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Megan Goldman

Researchers Identify Genetic Profile That Predicts Cancer Survival After Chemotherapy ... - 0 views

healthland.time.com/...-predict-chemotherapy-survival

microbiology cancer

shared by Megan Goldman on 17 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Megan Goldman on 17 Apr 13
     
    Researchers have identified a biomarker, an eight gene "signature" (a group of genes in a cell whose combined expression is uniquely characteristic of a medical condition), that predicts how long cancer patients might survive without relapse after undergoing chemotherapy. They found that this eight gene signature show a strong correlation to an elevated response to five chemotherapy agents, and showed a lower risk of recurrence and longer relapse-free survival.
  • Megan Goldman on 17 Apr 13
     
    Curious if this eight gene signature is a result of the genetics of our cell (and resultant interactions) or if it entirely up to the cancerous agent? In simpler terms, are we genetically prone to this eight gene signature or is it luck that our cancer results in this eight gene signature?
Whitney Hopfauf

Genetically Engineered Immune Cells Found to Rapidly Clear Leukemia Tumors: Scientific ... - 0 views

www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm

leukemia

shared by Whitney Hopfauf on 31 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • shown promise against chronic leukemia, but there were
  • doubts about whether it could take on the faster-growing acute lymphoblastic
  • By the time the man started the trial, 70% of his bone marrow was tumor.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • ‘chimeric antigen receptor
  • ’, or CAR, that would target cells expressing a protein called CD19.
  • treatment had driven his cancer into remission
Tyrell Varner

The Black Sea is a goldmine of ancient genetic data - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130506181709.htm

genetic data

shared by Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13 - No Cached
  • Tyrell Varner on 07 May 13
     
    The Black Sea is a hotspot for past plankton life.
Katelyn Madigan

First documented case of child cured of HIV - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130303172640.htm

microbiology immune HIV child

shared by Katelyn Madigan on 04 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • i diagnosed with HIV at birth and immediately put on antiretroviral therapy.
  • brought back into care at 23 months, despite being off treatment for five months, the child was found to have an undetectable viral load
  • d today no signs of HIV infection in the child can be detected by the most sensitive means available.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • physician was able to treat his leukemia with a stem-cell transplant from a person who was born with a genetic mutation causing immunity to HIV infection. Following the transplant, Mr. Brown was able to stop HIV treatment without experiencing a return of his HIV disease
  • achieved by antiretroviral therapy alone
Casey Finnerty

Baby With H.I.V. Is Reported Cured - NYTimes.com - 1 views

www.nytimes.com/...-cured-of-hiv-doctors-say.html

HIV microbiology virology immunity

shared by Casey Finnerty on 07 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • If the report is confirmed, the child born in Mississippi would be only the second well-documented case of a cure in the world
  • Typically a newborn with an infected mother would be given one or two drugs as a prophylactic measure. But Dr. Gay said that based on her experience, she almost immediately used a three-drug regimen aimed at treatment, not prophylaxis, not even waiting for the test results confirming infection.
  • Virus levels rapidly declined with treatment and were undetectable by the time the baby was a month old. That remained the case until the baby was 18 months old, after which the mother stopped coming to the hospital and stopped giving the drugs.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • Dr. Gay contacted Dr. Katherine Luzuriaga, an immunologist at the University of Massachusetts,
  • Dr. Steven Deeks, professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said if the reservoir never established itself, then he would not call it a true cure, though this was somewhat a matter of semantics. “Was there enough time for a latent reservoir, the true barrier to cure, to establish itself?” he said.
  • One hypothesis is that the drugs killed off the virus before it could establish a hidden reservoir in the baby.
  • They found tiny amounts of some viral genetic material but no virus able to replicate, even lying dormant in so-called reservoirs in the body.
  • “For pediatrics, this is our Timothy Brown,” said Dr. Deborah Persaud, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Children’s Center and lead author of the report on the baby. “It’s proof of principle that we can cure H.I.V. infection if we can replicate this case.”
  • Dr. Hannah B. Gay, an associate professor of pediatrics,
  • The results have not yet been published in a peer-reviewed medical journal.
  • The baby, born in rural Mississippi, was treated aggressively with antiretroviral drugs starting around 30 hours after birth, something that is not usually done. If further study shows this works in other babies, it will almost certainly be recommended globally.
  • those reports and this new one could suggest there is something different about babies’ immune systems, said Dr. Joseph McCune of the University of California, San Francisco.
  • the results could lead to a new protocol for quickly testing and treating infants.
Elijah Velasquez

New insights into how genes turn on and off - 0 views

medicalxpress.com/...2013-03-insights-genes.html

shared by Elijah Velasquez on 27 Mar 13 - No Cached
  • Elijah Velasquez on 27 Mar 13
     
    Genetics Researchers at UC Davis and the University of British Columbia have shed new light on methylation, a critical process that helps control how genes are expressed. Working with placentas, the team discovered that 37 percent of the placental genome has regions of lower methylation, called partially methylated domains (PMDs), in which gene expression is turned off. Studying of the placenta is particularly interesting because the placenta has invasive characteristics associated with cancer. Increasing our knowledge about PMDs can help determine which genes are silenced and where specific DNA originated.
Tyrell Varner

Skin deep: Fruit flies reveal clues to wound healing in humans - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130405094515.htm

antibiotic wounds

shared by Tyrell Varner on 08 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Tyrell Varner on 08 Apr 13
     
    The possibility of modeling fruit flies for wound healing is mind blowing. Fruit flies were used since their genetics are not as complicated as mammals. However their exterior defense is quite similar to mammals.
Whitney Hopfauf

Could new flu spark global flu pandemic? New bird flu strain seen adapting to mammals, ... - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130412192402.htm

pandemic humans virology influenza

shared by Whitney Hopfauf on 16 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • "The human isolates, but not the avian and environmental ones, have a protein mutation that allows for efficient growth in human cells and that also allows them to grow at a temperature that corresponds to the upper respiratory tract of humans, which is lower than you find in birds,
    • Whitney Hopfauf
      Whitney Hopfauf on 30 Apr 13
       
      These are the same researchers who did the infamous bird flu study that was temporarily banned
  • new virus has sickened at least 33 people, killing nine.
  • ...4 more annotations...
    • Whitney Hopfauf
      Whitney Hopfauf on 30 Apr 13
       
      This is so concerning... and yet it seems that the general population is oblivious to the implications of this virus
  • majority of the viruses in the study -- from both humans and birds -- display mutations in the surface protein hemagglutinin, which the pathogen uses to bind to host cells.
  • The same mutation, Kawaoka notes, lets the avian virus thrive in the cooler temperatures of the human upper respiratory system
  • the new strain could be treated with another clinically relevant antiviral drug, oseltamivir.
  • Jenna Veldhuizen on 16 Apr 13
     
    Genetic sequencing of the current H7N9 outbreak in China has revealed the ability of the virus to adapt to a human host
Amy Jorgenson

Signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) gain-of-function mutations a... - 0 views

www.sciencedirect.com/...S0091674913002650

shared by Amy Jorgenson on 24 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Alison Prodzinski on 24 Apr 13
     
    This paper does an excellent job researching the correlation of the methylation of the STAT-1 gene and genetic mutations in coccidiodiomycosis and histoplasmosis. The paper shows evidence of the methylation of the STAT-1 by the PIAS1 protein. This gene mutation immunologically challenges the IFN-γ and alters the body's defense mechanisms. Excellent paper on a very scary disease. Hopeful for a vaccine!!! 
  • Amy Jorgenson on 08 May 13
     
    This article was used as a resource for our presentation. This is the article where we obtained the information regarding the patient case studies.
Tyrell Varner

New device can extract human DNA with full genetic data in minutes - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130506132100.htm

genome sequencing

shared by Tyrell Varner on 06 May 13 - No Cached
  • The device will give hospitals and research labs a much easier way to separate DNA from human fluid samples, which will help with genome sequencing, disease diagnosis and forensic investigations.
Nate Scheibe

Genetic fossils betray hepatitis B's ancient roots | Life | Science News - 0 views

www.sciencenews.org/...ray_hepatitis_Bs_ancient_roots

ancient hepatitis

shared by Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13 - No Cached
  • Nate Scheibe on 08 May 13
     
    I guess I never really gave thought to how old a virus is...interesting.
Alletia DeMartino

Pseudomonas aeruginosa Turns Protein Into a Virulence Factor in One Easy Step - 0 views

www.infectioncontroltoday.com/...e-factor-in-one-easy-step.aspx

shared by Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13 - No Cached
  • To infect its host, the respiratory pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa takes an ordinary protein usually involved in making other proteins and adds three small molecules to turn it into a key for gaining access to human cells.
  • P. aeruginosa, one of the most common causes of hospital-acquired pneumonia.
  • P. aeruginosa mostly uses this protein called elongation factor-Tu (EF-Tu) inside the cel
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • but she and her collaborators have learned that as a virulence factor, it could represent a vulnerability for the bacterium
  • EF-Tu is presumed to be an essential protein, and it's performing these moonlighting functions as well. If we figured out how it was doing that, we could devise strategies to inhibit it," says Goldberg.
  • acquired pneumonia and is the leading cause of death among critically ill patients whose airways have been damaged by ventilation, trauma, or other infections.
  • P. aeruginosa takes
  • the protein EF-Tu, which was generally thought to exist only inside the cell, and decorates the exterior of the cell with it, but in a modified form.
  • EF-Tu is modified somehow to mimic ChoP, allowing P. aeruginosa to enjoy the benefits of ChoP.
  • , ChoP carries out a crucial step for setting up an infection for a number of different types of respiratory pathogens.
  • Using a host of techniques, including mass spectrometry, site directed mutagenesis of key residues in the protein, and genetic loss of function/gain of function studies, they found that P. aeruginosa only makes small changes to EF-Tu to get it to mimic this powerful ligand. P. aeruginosa transfers three methyl groups to a lysine on EF-Tu, giving it a structure similar to ChoP and allowing it to fit in the PAFR receptor in the way ChoP does.
  • "It allows [P. aeruginosa] to adhere to the cells and invade,"
  • "Its interaction with humans is accidental. It's an opportunist. The fact that it has this novel modification on this protein that is inherent in the bacterium that enables it to attach and persist and cause disease is exciting,"
  • Alletia DeMartino on 09 May 13
     
    Interesting!! however, very scary. It just keeps modifying itself and being more virulent. what's next?!
Tiffany Arcand

Scientists Find Bacteria Where It Isn't Supposed to Be: The Brain - The Daily Beast - 0 views

www.thedailybeast.com/...-supposed-to-be-the-brain.html

shared by Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • The researchers found these bacterial molecules in brain samples from people with HIV, as well as people with no known infectious disease but who had undergone brain surgery
    • Tiffany Arcand
      Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13
       
      So in immunocompromised individuals, as well as those whose brains have been exposed to the operating room - which as we learned in class, can still house bacteria despite all precautions taken.
    • Tiffany Arcand
      Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13
       
      Sneaky, sneaky viruses!
  • If living bacteria help to maintain brain health in some way, disruptions to them, for example from antibiotics, could contribute to disease
    • Tiffany Arcand
      Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13
       
      It will be interesting to see what they discover as they research this more. My guess it that the bacteria in the brain are both beneficial and harmful.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Dyes injected into the brain, meanwhile, tended not to appear in the body
    • Tiffany Arcand
      Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13
       
      Wouldn't a shot into the brain kill you, or at least be very painful?
  • Last fall, for instance, researchers found male genetic material in the brains of women (who almost certainly were not born with it). Perhaps during pregnancy, the scientists suggested, cells from male fetuses had crossed the placenta and entered the women’s bodie
  • Scientists have discovered, for instance, that HIV hides inside white blood cells that enter the brain in order to look for pathogens; they call this the Trojan horse strategy
  • a mind-bending concept
  • Tiffany Arcand on 01 Apr 13
     
    Bacteria Can Bypass Blood-Brain Barrier? It's a surprise to researchers who believed the brain-blood barrier created an impenetrable fortress. How are molecules from dirt getting into white matter-and what are they doing up there? 
Megan Rasmussen

Ebola's Secret Weapon Revealed - 1 views

Researchers induced four genetic mutations in the Ebola virus, and then infected human dendritic cells. It was found that the mutated virus was unable to stop DC from maturing and presenting antige...

microbiology virology

started by Megan Rasmussen on 05 May 13 no follow-up yet
Alletia DeMartino

Activity of cancer inducing genes can be controlled by the cell's skeleton - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130506095103.htm

shared by Alletia DeMartino on 07 May 13 - No Cached
  • n the latest issue of the journal Oncogene, Florence Janody and her team at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciência (IGC, Portugal), identified a novel mechanism by which the activity of Src is limited by the cell's skeleton (cytoskeleton) limiting the development of tumours.
  • ble to stop the tumour development induced by the high activity of Src through the genetic manipulation of the cytoskeleton in fly tissues
  • showed that the development of tumours is stopped in the presence of high levels of the actin Capping Protein.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Although the precise molecular mechanism is still unknown, the hypothesis raised by these scientists is that the "tuner" creates a tension in the cables of the cytoskeleton that impedes the action of these proteins
  • The cytoskeleton works as a "barbwire" network.
  • Alletia DeMartino on 07 May 13
     
    WOW! random discoveries are being made every day. Makes you wonder when the cure will come!
Katelyn Madigan

Holographic microscopy: Peering into living cells -- with neither dye nor fluophore - 0 views

www.sciencedaily.com/...130207172205.htm

Holographic Microscopy

shared by Katelyn Madigan on 08 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • incredibly precise resolution of less than 100 nanometers, 1000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
  • observe in real time the reaction of a cell that is subjected to any kind of stimulus
  • low-intensity laser, the influence of the light or heat on the cell is minimal,
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • can be virtually "sliced" to expose its internal elements, such as the nucleus, genetic material and organelles.
  • Katelyn Madigan on 08 Feb 13
     
    Observe living tissues at the nanoscale
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