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Problems in interpreting diagnostic tests for HER2 may be compromising patient access to effective treatments. As new versions of therapies targeting HER2 work their way through clinical trials, will the situation get even murkier? Malorye Allison investigates.
In 2008, Roche acquired Genentech, ending the most successful symbiotic business relationship the biotech/pharma sector has ever seen. Morphing biotech business models, pharma management's short-termism and dwindling investor patience means we'll never see the like of it again.
Even if a GM crop can surmount Europe's excessive product registration process, any farmer hoping to plant it must then navigate tortuous, arbitrary and scientifically unjustifiable coexistence regulations.
Lee et al. have created the largest functional gene network for plants by combining existing data on Arabidopsis thaliana with data gathered from other organisms. Although the genetics of many A. thaliana traits has been thoroughly studied, the authors succeed in discovering new genes associated with root development and drought resistance.
A correlation between drug exposure and efficacy has never been demonstrated for therapeutic antibodies. Zalevsky et al. use a humanized mouse model to show that a reduction in antibody clearance engineered through increased antibody affinity for the neonatal Fc receptor enhances antitumor activity.
James et al. describe a method for efficient differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into endothelial cells using TGFβ inhibition. Sustained expansion and maintenance of endothelial cells is shown to depend on expression of the vascular transcription factor Id1.
Hepatitis C virus research is hampered by the inability to detect individual infected cells. Jones et al. achieve this by imaging the translocation of a fluorescent reporter protein after cleavage by a viral protease in living or fixed cells.
Efficient siRNA delivery remains a key challenge to realizing the full potential of RNAi-based therapeutics. Semple et al. accomplish unprecedented potency for liposome-mediated siRNA delivery by applying rational design to refine an empirically identified cationic lipid widely regarded as the benchmark for use in lipid nanoparticles.
