This week’s news includes an asthma drug that shows promise for Alzheimer’s, alarming diversity among breast cancers, the possibility of stem cell transplants for Japan’s nuclear plant workers, shocking estimates of bats’ economic worth, a genetic test for organ rejection, and a disputed rise in the number of wild tigers in India.
This week’s news include another libel case against cardiologist Peter Wilmshurst, the death of an honored chemical ecologist, a call for preventive breast cancer meds, a link between short telomeres and diabetes, good news for fish lovers, a potential clue for a new tuberculosis vaccine, and a very presidential beetle. Whistle-blower sued…again
See Daniel Ory describe the story behind the discovery of NPC1 biomarkers, subject of today’s news story.
Berg out as NIGMS director to support wife Jeremy Berg, who has directed the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) for 7 years, is stepping down to accept a position at the University of Pittsburgh. He didn’t plan on leaving so soon, he said in a statement — but when…
Big merger at NIH A merger of two major institutes at the U.S. National Institutes of Health is moving forward. Last Thursday (Nov 18), NIH director Francis Collins threw his support behind the September recommendation of an NIH advisory board to create a substance abuse and addiction research center by combining the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),…
Greek scientists accused of stealing funds A group of Greek scientists are under investigation for misuse of government funds — no less than 150-200 million euros, in fact.
Something strange seemed to be in the air on Thursday. First news came in over the transom about a California gentleman who bought an animal skin at a garage sale for the lowly sum of USD $5. So what, you say? Well, consider the possibility that the skin may have at one time belonged to…
Price of peer review A new report estimates that peer review costs UK universities £165 million per year in terms of the time academics spend reviewing others’ manuscripts (roughly 3 million hours). The Value of UK HEIs’ Contribution to the Publishing Process: Summary Report further estimates that it costs another £30 million to employ editors…
The Myelin Repair Foundation (MRF) has a plan to speed up the time it takes to go from medical research to drug treatment. But it comes from the most unlikely of places: gaming technology. This fall, the MRF will host two, live online games called Breakthroughs to Cures aimed at stimulating ideas about how to…
There are some interesting parallels between today’s Nobel Prize-winning technology (in vitro fertilization) and embryonic stem cell research. In the early days, Robert Geoffrey Edwards experienced some pushback from people who had ethical concerns about the technique. And IVF provides a potential source of new embryonic stem cell lines, in the form of unused embryos.…
