The Cross-Border Biotech Blog

Automated Regulation of Inhibitory Feedback Signalling Leads to Rapid and Robust Expansion of Cord Blood-Derived Hematopoietic Stem Cells University of Toronto ♦ Genomics Institute of the Novartis Research Foundation ♦ Heart and Stroke/Richard Lewar Centre of Excellence ♦ McEwen Centre for Regenerative Medicine Published in Cell Stem Cell, February 3, 2012 The greatest current justification for the storage [...]

Pathogenesis of Paediatric Glioblastoma Multiforme McGill University ♦ Genome Quebec Innovation Centre Published in Nature, January 29, 2012 Researchers have not only discovered the first recurring mutation in a human histone but have uncovered a key pathway involved in the formation of paediatric glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). This highly aggressive form of cancer is almost always lethal. [...]

An Evolving Concept of Oncolytic Viruses University of Ottawa ♦ Ottawa Hospital Research Institute ♦ Ontario Cancer Institute ♦ University of Toronto ♦ University of Otago Published in Molecular Therapy (npg), January 24, 2012 Oncolytic viruses were originally engineered to impose direct damage to tumour cells through infection, replication, and subsequent destruction of cancer cells via cell rupture. Many [...]

Genetic Basis of Jr(a)- Phenotype Discovered University of Manitoba ♦ Published in Nature Genetics, January 15, 2012 The medical community has been aware of the Jr(a) antigen on red blood cells for quite some time. Roughly 40 years ago it was shown that a small group of individuals created antibodies against this protein motif. In the [...]

Disruption of Gatekeeper Genes Causes Two-fold Mutation University of Toronto ♦ Published in EMBO, January 10, 2012 Certain genes have a critical role in maintaining the stability of the genome by exerting a certain control over DNA metabolism. Researchers at the Donnelly Centre in Toronto have discovered that disruption of these so called ‘gatekeeper’ genes has [...]

MSC Anti-Immune Power McGill University ♦ Published in Molecular Therapy (npg), January 2012 Mesenchymal stem cells have great potential as a source of therapeutic cell types for transplantation because they are capable of differentiating into bone, fat, cartilage, and muscle. Some reports show they even have the ability to differentiate into neural cells. The research community [...]

Hedgehog Signaling Upholds Integrity of BBB University of Montreal ♦ Published in Science, December 23, 2011 The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is a crucial boundary within the body that restricts the migration of blood-borne molecules and immune cells from circulation into the brain. Specialized endothelial cells tightly bound together with junctional proteins ensure that only certain small [...]

Super-Selective Oncolytic Virus Ottawa Hospital Research Institute ♦ Published in Molecular Therapy (npg), December 20, 2011 More on oncolytic viruses this week but not with VSV this time, but rather the poxvirus JX-594. This particular virus, while having an excellent therapeutic index against multiple solid tumour types, is not that well understood. Researchers seeking to understand the [...]

Homeostasis in the Gut, Plasma Cells on Patrol University of Toronto ♦  McGill University ♦ University of Bern ♦ Memorial University of Newfoundland Published in Nature, December 11, 2011 The intestine is the largest mucosal surface in the body and is exposed to a diversity of microbes. This microbial life is healthy, although the immune system must still [...]

hiPSC-derived HSCs Engraft Mouse Model McMaster Stem Cell and Cancer Research Institute ♦ Published in Stem Cells, November 30, 2011 There are several sources currently being used to isolate hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) for transplantation in humans. Included in these are the bone marrow, peripheral blood, and umbilical cord blood. However, HSCs derived from human embryonic [...]

Bacterial Response to Starvation Breeds Resilience McGill University ♦ Published in Science, November 18, 2011 Biofilms are one of the primary mechanisms by which bacteria evade the toxic effect of antibiotics. Using a process known as quorum sensing bacteria can communicate amongst one another to accumulate in unison on a surface, living, synthetic, or natural. The [...]

NF-κβ1 Restrains Maturation of Dendritic Cells Ontario Cancer Institute ♦ University of Toronto Published in Nature Medicine, November 13, 2011 Dendritic cells (DCs) are critical for adaptive immune response, however if their proliferation becomes overzealous or their survival too prolonged they can cause autoimmunity. While most researchers have focused on the factors that stimulate DC [...]

Genetically Modified MSCs for Acute Kidney Injury McGill University ♦ Published in Molecular Therapy (npg), November issue A research group has taken mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and enhanced them with a gene encoding erythropoietin (Epo) to show that they can be used to treat acute kidney injury (AKI). To generate a mouse model of AKI [...]

Native Microbiota Stave Off Infection University of British Columbia ♦ Published in PLoS ONE, October 28, 2011 Genetics can contribute to host susceptibility to microbial infection but are there other causes? A growing body of evidence points to the composition of microbial flora in the intestine as a key factor in how mammals respond to [...]

CD34: Beyond A Stem Cell Marker Biomedical Research Centre, Vancouver ♦ University of British Columbia ♦ Sprott Centre for Stem Cell Research, Ottawa ♦ Others.. Published in Stem Cells, October 13, 2011 Despite the fact that the cell surface marker CD34 is typically used to identify a diversity of adult stem cell types, no regeneration-related [...]

Ubiquitin Ligase Sweeps Aggregates University of British Columbia ♦ Published in Nature Cell Biology, October 9, 2011 It seems that ubiquitin ligase may play a critical role in preventing diseases characterized by protein aggregation. The enzyme acts by fusing a polyubiquitin chain to misfolded proteins that sit in the cytoplasm. Once tagged, these faulty proteins [...]

Cell Polarity Dictated by Phosphatidylserine Hospital for Sick Children ♦ Published in Nature Cell Biology, October 2, 2011 The enzyme Cdc42 is responsible in part for cell polarization during asymmetric cellular events. In the case of the yeast S. cerivisiae, polarization is essential during the process of budding and the formation of projections in response [...]

The Dynamic Immunopeptidome University of Montreal ♦ Published in Molecular Systems Biology, September 27, 2011 The human body has developed a complex system in which to identify self and non-self. The large majority of nucleated cells in the body display small peptides on the cell surface known as MHC I-associated peptides (MIPs). Although past theories [...]

Gene Therapy Tailored to the Prostate University of British Columbia ♦ Published in Cancer Gene Therapy (npg), September 16, 2011 Prostate cancer cells tend to over express the protein translation initiation factor 4E (eIF4E). With this knowledge on hand, researchers at the University of British Columbia experimented with a variety of 5′UTRs to see which [...]

Astrocytes Modulate Basal Synaptic Transmission University of Montreal ♦ Montreal General Hospital ♦ Published in Cell, September 2, 2011 The astrocyte, a larger flattened cell type relative to the neuron, regulates the growth and survival of brain cells through the release of various growth factors and proteins. Recent findings indicate that they are also involved [...]

Functional Validation of Cancer Stem Cell Theory Ontario Cancer Institute ♦ University of Toronto ♦ Hospital for Sick Children ♦ McMaster University ♦ others.. Published in Nature Medicine, August 28th, 2011 John Dick’s lab has begun functionally validating the cancer stem cell theory in a mouse model and created the closest thing we have to a [...]

Host-Cell Nucleolin, A Helping Hand for RSV University of British Columbia ♦ University of Toronto ♦ Published in Nature Medicine, August 14th, 2011 Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a Pneumovirus that is widely responsible for respiratory tract infections worldwide, appears to use host-cell nucleolin for viral entry. After making the discovery, researchers corroborated their finding [...]

Acquisition of Animal Gene by Horizontal Transfer University of Ottawa ♦ University of British Columbia ♦ University of Illinois ♦ Albert Einstein College of Medicine Published in Current Biology (Cell Press), August 9, 2011 Researchers have recently made a rather surprising discovery — an animal gene that appears to have been taken up by the microsporidian [...]

High-Throughput Platform for Single-Cell qPCR University of British Columbia ♦ BC Cancer Agency ♦ Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics Published in PNAS, August 1st, 2011 An achievement in microfluidics this week as researchers from the University of British Columbia report on the development of an integrated microfluidics device that performs high-throughput mRNA analysis on [...]

TK/GCV Suicide Gene Therapy: Connecting the Dots Laval University ♦ Published in Cancer Gene Therapy (npg), July 22, 2011 Glioblastoma is an aggressive form of brain cancer requiring intensive therapy. Even with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, the mean survival time is approximately one year. A new therapeutic paradigm is currently being investigated in clinical trials, [...]

Genetic Basis for Gray Platelet Syndrome Hospital for Sick Children ♦ University of Toronto ♦ University of Colorado ♦ University of Utah ♦ Others.. Published in Nature Genetics, July 17, 2011 Researchers have found a mutation in the gene NBEAL2 which seems to be at the root of Gray Platelet Syndrome (GPS), a disorder characterized [...]

New Target for AML British Columbia Cancer Agency ♦ University of British Columbia ♦ Hannover Medical School ♦ Stanford University School of Medicine Published in Cancer Cell, July 12, 2011 The MN1 locus is implicated in the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where its up-regulation is a poor prognostic marker. Not all progenitors are [...]

Reductive DNA Damage, A New Evil University of Waterloo ♦ University Health Network ♦ University of Toronto ♦ Published in PNAS, July 5, 2011 The mechanism behind oxidative DNA damage is well known. It has long been thought that oxidative damage causes the majority of DNA damage in a cell, leading to malignant transformation and [...]

New Drug Targets in the Ubiquitin-Proteasome System? Mount Sinai Hospital ♦ University of Montreal ♦ Structural Genomics Consortium ♦ Celgene Signal Research Division ♦ Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology ♦ University of Toronto Published in Cell, June 24, 2011 Proteins within the ubiquitin-proteasome system are responsible for modulating the stability and cellular localizations of [...]

New Players in Interleukin-17 Response to Bacterial Pathogens University of Toronto ♦ St. Michael’s Hospital ♦ Published in Nature Medicine, June 12, 2011 Interleukin-17 (IL-17) is a well established chemical messenger that modulates antimicrobial immune response in the stomach and intestine in the presence of various bacterial pathogens, including Pseudomonas, Helicobacter,  Citrobacter, and Salmonella; this [...]