The Cross-Border Biotech Blog

Gene Transfer Restores Regenerative Power to Circulating Angiogenic Cells St. Michael’s Hospital ♦ University of Toronto Published in Molecular Therapy, April 26, 2011 An interesting new approach to autologous cell therapy for patients with coronary artery disease uses gene transfer to enhance the regenerative activity of circulating angiogenic cells (CACs). These rare cells circulate freely [...]

Fibroblast Growth Factor 9 Helps Form Vasoreactive Vessels University of Western Ontario ♦ Published in Nature Biotechnology, April 17, 2011 Some interesting findings from the University of Western Ontario could have implications for future angiogenesis therapies and tissue engineering approaches to the treatment of vascular disease. Researchers discovered that fibroblast growth factor 9 (FGF9), an [...]

New Prognostic Signature for NSCLC The Campbell Family Cancer Research Institute ♦ University of Toronto Published in PNAS, April 7, 2011 It has long been known that the tumour microenvironment, or niche, plays a major role in the development of cancer, the progression of disease, and eventually metastasis. Non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), which accounts [...]

Cancer Immunotherapy in the Clinic: Dendritic Cells Present the Possibility McMaster University ♦ Medical School of the Vrije Universiteit Brussel Review Published in Molecular Therapy (npg), April 5, 2011 Dendritic cells play a vital role in the generation of T-cell responses to invading pathogens in the body. They fall into a class of cells known [...]

Temperature Sensitive Yeast Library Poised to Uncover Gene Function University of Toronto ♦ Published in Nature Biotechnology, Mar. 27, 2011 In efforts to document the roles of essential eukaryotic genes, a group of researchers at The Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research have constructed an expansive library of yeast mutants that can be [...]