Cell signaling news
Here we present recent news items specially selected from Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Biotechnology and Nature Reviews Drug Discovery.
July 2009
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News | News in brief | News Features
News
Physicians fight back against disclosure rules
As US legislators work to limit ties between academic physicians and industry, a small group of doctors has launched a new organization opposed to strict conflict-of-interest rules.
Nature News (30 July 2009)
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European body told to cut free
A European Commission (EC) panel published a review of the European Research Council (ERC) that urges the EC to make "immediate corrections" to the running of the ERC.
Nature News (30 July 2009)
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Italy introduces performance-related funding
The Italian government has announced the creation of ANVUR, the national research evaluation agency, at the same time that it published a rank of Italy's universities.
Nature News (30 July 2009)
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Mice made from induced stem cells
Two teams of Chinese researchers have created live mice from induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells.
Nature News (30 July 2009)
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UK universities urged to build more industry links
Peter Mandelson, the UK business secretary, has called on British universities to "focus more" on commercializing the fruits of their research endeavors.
Nature News (27 July 2009)
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Heart, heal thyself
In mice, injections of neuregulin 1 promote proliferation of cardiomyocytes, which reduces damage after a heart attack.
Nature News (23 July 2009)
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Red tape strangles basic research grants
The European Commission's strict rules on finance and administration are hampering efforts by the European Research Council (ERC) to fund scientists, causing peer reviewers to desert the grant-review process.
Nature News (23 July 2009)
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Cuts bite in California
As its financial crisis escalates, the ten-campus University of California (UC) system — a national star of US public universities — has begun mandating unpaid leave for non-federally funded employees.
Nature News (23 July 2009)
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Scientists strive to boost US–Cuban collaboration
A drive to increase scientific exchange between the United States and Cuba is off to a slow start due to Cuban officials turning down requests for US scientists to enter the country.
Nature News (23 July 2009)
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NIH nominee draws scrutiny
As Francis Collins prepares to take the helm of the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), opinions are divided about how the geneticist will steer the agency through its extraordinary funding boom.
Nature News (16 July 2009)
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Medical isotope shortage reaches crisis level
The worldwide shortage of technetium-99m, an isotope that is used in about 70,000 medical imaging procedures worldwide every day, will worsen when the High Flux Reactor closes for a month-long maintenance inspection.
Nature News (16 July 2009)
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Governments fiddle while biotech burns
The biotech industry's efforts to obtain governmental financial aid continue to fall on deaf ears, which risks the collapse of legions of companies whose cash reserves are ebbing away.
Nature Biotechnology News (July 2009)
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Lilly's free web screening
Eli Lilly has activated a new web-based tool for lab researchers to submit compounds for testing in four disease areas: Alzheimer's disease, angiogenesis, diabetes and osteoporosis.
Nature Biotechnology News (July 2009)
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US stem-cell research expands
In final guidelines that went into effect on 7 July, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) established a process that will allow scientists who hold stem-cell lines derived before this date to apply for their inclusion in an agency-established registry of fundable cell lines.
Nature News (9 July 2009)
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Czech researchers angry over government changes
Scientists in the Czech Republic are up in arms over drastic changes in the national science-funding system that they say will damage basic research in the long term.
Nature News (9 July 2009)
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US AIDS chief lays out priorities
The new head of the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) takes the reins of the sometimes controversial programme just as the global economic slump has made the job more difficult than ever.
Nature News (9 July 2009)
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India hikes science budget despite slowdown
Despite the economic slowdown India's government will spend 289 billion rupees (US$5.9 billion) on research and development this year, 19% more than last year, according to the budget for 2009–2010 announced on 6 July.
Nature News (8 July 2009)
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A pill for longer life?
Rapamycin, a drug commonly used in humans to prevent transplanted organs from being rejected, has been found to extend the lives of mice by up to 14% — even when given to the mice late in life.
Nature News (8 July 2009)
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Researcher payment reporting under scrutiny
In May, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) solicited comments on its rules for reporting financial interests by the university-based researchers it funds, asking, among other things, whether it should change the $10,000 annual threshold above which an industry payment to a researcher is deemed 'significant'.
Nature News (8 July 2009)
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Sperm-like cells made from human embryonic stem cells
Human embryonic stem cells have been coaxed into forming sperm-like cells that have some of the hallmarks of sperm; however, they require much more characterization before they can be embraced as an experimental model for the study of inherited diseases and infertility.
Nature News (7 July 2009)
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Conflict of interest rules seen by some as too stringent
Increasing public and congressional scrutiny has led many major US medical institutions to adopt stricter conflict-of-interest regulations, but some physicians argue that these new rules do more harm than good.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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Report details changes and challenges for women in biomedicine
A National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report published in early June highlighted several unsettling trends in gender equality in biology departments.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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New initiative launched to support research in Africa
The Wellcome Trust will invest £30 million over five years in the African Institutions Initiative, a program that aims to bolster the capacity for scientific research at African institutions.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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Medical research charities brace for economic impact
Charities that fund medical research are bracing for the impact of the current economic recession, as a quarter of the charities expect to cut funding for research between 10% and 40% this year.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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Nuclear watchdog and WHO move forward against cancer
A pilot project coordinated jointly by the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency is hoping to expand delivery of cancer therapeutics within some of the world's poorest countries.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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Teaming up to tackle RNAi delivery challenge
Recent collaborations illustrate approaches to address the challenges of developing therapeutics based on RNA interference.
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery News (July 2009)
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Deal watch: J&J buys biotech with promising prostate cancer therapy
Johnson & Johnson has bought a company that produces a cytochrome P450 17 inhibitor, which has recently shown positive Phase II results in castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Nature Reviews Drug Discovery News (July 2009)
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African science drops down G8 agenda
African science leaders lament the poor progress made on proposals endorsed by the G8 that were intended to bolster research and technology on the continent.
Nature News (2 July 2009)
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Chief scientist quits California stem-cell agency
Marie Csete, a doctor and stem-cell biologist, has resigned as the chief scientific officer of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), leaving the institute without medical leadership as it prepares to issue US$210 million in grants for stem-cell research.
Nature News (2 July 2009)
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How to fix a broken heart?
The identification of human heart progenitor cells could eventually lead to the development of novel therapies for heart disease.
Nature News (2 July 2009)
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Italians sue over stem cells
Three scientists are appealing the Italian government's decision to exclude human embryonic stem cells from a recent call for proposals to fund stem-cell biology.
Nature News (2 July 2009)
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Indian university system overhauled
In India, a six-member National Commission for Higher Education and Research (NCHER) has been established with the aim of reforming higher education.
Nature News (2 July 2009)
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News in brief
| German research bodies draft synthetic-biology plan
| Step-by-step rating system set to improve African labs
| UK government urged to disclose evidence base
| Genetic barcode for plants close to agreement
| Cash boost for mapping the human brain
| Italian court sidesteps stem-cell challenge
| Nominate Japan's best mentors
| Europe attacks tactics that delay generic drugs
| German molecular biologist to head EMBO
| Chavez own brand
| Ontario's $100 million draw
| Budget winners
| Evolution wins out in Hong Kong curriculum dispute
| US scientist jailed for sharing sensitive data
| NIH pushes for rare disease drugs
| Australian funding overhaul set into motion
| Lawsuit sparks calls for libel law reform
| Indian universities face misconduct allegations
| African institutions gain support networks
Lights, camera, infection
Multiphoton microscopy is allowing immunologists to watch bacteria infect live mice in real time.
Nature (30 July 2009)
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Cell biology: Ahead of the curve
Cellular life is all slopes, arcs and circles — but there is much debate about how these curves are built.
Nature News (16 July 2009)
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Human genetics: One gene, twenty years
When the cystic fibrosis gene was found in 1989, therapy seemed around the corner. Two decades on, biologists still have a long way to go.
Nature News (9 July 2009)
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Science education: Reading, writing and nanofabrication
With its electron microscope, genetic sequencing machines and observatory, the Yokohama Science Frontier High School is equipped like no other. Will future scientists be inspired there?
Nature News (9 July 2009)
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Outpacing Cancer
For the past several years, researchers have been working to understand why some patients lose sensitivity to gefitinib. Nature Medicine reports on the strategies scientists are developing to outpace continually evolving cancer.
Nature Medicine News (July 2009)
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