Scientists at The University of Nottingham have uncovered a vital new biological clue that could lead to more effective treatments for a children’s brain tumour that currently kills more than 60 per cent of young sufferers.

Angiogenesis inhibitors that block a tumor’s development of an independent blood supply have been touted as effective cancer fighters that result in fewer side effects than traditional chemotherapy. However, a new study by researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Cancer Center showed that one method of blocking blood supply development could result in serious and potentially deadly side effects.

MIT researchers have developed a new way to study the function of microRNA, tiny strands of genetic material that help regulate at least 25 percent of a cell's genes.

Scientists supported by the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at the National Institutes of Health have created two mouse strains that will permit researchers to trace, in a live animal, the activity of an enzyme believed to play a crucial role both in the normal immune response as well as autoimmunity and B cell tumor development. Their report appears in the Journal of Experimental Medicine.

Peter Baumann, Ph.D., Assistant Investigator, and Nancy Bae, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Baumann Lab, have published a paper offering insight into the way cells protect chromosome ends from misguided repair.