Biotechnology : Highlights
: Biotechnology Articles
Editorial: America's got talent?can it keep it?To remain competitive in biotech, policymakers should pay more attention to retaining skilled foreign workers than to fixating on illegal immigration. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp181-181 |
Editorial: H1N1dsight is a wonderful thingCriticisms of the response of governments and of the pharmaceutical industry to the threat of the H1N1 epidemic are wide of the mark. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp182-182 |
News and Views: Genetic therapy for spinal muscular atrophyA severe inherited neuromuscular disease is corrected in mice by intravenous gene delivery. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp235-237 |
News and Views: Targeting leukemia stem cellsAcute myeloid leukemia stem cells can be made susceptible to chemotherapy by inducing them to divide. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp237-238 |
News and Views: Cellular targets for influenza drugsHigh-throughput RNAi screens in human cells suggest new approaches to curb influenza virus infection. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp239-240 |
News and Views: Navigating genomic maps of cancer cellsWhat can we learn from the first genome sequences obtained from cancerous cells? Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp241-242 |
Research: Nutrient-sensitized screening for drugs that shift energy metabolism from mitochondrial respiration to glycolysisMany diseases are characterized by shifts in cellular energy metabolism. Gohil et al. use a quantitative, nutrient-sensitized screen to identify drugs that affect the relative rates of glycolysis and mitochondrial respiration, and demonstrate the protective capacity of an approved antiemetic in models of cardiac and cerebral ischemia. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp249-255 |
Research: Harnessing chaperone-mediated autophagy for the selective degradation of mutant huntingtin proteinDecreasing levels of mutant, but not normal, huntingtin (HTT) protein remains a major obstacle to treating Huntington's disease (HD). Bauer et al. show that a fusion of polyglutamine-and HSC70?binding motifs specifically targets mutant HTT for degradation by chaperone-mediated autophagy and ameliorates the phenotype of a mouse model of HD. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp256-263 |
Research: Directed evolution of a magnetic resonance imaging contrast agent for noninvasive imaging of dopamineMagnetic resonance imaging of hemoglobin in the brain can detect blood flow associated with neural activity, but direct imaging of neurotransmitters would provide a more sensitive measure of neural signal processing. Shapiro et al. use directed evolution to generate a protein probe that enables magnetic resonance imaging of the neurotransmitter dopamine. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp264-270 |
Research: Rescue of the spinal muscular atrophy phenotype in a mouse model by early postnatal delivery of SMNSpinal muscular atrophy is an autosomal recessive disease of motor neurons caused by lack of the SMN gene. Foust et al. achieve long-term correction of the disease phenotype in a mouse model by intravenous delivery of SMN using the viral vector scAAV9. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp271-274 |
Research: Induction of cell cycle entry eliminates human leukemia stem cells in a mouse model of AMLIn acute myeloid leukemia, a sub-population of quiescent cancer cells, called leukemia stem cells, is thought to be responsible for chemotherapy resistance and eventual recurrence of the disease. Saito et al. show that treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor can overcome resistance to standard therapy by inducing cell cycle entry of the leukemia stem cells. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp275-280 |
Research: Isotopic labeling of terminal amines in complex samples identifies protein N-termini and protease cleavage productsMany proteases are important drug targets, but identification of their substrates remains challenging. By using polymers to selectively isolate N-terminal peptides generated by proteolysis of complex samples, Kleifeld et al. identify substrates of clinically relevant proteases with broad specificity. Nature Biotechnology, vol. 28 #3, pp281-288 |
