Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine and Nature Biotechnology.
August 2008
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Georgian science pays price of conflict
The brief war in Georgia has disrupted progress on 30% of the research projects sponsored by the Georgia National Science Foundation, halting a promising resurgence in science in the country.
Nature News (28 August 2008)
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Fresh doubts over T. rex chicken link
An evolutionary link between Tyrannosaurus rex and chickens has been attacked by computational biologists who say that the claim cannot be supported by the analytical data released so far.
Nature News (28 August 2008)
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Report finds grave flaws in urology trial
The Austrian government's Agency for Health and Food Safety has found that a clinical trial led by urologists at the Medical University of Innsbruck was riddled with serious procedural and ethical problems.
Nature News (21 August 2008)
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Europe gets centre of excellence for neuroscience
University College London (UCL) will host a neuroscience institute that is designed to lead international efforts in understanding the brain and behavior at the level of basic neural circuits.
Nature News (21 August 2008)
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Unproven stem-cell therapy ban
The Bulgarian deputy minister for health has resigned over the country's decision to ban a treatment for neurological disorders that involves harvesting stem cells from a patient's bone marrow, concentrating and purifying them, then injecting them into the same patient's brain or spinal cord.
Nature News (21 August 2008)
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FBI to reveal anthrax data
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) plans to publish in peer-reviewed journals much of the scientific evidence it used to pin the 2001 anthrax attacks on microbiologist Bruce Ivins.
Nature News (21 August 2008)
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Remembrance of viruses past
Survivors of the 1918 flu pandemic continue to produce antibodies against the virus, which can be isolated and potentially used to defend against future outbreaks.
Nature News (18 August 2008)
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Anthrax case ignites new forensics field
The investigation into the 2001 US anthrax attacks has thrown the emergent field of microbial forensics into the spotlight.
Nature News (14 August 2008)
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EGFR inhibitors embrace KRAS
A single-gene test for the mutational status of KRAS will enable clinicians to prescribe EGFR inhibitors to only those cancer patients with wild-type KRAS alleles.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 839-840 (2008)
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GSK slashes internal R&D
GlaxoSmithKline has cut jobs at its Centres of Excellence for Drug Discovery in the US, UK and Italy, and expanded research in China, raising questions about where the company will go next in its bid to boost R&D productivity.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 840 (2008)
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Infections cast cloud over Novartis' MS therapy
Hope for Novartis' small molecule FTY720 (fingolimod), an immunosuppressant that binds to sphingosine-1 phosphate (S1P) receptors, has been tempered by the report of devastating viral infections in two multiple sclerosis clinical trial patients.
Nature Biotechnology 26, 844-845 (2008)
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Death renews biosecurity debate
The suicide of a biodefense researcher who was being investigated in connection with the 2001 anthrax attacks has raised questions about the US government's regulation of research on dangerous pathogens.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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Genetic fact-check for ageing story
A genetic study of healthy elderly people aims to uncover the secret of living to a ripe old age.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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Nerve cells made from elderly patient's skin cells
Skin cells from an elderly patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have been 'reprogrammed' to generate motor neurons — the type of nerve cells that die as the disease progresses.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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'Virophage' suggests viruses are alive
The discovery of a giant virus that falls ill through infection by another virus is fueling the debate about whether viruses are living organisms.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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Perchlorate found on Mars
In their first two tastes of Martian soil, scientists with NASA's Phoenix mission have discovered the oxidizer perchlorate, which is used by some microbes as an energy source even though it is capable of destroying organic molecules.
Nature News (6 August 2008)
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Researchers see a need for speed in EU trial approvals
The European Clinical Trials Directive, which was designed to help harmonize research rules across the continent, has failed to improve the time it takes for clinical trials to receive approval.
Nature Medicine 14, 794 (2008)
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Synonym swapping to make vaccines
Weak versions of the poliovirus that contain silent mutations in the virus' genomic RNA seem to act as a vaccine, spurring hope that other viruses may behave similarly.
Nature Medicine 14, 794 (2008)
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Experts urge a more measured look at antioxidants
Antioxidants have been studied for the last 60 years, yet much still remains unknown about how the human body absorbs and uses these compounds.
Nature Medicine 14, 795 (2008)
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National Cancer Institute helps businesses cross 'the valley of death'
The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) will devote $10 million annually toward the Bridge Awards program, which aims to help small businesses cross the 'valley of death' — the funding gap between the development and commercialization of potentially lifesaving innovations.
Nature Medicine 14, 795 (2008)
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Massachusetts pours money into local life sciences research
Biomedical researchers in Massachusetts will benefit from a US$1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Law that will fund research that translates discoveries at the bench to clinical medicine.
Nature Medicine 14, 796 (2008)
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Allergy genes flew the coop, according to evolutionary analysis
The immunoglobulin E (IgE) antibody, which is not conserved in birds, reptiles and amphibians, may be a key culprit in the development of hay fever and other allergies.
Nature Medicine 14, 797 (2008)
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School chemistry off-limits to terrorism suspect
A British judge has ruled that a terrorism suspect cannot take secondary-school level courses in chemistry and human biology as it would put him or her in a "substantially stronger position" to carry out chemical and biological attacks.
Nature News (31 July 2008)
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Thousands of proteins affected by miRNAs
The first large-scale analyses on the impact of microRNAs on protein expression has found that these non-coding RNA molecules subtly influence a vast number of proteins involved in most key biological processes.
Nature News (31 July 2008)
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Stats reveal bias in NIH grant review
A study of grant reviews generated by more than 14,000 reviewers has shown that the system used by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to evaluate grant proposals does not adequately compensate for reviewer bias.
Nature News (28 July 2008)
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Consent issues restrict stem-cell use
Use may be restricted for 25% of the human embryonic stem-cell lines eligible for US government funding because of concerns that some of the women who donated the embryos for these stem-cell lines did not give informed consent for their use in research.
Nature News (28 July 2008)
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News in brief
| Rector sacked in Austrian stem-cell scandal
| NIH promises funds for cheaper DNA sequencing
| Inquiry launched into Indian drug trials
| Science illustration course draws to an end
| San Francisco's biotech hub gets lift from Pfizer deal
| FDA further tightens conflict of interest policies
| Scifoo blogged
| FDA probes TNF blockers
| Pharma to boycott UK?
| EC/FDA joint inspections
| Researcher wins claim for accidental infection
| Germany tinkers with university regulations
| Italy launches clinical trial for HIV vaccine
| GlaxoSmithKline cements interest in stem cells
News Features
Genetics: The production line
The significance of short non-coding RNA sequences such as microRNAs (miRNAs) and small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs) has left some researchers wondering whether long non-coding RNA molecules such as HOTAIR and Xist have equally important cellular activities.
Nature News (28 August 2008)
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Natural selection: The evolution of cancer
Evolutionary biologists are now studying the 'evolution of cancer' in an effort to unravel how successive oncogenic mutations arm a cell with the ability to proliferate, metastasize and evade the immune system.
Nature News (28 August 2008)
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Neuroscience: The great squid hunt
The reappearance of jumbo Humboldt squid in Chilean waters is a boon to neuroscientists who use the squid's giant nerve axons to study signal propagation.
Nature News (21 August 2008)
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Neuroscience: Standard model
Questions raised about the use of 'ALS mice' are prompting a broad reappraisal of the way that drugs are tested in animal models of neurodegenerative disease.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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Interdisciplinary science: Harvard under review
Harvard University is engaged in a controversial effort to foster collaboration and interdisciplinary scientific research.
Nature News (7 August 2008)
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HIV: The next shot
Researchers trying to develop an HIV vaccine have endured two decades of setbacks, prompting the major sponsors of HIV vaccine trials, including the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), to focus on basic research to enable the field to move forward.
Nature News (31 July 2008)
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