Tiny molecules have big potential as cancer drugs, Stanford researcher believes
PHILADELPHIA Many cancer therapies take a "big stick" approach, targeting rapidly dividing cells in the body to stop malignancies in their tracks but often triggering horrible side effects in the process. New research from the Stanford University School of Medicine points toward the possibility of a different type of cancer drug small molecules that would home in on the proteins tumors need wit...Stanford researcher's findings may shed light on common, deadly birth defect
STANFORD, Calif. - Top poker players know that the face mirrors the brain. Specialists in embryonic development wouldn't disagree. In fact, because the same clumps of primordial cells mold the final features of both, a close look at a child's face can often yield clues about less visible problems within the skull: a cleft lip or other abnormal facial features can read like a map of brain developm...Leukemia stem cells identified by Stanford researchers
STANFORD, Calif. A handful of leukemia cells constantly replenish the supply of cancerous cells, according to new work by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers. These self-renewing cells, called cancer stem cells, are the ones chemotherapy must wipe out in order to eliminate the disease. Treatments that destroy these cells could more effectively eliminate cancer.... ...Current treat...New view of leukemia cells identifies best treatment options, Stanford researchers say
STANFORD, Calif. - People diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia usually receive the most commonly effective chemotherapy as a first line of attack, but it doesn't work for everyone. Faced with these resistant cancers, doctors move on to the next most effective treatment or perhaps a drug still in development. This process is time-consuming and can cost patients years of damaging therapy with...Stanford researchers go from heaven to Earth in 'lifeguard' test
STANFORD, Calif. - Back in 2002, Stanford University engineers Kevin Montgomery, PhD, and Carsten Mundt, PhD, found themselves bored at a conference in Las Vegas. So they did what you'd expect from any researchers stuck in Sin City with frequent thoughts about life in outer space: They headed to a casino, downed a few cocktails and drew up a plan for the ideal physiological monitor for astronauts...Stanford launches public lecture series on genomic medicine
Stanford University is offering a series of free monthly lectures designed to enhance public understanding of the Human Genome Project and the revolution in genomic medicine. The lecture series, titled ''Sequencing the Human Genome: What Does It Tell Us About Ourselves,'' will be held in Fairchild Auditorium on the Stanford campus.... ...The first lecture, "Biomedical Innovations: Confronting the...Stanford sleep experts treat medical condition behind violent 'sleep sex'
STANFORD, Calif. - In a new study, Stanford researchers describe a treatable medical condition which causes people to commit violent sexual acts in their sleep. Referred to as "sleep sex," the nocturnal activities cited in the study range from disruptive moaning to rape-like behavior toward bed partners. ... ...The researchers believe this condition stems from glitches in brain waves durin...Confidentiality of genetic databases questioned by Stanford researchers
STANFORD, Calif. - In their exuberance over cracking the genetic code, scientists have paid too little attention to privacy issues, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Their findings, published in the July 9 issue of Science, suggest that traditional means of ensuring confidentiality do not apply to genetic data and that additional safeguards are needed to protect patie...Transplant rejection averted by simple light exposure in Stanford animal study
STANFORD, Calif. - One of the unfortunate side effects of bone marrow and stem cell transplantation is that the newly implanted cells often stage an internal attack against the patient they're intended to help. Stanford University School of Medicine researchers now have a better grasp of this phenomenon, known as graft-versus-host disease, or GVHD, and have proposed a possible method of preventio...Fat cells heal skull defects in mice, Stanford research shows
STANFORD, Calif. - Certain types of cells from fat tissue can repair skull defects in mice, say researchers at Stanford University Medical Center. Because this type of healing process does not depend on the use of embryonic stem cells or gene therapy, it may one day allow doctors to use a patient's own unmodified cells as building blocks to heal fractures, replace joints, treat osteoporosis or co...Gene-based screen sorts cancer cases, say Stanford researchers
STANFORD, Calif. - Six genes may hold the answer to whether a person's lymphoma is likely to respond to treatment. This finding by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine could result in the first gene-based screen to identify people who need the most aggressive therapy.... ...When a person is diagnosed with diffuse large-B-cell lymphoma, doctors use a group of indicators called the...Elusive but ubiquitous microbe fingered as gum disease culprit in Stanford study
STANFORD, Calif. - Even biology majors may not have heard much about archaea. Along with bacteria and eukarya (which encompass every organism from fungi to mammals), the elusive microbes make up one of the three domains of life. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have for the first time tied a specific disease to one of these unfamiliar organisms....... ..."It's not sur...Sticklebacks reveal secrets to evolutionary change in Stanford study
STANFORD, Calif. - Whales, snakes and some lizards and fish all lost their hind limbs (or fins) as they evolved from their four-legged ancestors. New data from the Stanford University School of Medicine suggest that at least in some fish, alterations in a single gene bring about this evolutionary change.... ......"People have been interested in limbs for a long time because they show such variabi...Genetic screening study at Stanford ID's most aggressive adult leukemia strains
STANFORD, Calif. - In an effort to help doctors identify cancer patients in need of aggressive therapy, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have uncovered 133 genes that point to the most dangerous strains of adult acute myeloid leukemia, or AML. Their research, published in the April 15 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine, may help doctors pick the best treatment f...Stanford study questions identity of alleged Romanov bones
One of the most riveting detective stories of the last century supposedly ended in 1998, when the Russian government declared that bones excavated from a Siberian mass grave seven years earlier indeed belonged to the Romanovs, Russia's last royal family, who were executed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.... ...A new study, however, is reopening the book. ......A team led by Alec Knight, a senior scient...Mouth microbes may help shape immune system, says Stanford research team
STANFORD, Calif. - The immune system may be shaped by some of the very agents it exists to fight, according to research by David Relman, MD, associate professor of medicine and of microbiology and immunology at Stanford University School of Medicine.... ... "Microbes not only provide functions that promote health, but may actually guide the stages of our own immune system development," said Relma...RNA inner workings partly unveiled in Stanford study
STANFORD, Calif. - In the world of molecules, DNA tends to get top billing at the expense of RNA, which is critical for turning DNA's genetic blueprint into working proteins. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have published significant insights into how the RNA molecule completes this task in two back-to-back papers in the Feb. 13 issue of Science.... ......All the genet...Imaging technique discovered at Stanford monitors cancer cell proliferation
STANFORD, Calif. - A team of cell biologists at the Stanford University School of Medicine has developed a new imaging technique using biosensors that precisely monitor the timing of cell division. Researchers tested the technique by observing and measuring the slowdown of cell division associated with an anti-cancer drug. They believe the discovery may allow them to screen for many more anti-can...Bacteria lingering in body may pose future food poisoning risks, Stanford study finds
STANFORD, Calif. - Bacteria responsible for a lethal form of food poisoning may escape the immune system by hiding out in the gall bladder of seemingly healthy people. The finding by researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine suggests that an unwitting food worker could transmit the bacteria to others by contaminating food products. .........The bacteria, Listeria monocytogenes, can ca...Dazzling new light source opens at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory
"The light shines brilliantly these days at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL). The start up of SSRL's new synchrotron light facility, SPEAR3, guarantees a world-class program in x-ray science for years to come," said U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham. "This is the first time the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health have joined in funding an accelera...Human migration tracked in Stanford computer simulation
STANFORD, Calif. - Early humans migrating from Africa carried small genetic differences like so much flotsam in an ocean current. Today's studies give only a snapshot of where that genetic baggage came to rest without revealing the tides that brought it there. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a model for pinpointing where mutations first appeared, providi...Wound-healing genes influence cancer progression, say Stanford researchers
STANFORD, Calif. - Genes that help wounds heal are most often the "good guys," but a new study paints them as the enemy in some types of cancer. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that some tumors activate these wound-healing genes and, when they do, the tumors are more likely to spread. This work could help highlight new ways to treat the disease along with help...Gene-disabling techniques simplified by Stanford team
STANFORD, Calif. - Sometimes the first step to learning a gene's role is to disable it and see what happens. Now researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have devised a new way of halting gene expression that is both fast and cheap enough to make the technique practical for widespread use. This work will accelerate efforts to find genes that are involved in cancer and the fate of...Nomadic outposts of transplanted stem cells tracked in Stanford study
STANFORD, Calif. - Doctors regularly inject stem cells into patients whose bone marrow has been destroyed by chemotherapy or radiation, but they haven't known where these cells go after being injected. Research at the Stanford University School of Medicine has yielded an unexpected answer: when injected into mice, these cells may set up camp in one tissue early on but then move to another locatio...New pathway discovered at Stanford provides insight into heart disease
STANFORD, Calif. - A new signaling pathway appears to play a critical role in the development of heart disease, according to researchers at Stanford University School of Medicine. Now that this marker of cardiac dysfunction, known as the APJ-apelin pathway, has been identified, it could lead to better diagnosis of heart problems, perhaps even allowing doctors to intervene in heart disease by bloc...Bone marrow fusion with nerve cells may repair damage, Stanford researchers say
STANFORD, Calif. - Bone marrow cells can fuse with specialized brain cells, possibly bolstering the brain cells or repairing damage, according to research from the Stanford University School of Medicine. This finding helps resolve an ongoing debate: Do adult stem cells transform from bone marrow cells into other cell types, such as brain, muscle or liver cells, or do they fuse with those cells to...Sizable federal grant to fund Stanford genome research
STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center received an $8 million boost for their efforts to tease out the most biologically important regions of the human genome.... A grant from the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health went to eight different research groups using various techniques to analyze small portions of the human genome....Stanford research finds gene variations that alter antidepressant side effects
STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have identified a genetic marker that can explain why some people experience side effects to common antidepressants while others do not. They also found that a key liver enzyme involved in breaking down these antidepressants surprisingly played no role in the development of side effects nor in how well the drugs worked. The find...Stanford researcher finds method to define genetic 'words'
STANFORD, Calif. - With the human genome in hand, scientists now know the roughly 30,000 words making up the language of the human body. But what do those words mean? Stuart Kim, PhD, associate professor of developmental biology and genetics at the Stanford School of Medicine, has created the first dictionary that defines them....... His work, published in the Aug. 21 advance online version of th...Stanford symposium on future of air and space travel
On Dec. 17, 1903, the Wright Brothers ushered in the era of powered flight at Kitty Hawk. Most centennial celebrations held this year to commemorate that flight look back at aviation milestones dotting the timeline between then and now. But on July 31, the School of Engineering will look ahead to forecast how Stanford research is likely to change the way we traverse the clouds and cosmos during t...Stanford researchers isolate protein needed for stem cell maintenance
STANFORD, Calif. - Scientists have finally laid hands on the first member of a recalcitrant group of proteins called the Wnts two decades after their discovery. Important regulators of animal development, these proteins were suspected to have a role in keeping stem cells in their youthful, undifferentiated state - a suspicion that has proven correct, according to research carried out in two labor...National report containing Stanford research recommends path for future genome study
STANFORD, Calif. - Fifty years ago, James Watson and Francis Crick published the structure of DNA. Since then, scientists have gone from barely understanding life's blueprint to knowing each molecular letter that makes up human DNA. The question now facing DNA researchers is what to do with this knowledge....... This question has been the subject of conferences and symposia over the past two year...Stanford researchers review efficacy and safety of low-carbohydrate diets
STANFORD, Calif. - People who go on low-carbohydrate diets typically lose weight, but restricted caloric intake and longer diet duration are the biggest reasons why, according to a study from Stanford University Medical Center and collaborators at Yale University. The sweeping review of literature on this popular diet also found there are no short-term adverse effects of the diet, but also that t...Stanford research points to chance as cause of genetic diseases in Ashkenazi Jews
STANFORD, Calif. - A population of Jewish people known as the Ashkenazi Jews have an unusually high risk of several genetic diseases, and up until now, no one has understood why. Was it random chance that made mutations so common or did evolution play a role in keeping mutations around?... ...The answer to this question, said researchers at Stanford University Medical Center, appears to be chance...Stanford researchers identify genes involved in tuberculosis latency
DENVER - Tuberculosis is a crafty foe. About 2 billion people are infected worldwide, but most show no symptoms, remaining disease-free for life. However in 10 percent of these latently infected persons, weakening of the immune system, caused by either illness or age, allows the tuberculosis bacteria to emerge from small lesions in the lung. The resulting coughing and hacking, which can be fatal...Barn owls steer Stanford researcher to clues about visual and auditory mapping
DENVER, Co- Early experiences don't just change what an animal learns and remembers; these experiences can shape the structure and function of the adult brain....... "Things that an animal learns during an early period of life can alter the brain's anatomy dramatically," said Eric Knudsen, PhD, the Edward C. and Amy H. Sewall Professor of Neurobiology at Stanford University Medical Center. Knudse...Stanford biomedical ethicist speaks on role of race in scientific research
DENVER, Co- Is racial profiling OK in a research setting? Is categorizing groups of people based on genetic characteristics acceptable? These are some of the questions that researchers, led by Mildred Cho, PhD, senior research scholar at the Stanford Center for Biomedical Ethics, will tackle during a symposium at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Den...Stanford researcher advocates far-reaching microarray data exchange
DENVER, Co- Gene microarrays have become an increasingly important tool in biomedical research, allowing scientists to see complex patterns of gene expression inside particular cells. The result is a better understanding of different types of cancer and other diseases....... But as the number of gene microarrays performed in experiments has multiplied, the task of storing, organizing and analyzin...Social issues loom in development of gene-specific meds, says Stanford reseacher
DENVER, Co- Imagine being sick and your doctor, rather than handing you a bottle of pills, constructs a medicine tailor-made specifically for your illness and genetic makeup. While this scenario remains several years off in the future, Stanford University Medical Center's PharmGKB (Pharmacogenetics and Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base) is working toward that end. Teri Klein, PhD, director of Pharm...Bone marrow cells take on new role in the brain, say Stanford researchers
STANFORD, Calif. - Researchers in the Baxter Laboratory at Stanford University Medical Center have published new evidence showing that cells from the bone marrow might help repair or maintain cells in other tissues. In a paper in this week's online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the researchers describe finding chromosomes from a bone marrow transplant in the brai...