Featured
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Books & Arts |
Drug development: The invisible front line
The paid participants in phase I clinical trials need more protection, finds Meredith Wadman.
- Meredith Wadman
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News |
US midterm elections: Deficit poses threat to science
Research programmes in the United States seem to be heading for a cliff, no matter who wins in Congress.
- Eugenie Samuel Reich
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News |
US midterm elections: NIH prepares for loss of political champions
Supporters call for Congress to pass stem-cell bill and NIH budget boost during post-election session.
- Meredith Wadman
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Editorial |
Stem-cell laws in China fall short
The Chinese government's regulations of stem-cell treatments are admirable in principle, but tougher enforcement measures are needed to protect patients.
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News |
Baby boom bags Nobel prize
UK pioneer of in vitro fertilization wins medicine honour.
- Alison Abbott
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Research Highlights |
Cancer biology: Sequencing guides cancer treatment
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Editorial |
Hope in translation
An increasing number of biomedical researchers are testing their ideas on people. The early-phase clinical-trial results are a promising sign of greater cooperation between scientists and clinicians.
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News |
Surprise diagnoses for research volunteers
Test scans of the abdomen and brain show high rates of abnormalities.
- Janelle Weaver
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News |
Strategy to fight HIV shapes up
A way to nail down the shape of a viral protein segment could spur vaccine development.
- Alla Katsnelson
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News |
Stem cells: A legal round table
Our expert panel examines the recent stem cell injunction from all angles.
- Meredith Wadman
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Article |
Origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum in gorillas
The evolutionary origin of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum has been much debated. Genetic analysis of a large number of faecal samples from wild-living African apes now shows that Plasmodium parasites from Western gorillas are most closely related to the human parasite. The data suggest that human P. falciparum evolved from a gorilla parasite after a single host transfer event.
- Weimin Liu
- , Yingying Li
- & Beatrice H. Hahn
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Research Highlights |
Neuroscience: No brain pain control
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News & Views |
Inflammation for growth
How does a Salmonella pathogen outcompete beneficial intestinal microorganisms? It triggers an immune response that generates a compound from intestinal gas that it can utilize as an energy source. See Article p. 426
- Samuel I. Miller
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News |
Statistics spark dismissal suit
Fired researcher's allegations of misconduct prompt university to investigate vaccine trial.
- Emma Marris
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News |
Temporary reprieve for stem cells
Scientists face a rollercoaster ride as the NIH rushes to distribute funds.
- Meredith Wadman
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Editorial |
A destabilizing force
Public allegations threaten the impartiality of misconduct inquiries.
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News |
US stem-cell chaos felt abroad
Court ruling endangers international partnerships.
- Meredith Wadman
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Letter |
Clinical efficacy of a RAF inhibitor needs broad target blockade in BRAF-mutant melanoma
PLX4032 is a selective inhibitor of the B-RAF protein that has shown promising results in an early clinical trial in melanoma patients with an activating mutation in B-RAF. Now the structure and function of this inhibitor are described. Translational data from a phase I trial show that clinical efficacy requires a substantial degree of inhibition of the ERK pathway downstream of B-RAF. The data also show that BRAF-mutant melanomas are highly dependent on B-RAF activity.
- Gideon Bollag
- , Peter Hirth
- & Keith Nolop
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News |
Stem-cell work thrown into limbo
US district-court ruling suspends federal funding for research involving human embryonic stem cells.
- Meredith Wadman
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News |
US court suspends research on human embryonic stem cells
Effects of injunction against Obama administration's stem-cell policy still unclear.
- Alla Katsnelson
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Books & Arts |
Long view of the Human Genome Project
A bold attempt to tell the complicated story behind the human DNA sequence highlights that social change is needed before personalized medicine can take off, finds Jan Witkowski.
- Jan Witkowski
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Letter |
Branched tricarboxylic acid metabolism in Plasmodium falciparum
A central hub of carbon metabolism is the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle, which serves to connect the processes of glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, respiration, amino acid synthesis and other biosynthetic pathways. These authors show that TCA metabolism in the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum is largely disconnected from glycolysis and is organized along a fundamentally different architecture — not cyclic, but branched — from the canonical textbook pathway.
- Kellen L. Olszewski
- , Michael W. Mather
- & Manuel Llinás
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Highlights |
Opportunities: The National Institutes of Health
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News |
'Tough' chief to defend MRC
John Savill will helm the UK Medical Research Council.
- Daniel Cressey
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Career Brief |
Women's health grants
NIH programme aims to help junior researchers gain independence.
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Research Highlights |
Public health: HIV blocker
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News |
Therapeutic HIV vaccines show promise
Clinical trials hint that treatment strategy is not a dead end.
- Alison Abbott
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Research Highlights |
Stem cells: Blood source
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Outlook |
A call for collaboration
Specialization has its place, but truly innovative advances in HIV research usually come from interdisciplinary efforts, reports Unmesh Kher.
- Unmesh Kher
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News |
Universities shun Europe's drug initiative
Intellectual-property rules push researchers away.
- Natasha Gilbert
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Editorial |
The needs of the few
Developing drugs for rare diseases is a challenge that requires new regulatory flexibility.
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Editorial |
A dangerous precedent
A legal challenge to US stem-cell policy poses a serious threat to the federal funding system.
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News |
NIH may open access to clinical facility
Outside investigators could pay to use the Clinical Center's state-of-the-art resources.
- Meredith Wadman
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News |
Russia pushes for domestic drug development
But building a complex industry from scratch won't be easy.
- Alla Katsnelson
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Editorial |
Order from chaos
Much tighter regulations are needed to reap the full benefits of stem-cell treatments.
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News Feature |
Profile: The field medic
When emergencies happen in remote settings, field researchers can be left with little recourse. Erik Vance meets a man trying to change that.
- Erik Vance
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News |
Strong medicine for French research
The medical-research adviser to France's president aims to shift power and money to universities.
- Declan Butler
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Correspondence |
Gender agenda: let's track women's trial participation
- Angela Ballantyne
- & Wendy Rogers
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