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HOLIDAY SPECIAL with any order placed ask for your free AG Inhibitor cocktail T-Shirt,  "be stylee'' at the lab cocktail party this year!

 

AG Blog goes live!  A.G. Scientific President Chip Lindgren shares insights into innovation and survival in the wild world of BioTech. info.agscientific.com/blog

PepTalk 2012 Proteomics Conference travels to San Diego Jan 9-13th !

 The tradition of strong scientific programming centered around protein-based therapeutics continues again at the Del on Coronado Island, San Diego California.  Four distinct protein pipelines focused on formulation, purification, biotherapeutics and expression range from applying protein discovery research, to developing downstream protein products that ultimately lead to clinical applications.  This focused design enables you create your own agenda by moving between the tracks and choosing the sessions that best fit your research and networking needs.  Additional networking opportunities will be available through BuZZ Session discussion groups, short courses and panel discussions.

A.G.Scientific offers a variety of materials to assist in aggregation clean up & purification, if traveling to SanDiego for the conference A.G Scientific extends an invitation to visit our Lab and meet our staff.   Call or Email for more information. (Larry@agscientific.com,  858-452-9925)

FMI click http://www.chi-peptalk.com/

PEP TALK Agenda

 

Dino-Drugs

As reported in the September edition of the New Scientist: The  Infectious Diseases Society of America launched an initiative with the aim of producing 10 antibiotics to tackle multidrug-resistant bugs by 2020. To acheive this goal biologists have resurrected a mammalian antimicrobial compound that was last seen on Earth 59 million years ago when mammals were recovering from the Cretaceous-Tertiary extinction that wiped out the dinosaurs. Even now it is potent enough to destroy some of our most troublesome pathogens.

Ben Cocks of La Trobe University in Bundoora, Australia says; "such an approach is effective because these molecules are so simple. Conventional antibiotics target precise flaws in a pathogen's armour, such as a particular enzyme. This is similar to how the adaptive immune system found in vertebrates works: it learns how to fight a new pathogen and then remembers the lesson for future battles. The molecules of the adaptive or  innate immune system use simple chemistry to target the lipids in cell membranes. They can either disrupt and weaken bacterial membranes, or subtly alter the properties of the host's healthy cells so that pathogens can no longer attack them. Now we have access to ancient peptides for future drug development.  The amazing thing was that it worked well against a broad range of pathogens.

The proof is in the testing, lab tests show the ancient molecules destroyed six of seven multidrug-resistant bacteria, and was 10 to 30 times more potent than modern antibiotics such as tetracycline (PLoS One, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0024030).

For more on the this story go to New Scientist's Wendy Zuckerman's report.

www.newscientist.com/article/mg21128314.800-resurrected-ancient-protein-is-a-potent-antibiotic.html

 

SHARK COMPOUND HAS POTENTIAL TO CURE HUMAN VIRUSES

A compound initially isolated from dogfish sharks shows potential as a broad-spectrum human antiviral agent, according to a study led by a Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) investigator.

The GUMC findings were reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Early Edition online today.

The compound squalamine, which since 1995 has been synthesized in a process not involving natural shark tissue, has been tested for the treatment of cancer and several eye disorders.

But in both lab and animal experiments, the compound effectively demonstrated antiviral activity against viruses ranging from dengue and yellow fever to hepatitis B, C, and D.

“To realize that squalamine potentially has broad antiviral properties is immensely exciting, especially since we already know so much from ongoing studies about its behavior in people,” says the study’s lead GUMC investigator, Dr. Michael Zasloff.

 

Cancer researchers find an on /off switch!

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute report that they have successfully disrupted a cancer gene that is involved with the formation of most human tumors.

Using a small molecule called JQ1, the researchers tampered with the “on” switch and growth signals in a gene known as MYC. In their study, the researchers focused on multiple myeloma cells but said the strategy holds promise for treating many other cancer types driven by MYC"Cancer is a disease of disregulation of growth genes in a cell, and MYC is a master regulator of these genes," says  James Bradner, MD, of Dana-Farber, one of the study's senior authors.  Previous attempts to shut down MYC by inhibiting it directly with drug molecules have been notably unsuccessful. "In this study, our idea was to switch MYC off, interfering with its ability to activate the cell-growth program.".

The findings are being published by the journal Cell and availbe on the website Sept 1st and in print by Sept 15th.

FMI & the press release from the Dana-Farber Institute click on the below link.

www.dana-farber.org/Newsroom/News-Releases/Novel-approach-scores-first-success-against-elusive-cancer-gene.aspx

A.G. Scientific Exhibited at This Year's ACVIM Meeting!

2011 AMERICAN COLLEGE VETERINARY INTERNAL MEDICINE

June 15-18th AG Scientific exhibited the world’s largest range of proteomic biomarker stabilization & preservation reagents to the veterinary diagnostic marketplace.  AG Scientific's advancements in protein preservation reagents, including cutting edge DPP IV inhibitors, Protease, Phosphatase, Serine Protease specific formulations have allowed researchers and diagnostic manufacturing companies an efficent means of preserving biomarker proteins. The identification of biomarkers and the enhancement of the long-term stability will greatly aid in acurrate diagnosis of many diseases. 

AG Scientific is excitted to be part of these dynamic developments, we offer specific, custom formulations, and large-scale manufacturing capability.  AG invites you to browse our website or call in and discuss your specific diagnostic requirements.

AG Inhibitor Cocktails & T-Shirt Contest

AG Scientific announces a line of custom Protease inhibitor cocktails designed to make your life easier.  If you use inhibitor cocktails in tablet form you will love AG's lyophilized solid it allows for no crunching or chopping, just instantaneous dissolution, saving  you time and effort in the lab. Click here for complete overview & functionality:media/upload/file/Inhibitor%20Cocktail%20Selection%20Guide%202011.pdf

What is the T-Shirt Contest?

Buy any two kits of protease inhibitor cocktails and we will send you a T-shirt.  Take a picture of the AG T-shirt in action and we will put you in for our IPOD SHUFFLE raffle.  We will pick a winner every 8 weeks so go online to order or call us 858-452-9925.  AG Scientific making your research easier & having some fun while were at it!

For more information on T-shirt contest & IPOD raffle click below link:

media/upload/file/AGTSHIRTCONTEST(1).pdf

 

Improve cellular recycling a cure for Alzheimer's?

As reported today in the Wall Street Journal; Scientists have long known that an accumulation of waste products in the brain's cells can lead to neurodegenerative diseases. Now some are arguing that a similar process takes place in Alzheimer's disease and that by repairing the cells' ability to discard waste the disease can be stopped before it can cause damage.

 

Researchers are trying different approaches to target the lysosome as a possible treatment for Alzheimer's and other diseases. In some cases, they are trying to increase the activities of certain enzymes in the lysosome that help degrade the waste products. In other instances, they are trying to get the lysosomal system to work faster or more efficiently at recycling the waste products before they have a chance to build up and cause problems in the cell.

David C. Rubinsztein and a team of researchers at the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research in Cambridge, England, are taking a similar approach to target Huntington's disease, a fatal hereditary disorder that leads to a loss of neurons in the brain. Dr. Rubinsztein, a professor of molecular neurogenetics, says that one way to slow down or delay the onset of Huntington's disease may be to enhance the removal of the mutant huntington protein that is toxic to the cells.

For more on this story  click Lysosome

 

 

 

From the staff at AG Scientific :

Happy Holidays ,  Joyeuses Fêtes!,  Felices Fiestas!, Trevlig Helg!,  Boas Festas!,  Mutlu Bayramlar!, 

Sarbatori Fericite!,  Jie Ri Yu Kuai, Bones Festes!, Tuii kurisumasu wo! (Have a happy Christmas)

Buone Feste!,  Ii holide eximnandi, Forhe Feiertage, Prettige feestdagen, Hau'oli Lanui ,  Beannachtaí na Féile

Vesele Praznike, Selamat Hari Raya!, retni praznici! 

In any language it's time off with family and friends enjoy!

 

 

Dec 8th  Bigger Brains tricked by optical illusion

This story is from Jessica Hamzelou and is in the December issue of the magazine "New Scientist".

Are the orange circles in this picture different sizes? Your answer can reveal the size of your brain.

Most people perceive the central circle to be smaller, an effect known as the Ebbinghaus illusion. Samuel Schwarzkopf and colleagues at University College London created a series of images in which the relative sizes of the two circles varied, and asked 30 volunteers to estimate which of the two was larger.

The team then scanned each volunteer's brain using fMRI while they were shown a black dot in various points of their visual field. From the scans, they were able to assess the size of the visual cortex.

They found that people with a smaller visual cortex experienced the Ebbinghaus illusion more strongly.

Schwarzkopf suggests that this is because the circuits in the visual cortex responsible for the illusion are the same size in everyone, but cover a greater proportion of a smaller visual cortex, causing a stronger effect.

The team also found that people with a smaller visual cortex tended to have bigger brains overall, though it is not clear why.

For more Optical illusions and the data behind the story click on the following link.

Journal reference: Nature Neuroscience, DOI: 10.1038/nn.2706

 

 

 

Dec 1st  As reported by the BBC today ...

Gene Therapy to BOOST MEMORY!

A gene therapy technique which aims to ease memory problems linked to Alzheimer's Disease has been successfully tested in mice. US scientists used it to increase levels of a chemical which helps brain cells signal to each other.  This signalling is hindered in Alzheimer's Disease, the journal Nature reported.  The Alzheimer's Research Trust said the study suggested a way to keep nerve cells in the brain communicating.  Ageing populations in many countries around the world mean that Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia are set to increase.

Researchers at the Gladstone Institute of Neurological Disease in San Francisco believe that boosting the brain chemical, a neurotransmitter called EphB2, could help reduce or even prevent some of the worst effects of the condition.  Their research suggests that the chemical plays an important role in memory, and is depleted in Alzheimer's patients.  One of the most noticeable features about the brains of Alzheimer's patients is the build-up of "plaques" of a toxic protein called amyloid. Over time this leads to the death of brain cells.

 

However, another characteristic of amyloid is its apparent ability to bind directly to EphB2, reducing the amount available to brain cells, which could in part explain the memory symptoms involved.  To test this idea, they used gene therapy experiments to artificially reduce and increase the amount of available EphB2 in the brains of mice.  When levels of the chemical were reduced, healthy mice developed memory symptoms similar to those seen in mice bred to have a condition similar to Alzheimer's.  Conversely, when the "Alzheimer's" mice were given gene therapy which boosted levels of EphB2, their memory symptoms disappeared.  Dr Lennart Mucke, who led the study, said that his team had been "thrilled" to find this.  "We think that blocking amyloid proteins from binding to EphB2, and enhancing EphB2 levels or functions with drugs might be of benefit in Alzheimer's Disease."  

Rebecca Wood, chief executive of the Alzheimer's Research Trust, said: "Our brains are hugely complex and understanding how they work and become damaged by diseases like Alzheimer's is a massive task.

"This research adds a piece to the Alzheimer's puzzle and provides new leads for researchers.

"It suggests a way to keep nerve cells in the brain communicating, which is vital for thinking and memory."

But she added: "We don't know yet if these findings will lead to a new treatment for Alzheimer's - that's some way off."

 

Nov 23rd: GENZYME Considering new deal option

As reported in the Wall Street Journal yesterday  the Genzyme Corporation is exploring a new deal structure that might help break a months-long acquisition deadlock with Sanofi-Aventis SA. The structure is known as a contingent value right, or CVR for short, which gives shareholders an additional benefit once an acquired company hits a future benchmark. CVRs are typically used when buyers and sellers can't agree on a purchase price, and often kick in after an acquired company meets sales or regulatory targets.

Genzyme has been holding internal discussions about how to structure such a deal with Sanofi, according to people familiar with the matter. In Genzyme's case, the CVR would be largely tied to the performance of Campath, a Genzyme drug that is currently used to treat leukemia but is being tested for use on multiple sclerosis, the people familiar with the matter said.  For the complete story click Genzyme_CVR

 

Allen Foundation provides $ 9M in grants...

Paul Allen the billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, has been investing in biotech companies and basic neuroscience for many years, and now he’s set up a new program to put more money to work for scientists pushing the boundaries in those fields.

The Seattle-based Paul G. Allen Family Foundation is announcing today it is bankrolling seven research teams around the country with three-year grants worth a combined $9.4 million. This is the first round of grants for “Allen Distinguished Investigators” in what could become an ongoing program, according to Sue Coliton, a vice president at the foundation. The idea is that Allen will support cutting-edge research projects that haven’t been able to secure traditional funding from the National Institutes of Health or the National Science Foundation, yet have great potential to advance science, and enable the development of new medical technologies and products, Coliton says.

The Allen Distinguished Investigator program got started about a year ago, when Allen himself sent an e-mail around to a number of scientists he stays in touch with, says David Postman, a spokesman for Vulcan, Allen’s investment company. Before long, the Allen Foundation put together a request for proposal, and got back 120 applications for projects to pick from. The foundation sought help from scientists to vet the projects, but Allen himself made the final decision on who got the grants, Coliton says.

Allen plans to keep tabs on the progress of the grant winners, and bring them together once a year to talk about their results, Coliton says. After about 12 to 18 months of seeing how the program works in practice, the foundation plans to take a closer look at whether the program will become an ongoing, enduring sort of thing. “It will evolve over the next couple of years,” Coliton says.

With that, here are the seven original grant winners, with a thumbnail description of their work:

—David Anderson, Caltech, $1.6 million.

Anderson, one of the original advisors to the Allen Brain Institute, has secured funding to “localize, identify, characterize, and turn on” neurons in the mouse brain associated with attack and aggressive behavior.

—Edward Boyden, MIT Media Lab and McGovern Institute for Brain Research, $1.3 million.

Boyden’s team will attempt to develop “new devices for creating real-time electrical maps of the brain in three dimensions,” according to the foundation.

—Michael Dickinson, University of Washington, $2 million.

Dickinson plans to use the grant support “to develop new instruments to expand the body of knowledge in the field of measuring and quantifying complex group behavior in the relatively new field of study called “ethomics.” I must admit that was a new “omics” to me; you can read more about it in this paper in Nature.

—Christof Koch, Caltech, $600,000.

Koch plans to look at neural networks that enable worms (C. elegans) to move.

—Jennifer Nemhauser, University of Washington, $1.4 million.

Nemhauser, according to the Allen Foundation, plans to “reverse engineer a cell-to-cell communication system from plants, construct a modular molecular signal processing toolbox for synthetic biology, and to use the toolbox to genetically engineer the single celled organism S. cerevisiae, to exhibit multi-celled behavior.” S. cerevisiae is a form of yeast used in baking and brewing.

—Mark Schnitzer, Stanford University, $880,000.

Schnitzer, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, will seek to use his new money from Allen to “develop miniaturized, mass-producible, fluorescence microscopes that can create real-time imaging of neurons in the brain.” If he can do that, the plan will be to look at what’s going wrong at the neural and cellular level in schizophrenia.

—Tony Zador, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, $1.6 million.

Zador’s lab will study “the use of viruses to transport bar-coded nucleotides across synapses and map the connectome of a living animal.”

 

 

 

Nov 8th.  Cleveland Clinic Announces top 10 innovations for 2011

CLEVELAND, Ohio — A radioactive dye that can detect and highlight brain plaques that signal Alzheimer's disease is the medical innovation of the year, chosen from more than 90 candidates by physicians at the Cleveland Clinic.

The top 10 medical innovations for 2011, to be announced this morning at the Clinic's eighth annual Innovation Summit, includes groundbreaking drugs for cancer, hepatitis and multiple sclerosis, as well as technical innovations like incision-less bariatric surgery.

The Summit, in its third and final day today, was expected to draw more than 1,000 health care leaders from across the country to discuss innovations in treating obesity and diabetes.

In the spring, more than 60 physicians at the Cleveland Clinic nominated innovations they felt would change the face of medicine. Since then, they narrowed the field several times, focusing on drugs and devices that could show a significant potential for patient benefit or improved health care delivery, a high probability of success and good quality data to support its nomination.

Nominees must have Food and Drug Administration approval, or a great chance of approval by early 2011.

Here are the Top 10:

1. Molecular imaging biomarker for early detection of Alzheimer's Disease: A new brain imaging compound called AV-45 will soon make it possible to detect the very earliest stages of the brain damage caused by Alzheimer s, and is expected to become the dominant way to diagnose the disease.

2. Targeted T-cell antibody for metastatic melanoma: A new anti-cancer drug, ipilimumab, allows the body s own immune system to more effectively fight cancer. It was given priority review by the FDA after it improved the survival rates of patients with previously treated advanced melanoma.

3. First cancer vaccine approved by the FDA: Provenge (Sipuleucel-T), the first cancer vaccine to show a survival benefit, is a prostate cancer treatment that works by stimulating the immune system. Its April approval means it will likely be available for use earlier in the treatment process.

4. Jupiter Study: Statins for healthy individuals: Through a large international study, researchers have found that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins drastically cut the risk of heart disease and death for people with normal levels of cholesterol but elevated levels of inflammation.

5. Hepatitis C protease inhibiting drugs: Two drugs awaiting approval, boceprevir and telaprevir, were developed specifically to target the hepatitis C virus and have shown a vast improvement over the cure rates of existing treatments.

6. Telehealth monitoring for individuals with heart failure: An implantable, miniature, permanent monitor that can measure and communicate daily pulmonary artery pressure, as well as in-home devices that record and send real-time weight, blood pressure and heart rate data are allowing for closer monitoring of costly medical conditions, potentially reducing hospitalization.

7. Endoscopic weight-loss procedure: Transoral Gastroplasty (TOGA). An incision-less option for bariatric surgery, TOGA uses two flexible endoscopes to pass instruments through the mouth, reducing the size of the stomach to a small pouch.

8. Exhaled nitric oxide (NO) breath analysis for diagnosing asthma: A hand-held diagnostic testing device that allows precision and accuracy in diagnosing and managing asthma, the device measures levels of exhaled nitric oxide, a gas produced by cells in the lungs during inflammation.

9. Oral disease modifying treatment for multiple sclerosis: Fingolimod, approved this year by the FDA, is the first oral treatment available to MS patients, a major breakthrough in treatment that reduced attacks and brain lesions in clinical trials.

10. Capsule endoscopy for diagnosis of pediatric GI disorders: A safe and painless alternative to endoscopic imaging and X-rays, the pill-sized capsule takes hundreds of pictures and short video clips of the inside of the digestive tract and transmits them to a data recorder during transit.

Go to clevelandclinic.org/innovations for more information on the summit and the Clinic's top 10.

 

Nov 3rd Stroke therapy drugs make a break through!

As Reported in Nature & MIT_Technology_Review:

Every year, nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. suffer a stroke. It's the country's third-leading cause of death, and a primary cause of severe, long-term disability—the damage it does to the brain is largely irreparable. But a study published online yesterday in the journal Nature describes a newly discovered neural signaling system that, when targeted therapeutically, led to previously impossible levels of post-stroke repair and recovery in mice.

A stroke is usually caused by a clot that blocks blood flow to an area of the brain. Tissue in that part of the brain dies from lack of oxygen unless the clot is detected immediately and is either dissolved or removed. The dead tissue cannot be revived, but often the brain can be trained to redirect nerve impulses via still-living nearby neurons. But such training is difficult, can require months to years of arduous rehab, and is often not sufficient to overcome complex disability.

The new research, by neurologist S. Thomas Carmichael and his colleagues at the University of California at Los Angeles, shows that neurons in the areas of the brain closest to the site of a stroke are impaired after it occurs. The reason for that is a buildup of an inhibitory signaling molecule called GABA that prevents the neurons from firing. When those nerves are inhibited, it's harder for the brain to recruit them into its rerouted circuits.

In studies in mice, the researchers discovered that blocking a particular piece of the GABA signaling system with an existing drug allowed the nerves to reactivate, reversing the repressed excitability, allowing them to more easily respond to other neurons, and encouraging and enhancing early recovery after a stroke by as much as 50 percent. "At face value, it's a new pharmacological target for repair and recovery in stroke," Carmichael says.

For complete story & more information Click Technology_Reviews potential stroke therapy.

Oct  27 Plant stem cells to be used in drug production ....

 

A new study recently published in Nature Biotechnology  has suggested that a well-known cancer drug could be produced cheaply and sustainably using stem cells derived from trees.

University of Edinburgh researchers have isolated and grown stem cells from a yew tree whose bark is a natural source of the anticancer compound paclitaxel.

The development could enable the compound to be produced on a commercial scale at low cost, with no harmful by-products.

Scientists and engineers behind the development say the drug treatment - currently used on lung, ovarian, breast, head and neck cancer - could become cheaper and more widely available.

Currently, an extract from yew tree bark is used to industrially manufacture the compound paclitaxel.

However, this process is expensive, requires supplies of mature trees, and creates environmentally damaging by-products.

Researchers claim that using stem cells-self-renewing tree cells which can be manipulated to produce large amounts of the active compound-would effectively create an abundant supply of the drug.

Scientists behind the project have also cultured stem cells from other plants with medical applications, indicating that the technique could be used to manufacture other important pharmaceuticals besides paclitaxel.

 

Oct. 25th   Falling in Love it's chemical & it happens fast!

 

A new meta-analysis study conducted by Syracuse University Professor Stephanie Ortigue reveals falling in love can elicit not only the same euphoric feeling as using cocaine, but also affects intellectual areas of the brain. Researchers also found falling in love only takes about a fifth of a second.

Results from Ortigue's team revealed when a person falls in love, 12 areas of the brain work in tandem to release euphoria-inducing chemicals such as dopamine, oxytocin, adrenaline and vasopression. The love feeling also affects sophisticated cognitive functions, such as mental representation, metaphors and body image.

 

Other researchers also found blood levels of nerve growth factor, or NGF, also increased. Those levels were significantly higher in couples who had just fallen in love. This molecule involved plays an important role in the social chemistry of humans, or the phenomenon 'love at first sight.' "These results confirm love has a scientific basis," says Ortigue.

The findings have major implications for neuroscience and mental health research because when love doesn't work out, it can be a significant cause of emotional stress and depression. "It's another probe into the brain and into the mind of a patient," says Ortigue. "By understanding why they fall in love and why they are so heartbroken, they can use new therapies." By identifying the parts of the brain stimulated by love, doctors and therapists can better understand the pains of love-sick patients.

The study also shows different parts of the brain fall for love. For example, unconditional love, such as that between a mother and a child, is sparked by the common and different brain areas, including the middle of the brain. Passionate love is sparked by the reward part of the brain, and also associative cognitive brain areas that have higher-order cognitive functions, such as body image.

Ortigue and her team worked with a team from West Virginia University and a university hospital in Switzerland. The results of the study are published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine.

 

www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp

 

San Diego researchers to get 11.6 million in stem cell research grants.

As reported in the business section of the San Diego Tributne :