The Washington-based Pacific Northwest Prostate Cancer SPORE (Specialized Programs of Research Excellence) is a cutting-edge life science consortium which includes several research centers throughout Washington State and British Columbia. The consortium focuses on the genetic mechanisms of prostate cancer to better develop effective treatments for the disease.
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Tags: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, UW, University of Washington, WA research, 2012, Washington Life Science, washington life science consortium, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Front Line event, NIH, Seattle, research grant
Anyone who's ever pulled an all-nighter to finish a project knows how it wreaks havoc with your metabolism. The fact is, it's not just a nicety to be awake and active during the day and sleep at night: it's the way bodies are hard-wired. Scientists have long-suspected that upsets in a person's biological clock could play a factor in the development of metabolic disorders like diabetes. Now a team of researchers from three Southern California universities has made surprising discoveries that support that hypothesis. Not only have they isolated the protein that regulates the biologic clock (and named it cryptochrome), but they have found a molecule called KL001 that dictates when cryptochrome gets sent to the proteasome recycling bin. Which is to say, they now know a lot more about this complex circadian system that not only tells the body when to sleep and wake, but also how the body should manage glucose levels in those periods of relative activity and dormancy. The bio research study was published in the July 13 advance online issue of the journal Science.
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Tags: CA, University of California San Diego, University of Southern California, Diabetes, Southwest, California, 2012, University of California Santa Barbara, USC, Los Angeles, Biochemistry, Scripps, biology research, bio research, Front Line event, NSF
The summer of 2012 is set to go down as one of the driest and worst years for US farmers, but it's proving to be an excellent season for fruit science, especially at the University of Arizona, Tucson. In June we saw the sequencing of the tomato genome (technically a fruit), which was a breakthrough in genetics research. The Arizona Genomics Institute has now cracked another complex code: the genome of the banana.
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Tags: University of Arizona, DNA Sequencing, genomic research, DNA Research, genome research, banana, University of Arizona Tucson Research, Southwest, 2012, biology research, Arizona, AZ, Genetics, Front Line event, genomics research, Tucson, UA
A few weeks ago the Food and Drug Administration announced a ban on the chemical bisphenol A (BPA) in all baby bottles and plastic children's cups. BPA is an estrogen-mimicking molecule that can cause significant developmental problems in children. The federal ban comes on the heels of several state BPA bans, including one in Washington State.
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Tags: Washington, WA, Northwest, chemical research, Washington State University, 2012, Genetics, Front Line event, science current event
Physics and nanotechnology research at the University of Minnesota has outgrown its 80-year old facility and prompted the construction of the 144,000 sf state-of-the-art building that is now rising on campus. (See the live webcam footage.) The previous home to the Physics Department, the Tate Laboratory, can no longer support the advanced research carried out by more than 150 faculty and graduate students there, nor is it adequate for a field (nanotechnology) that has only relatively recently come into being. The new $83M lab research facility will allow the physics and nanotechnology departments to move forward in this century as well as join forces in collaborative research projects.
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Tags: Midwest, nanotechnology, New research facilities, Minnesota, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, 2012, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research, research laboratories, MN, new construction, BRPF, Minn, Twin Cities
By now you've probably heard about 3D bio printing, a bioengineering technique for literally building functional replacement tissue and eventually organs. (Read an earlier blog of ours on the subject.) While still in the early stages of development in terms of actually producing a human organ for transplant, the technology is advancing and critical problems are being met with innovative solutions. In the July issue of Nature Materials, University of Pennsylvania scientists, in conjunction with MIT and Harvard researchers, published an article documenting their success creating a blood vessel network using sugar.
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Tags: Pennsylvania, Northeast, University of Pennsylvania, UPenn, 2012, Cell Research, bioprinting, bio research, Philadelphia, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research, Front Line event, PA, BRPF, scientist solutions, science solution
Funding makes laboratory research possible, which makes discovery possible, which leads to advancing knowledge and treatment options. But the primary job of a top scientist and lab director should not be to write grant proposals at the expense of time spent actually doing research. With that insight in mind, the University of California San Francisco put a system in place 5 years ago called the Resource Allocation Program (RAP). The function of the RAP is to streamline the intramural funding process so that faculty only have to fill out one application for many grants, and then only twice a year on set dates. A recent review of the program shows it to be a success, with a 66% increase in overall applications submitted and approximately a 20% increase in funding awarded in the past year alone.
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Tags: CA, University of California San Francisco, biomedical research, 2012 Research Funding, Southwest, California, 2012, San Francisco, Funding, Biotechnology Vendor Showcase, UCSF, Biomedical Research Funding, Mission Bay Campus, UCSF Mission Bay
Washington University in St Louis (WUSTL) has just received a $2M research grant that will go towards combating a disorder which afflicts, often fatally, nearly 5.8 million Americans each year: heart failure. Heart failure is one of the leading causes of death in the US and although many promising drugs have been introduced over the years, we have yet to find a definitive treatment for the variety of cases that doctors encounter. This $2M NIH award wil go to a team of WUSTL scientists for basic research that will contribute to our understanding of heart disease and ideally lead to more effective treatment. The end goal of this research project is the design and construction of artificial tissue models of the heart, which will allow scientists to more quickly and efficiently test new drugs.
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Tags: Bioscience research, Midwest, biomedical sciences, biomedical research, Bioresearch, Washington University, Missouri, WUSTL, heart disease, 2012, Biochemistry, BioResearch Product Faire Event, Research, NIH, MO, St Louis, BRPF, basic research funding
San Antonio, Texas is a good place to be if you're a nurse. According to Workforce Solutions Alamo, the demand for nursing jobs in the county will increase by 1,800 positions in the next four years. This is good news for the University of Texas Health Science Center, the only college in the region that offers a doctorate nursing progam. The Health Science Center educates more than 800 students per year in its nursing college alone.
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Tags: Biomedical expansion, Texas, 2012, UT Health Science Center San Antonio, UTxSA, BioResearch Product Faire Event, San Antonio, TX
The University of Hawaii Cancer Center has successfully renewed its National Cancer Institute (NCI) designation and is on schedule to open its new world-class cancer research and treatment facility near the John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) in the Kaka’ako district of Honolulu early next year. The Hawaiian biomedical research center is the only NCI-level facility in the Pacific Islands and one of only 66 NCI research organizations in the U.S. The island state may be a tropical paradise and vacation destination in the popular imagination, but there's no doubt that its capital city is also becoming a serious biomedical research magnet as well.
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Tags: biomedical research, Bioresearch, Biomedical expansion, University of Hawaii, cancer research, New research facilities, new science wet labs, Southwest, 2012, Hawaii, Cancer, Front Line event, Honolulu, HI, new construction, Cancer Center