Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps ‘Clock’ Running in Earliest Stages of Life – Science Daily (press release)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Tiny Piece of RNA Keeps 'Clock' Running in Earliest Stages of Life Science Daily (press release) "It's a big deal to find that a single interaction between a microRNA and its target has this very profound effect when you interfere with its function," said Susan Cole, associate professor of molecular genetics at The Ohio State University and lead ... |
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March 17th, 2013
Women in Science Series set – Beloit Daily News
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Women in Science Series set Beloit Daily News Paula Traktman, Ph.D., Walter Schroeder Professor and Chair of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at MCW, will explain the intricate nature of viruses and how some can peacefully co-exist with humans, while others wreak havoc and cause devastating ... |
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March 17th, 2013
Yes, a Child Has Been Pronounced Cured of HIV but Can It Be Duplicated?
By Dr. Matthew Watson
A child born to an HIV-infected mother in Mississippi may be cured after a swiftly administered course of drugs. A number of factors make the child’s case unique, however, and clinicians caution that we have not discovered a general cure for HIV yet. Still, the medical first may hint at ways to fight the AIDS-causing virus .
[More]
Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=95337d9798ea17db628f12536ca0a05b
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March 17th, 2013
Researchers Home in on Biological Ways to Restore Hearing [Excerpt]
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Editor’s Note: Excerpted from Shouting Won’t Help: Why I--and 50 Million Other Americans--Can’t Hear You , by Katherine Bouton, published by Sarah Crichton Books, an imprint of Farrar, Straus and Giroux, LLC. Copyright © 2013 Katherine Bouton. All rights reserved.
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Source:
http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=26ba9d76b5b91ce8e95b09bea6e3b5c4
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March 17th, 2013
Cyberspace Makeover at California Stem Cell Agency
By Dr. Matthew Watson
California's $3 billion stem cell
agency has performed a well-done makeover on its most important
public face – its web site, which is chock-a-block full of useful
information for researchers and the unwashed alike.
words of its directors as they wrestle with everything from grant
approvals to conflicts of interest. Scientists can be seen telling
the story of their accomplishments. Money can be followed, and
summaries of reviews of grant applications read, both those approved
and those that did not pass muster.
Institute of Regenerative Medicine (the formal name of the agency) is the place where the stem cell program
really meets the public. News stories are important, but infrequent.
Day to day, however, thousands of interested persons seek out
information that the folks at CIRM HQ, just a long throw from the San
Francisco Giants ballpark, bring to cyberspace.
of the web site, 15,000 to 17,000 “unique viewers”
visit online. She told the California Stem Cell
Report in an email,
“We're up about 25 percent year over
year in unique viewers to the site. A lot of that growth comes from
search, and the rest is from traffic driven through our blog and
Facebook.”
those chalked up by major media sites. But they are significant
given that there are only a few thousand people worldwide who are
deeply and regularly interested in stem cell research. Many more,
however, are stimulated to look into the subject from time to time,
either because of news stories, personal, disease-related concerns or simple interest in cutting edge science. Engaging those
readers, who can spread the CIRM story, and winning their approval is
critical for the agency as it faces the need to raise more millions
as it money runs out in the next few years.
its short life. So much that good tools are needed to navigate the
site. Decisions about what should go on the home page are critical.
With the makeover, the agency now has a long-needed, home-page link to its
meetings , especially those of its governing board, which are the
single most important events at the agency.
new, white background makes it easier to read and is comfortable for
readers long conditioned to the black-on-white print of the books,
newspapers and magazines. The video image on the home page is larger,
which helps attract viewers. The site has long had a carload of
videos, some of which contain powerful and emotional stories from
patients.
new features. She reported,
“I've had people inside CIRM (who
have been beta testing this site) tell me that they are finding
content they'd never seen before because the site is so much easier
to navigate.”
also have pulled together important information on each grant on a
single page, including progress reports. You can find a sample here on a $1 million grant to Stanford's Helen Blau.
“Now people can not only
read about what our grantees are hoping to accomplish, they can read
about what has actually been accomplished with our funding.”
downloadable spread sheets of information that can be manipulated by
readers offline. She said,
“Most places on the site where you
see tables, you can now download those tables to Excel. You'll notice
the small Excel icon at the lower left of the table. This feature has
long been available for the searchable grants table. Now you'll see
it on all the tables of review reports (see here for
example http://www.cirm.ca.gov/application-reviews/10877)
on the disease fact sheets (see
here http://www.cirm.ca.gov/about-stem-cells/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet)
and other places throughout the site. This is part of an effort to
make our funding records more publicly available.”
still needs work. A search using the term “CIRM budget 2012-2013”
did not produce a budget document on the first two pages of the
search results. A search on the term “Proposition 71,” the ballot
initiative that created CIRM, did not provide a direct link to its
text on the first two pages of search results.
as I can tell, is a list of the persons who appointed the past and
present board members as well as the dates of the board members'
terms of office. The biographies on some of the 29 governing board
members come up short. In the case of Susan Bryant, her bio does not
mention that she is interim executive vice chancellor and provost at
UC Irvine. Links also could be added to board members statements of economic interest. A list of CIRM staff members (only slightly more than 50
persons) and their titles could be added.
uses Google Analytics tools. Adams said,
“A unique visitor is Google's
definition (it's one of the metrics they provide). It's a visit from
a unique IP (internet protocol) address. So, if you visit our site
multiple times from one IP address during a day, you count as a
single unique visitor. (Editor's note: It is possible to have
more than one visitor from the same IP address.)
“We get ~23,000-25,000 visits per
month, or ~16,000-18,000 unique visitors. Page views are on the order
of 65,000 a month.”
is a worthy effort and enhances CIRM's relationships with all those
who come looking for information. The agency is to be commended and
should continue its work to improve the site and its connections with
the public.
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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March 17th, 2013
San Diego Newspaper Hails Stem Cell Agency and IOM Response
By Dr. Matthew Watson
The $3 billion California stem cell
agency hit it big in San Diego today, finally scoring an editorial
that said “arguably” the agency's largess has made the state “the
world leader in medical research.”
circulation newspaper in the area, said the big headline about the
eight-year-old agency is “the potential for transformative medical
breakthroughs.”
long been criticized in connection with conflicts of interest. About
90 percent of the $1.8 billion the agency has awarded has gone to
institutions linked to current and past members of its board of
directors.
criticism seriously,” the newspaper said. It cited proposals that
would, if approved later this month, have 13 members of the agency's
governing board voluntarily abstain from voting on any grants that come before
the board. Twenty-nine persons sit on the board. The thirteen are
connected to recipient institutions. Two other board members are
linked to recipient institutions.
matter in San Diego, which is one of California's hotbeds of biotech
and stem cell research. The stem cell agency has awarded about $338
million to San Diego area institutions and businesses. Four
executives from San Diego area institutions sit on the CIRM board.
“There
remains a residue of cynicism about CIRM. Critics say the agency
board did the minimum necessary to avoid an intervention by the
Legislature – and also acted to buff the agency’s image should it
seek more bond funding from California voters before its present
funding runs out in 2017, as is now projected.
“These views
may have some merit. But on balance, we think the California
Institute for Regenerative Medicine has – at long last –
responded properly to the fair criticism it faced. Instead of being
exasperated by CIRM, more people should be excited about the great
work it is doing.”
involving the editorial board of the newspaper, CIRM Chairman
Jonathan Thomas and Larry Godlstein, director of the UC San Diego stem
cell program. The meeting was part of a CIRM campaign to generate
newspaper support for the agency's response to sweeping recommendations from a blue-ribbon study by the Institute of Medicine. The San Diego editorial is the most effusive so far.
Bradley Fikes, sat in on the meeting and Saturday posted video excerpts from the discussion, including a brief written summary of the content of each clip.
Source:Stem Cell Therapy
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March 17th, 2013
California Stem Cell Directors to Finalize IOM Response Next Week
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Directors of the California stem cell
agency will meet March 19 in Burlingame to complete action on
their response to blue-ribbon recommendations for sweeping changes at
the eight-year-old research enterprise.
told the San Diego U-T editorial board that he regarded approval as
“largely ministerial.”
editorial boards around the state, touting his plan, which was
initially approved by the board in January. The main focus has been
on its provisions dealing with conflicts of interest, which would
have 13 of the 29 governing board members voluntarily remove themselves from
voting on any grant applications. The 13 are linked to recipient
institutions. Two other board members linked to recipient
institutions also sit on the board.
that has been awarded by the CIRM board has gone to institutions
linked to past and present members of the board.
problems with conflicts at the stem cell agency. It recommended
creation of a new, independent majority on the board, which would
mean that some members would lose their seats. The IOM report also
recommended a host of additional changes that have become eclipsed by
the controversy about conflicts, which were built into the board by
Proposition 71, the ballot measure that created it in 2004.
California Stem Cell Report of the IOM report, which CIRM
commissioned at a cost of $700,000, showed that agency's response fell far short of what the IOM proposed to improve the agency's
performance.
approval of applications in a $30 million effort by the agency
involving reprogrammed adult stem cells. The agency said the goal of
the initiative is “to generate and ensure the availability of high
quality disease-specific hiPSC resources for disease modeling, target
discovery and drug discovery and development for prevalent,
genetically complex diseases.”
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/uqpFc/~3/FH7dzoNWS8c/california-stem-cell-directors-to.html
Stem Cell Therapy
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March 17th, 2013
Local View: Governor’s support for SCID screening critical – Lincoln Journal Star
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Local View: Governor's support for SCID screening critical Lincoln Journal Star Research in 2011 by Chan et al. in Molecular Genetics and Metabolism found SCID screening was cost effective and would save 880 life years for each year of screening in the United States. But Samantha didn't have access to SCID screening and, ... |
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March 17th, 2013
Shining Red Mice Help Czechs Fight Bowel Cancer, Skin Disease – Sudan Vision
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 Sudan Vision | Shining Red Mice Help Czechs Fight Bowel Cancer, Skin Disease Sudan Vision A research group at the Institute of Molecular Genetics at the Czech Academy of Sciences is using proteins obtained from sea organisms like coral to light up mice and observe cell development under their skin without having to kill them. "We can take ... |
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March 16th, 2013
Dr Alok Sharma Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Cerebral Palsy – Video
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Dr Alok Sharma Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Cerebral Palsy
Dr Alok Sharma Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Cerebral Palsy He is a known case of Diplegic CP with history of full term normal delivery (vaccum) delivery a...
By: neurogenbsi
Continue reading here:
Dr Alok Sharma Stem Cell Therapy Treatment for Cerebral Palsy - Video
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March 13th, 2013
A Good Man Under a Bad Emperor: James Shapiro’s "Natural Genetic … – Discovery Institute
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 Discovery Institute | A Good Man Under a Bad Emperor: James Shapiro's "Natural Genetic ... Discovery Institute It should except that, as he demonstrates in his current Huffington Post column, everything else Shapiro says on his theme of "Natural Genetic Engineering" (NGE) seems to cry out for an explanation involving some kind of deliberate art or calculation ... |
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March 10th, 2013
DNA testing is Good or Bad: Let’s Discuss
By Dr. Matthew Watson
DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid it is the backbone of all living creatures on earth. It is a molecule, which is having a double helical structure and encoded with genetic instructions. It leads to the functioning of all living beings including viruses. DNA profiling is done by the forensic scientists. It depicts the nature of the DNA and act as a person identifier. By knowing the genomic sequences a scientist could easily predict the DNA of the person.
Identification Of Diseases
In this era this technology has become a boon or us in many ways. This concept of DNA testing is booming in the market like anything. It has become the latest rage specially in the health care market. Many companies are there who will promote you the test kits and let you know about the diseases like cardiac problem, any alzimers syndromes, any indication of breast cancer if have any. But here comes the argument many feeble minded people are there who will completely go against it. As the procedures includes blood testing and many people are phobic of syringes, then comes the acceptance of the disease if have any.
Benefits of DNA testing
Many women in our country are facing problem with breast cancer. As they are afraid of testing their blood and DNA. They don’t have the exact DNA marker. This is a big concern for the physicians as well. It is always recommended having a DNA testing for a healthy life. The risk factors get decreased than before and longevity will increase. Myopic thinking should be removed from the society and should learn to accept the truth. DNA testing will also give information about the allergic reaction with various pathogens. The life will be in a proper and better shape.
Detection of criminals
Normal people have a vague idea about this DNA testing which is not at all harmful. Through DNA testing crimes can also be detected. Like in the forensic lab the victim’s body will undergo a scrupulous check up and easily it will be detected about the death of the person. Many criminal lawyers take support from this process which make their job easy to detect the criminal. Though it’s not a good indication for the crime masters. By taking the blood sample or from the foot steps even, of the suspected person it will unveil the truth of the real murder. It can save our nation from crimes.
Detection of pregnancy
Many unrevealed and awful activities like rape case, illegal affairs lead to pregnancy. In many cases the male denied for becoming a father. The lady could easily raise her voice for justice, here
Comes the major role of DNA testing which will easily catch hold of the real father. Sometimes it is not safe for the pregnant woman to have DNA testing as it might cause harm to the fetus. The illegal activities in our society have inflated than before so DNA testing should play a vital role in the society of crimes.The lady will get justice and to deliver her baby.
As a whole it’s a win-win situation because some hospitals testing the DNA of the fetus take place, as an outcome they reveal the gender, which might lead to a death of a baby girl.This is an illegal activity. Some lawyers are also against this. But in this contemporary era one must believe in DNA testing to save our nation.
Source:
http://www.biotechblog.org/entry/dna-testing-good-bad-discuss/
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March 10th, 2013
Women in biotechnology: Barred from the boardroom – Nature.com
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 Nature.com | Women in biotechnology: Barred from the boardroom Nature.com Vicki Sato, a professor of biology and management at Harvard with a long career in the biotechnology industry, says she could not believe what she was seeing. “I was stunned by the sampling she had done, and told her she had to be wrong,” says Sato. |
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March 10th, 2013
Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center Responsible for 573 Jobs and $579 Million – Business Wire (press release)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
CBS Local | Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center Responsible for 573 Jobs and $579 Million Business Wire (press release) DOYLESTOWN, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Pennsylvania Biotechnology Center, in Doylestown, Pa., managed and established by the Hepatitis B Foundation in 2006 and co-owned with Delaware Valley College, proudly unveils a 2013 Economic Impact ... Biotech Center In Philadelphia Suburb Generating Millions For Local EconomyCBS Local |
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March 10th, 2013
Casino developer dabbles in energy production, biotechnology and palm oil crops – VEGAS INC
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 VEGAS INC | Casino developer dabbles in energy production, biotechnology and palm oil crops VEGAS INC KT Lim, chairman/CEO of the Genting Group speaks during a news conference at Steelman Design Monday, March 4, 2013. The Genting Group announced plans for Resorts World Las Vegas, a multi-billion dollar resort to be built on the site of the stalled ... |
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March 10th, 2013
Ethical Aspects Of Biotechnology – Mondaq News Alerts (registration)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Ethical Aspects Of Biotechnology Mondaq News Alerts (registration) BIOTECHNOLOGY in turn, taking one of its numberless definitions, is any technological application which uses biological systems, living beings or those derived from the latter, in order to produce or modify products or processes for a specific purpose. |
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March 10th, 2013
DuPont Pioneer and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. Collaborate to Improve Water … – PR Web (press release)
By Dr. Matthew Watson
PR Web (press release) | DuPont Pioneer and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc. Collaborate to Improve Water ... PR Web (press release) DuPont Pioneer and Mendel Biotechnology, Inc., have entered into a license collaboration to evaluate and commercialize new gene leads for increased water use efficiency (WUE) and improved photosynthesis in corn. Under the agreement, DuPont Pioneer ... |
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March 10th, 2013
The Cell’s Inner Compass: Texas A&M Study Identifies Key Mediators Of … – Texas A&M University
By Dr. Matthew Watson
 Texas A&M University | The Cell's Inner Compass: Texas A&M Study Identifies Key Mediators Of ... Texas A&M University “Using a combination of molecular genetics, cell biology and advanced imaging techniques, we showed that Nck adaptors are key components of the molecular machinery that coordinates intrinsic cell directionality. Nck adaptors modify the actin ... |
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March 10th, 2013
Largest study of salmon health ever undertaken set to begin in BC – Globe and Mail
By Dr. Matthew Watson
Globe and Mail | Largest study of salmon health ever undertaken set to begin in BC Globe and Mail Now Dr. Miller, the groundbreaking head of molecular genetics for Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Brian Riddell, a former top scientist with DFO who directs the non-profit Pacific Salmon Foundation, are teaming up with Genome B.C. in the most ... |
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March 10th, 2013
BioChain licenses Epigenomics’ methylated Septin9 marker for blood based … – pharmabiz.com
By Dr. Matthew Watson
BioChain licenses Epigenomics' methylated Septin9 marker for blood based ... pharmabiz.com BioChain is a manufacturer of Life Sciences tools and the pioneer of molecular genetics diagnostics in the US and China. It is also the owner and operator of an independent reference laboratory, equivalent of a CLIA lab, in China – Beijing BioChain ... |
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March 10th, 2013