Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
July 2008
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Spinal cord revealed in free gene map
The Allen Institute for Brain Science has released the first data from its ambitious project to map the expression patterns of at least 18,500 genes throughout the spinal cord of juvenile and adult mice.
Nature News (24 July 2008)
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Affymetrix in new patents row
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has filed a lawsuit against DNA microarray company Affymetrix, claiming that some of the company's GeneChip technology — widely used for high-throughput genomic analysis — infringes an MIT patent.
Nature News (24 July 2008)
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Molecular biology gets wikified
A new Wikipedia-style database called WikiPathways will allow anyone to create and amend a repository of complex biochemical pathways.
Nature News (23 July 2008)
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Mouse miRNA library to open
Researchers at the UK Sanger Institute will create knockouts of all the known microRNA molecules in mice as part of the micro Knockout Mouse Project (µKOMP).
Nature News (17 July 2008)
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Snakes' venom chemistry varies with age and location
The chemical make-up of a snake's venom varies enormously depending on where the snake lives and how old it is.
Nature News (16 July 2008)
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€2 billion IMI launched with European pharma
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) is a joint venture by the European Commission (EC) and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry Associations (EFPIA) that aims to "reduce the risk of clinical trials" and "remove the major bottlenecks in drug development" for European pharmaceutical companies.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 717-718 (2008)
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Commercial interest waxes for IGF-1 blockers
Pfizer's IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) inhibitor has reached phase 3 clinical trials for the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 719-720 (2008)
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Researcher battles CNRS reforms
Claire Lemercier, a 31-year-old researcher at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, has spearheaded an effort to resist planned reforms to the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), which were widely perceived as an attempt by the government to take control of the CNRS.
Nature News (10 July 2008)
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When there's no room to grow
To maintain profits in the face of rising development costs and slow drug pipelines, big pharmaceutical firms are now implementing internal 'centers of excellence' that copy the biotech firms' successful research model.
Nature News (10 July 2008)
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A Spanish revival
Cristina Garmendia, a former molecular biologist and chief executive of the Genetrix group of biotech companies, discusses Spain's Ministry of Science and Innovation, which has been re-established four years after its dissolution in 2004.
Nature News (10 July 2008)
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Boyz 2 pipettemen
Compare Networks Production Group (CNPG) has developed tongue-in-cheek music-video advertisements for Bio-Rad and Eppendorf, featuring lyrics such as "Girl you need epMotion (yeah girl it's time to automate)" and "PCR, when you need to find out who the daddy is (who's your daddy?)".
Nature News (10 July 2008)
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Harvard turns to matchmaking to speed translational research
Harvard Medical School and its affiliated teaching hospitals have been awarded a US$118 million, 5-year grant aimed at connecting basic scientists to clinical researchers in an effort to turn laboratory experiments and ideas into medicines and methods that will help patients.
Nature Medicine 14, 697 (2008)
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Brazilian court decision eases scientists' stem cell worries
Brazil's supreme court has voted in favor of upholding a 2005 law allowing research on stem cells derived from donated embryos that have been frozen for more than three years or are unviable.
Nature Medicine 14, 699 (2008)
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Report urges Europe to combine wealth of biobank data
The European Science Foundation (ESF) has urged European research institutes to coordinate and share data in biobanks, which typically include DNA, cell tissue samples, medical records, and environmental and lifestyle data collected from study participants.
Nature Medicine 14, 701 (2008)
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Just spit it out
Floyd Dewhirst at the Forsyth Institute in Boston aims to build the first comprehensive database of the microbes inhabiting the human mouth and use it to diagnose and treat both oral and systemic disease.
Nature Medicine 14, 706-709 (2008)
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Neuroscientist: my data published without authorization are 'misleading'
Nikos Logothetis of the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics in Tübingen has charged that two of his former research students took data from his laboratory without his permission and published scientifically incorrect interpretations of them against his advice.
Nature News (3 July 2008)
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PLoS stays afloat with bulk publishing
The financial future for the Public Library of Science (PLoS) is looking brighter thanks to a cash cow in the form of PLoS One, which published 1,230 articles during its first full year of operation generating an estimated US$1.54 million in author fees.
Nature News (3 July 2008)
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Prions' great escape
Prions, the infective particles behind diseases such as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), can breach standard sewage treatment methods.
Nature News (1 July 2008)
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News in brief
| Clinical trialists less likely to seek grant renewals
| Roche bids for remaining Genentech stake
| Court victory for subject of experimental therapy
| Drug firms join forces to boost discovery pipeline
| Chemical giant seeks route into specialty market
| FDA aims for neutral tone in drug-rejection letters
| UK passes hybrids
| 50 cancers to be sequenced
| Training for human studies may become mandatory
| Texas educator sues over job loss and creationism
| NPG Archiving for authors
| Linnean Society celebrates seminal evolution papers
| Final decision expected on European stem-cell patent
| Spain awards apes legal rights
| Pay-off agreed for expert fired after anthrax attacks
News Features
Psychiatric genetics: The brains of the family
The difficulty in finding the genes responsible for mental illness reflects the complexity of the genetics, but is also affected by poor definitions of psychiatric disorders.
Nature News (10 July 2008)
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