Bio Drugs
Lesson from Ebola: Tobacco plant key to developing GMO drugs of the future
While any tobacco is harmful if smoked, there's a kind of tobacco that's being put to positive use—namely, the use ...
Aphrodite’s little helper: Out of the box thinking on female libido
Based on the belief that female sexual dysfunction is more often upstairs than down, the drug flibanserin is being promoted ...
Self-destructing genes reveal novel approach to therapy
Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created a novel gene-delivery system that shuttles a gene into a ...
Stem cells show promising results in treating malaria
Human stem cells engineered to produce renewable sources of mature, liver-like cells can be grown and infected with malaria to ...
Bob Simon’s final 60 Minutes: Grinding progress of ZMAPP Ebola GMO drug
The final story of Bob Simon's brilliant journalism career put him in the middle of a GMO controversy--the use of ...
Toronto Star’s take on vaccines ignores science, spreads irrational fear
The Toronto Star, Canada's highest-circulation daily newspaper, has built a reputation for excellent investigative reporting, including justly celebrated exposes of Toronto Mayor ...
Mystery of obesity: Failed ‘rectal transplant’ raises questions about role of gut microbes
A recent fecal transplant case leading to serious weight gain has resulted in a rule against overweight fecal donors. Did ...
Is century-old remedy the solution to antibiotic resistance?
Since the discovery of penicillin in 1928, scientists have amassed a medical arsenal of more than 130 antibiotics. The drugs ...
Drug-resistant malaria may pose enormous threat, doctor warns
Despite a sharp drop in malaria-related deaths over the past decade, a veteran doctor here, in the heart of the ...
Hormone therapeutics boosted by unique cow antibodies
The friendly cow, said to be blown by all the winds that pass, and wet with all the showers, may ...
How do viruses become contagious?
Here are two recent stories about viruses. They started out alike, and ended up very differently. In October, a woman ...
DNA testing under fire in wake of fake herbal supplements investigation
An investigation using DNA barcoding of four giant retailers--Walmart, GNC, Target and Walgreen's--finds most supplements do not contain the herbs ...
How oncologists sort through masses of genetic data
Whether they are concerned with a mutation of a single gene, or mutations in a combination of two or more ...
Precision medicine is a big step in the right direction
Re “ ‘Moonshot’ Medicine Will Let Us Down” (Op-Ed, Jan. 29): Michael J. Joyner asserts that precision medicine, an exciting ...
‘Precision medicine’ initiative to analyze over 1 million DNA samples
The United States has proposed analyzing genetic information from more than 1 million American volunteers as part of a new ...
Gut microbes may be engineered to fight vitamin deficiency
It's easy to forget how horrifying the effects of a vitamin deficiency can be. Each year, up to 500,000 children ...
That ‘Precision Medicine’ initiative? A Reality Check
What, precisely, is Precision Medicine? It's pretty much everything. The ambition of the plan is admirable, but the hurdles in ...
Political views dictate what science issues receive the most attention
In American scientization of politics culture, evolution acceptance is a big deal, as is climate change. Yet other science acceptance ...
Are probiotics actually essential in a ‘normal’ GI tract?
The more I understand about normal GI flora, the more I suspect probiotics are the wrong answer to a wide ...
Why this year’s flu vaccine wasn’t great and what can be done
The unusually poor effectiveness of this year's flu vaccine calls for renewed efforts to create better vaccines, faster. What do ...
Disneyland measles outbreak grows as calls for vaccination intensify
A measles outbreak that began at Disneyland is spreading across California and beyond, prompting health officials to move aggressively to contain ...
Details expected to emerge on President’s personalized medicine initiative
During his State of the Union address to Congress on Jan. 20, 2015, President Barack Obama announced a programme called ...
Does genome editing mean the end of genetic disease?
In October, two scientists shared the $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences for inventing the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology ...
Researchers develop nanoparticles that prevent cancer metastasis in mice
When a person dies from cancer, the culprit is usually not the original tumor but rather the cancerous cells that ...
Are we locked into our biological clocks? Night shift workers want to know
What are the risks of altering our biological clocks with long term rotating shift work? Can the biolgical clock be ...
Research provides clues to improving safety of gene therapy
National Institutes of Health researchers have uncovered a key factor in understanding the elevated cancer risk associated with gene therapy ...
Can lab grown tissues help test drugs for rare diseases?
Marshall L. Summar, MD: I am Marshall Summar, Chief of Genetics and Metabolism at Children's National Medical Center in Washington, ...
