Truvada prevents HIV infection in high-risk individuals! A clinical success built on animal research.
http://speakingofresearch.com/…/truvada-prevents-hiv-infec…/
Can zebrafish help science to reverse deafness? The ability of zebrafish to repair damages tissues is well known - and was even the subject of an recent advertising campaign by the British Heart Foundation - but now researchers at Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City are studying how zebrafish replace damaged hair cells crucial to hearing, and hope this knowledge will enable the development of new therapies to reverse deafness.
Earlier this week we saw how scientists are developing better anti-venom to treat snake bite victims, but venom can help people as well as hurt them, as these examples on the AnimalResearch.info website show.
http://www.animalresearch.info/…/drug-…/venom-derived-drugs/
Every year about half a million people around the world are infected by the virus that causes dengue fever, and tens of thousands are killed by it. There is currently no vaccine or effective anti-dengue treatment. Now through studies in mice scientists at UC Berkeley have identified the protein common to all dengue strains that is responsible for the virus's lethality, laying the groundwork for the development of effective therapies and vaccines.
http://news.berkeley.edu/…/viral-protein-causes-dengue-sho…/
90% of deaths due to cancer are caused not by the initial tumor but by the spread of cancer to other tissues. Scientists at the University of Michigan have developed an implant that traps metastatic cancer cells in mice, which they hope will in future be able to allow doctors to detect the spread of cancer cells earlier and treat metastasis more effectively.
http://www.bme.umich.edu/…/what-makes-cancer-cells-spread-…/
"I think what people should do is ask important questions in fundamental biology and every now and then think about how this impacts human health rather than spend all your time trying to solve a health issue."
- James Allison, winner of the 2015 Lasker-DeBakey Award in Clinical Medical Research.
Congratulations to James P. Allison on winning the 2015 Lasker-DeBakey Clinical Medical Research Award for his pioneering role in the development of cancre immunotherapy - in particular a study in mice published in 1996 which demonstrated for the first time the potential of this approach to treating cancer http://www.sciencemag.org/content/271/5256/1734.abstract
The Lasker Foundation has more about Prof Allison's research and its lasting impact at http://laskerfoundation.org/awards/2015_c_description.htm
For the discovery and development of a monoclonal antibody therapy
youtube.com
As the new academic year begins it's time to make a new years' resolution - to be more open about animal research! Here are a few ways you can help, ranging from things that take a few minutes, to a few hours - pick as appropriate.
"We need your help – we need more people to get involved in writing for us – this can be through guest posts or by joining the committee and writing from within. Articles are generally 400 – 1200 words in length and can be . We need help writing ab...out:
- Animal research news – explaining some of the latest breakthroughs in research
- Your research – why animal models are important to your research
- Outreach – How are you, or your institution helping to engage the public on this issue
- Animal Welfare – How does your lab try to improve animal welfare? How do you implement the 3Rs?
- Debunking bad science – by explaining the flaw in animal rights arguments"
As a looming shortage of anti-venom highlights a neglected area of public health that affects the lives of millions in sub-Saharan Africa, the BBC speaks with researchers at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine who are studying snake venom and developing better anti-venom treatments.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34181332
If you'd like to learn more about this work, the The Alistair Reid Venom Research Unit at the LSTM have a great website at http://www.lstmed.ac.uk/…/the-alistair-reid-venom-research-…
Working with mouse tissues, UCSF scientists are exploring the role of the adaptive immune system in normal post-natal tissue development. Fascinating stuff!
19,361 Views
Discovery! This is the first time that scientists have seen adaptive immune cells help build tissue that isn’t part of the immune system.
Please #share to spread the word!
Read all about it: http://tiny.ucsf.edu/nbeWAh
A reminder of why vaccination is so important, and why vaccine development is a key public health measure.
http://speakingofresearch.com/…/the-monkeys-who-gave-summe…/
Could aspirin boost cancer immunotherapy?
The Cancer Research UK blog discusses a widely reported study in mouse models of skin cancer which indicates that aspirin may be able to increase the effectiveness of immunotherapy against some cancers.
http://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/…/could-aspirin-bo…/
It may not have won the recent #cuteoff but we agree that the naked mole-rat is fascinating animal, and charming in its own idiosyncratic way.
Ban on chimpanzee research threatens development of vaccine to save wild chimpanzees and gorillas from the Ebola virus.
This is what happens when animal rights are put before animal welfare.
The Daily Mail has been reporting on the amazing steps towards by former athlete, Mark Pollock. Pollock was paralysed from the waist down after an accident, however through electrical stimulation he has gained enough movement in his legs to control an exoskeleton.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/…/A-paralysis-breakthrough-Forme…
The Exoskeleton is a technology which owes much to research on primates - which show how the mind can be used to support movement of robotic parts ( http://speakingofresearch.com/…/kick-off-a-new-era-for-neu…/ ). The electrical stimulation was originally pioneered in rats before being moved to humans ( http://speakingofresearch.com/…/moving-from-rats-to-patien…/ ). Truly this is an amazing breakthrough.
Programme to vaccinate all newborns against deadly Meningitis B infection rolls out across UK http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34084999
In 2012 we discussed the key role of mice in the 'reverse vaccinology' approach used to develop this innovative vaccine http://speakingofresearch.com/…/universal-meningitis-b-vac…/
In an interview for IFLScience Allyson Bennett argues that chimpanzees still have an important role to play in scientific research, and that abandoning such research prematurely may have grave consequences for the species itself.
Two years ago, the National Institute of Health (NIH) decided to retire all but 50 of its 360 research chimpanzees. The amount of research that uses this animal has been declining ever since, with a recent report by Science Magazine suggesting that biomedical research on chimpanzees could come to an…
iflscience.com
Gene therapy rescues dying cells in the brains of Alzheimer's patients - Mo Costandi discusses the very promising results of a trial that was made possible by animal research.
http://www.theguardian.com/…/gene-therapy-rescues-dying-cel…
In an initial report on this long-term clinical trial published a decade ago, the authors discussed the key role of animal research - particularly their own studies in Rhesus macaques - to the development of nerve growth factor gene therapy f...or Alzheimer's disease.
"For clinical use, NGF administration must therefore meet two requirements: it must be delivered in sufficient quantities to effectively stimulate neurons, and its distribution must be restricted to sites of degenerating neurons to avoid adverse effects. Gene delivery meets these requirements. Using either ex vivo (genetic modification of cells in vitro) or in vivo (genetic modification of cells in the brain itself) gene therapy, growth factors can be delivered directly to the brain and diffuse for distances of 2–5 mm. This clinical trial was undertaken based on extensive preclinical studies, including primate studies, showing safety and efficacy of ex vivo NGF gene delivery in preventing cholinergic basal forebrain neuronal death and stimulating cell function"
"Brain cells 'burn out' in Parkinson's disease" - The BBC reports on new research in mouse models of Parkinson's disease, which provides the most direct evidence to date that the dopamine-producing neurons that are affected in Parkinson's disease are particularly vulnerable to damage because their higher level of activity compared to other types of nerve cell results in a build-up of toxic waste products in the cell.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-34074526
Commenting on th...e research the study, Parkinson's UK Director of Research Dr Arthur Roach said:
"Out of the billions of cells in the brain, it is always the same small group that degenerate and die in Parkinson's. We don't know why only these cells are affected.
"This study provides strong support to the idea that it is the unique structure and function of these cells that makes them especially susceptible to a damaging process called oxidative stress"
http://www.parkinsons.org.uk/…/are-brain-cells-dying-parkin…
Full paper in Current Biology: http://www.cell.com/current-bio…/…/S0960-9822%2815%2900884-2
How do birds see the world? Scientists at UCLA are finding out!
http://speakingofresearch.com/…/guest-post-how-do-birds-se…/
Earlier in 2015