Curing HIV in Germany?

Every virus-resistant person has two mutant copies of a gene called CCR5, and a new biotech tool called zinc finger nucleases givve anyone that mutation. Instead of transferring bone marrow from another person, doctors could take a few cells from a patient, modify them to be HIV-resistant and then put them back in."

(technology available now from Sigma-Aldrich, CompoZr ZFN)

See #4 Curing HIV in Germany

Top 10 Scientific Breakthroughs of 2008 Wired Science from Wired.com: "

Team finds breast cancer gene linked to disease spread

A team of researchers at Princeton University and The Cancer Institute of New Jersey has identified a long-sought gene that is fatefully switched on in 30 to 40 percent of all breast cancer patients, spreading the disease, resisting traditional chemotherapies and eventually leading to death. The gene, called "Metadherin" or MTDH, is located in a small region of human chromosome 8 and appears to be crucial to cancer's spread or metastasis because it helps tumor cells stick tightly to blood vessels in distant organs. The gene also makes tumors more resistant to the powerful chemotherapeutic agents normally used to wipe out the deadly cells.

Princeton University - Team finds breast cancer gene linked to disease spread

Hangover cures

ok one for the new year

AskMen.com - hangover cures

Smoking ban leads to major drop in heart attacks

A smoking ban in one Colorado city led to a dramatic drop in heart attack hospitalizations within three years, a sign of just how serious a health threat secondhand smoke is, government researchers said Wednesday. The study, the longest-running of its kind, showed the rate of hospitalized cases dropped 41 percent in the three years after the ban of workplace smoking in Pueblo, Colo., took effect. There was no such drop in two neighboring areas, and researchers believe it's a clear sign the ban was responsible.
The study suggests that secondhand smoke may be a terrible and under-recognized cause of heart attack deaths in this country, said one of its authors, Terry Pechacek of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Smoking ban leads to major drop in heart attacks - Yahoo! News

Amazon Starts Renting Out the Human Genome

Amazon Web Services, a subsidiary of Amazon.com, has started offering access to large collections of data. Business customers and scientists can take the information, which ranges from census databases to three-dimensional chemical structures and the genome, and use it as the basis for computing jobs. By gathering and storing the information, Amazon says that it can save businesses the step of assembling and managing data on their own.

Amazon Starts Renting Out the Human Genome - NYTimes.com

Piper Jaffray Conference presentations

Use this short cut to see a list of the industry presentations
Some are full presentiations

Piper Jaffray

Enjoy!

Scientists Find a Possible Cause of Aging

A new insight into the reason for aging has been gained by scientists trying to understand how resveratrol, a minor ingredient of red wine, improves the health and lifespan of laboratory mice. They believe that the integrity of chromosomes is compromised as people age, and that resveratrol works by activating a protein known as sirtuin that restores the chromosomes to health.

CHEERS!

Scientists Find a Possible Cause of Aging - NYTimes.com

WHO: Heart, infectious diseases, cancer kill most - Yahoo! News

WHO: Heart, infectious diseases, cancer kill most - Yahoo! News: "Heart ailments, infectious diseases and cancer remain the world's top three killers, the U.N. health agency said Monday."