceDaily – Gene Therapy Tags: biotechnology, genomics Read more...

Posted
December 9th, 2011

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Molecules on branched-polymer surfaces can capture rare tumor cells in blood

The removal of rare tumor cells circulating in the blood might be possible with the use of biomolecules bound to dendrimers, highly branched synthetic polymers, which could efficiently sift and capture the diseased cells, according to new research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Dendrimers have been used to encapsulate drug molecules and serve as a delivery vehicle, but in the new study they were employed to capture circulating tumor Read more...

Posted
November 18th, 2011

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Nanoparticles disguised as red blood cells will deliver cancer-fighting drugs

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have developed a novel method of disguising nanoparticles as red blood cells, which will enable them to evade the body’s immune system and deliver cancer-fighting drugs straight to a tumor. Their research will be published next week in the online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The method involves collecting the membrane from a red blood cell an Read more...

Posted
June 21st, 2011

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Hematologist discovers, names the ‘Toms River’ blood mutation in N.J. family

Scientists have identified hundreds of mutations in genes that carry instructions for producing hemoglobin — the four-part protein that carries oxygen in everyone’s red blood cells. By tradition, whoever discovers a mutation in hemoglobin genes names it after the hometown of the patient, said pediatric hematologist Mitchell J. Weiss, M.D., Ph.D., of The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Weiss and colleagues published a brief Read more...

Posted
June 17th, 2011

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