Columbia research to examine gene influence on severity of peridontal disease, therapy response
NEW YORK, NY, September 9, 2004 Scientists at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) are looking into the genetic reasons why individuals experience periodontal disease so differently, and why some respond to treatment more successfully than others. Even with treatment, some patients continue to see deterioration of gum condition and eventual loss of teeth. ... ...The research is part of an...Columbia, Stony Brook, Guidant to develop biological pacemaker based on gene & cell therapies
NEW YORK, NY, August 26, 2004 Guidant Corporation of Indianapolis, Ind., Columbia University and Stony Brook University will collaborate to study a new gene and cell therapy that may ultimately provide better understanding of how genetically-engineered cells can help pace the heart. This five-year, phased investment will build on recent basic research conducted at the universities. The goal of t...Plumbing trees' plumbing reveals their engineering skill
DURHAM, N.C. -- Taking advantage of a unique labyrinth of Texas caves festooned with tree roots, Duke University biologists have given trees the most exacting root-to-twig physical of their circulatory system yet. ......The scientists' findings reveal the impressive adaptive engineering of deep-rooted trees in adjusting the size and structure of their piping, or xylem, to maximize water uptake, m...Umbilical cord blood transplants, bone marrow transplants save lives
MAYWOOD, Ill. Umbilical cord blood and bone marrow transplants at Loyola University are curing or slowing the progression of many cancers originating in the bone marrow (i.e., leukemia, myeloma) or lymphatic system (lymphoma). ......More than 106,000 people in the U.S. each year are diagnosed with these life-threatening diseases. ... ..."Even if other treatments have produced no results, a bo...Research bank makes good use of umbilical cords
After the delivery of a newborn, snipping the umbilical cord and then discarding the cord and placenta is the typical procedure. However, some new mothers at University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics are accepting the invitation to donate their baby's umbilical cord blood to a new UI research bank that aims to advance our understanding of human diseases.... ...The procedure in no way affects the d...World's largest scientific society holds regional meeting in Columbia, Mo.
The American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society, will hold its 38 Midwest regional meeting, Nov. 5-7, in Columbia, Mo., at the University of Missouri's Memorial Union Building (573-882-5778). Over 380 scientific presentations will be made to approximately 600 scientists and students. Topics include the following:... ... ... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... ...... P...New Columbia Genomic Center of Excellence aims to speed genetic targeting of medicines
A journalist briefing on the new Columbia University Center of Excellence in Genomic Science, which was recently designated and funded at $11 million by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI). The project is among the first to be funded by the NHGRI since the completion of the human genome project.... ...The new center will build on discoveries at Columbia University and Columb...Columbia offers new ecology program in Dominican Republic
With the help of a two-year $125,000 grant from Theodore W. Kheel, the Center for Environmental Research and Conservation (CERC), will offer a five week long course to undergraduates from around the world beginning July 21, 2003. The Summer Ecosystem Experiences for Undergraduates Program (SEE-U) earns six credits from Columbia University. Through a special scholarship arrangement, three students...Columbia professor receives 2003 National Golden Apple for Teaching Excellence
Dickson Despommier, Ph.D., professor of environmental health sciences at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health (MSPH) and...professor of microbiology at Columbia University College of Physicians & Surgeons, has been named the 2003 winner of the American Medical Student Associations (AMSA) National Golden Apple for Teaching Excellence award. Chosen from a pool of student-nominate...Columbia investigators win 2003 Gairdner International Award for research
Two Columbia University researchers, Dr. Richard Axel and Dr. Wayne A. Hendrickson, will receive the 2003 Gairdner International Award in...recognition of their contributions that have led to the advancement of health care. The 44th annual award honors achievements in neuroscience and immunology. ......"We congratulate Drs. Axel and Hendrickson on receiving this wonderful award that recognizes...Gene newly identified by Columbia researchers may improve hair removal
Researchers at Columbia University are uncovering the mechanisms of previously unknown genes governing hair growth and cycling. In their latest findings, published in the April 18 edition of Cell , they identified a new gene that encodes an adhesion protein crucial for hair growth. The findings could lead to better, longer-lasting hair-removal treatments, the researchers say, and might someday sh...Umbilical cord matrix, a rich new stem cell source, study shows
The cushioning material or matrix within the umbilical cord known as Wharton's jelly is a rich and readily available source of primitive stem cells, according to findings by a research team at Kansas State University. ...... Animal and human umbilical cord matrix cells exhibit the tell-tale characteristics of all stem cells, the capacity to self-renew and to differentiate into multiple cell types...UMBI licenses HIV rat to Harlan
BALTIMORE, Md.--The patent for the first HIV-1 transgenic rat model has been licensed to Harlan Sprague Dawley, Inc. (Harlan) by... the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute....... Scientists at the UMBI's Institute of Human Virology developed the rat model to benefit researchers who study the pathogenesis and... the development of new drugs to treat AIDS and related diseases. ...... H...ExonHit, UMBI announce RNA splicing symposium
ROCKVILLE, Md.--ExonHit Therapeutics, the alternative splicing-based drug discovery company, in association with the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), will present the first annual symposium on "RNA splicing in Human Pathology, 2002" September 24 at the Shady Grove Campus of the University System of Maryland, Rockville, MD. ...The symposium, chaired by Dr. Adrian Krainer, Co...Corroding plumbing materials producing environmental problems
BLACKSBURG, Va., July 10, 2002 Many factors influence the quality of drinking water and a burgeoning new problem is raising concern. Metallic plumbing materials, capable of lasting for centuries, are occasionally corroding at a very fast rate. This deterioration is producing some extraordinary costs and environmental problems to consumers and to industry. ...... To address the resulting health c...Years of research, thought lead geologist to propose new supercontinent Columbia
CHAPEL HILL In 1912, German meterorologist Alfred Wegener proposed a theory that first angered and then intrigued scientists and others ever since.... ...Continents shifted around at far slower than a snails pace throughout Earths history like pieces of a puzzle, drifting together and pulling apart to form oceans, he said. Part of the eventual fascination with his idea came from globe-gazers obs...Columbia team finds treatment that corrects cellular defect at the root of heart failure
NEW YORK - Researchers at Columbia University have shown for the first time that beta blockers - drugs used to treat cardiovascular disease - can correct a specific defect in failing hearts....... "Up until now we have been treating symptoms but not the cause of heart failure," says Dr. Andrew R. Marks, Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Molecular Cardiology at Columbia University College of Physic...Cells from human umbilical cord blood help rats recover from stroke faster, new study finds
TAMPA, Fla (Nov. 5, 2001) Rats that suffered from stroke recovered much of their neurological function quicker following intraveneous injection with cells from human umbilical cord blood, a study by researchers at Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, and the University of South Florida, Tampa, found.... ...The cord blood cells survived, migrated to the areas of the brain injured by the stroke and impro...... ...Boston, MA, August 10, 2001 - ViaCell, Inc., a fully-integrated cellular therapy company committed to enabling the development of additional therapeutic applications for umbilical cord blood stem cells, commended the Bush Administrations decision to support additional funding for alternative sources of stem cells. Umbilical cord blood is considered an attractive alternative source and is...On Thursday, August 9, 2001 the Ecological Society of America, at its 86th Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, will present its Corporate Award to Weyerhaeuser Company Limited and its British Colombia Coastal Forest Project Team. The Corporate Award honors a company that incorporates sound ecological concepts and practices into planning and operating procedures.... ...Part of The British Colum....NEW YORK, NY - MAY 8, 2001- Columbia University has received an $11 million New York State grant to conduct brain imaging studies that will expand medical science and create jobs.. .The award is part of a total of $27.4 million in grants awarded by the Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR). The grants are a "major milestone in our efforts to secure New York's role as an...Chickens succumbing to virus formerly avoided by vaccination
. CHAMPAIGN, Ill. A virus common to poultry is outfoxing a long-used vaccine, apparently through natural genetic engineering and by using strategies to survive environmental insults, says a University of Illinois researcher who has been tracking new outbreaks around the world. A new form of fowlpox, he said, now threatens poultry production and requires a new vaccine strategy.. . Live vaccine...With HIV rising, UMBI tailors vaccine for Nigeria
. . . ABUJA, Nigeria-Research parasitologist Simon Agwale at the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute (UMBI), reported here today that he and colleagues have developed an experimental HIV-1 vaccine, tailored specifically to help fight AIDS in his native Nigeria. . According to the UNAIDS/World Health Organization, HIV infections have risen steeply in Nigeria in the past few years,...Something's fishy with Columbia chinook: females carry male's genetic signature
.MOSCOW--Samples in 1999 from fall chinook salmon in the Columbia River's Hanford Reach show that four-fifths of the females spawning there apparently began life as males.. .The finding could provide an important clue in sorting through the complex reasons for the decline of Northwest salmon runs, although the Hanford's wild fall chinook run is among the healthiest. The researchers ruled out rad...Translating the human genome into protein function: structural genomics research at Columbia
.New York, N.Y. - Columbia researchers are making a major contribution to the rapidly expanding field of structural genomics, an endeavor that relates protein structures to the genetic sequences that encode them. The effort may reveal rules that could be used to predict the shape of a protein from its sequence. . .Determining the structure of a protein may help explain its function as well as ho...Upper Columbia River: Some fish contaminants decreasing, USGS study shows
.Biologists updating 1994 studies of contaminants in upper Columbia River .fish--including Lake Roosevelt--have found either decreases or no change .in levels of mercury, dioxins and furans, and PCBs, according to a report .released today by the U.S. Department of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey..The report was prepared in cooperation with the Lake Roosevelt Water Quality .Council.. .Fish f...Columbia University establishes David Mahoney Center for Brain and Behavior Research
.Columbia University has founded a center dedicated to investigating one of the great scientific puzzles of the 21st century: the link between the molecular workings of brain cells and human cognition.. .The David Mahoney Center for Brain and Behavior Research will bridge molecular neuroscience with cognitive systems that underlie complex human behavior. Housed on the fifth floor of the New Yo....NEW YORK, NY, January 19, 2000 -- Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons (P&S) has been awarded $2.4 million from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. The grant will enable Columbia to find new ways to combine basic biomedical research with clinical treatment of patients by augmenting its efforts in systems biology. The award will allow Columbia to hire new assistant professor...Enzyme-based method to isolate stem cells from umbilical cord blood shows promise
.DURHAM, N.C. -- Medical researchers have been searching for a reliable method to.separate rare and primitive stem cells from human blood because these cells can.regenerate a blood supply and immune system damaged by disease or medical.treatment.. .Now researchers from the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center at Duke University.Medical Center have developed a new method to identify and isolate stem.... FORT COLLINS--A.S.N. Reddy's experiment on the space shuttle Columbia.should help explain how plants tell up from down. . . Colorado State University's Reddy wants to look at what happens at the.molecular level that tells a plant's root to grow down and a shoot to grow.upward. It's an important question: Thirty years after humans first walked on.the moon, the emphasis has shifted.... Researchers at Columbia University have discovered an enzyme that is.required to prolong the life span of microscopic roundworms and that strains of.long-lived worms appear to produce in greater quantity than normal.. . They believe the enzyme, called cytosolic catalase, protects cells from.oxidative damage, considered a key element in the aging process in all animals,.including...Wolf Prize In Medicine Awarded To Kandel, Columbia's Pioneer Of Memory Research
. Eric R. Kandel, the Columbia University biologist and Howard Hughes.Medical Institute investigator who has devoted four decades to discovering what.molecular changes take place in cells when an organism learns a new behavior,.has been named to receive the 1999 Wolf Foundation Prize in Medicine.. . The Wolf Prize, Israel's most prestigious award, is presented each year.by the pres...Duke Study Shows Umbilical Cord Blood Transplant Is Viable Treatment For Genetic Disorders
.. Note to editors: Photo below is available on the web at ftp://152.3.242.19/Pub/.as cordblood.hqx. . . MIAMI -- Children whose genetic disorders have previously been a death.sentence have a reasonable chance for life with umbilical cord blood.transplants, according to Duke University Medical Center researchers. . The physicians found that of the patients treated, t.... Researchers at Columbia University have synthesized large quantities of.a derivative of vitamin A that accumulates with age in human eyes and may.contribute to the onset of age-related macular degeneration. . The Columbia team also was able to isolate and quantify compounds from.individual donor eyes, including the vitamin A derivative, called A2E. .Quantification of A2E in human...Monkeys Have Numerical Abilities, Two Columbia Psychologists Report
. . . Two Columbia University psychologists have taught monkeys to.discriminate computer-generated images containing as many as nine objects and to.respond to them in ascending order, with a success rate well above what would be.predicted by chance.. The work is the strongest evidence so far of numerical ability in.non-human primates, said the researchers, Herbert S. Terrace, prof...Cardinals Can Recognize Gender By Song, Columbia University Biologist Finds
. Male and female cardinals recognize each other during breeding season.not by their plumage, but by differences in their songs, a Columbia University.researcher has discovered.. Both male and female cardinals learn their songs, a trait that is.exceedingly rare in the animal kingdom, and is also found only in parrots and.other avian mimics, dolphins and whales. Scientists study t...USGS Says Central Columbia Plateau Water Quality Impaired by Agriculture, But Some Good News
.Areas with intensive fertilizer use and irrigation, such as in the Columbia Basin Irrigation Project (CBIP), showed.the greatest impacts on ground-water quality. (The CBIP includes parts of Franklin, Grant, and Adams counties in.eastern Washington.) . .Shallow wells, generally those less than 150 feet deep, are the most susceptible to contamination, the USGS report says. A reassuring aspect of...Females' Siren Song Initiates Courtship Duets In African Frogs, Columbia Biologists Find
The female of a species of South African frog doesn't wait for suitors...to make the first move, according to new research by Columbia University...biologists. As her eggs become ready to fertilize, she begins a clicking song...that initiates a courtship duet with a nearby male that helps the partners find...each other. ...... The female's aphrodisiac song, called "rapping," is a rapid se.... New York, NY Jan. 26, 1998-- Researchers at Columbia University College.of Physicians & Surgeons have discovered the first human gene associated with.hair loss. The new gene, called hairless, is linked to a severe form of.inherited baldness and may be the trigger that turns on the entire human hair.cycle. The discovery could lead to a better understanding of the hair cycle and,.eventual...Research Uncovers Details of How Sense of Smell Works;.First Aroma Scientists Detect Is That of Meat . Molecular biologists at Columbia University for the first time have.linked a particular odor with the proteins in the human nose that detect it. .They made their first match with the smell of meat.. The research, by a team of biologists led by Stuart Firestein, associate.pro...