Archive for the ‘Health & Medicine’ Category
RTP Weekahead 3/1
Sunday, February 28, 2010, 6:35 pmEvents taking place the week of March 1 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
RTP Wrapup 2/26
Friday, February 26, 2010, 12:22 amA Senate committee report blasts GlaxoSmithKline for being more concerned about the sales of Avandia than about possible serious cardiovascular risks associated with the blockbuster diabetes pill. Also, two Research Triangle area companies developing new drugs sign deals.
Needed: Cash to pay for innovation
Thursday, February 25, 2010, 1:02 amA $500 ticket to the Biotech conference Monday and Tuesday offered face time with heavy-hitting investors. After an 18-month, deep recession that dried up funding for drug research and development nationwide, it was a lure that attracted Research Triangle area companies to the Raleigh Convention Center in droves.
The visitors made it clear they and other investors remain skittish, but they also noted signs of hope, such as the handful of initial public offerings by biotech companies in past months and an adjustment in venture funding last year in favor of early-stage companies.
Stephen Sands
“When we look at a year ago, we’re really all taking a breath of relief that the Dow [Jones stock index] is over 10,000,” said Stephen Sands, vice chairman of U.S. investment banking in Lazard’s healthcare group, who moderated a panel addressing the future of biotech funding at the conference. Read more…
RTP Weekahead 2/22
Sunday, February 21, 2010, 9:21 pmEvents taking place the week of Feb. 22 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
RTP Wrapup 2/19
Thursday, February 18, 2010, 11:18 pmNovozymes says it has figured out how to make cellulosic ethanol possible that costs about the same as gasoline, GlaxoSmithKline’s restless leg drug raises safety concerns and the Hamner Institutes team up with a leading cancer cluster in Oslo, Norway. Read more…
Fight against cancer gets personal
Wednesday, February 17, 2010, 8:43 pmThe pink ribbon, the icon for breast cancer awareness, and symbols representing other cancers may soon be outdated.
The symbols of tomorrow may cut across types of cancer and stand for a common protein whose long name includes the word kinase, a receptor on a cell’s surface where chemical messages attach, or a virus that is found in up to 80 percent of U.S. adults. Whatever people will identify with to support cancer research, prevention and treatment, it may no longer have anything to do with where the tumor is.
Dr. Duane Mitchell
If that is difficult to imagine, listen to Dr. Duane Mitchell, associate director of Duke University’s brain tumor immunotherapy program: “The hope is that there will be a common pathway that drives several cancer types,” Mitchell said Tuesday during a presentation to the Triangle Area Research Directors Council, an informal group of scientific leaders in the Research Triangle Park area.
Mitchell is part of a research group at Duke that is looking into ways to make cancer treatment less toxic and more effective. The Duke researchers are zeroing in on glioblastoma, a brain tumor that doesn’t respond well to treatment and usually kills within 15 months of being diagnosed. Read more…
RTP Weekahead 2/15
Sunday, February 14, 2010, 5:48 pmEvents taking place the week of Feb. 15 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
RTP Weekahead 2/8
Sunday, February 7, 2010, 5:24 pmEvents taking place the week of Feb. 8 in the Research Triangle area that are open to the public: Read more…
RTP Wrapup 2/5
Friday, February 5, 2010, 12:13 amGlaxoSmithKline wants to scale back research and development and the cuts could affect jobs at the British drugmaker’s U.S. headquarters in Research Triangle Park, IBM unveils the $360 million cloud computing center it established on its RTP campus and a Durham startup reels in $10.5 million in venture capital and a deal with Burlington-based medical testing giant LabCorp. Read more…
Mitochondrion whisperer visits NIEHS
Wednesday, February 3, 2010, 11:33 pmIn search of new medicines, researchers have gone inside the cell to study mitochondria, tiny power plants that are key to cellular life and death, and their role in causing disease.
Malfunctioning mitochondria have been linked to cancer, immune defects, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, sterility and deafness. North Carolina scientists have been among those on the forefront of mitochondrial research, including a group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in Research Triangle Park.
Gerald Shadel
On Tuesday, the NIEHS group hosted Gerald Shadel, a Yale University biochemist who is sort of a mitochondrion whisperer. His lab at Yale’s school of medicine tries to understand how mitochondria tell cells what to do and what happens when the communication breaks down. Read more…
