Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
June 2004
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Biologists seek stamp of approval to send live fruitflies by post
Biomedical researchers are not normally viewed as outlaws. But those who post live creatures, such as fruitflies (Drosophila), to their colleagues are currently breaking an international agreement.
Nature (23 June 2004)
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RNA therapy beckons as firms prepare for clinical trials
Biotechnology companies are edging closer towards taking a promising gene-silencing technique called RNA interference (RNAi) into clinical trials.
Nature (23 June 2004)
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British drug company to put data online as criticism mounts
Things are hotting up for Britain's largest drugs firm, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), in the wake of a legal challenge launched earlier this month by Eliot Spitzer, New York state's attorney-general.
Nature (16 June 2004)
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Biologists take degrading route to tackle cancer
Not content with genomes and proteomes, biologists have added another '-ome' to their lexicon: the degradome. Its proponents say that it signals a fresh approach to cancer research.
Nature (16 June 2004)
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Scientists cry foul as Elsevier axes paper on cancer mortality
Contributors to a medical journal are refusing to publish in an upcoming issue on health in the semiconductor industry unless a controversial paper, axed by the publisher, is included.
Nature (16 June 2004)
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Funding review set to buck up basic research
British scientists are looking forward to a spending announcement that could set the scene for a major revival in their fortunes over the next decade.
Nature (16 June 2004)
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Stem-cell library boosts the case for change
A fertility clinic in Chicago, Illinois, has announced that it has created a large library of embryonic stem-cell lines – many of them carrying disease genes.
Nature (16 June 2004)
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Gene therapists hopeful as trials resume with childhood disease
A French gene-therapy trial that cured nine children of a severe disease, but gave two of them cancer, looks set to restart after a 22-month suspension.
Nature (10 June 2004)
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Biotech industry struggles with generics approval
Leaders of the biotechnology industry hit out this week at the slowness of regulators in getting to grips with a problem that is confronting the industry as it comes of age: how to get approval for generic versions of biotech drugs after patents expire.
Nature (10 June 2004)
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Critics blast 'premature' paper on adult stem cells
A stem-cell paper published last month in an online physics journal has created quite a stir. The paper, which was described as a "breakthrough" in adult stem-cell technology at a public announcement in Germany, is scientifically premature, experts say, and may lead to a surge in protests against research using embryonic lines.
Nature (10 June 2004)
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Double check casts doubt on statistics in published papers
A study highlighting statistical gaffes in scientific literature has brought renewed calls for vigilance among mathematically challenged researchers and journal editors.
Nature (3 June 2004)
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Overseas aid policy needs better science input, inquiry finds
The British government's foreign-aid department looks set to appoint a chief scientist, after being criticized for how it uses science.
Nature (3 June 2004)
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Pressured staff 'lose faith' in patent quality
Examiners at the European Patent Office (EPO) are losing confidence in its ability to ensure the quality of the patents it issues, according to two separate staff surveys.
Nature (3 June 2004)
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Shift in NIH focus fuels basic researchers' fears
After years of flush funding, the budget for the US National Institutes of Health is in a lean phase: the 2004 budget is $28 billion, about 3% more than the previous year, and the 2005 budget, now winding its way through Congress, is not expected to be much bigger.
Nature Medicine (June 2004)
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Europe's clinical trial database criticized
The much-disputed European directive on clinical trials went into effect on 1 May, but some experts are warning against the restricted access provided to its new clinical trial database.
Nature Medicine (June 2004)
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Japan's laws on recombinant DNA tie researchers' hands
Japanese scientists face a year in jail and a ¥1 million (about $9,000) fine if they violate the extensive rules their government now has in place for using recombinant DNA technology.
Nature Medicine (June 2004)
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Collaboration may be the cure for what ails drug development
Pharmaceutical companies routinely sink millions of dollars into common diseases, hoping for a multibillion-dollar payoff from the next blockbuster drug. But for orphan diseases with a small market, there are few takers.
Nature Medicine (June 2004)
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Sanofi takeover jeopardizes Aventis biotech deals
On April 25, Sanofi-Synthelabo secured its takeover of rival pharmaceutical giant Aventis. The deal is expected to negatively affect many of the 200 or so R&D collaborations that Aventis has set up with biotech companies, given that Sanofi prefers in-house R&D to such collaborations.
Nature Biotechnology (June 2004)
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EGFR inhibitors square off at ASCO
Competition in the nascent targeted—cancer therapeutic market is expected to heat up at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncologists held on June 5—8, where clinical researchers will reveal data from dozens of studies of five epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors.
Nature Biotechnology (June 2004)
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News in brief
Collaboration powers up drive to archive digital data
| Hospital names head of breast cancer institute
| Kangaroo genome gears up for giant leap Univ Melbourne
| Fighting AIDS is best use of money, says cost—benefit analysis
| Boehlert happy with science despite elevation rumours
| Biological pathways database revamped
| US picks fellows for 'fresh' science advice
| India installs former lawyer as science minister
| Stem-cell research in line for cash bonus
| Panel urges limits on NIH experts' consulting
| Sunnier days for Spain's stem cell research
| French government reinstates research jobs
| Clinical cost
News Features
Venomous snails: One slip, and you're dead...
The lethal toxins produced by cone snails are in hot demand for neuroscience research, and are being developed as potent drugs.
Nature (23 June 2004)
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Proteomics and cancer: Running before we can walk?
Two years ago, a new proteomic test was heralded as the future of cancer diagnostics. But since then, doubts about its effectiveness have begun to grow.
Nature (3 June 2004)
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Oligo oligarchy—the surprisingly small world of aptamers
Has skepticism about nucleic acid therapeutics shaped the competitive landscape for emerging aptamer companies?
Nature Biotechnology (June 2004)
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