Santa Barbara, CA (Scicasts) - Researchers at UC Santa Barbara demonstrate the synthesis of nanosize biological particles with the potential to fight cancer and other illnesses. The studies introduce new approaches that are considered "green" nanobiotechnology because they use no artificial compounds.

Top row, three different RNA objects rendered from molecular computer models: from left, RNA antiprism composed of eight RNAs, a six-stranded RNA cube, and a 10-stranded RNA cube. Bottom row, the corresponding three-dimensional reconstructions of the objects obtained from cryo-electron microscopy. Image by Cody Geary and Kirill A. Afonin

Boston, MA (Scicasts) – Researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) have uncovered the genes that regulate MDM2, an oncogene that, in turn, regulates the tumour suppressor protein p53. But instead of an on-off switch for MDM2, the team found what looks like a dimmer switch, suggesting a more complicated signalling pathway that is sensitive to a changing environment.

London, UK (Scicasts) - Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) have discovered for the first time that two proteins called Mahjong and Lgl could be star players in helping to identify how the body's own cells fight back against cancer cells. This discovery, published July 13, 2010 in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, could lead to future treatments to make our healthy cells better-equipped to attack cancer cells, an entirely new concept for cancer research.

Phoenix, AZ (Scicasts) – According to a report from Translational Genomics Research Institute (Tgen), researchers at the Institute have discovered a way that may help ovarian cancer patients who no longer respond to conventional chemotherapy.

New York (Scicasts) - A unique collaboration among physician-scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has yielded the most comprehensive genomic analysis of prostate cancer to date, according to a report from the Center. "Genomic studies in other cancer types have resulted in new drug targets and strategies to classify patients into clinically meaningful subgroups that improve treatment decisions," said senior study author Charles Sawyers, Chair of the Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program at MSKCC and a HHMI investigator. "This first -ever database of its type brings us one step closer to achieving that goal in prostate cancer."

St. Louis, MO (Scicasts) - According to a report from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, the bone-strengthening drug zoledronic acid (Zometa) can help fight metastatic breast cancer when given before surgery.

Hinxton, UK (Scicasts) - According to a report from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a team of researchers has developed a method to produce cells that kill tumour cells in the lab and prevent tumours forming in mouse models of cancer. Although the current work is in cells and mouse, if the research transfers to human biology, the new type of cell could be a new source for cell-based anticancer therapies.

La Jolla, CA (Scicasts) - Scripps Research Institute scientists have discovered a new way to target and destroy a type of cancerous cell. The findings may lead to the development of new therapies to treat lymphomas, leukemias, and related cancers.

Quebec, Canada (Scicasts) - In a major cancer-research breakthrough, researchers at the McGill University, Department of Biochemistry have discovered that a small segment of a protein that interacts with RNA can control the normal expression of genes – including those that are active in cancer.

Ann Arbor, MI (Scicasts) - Prostate cancer treatments that target the hormone androgen and its receptor may be going after the wrong source, according to a new study. Researchers have found that when two genes fuse together to cause prostate cancer, it blocks the receptor for the hormone androgen, preventing prostate cells from developing normally.

Washington, DC (Scicasts) - Researchers at Georgetown Lombard Comprehensive Cancer Center have been able to show, in mice, how just a little adjustment in the expression of two common genes can promote the kind of cellular changes that led to breast cancer. They say these tweaks likely mimic natural variation women have in expression of the two genes.

London, UK (Scicasts) - A genetic pattern that predicts the likelihood of relapse in patients with one of the most aggressive forms of childhood leukemia has been discovered. Researchers publishing in the open access journal Molecular Cancer have identified a consistent pattern in five genes that has the potential to enable doctors to identify which patients would benefit from more aggressive treatment when first diagnosed with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).

Leeds, UK and Berlin, Germany (Scicasts) - Researchers from the University of Leeds, UK, the Charité University Medical School and the Max Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine (MDC) in Berlin, Germany, have discovered a new driving force behind cancer growth.

This University of Illinois chicken is being used as a model to study ovarian cancer. U of I researchers have discovered that a diet enriched with flaxseed decreases the severity of ovarian cancer and increases survival in hens.

Urbana, IL (Scicasts) – For five years, University of Illinois researchers have been using the chicken as a model to study the deadly disease, ovarian cancer, and have recently discovered that a diet enriched with flaxseed decreases the severity of the disease and increases survival in hens.

Tampa, FL (Scicasts) - Moffitt Cancer Center has announced steady growth of interest in the ERCC1 Analysis, the first test developed for selecting chemotherapy for Non Small Lung Cancer patients.

Kannapolis, NC (Scicasts) - Scientists announced an important advancement towards development of a novel urine test for detecting one of the most common cancers worldwide, colon cancer. According to their press announcement, this test could eventually compliment or even reduce the need for colonoscopy, the mainstay screening test used today. The study, which analyzes chemical differences in the urine of humans with and without colon cancer, was published this month in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research.

Muenchen, Germany (Scicasts) - The discovery 15 years ago that the genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 confer high risks for breast and ovarian cancer was a breakthrough for cancer prediction and therapy, especially for familial cases. Now the research group of Prof. Alfons Meindl (Klinikum rechts der Isar of the Technische Universitaet Muenchen), in collaboration with other groups from Germany, the U.K., and the U.S., can identify another gene that increases susceptibility to breast and ovarian cancer. Their results have been published online in Nature Genetics. The identification of such high risk-conferring genes is a prerequisite for offering women tailored early recognition programs and more individualized therapies.

Hinxton, UK (Scicasts) - The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) has set out its bold plan to decode the genomes from 25,000 cancer samples and create a resource of freely available data that will help cancer researchers around the world. The publication outlines research design and projects as well as the important ethical framework for this science.

Microscope images that show HAMLET's interaction with biological membranes. Using a red, fluorescent substance that shows the location of HAMLET, the researchers can clearly demonstrate that it binds to the cell membrane of a tumor cell.

Gothenburg, Sweden (Scicasts) - Researchers at Lund University and the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, found a substance in breast milk that can kill cancer cells. Although this special substance, known as HAMLET (Human Alpha-lactalbumin Made LEthal to Tumour cells), was discovered in breast milk several years ago, it is only now that it has been possible to test it on humans, the researchers said.

Braunschweig, Germany  (Scicasts) - The human body has developed various mechanisms, through which it can protect itself against newly-developing cancer cells. For instance, killer-cells recognize and destroy altered cells in our organs every day. Once tumours have developed, they may be inhibited in growth by messenger substances from the immune system. Scientists from the research group "Molecular Immunology" at the Helmholtz Center for Infection Research (HZI) in Braunschweig have now succeeded to reveal a completely unexpected function of such an immunological messenger substance in the suppression of tumours; i.e., the molecule "beta-interferon" inhibits the tumour in its attempts to connect into the human blood circulatory system. Moreover, it hinders the production of growth factors that support the formation of new blood vessels. The conclusion - the tumour cannot grow. The results from their study have been published in the latest issue of the scientific magazine "Journal of Clinical Investigation".