Johnson & Johnson Innovation Celebrates Life Science Innovation
Johnson & Johnson Innovation today announced several new collaborations in the European region to coincide with a 'Celebration of Life Science Innovation' event, hosted by its London Innovation Centre. The event brings together UK life science leaders and scientists from the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies to celebrate promising advances and discuss novel collaboration models to deliver better healthcare solutions for patients around the world. Rt Hon David Willetts MP, Minister for Universities and Science, Professor Dame Sally Davies, Chief Medical Officer for England, and Dr. Paul Stoffels, Chief Scientific Officer and Worldwide Chairman, Pharmaceuticals at Johnson & Johnson, discussed strategies for supporting the health and growth of the innovation ecosystem at the event being held at the recently-opened Johnson & Johnson Innovation Centre in London.
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Trial combining anti-cancer drug and radiotherapy may lead to treatment for brain tumor
Results from a clinical trial of a new treatment for glioblastoma suggest that researchers may have found a new approach to treating this most aggressive of brain tumours, as well as a potential new biological marker than can predict the tumour's response to treatment. Presenting the research to the 2013 European Cancer Congress (ECC2013) [1] today, Professor Wolfgang Wick will say that combining radiotherapy with an anti-cancer drug called APG101 - a fusion protein similar to an antibody - blocks a cell-signalling pathway called CD95 that plays a crucial role in the development of the cancer. "Blocking the CD95 system represents a new way of tackling glioblastoma - a cancer that has few available treatment options," he will say.
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'Jekyll-and-Hyde' protein offers a new route to cancer drugs
The mood changes of a 'Jekyll-and-Hyde' protein, which sometimes boosts tumour cell growth and at other times suppresses it, have been explained in a new study led by Oxford University researchers. The researchers in Britain, with collaborators in Singapore and the USA, carried out a comprehensive biological study of the protein E2F, which is abnormal in the vast majority of cancers. They were able to explain the dual natures it can take up in cells in the body, and indicate how it could be a potent target for developing new cancer drugs.
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Intestinal mucus has anti-inflammatory functions
Researchers at Institut Hospital del Mar d'Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM) in Barcelona, in collaboration with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and other U.S. Institutions, have found that intestinal mucus not only acts as a physical barrier against commensal bacteria and dietary antigens, but also prevents the onset of inflammatory reactions against these agents. This fundamental property of mucus was unknown until now and its discovery could potentially improve the life of people suffering from inflammatory bowel disease.
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New knowledge on molecular mechanisms behind breast cancer
Researchers are constantly trying to learn more about the body's advanced communication processes. Receptors serve as a kind of switchboard in the cell, which connects specific signaling proteins to specific cellular functions. Using state-of-the-art technology, researchers at University of Copenhagen have studied a special cell surface receptor of major importance for health and disease. The findings have been published in a new scientific paper.
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Propofol discovery may help lead to development of new anaesthetics
New research on the most commonly used anaesthetic drug could help to unravel a long-standing mystery about how it induces a pain-free, sleep-like state. General anaesthetics are administered to tens of millions of people every year in hospitals, where they are used to sedate patients undergoing surgery. Despite this, scientists have yet to understand how the drug interacts with its targets in brain cells to achieve this effect. Following years of research on propofol, which has become the most commonly used anaesthetic since it was introduced in the 1980s, researchers at Imperial College London and Washington University School of Medicine have published a study in the journal Nature Chemical Biology in which they identify exactly how the drug acts at a molecular level.
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Potential new drug target for cystic fibrosis
Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg and Regensburg University, both in Germany, and the University of Lisboa, in Portugal, have discovered a promising potential drug target for cystic fibrosis. Their work, published online in Cell, also uncovers a large set of genes not previously linked to the disease, demonstrating how a new screening technique can help identify new drug targets.
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