Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
April 2008
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Biologists initiate plan to map human proteome
The organizers of the Human Proteome Project have drafted a strategy to catalogue and characterize all proteins in the human body, but some researchers question whether it will be possible to raise enough money to cover the project's US$1 billion price tag.
Nature News (24 April 2008)
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Fake drugs: lessons for the world
Dora Akunyili, director-general of Nigeria's National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control, talks about the measures taken in Nigeria to fight fake drugs.
Nature News (24 April 2008)
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Further delays to full Agent Orange study
A study to investigate the health effects of Agent Orange on Vietnam War veterans is being obstructed by the US Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), claim scientists and veterans' organizations.
Nature News (17 April 2008)
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Costa Rican biotech centre in peril
Costa Rica's CENIBiot biotech centre, a technology-transfer laboratory for the country's agriculture, may not be built because a multimillion-euro donation from the European Union may be lost due to government procrastination.
Nature News (17 April 2008)
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James Watson's genome sequenced at high speed
The publication of James Watson's genome is a milestone in human genome sequencing because of its massive saving on resources, but the identification of genomic alterations that carry a disease risk still remains a challenge for personal sequencing.
Nature News (17 April 2008)
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Merck accused of disguising its role in research
An analysis of research literature accompanying the development of Merck's Vioxx painkiller concluded that the company may have tried to downgrade its involvement in the studies and repress negative data.
Nature News (17 April 2008)
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$50 million cyberchallenge for plant scientists
The US$50 million iPlant project aims to create user-friendly computational tools to address the grand challenges in plant biology, but some researchers think improvement of data collections should remain the focus.
Nature News (17 April 2008)
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FDA to vet embryonic stem cells' safety
Investors, biotech companies and other stem-cell stakeholders are meeting in Maryland this week for the US Food and Drug Administration's (FDA's) first public hearing on the safety of therapies that use human embryonic stem cells.
Nature News (10 April 2008)
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Poll results: look who's doping
In January, Nature launched an informal survey into readers' use of cognition-enhancing drugs; Brendan Maher has waded through the results and found large-scale use and a mix of attitudes towards the drugs.
Nature News (10 April 2008)
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Radio sweat gland — 90 GHz
The finding that sweat ducts in human skin act like an array of tiny antennas that pick up radiation at specific frequencies might one day be used in medical and security technologies to assess a person's mental state from a distance.
Nature News (10 April 2008)
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Search for potential autism treatments turns to 'trust hormone'
Researchers have begun exploring whether oxytocin, the so-called 'trust hormone', could ease symptoms of autism, such as repetitive behaviors and difficulties with social interactions.
Nature Medicine 14, 353 (2008)
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Gut instincts drive next generation of diabetes medications
Future diabetes prevention and treatment may sidestep insulin treatments entirely and instead use drugs that mimic the beneficial effects of hormones that are naturally secreted in a healthy gut.
Nature Medicine 14, 355 (2008)
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Can 'double blockbuster' strengthen Amgen's backbone?
Amgen's first-in-class fully human monoclonal antibody (mAb) denosumab, in development for osteoporosis, represents the company's best bet for offsetting falling revenues, but first it must be proven in clinical trials to be efficacious, and superior to the current osteoporosis market leader Fosamax.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 361-363 (2008)
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US credit crunch impacts biotech across the globe
The worldwide shortage of debt finance triggered by the US property slump is expected to depress biotech company valuations even further this year, yet it remains to be seen whether this will be coupled with reduced investment volumes.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 359-360 (2008)
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Drug makers chase cancer stem cells
As evidence implicating stem cells in cancer mounts, drug makers are taking notice; GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in December formed a deal that gives them the option to license four of OncoMed's antibody candidates that were developed to target cancer stem cells.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 366-367 (2008)
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Drug markers questioned
Therapeutic drugs are often approved on the basis of 'surrogate outcomes' such as reduced tumor size or a drop in blood-sugar levels; several clinical trials now suggest that some surrogates do not correlate well with overall disease prognosis.
Nature News (3 April 2008)
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Botox toxin gets into rat brains
In rats, botulinum toxin can be carried from an injection site to the brain where it can degrade proteins and block neurotransmission.
Nature News (3 April 2008)
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Race-specific cancer mutation found
Geneticists have found an SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) that boosts the risk of colon cancer in Caucasians by 10%, but has no such effect in the Japanese population.
Nature News (3 April 2008)
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News in brief
| US biodefence agency appoints first director
| GlaxoSmithKline does deal to develop microRNA drugs
| Germany eases ban on embryonic stem-cell lines
| Drug-safety agency names its first chief scientist
| Indian journals push for clinical-trial registration
| Pfizer fails to gain access to peer-review files
| Thumbs up for Avastin
| Back to basics for HIV vaccine development
| US medical school to require master's degree
| Too much haste in US drug approval?
| Muslim nations raise status of science
News Features
Biomedical science: Betting the bank
A biobanking effort in Joondalup (Western Australia), planned to start next year, is one of the newest in a series of population databases that plans to store the DNA and blood samples of family members.
Nature News (24 April 2008)
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Collaborations: With all good intentions
Collaborations spawn fresh ideas and boost productivity — most of the time — but what happens when a working relationship breaks down, and how do you avoid it?
Nature News (10 April 2008)
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Immune to the high
Current medications used to treat drug addiction help by easing withdrawal symptoms, but they cannot curb the high that people receive when they relapse; researchers are now working on a way to make these tempting drug highs history for recovering addicts.
Nature Medicine 14, 358-361 (2008)
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Q & A: Samir Khleif
Construction on the King Hussein Institute for Cancer and Biotechnology is scheduled to begin on the outskirts of Amman this month, with an expected completion in 2010.
Nature Medicine 14, 362 (2008)
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A mid-life crisis for aging theory
From yeast to mice, limiting food intake slows aging and extends lifespan. Activators of the sirtuins, enzymes famously linked to this process, promise a wealth of new drugs — but the sirtuin hypothesis is now coming under fire.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 371-374 (2008)
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