News

Tiny Protein Packages Released from Cells May Serve as Biomarkers for Early Blood-Based Cancer Diagnosis

August 14th, 2020 / WEILL CORNELL MEDICINE

Tiny packets called extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs), released by cancer and immune cells, contain specific proteins that may serve as reliable biomarkers for diagnosing early-stage cancer, according to investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering. A new study published August 13 in Cell identifies new biomarkers in EVPs that can be used to help discriminate these … Continued

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The first mouse model of human pancreas cancer subtypes

July 24th, 2020 / MEDICAL XPRESS / COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY

Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have created the first mouse model of pancreatic cancer that recreates two subtypes of the human disease. The model, published July 23, 2020 in Cancer Discovery, will help researchers investigate why some pancreatic cancers are more aggressive than others and what causes them to progress, paving the way to … Continued

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A Wisconsin City Experiments With a Faster, DIY Covid-19 Test

July 24th, 2020 / WIRED / GREGORY BARBER

In a former boxing gym in Racine, firefighters are trying out a spit test that’s simpler and cheaper than PCR. Could it change how we screen for the virus? EACH MORNING AT 7, Brian Wolf, the fire chief of Racine, Wisconsin, arrives for work in a neglected corner of a building called the City Hall … Continued

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Microbe Mappers Are Tracking Covid-19’s Invisible Traces

May 1st, 2020 / WIRED / MEGAN MOLTENI

DURING THE SECOND week of March, as the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a global pandemic, a team of latex-gloved scientists from Cornell Weill Medical School fanned out across Penn Station armed with packs of sterile, long-armed swabs and a tripod-mounted instrument for capturing air samples. In New York City, the 100th person had just tested positive … Continued

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‘Spider-Man’ Immune Response May Promote Severe COVID-19

April 29th, 2020 / SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN / ESTHER LANDHUIS

A menagerie of immune cells and proteins defend the human body, and a relatively obscure member of this crew is getting new attention as a possible target for treating COVID-19. Neutrophils make up more than half of our white blood cells and are often the first to arrive at the scene of infection. But historically … Continued

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What Does Cancer Metastasis Have to Do with Wound Healing? More than You Might Think

January 13th, 2020 / MEMORIAL SLOAN KETTERING CANCER CENTER / MATTHEW TONTONOZ

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How pancreatic RAS tumors protect themselves. Researchers point to a new protein — and maybe a new treatment

January 9th, 2020 / ENDPOINTS NEWS / JASON MAST

A couple years back, some cardiovascular specialists at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital stumbled across a surprising result. Novartis had tasked them with carrying out the long-range Phase III trial for canakinumab, an experimental anti-inflammatory drug the company was trying to market for cardiovascular disease. The main results were mixed — modest reductions in fatal … Continued

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Venture Capitalists Turn to Science in Search for Next Great Investment

November 21st, 2019 / THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS / KARA COLEMAN

THE PEW CHARITABLE TRUSTS / KARA COLEMAN (NOVEMBER 21, 2019) — Although Silicon Valley is often considered the birthplace of modern entrepreneurial leadership and ideas, scientists across the country are getting attention for groundbreaking work. Investment in health research and development grew 27 percent from 2013 to 2017, for example, and several members of the Pew biomedical … Continued

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Vicious circles: Ring-shaped DNA provides cancer cells with a malignant twist

November 21st, 2019 / Science Daily/University of California - San Diego

Science Daily/University of California – San Diego (November 20, 2019) — Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA encodes information, not only in its sequence but also in its shape. Building upon previous revelatory work, a team of scientists, led by researchers at University of California San Diego, the UC San Diego branch of the Ludwig Institute for … Continued

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