A couple of days ago the New York times published a heart warming story about a young girl named Emma Whitehead whose acute lymphoblastic leukemia - which had previously defied all therapies - has gone into full remission following treatment with a novel gene therapy that programmed her immune system to target the cancer cells. … Continue reading Defeating Leukemia: A smile that says “Thank the mice”
Tag: animal research
Animal Rights Bill Under Consideration in the Senate
The Great Ape Bill, which would have significant impact on chimpanzee research in the US, is now under consideration in the US Senate. Over the past year, the legislation has been widely discussed in terms of its aims to: 1) End invasive research with chimpanzees. 2) Move towards retirement of the US chimpanzee research population … Continue reading Animal Rights Bill Under Consideration in the Senate
Don’t let medical progress go over the cliff, contact your representative today!
In this blog we frequently discuss threats to medical research, ranging from harassment of individual scientists by animal right extremists, to spurious complaints by animal rights groups, to legislative proposals that may harm medical research. The threat we wish to draw your attention to today is somewhat different, as it impacts not only on medical … Continue reading Don’t let medical progress go over the cliff, contact your representative today!
Moving from rats to patients: swift progress for electrical simulation in treating paralysis
Sometimes the pace of medical progress takes even us by surprise. Last month a paper was published in the Lancet by a team of clinicians and scientists at the University of Louisville that we certainly were not expecting to see so soon, reporting that electrical stimulation of the lower spinal cord had restored voluntary movement … Continue reading Moving from rats to patients: swift progress for electrical simulation in treating paralysis
Regenerative Medicine: Prof. Anthony Atala discusses its past, present and future
Regenerative medicine is an exciting field that has really begun to mature and deliver on its promise over the past decade, though the clinical achievements to date only represent a fraction of what will be achieved in years to come. One of the leading scientists working in this field is Professor Anthony Atala, who leads a team … Continue reading Regenerative Medicine: Prof. Anthony Atala discusses its past, present and future
The Portrait of a Superstar of Science – Drosophila melanogaster
Regular readers of this blog will no doubt have heard of Drosophila melanogaster, the fly that has played a key role in important discoveries about skin cancer, the innate immune system and the development of tissues, but we’ve never really given this tiny superstar of science enough prominence on this blog. To help correct this … Continue reading The Portrait of a Superstar of Science – Drosophila melanogaster
Universal Meningitis B vaccine nears approval by European regulators – thank the mice (and the scientists)!
Bacterial meningitis is an infection of the fluid that is found in the spinal cord and surrounding the brain that affects thousands of people – usually children or young people – every year and can result in brain damage, hearing loss, or learning disability. In about 10% of cases the infection is fatal. One of … Continue reading Universal Meningitis B vaccine nears approval by European regulators – thank the mice (and the scientists)!
Keep Research Afloat
Our latest guest post comes from Peter Wright and Eleanor Browne, students of Imperial College London. They have started their own organisation aimed at trying to avoid the imminent crisis heading for biomedical research due to the restrictions on animal transport. We urge you to support their efforts to Keep research afloat - an issue … Continue reading Keep Research Afloat
Speaking of Research 