Leber's congenital amaurosis is a progressive disorder that affects about 3,000 Americans, and hundreds of thousands worldwide, and causes a progressive loss of vision that usually results in blindness. The disease, for which there has until now been no effective treatment, is caused by a mutation in the encoding RPE65, an enzyme which is crucial … Continue reading Gene therapy for blindness – when dogged determination pays off!
Tag: paul browne
Cool heads required!
Every year thousands of babies born in the United States suffer from perinatal hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy (HIE), a condition where a lack of oxygen and reduced blood supply during or shortly after birth causes brain damage and can lead to death or serious disability in later life. HIE results from a variety of causes, for example … Continue reading Cool heads required!
Nobel Prize time again (and the Laskers too)
Back in August, Dario wrote about how basic science contributes to medical advances and today the Nobel Assembly chose to recognize the importance of such work by awarding the The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2009 to Dr. Elizabeth H. Blackburn, Professor Carol W. Greider and Professor Jack W. Szostak for their discovery of … Continue reading Nobel Prize time again (and the Laskers too)
Mending a Broken Heart
An interesting item in the news today about research on repairing the damage to the heart caused by a heart attack. The report in PNAS can be read by those with a subscription at: While there have been several attempts to bioengineer cardiac tissue for transplant in vitro using starting from cells seeded onto a scaffold, … Continue reading Mending a Broken Heart
Scientists discover AIDS in Chimpanzees
The discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) by the French scientists Luc Montagnier and Françoise Barré-Sinoussi in 1983, and the, and the subsequent confirmation by the American scientist Robert Gallo that it caused AIDS was a shock to doctors and scientists around the globe, and begged the question as to whether or not similar … Continue reading Scientists discover AIDS in Chimpanzees
From Science Fiction to Science Fact
The ability to regrow limbs lost through accident or the action of their nemesis is a power usually thought of as belonging only to comic-book heroes, but in nature the ability to regenerate tissues and even whole limbs is surprisingly widespread across the plant and animal kingdoms. While in the womb mammals such as humans … Continue reading From Science Fiction to Science Fact
Can we protect the brain against tumor metastasis?
Brain metastasis that affect at least 20% of cancer patients are a serious problem for doctors seeking to treat cancer and kill thousands of patients every year, being particularly difficult to treat because many anti-cancer drugs cannot cross the blood-brain barrier and because surgery to remove the tumor can often be difficult and risky. Patients … Continue reading Can we protect the brain against tumor metastasis?
The Monkey of the Baskervilles
If you watched the news or picked up a newspaper yesterday you'll already be aware that scientists in Japan have created genetically modified (GM) marmoset monkeys that pass the transgene, in this case one that encodes the marker GFP protein that glows under UV light, to their offspring. Severel media outlest including the Huffington Post … Continue reading The Monkey of the Baskervilles
Speaking of Research 