They started with a handful of cells taken from a volunteer’s skin. The cells were engineered in two different laboratories, first to revert the skin cells back to a nascent state, known as pluripotent stem cells, and then to highlight different parts of the cells with glowing fluorescent labels. Nearly 400 vials are now at home in 17 different countries…
Researchers at the Allen Institute have uncovered subtle but intriguing differences between a mouse and human neuron of the same kind. The differences they found could have implications for studying human brain disorders or brain therapies in laboratory mice. Looking at living neurons from one region of the cortex, the outermost part of the mammalian brain that is responsible for…
Cancer genomics research aims to advance personalized oncology by finding and targeting specific genetic alterations associated with cancers. In genome-driven oncology, treatments are selected for individual patients on the basis of the findings of tumour genome sequencing. This personalized approach has prolonged the survival of subsets of patients with cancer. However, many patients do not respond to the predicted therapies…
Seattle-based biotech firm Impel NeuroPharma closed its latest round of funding, bringing in $67.5 million to develop treatments for central nervous system disorders, such as migraines and Parkinson’s. This is Impel’s largest fundraising round to date, following a $36 million round in December 2016. Impel is known for its Precision Olfactory Delivery (POD) platform, which sends drugs into the nasal cavity with…
A group of colorectal cancer researchers are using the word “milestone” to describe their new genomic research, published today in Nature Genetics. “Milestone is a very good description,” said epidemiologist Dr. Ulrike “Riki” Peters, associate director of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and one of the lead authors of the study. “This is very important. It…
Drug response screening of leukemia stem cells offers clues to relapse and suggests ways to improve patient-specific therapies Advances in rapid screening of leukemia cells for drug susceptibility and resistance are bringing scientists closer to patient-tailored treatment for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Research on the drug responses of leukemia stem cells may reveal why some attempts to treat are not…
Epigenetics is the expression and control of genes. The epigenetics involved in the inner ear is a critical part of the mystery of hearing. A team led by Prof. Karen B. Avraham, Vice Dean of the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, has now created the first map of “methylation” — one of the body’s main epigenetic signals…
Programs to screen the genomes of healthy adults to identify genes that may put them at risk for disease later in life need to be implemented with care so that they do not do more harm than good, says an expert panel in a report published Dec. 3. “We need to be cautious and start small and go slow,” said Malia Fullerton,…
Dr. Beth Ripley would like you to know that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs is way more innovative than you probably think. But she’s biased — both as a pioneer in 3D printing and a radiologist at the VA’s Puget Sound Health Care System in the Seattle region. Ripley is a driving force behind the VA’s rollout of 3D…
The Madrona Venture Group recently awarded the Madrona prize to the UW CSEEmbarker project team. The Embarker project uses machine learning to identify disease markers of Alzheimer’s that can help researchers develop treatments. Alzheimer’s is a progressive brain disorder and the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. There is no cure for Alzheimer’s, and no treatment can prevent its progression. Existing treatments…
