Biodegradable Nanoparticles of mPEG-PLGA-PLL Triblock Copolymers as Novel Non-Viral Vectors for Improving siRNA Delivery and Gene Silencing
The gene silencing efficiency of mPEG-PLGA-PLL NPs is shown to be higher than that of commercially available transfecting agent Lipofectamine, while showing no cytotoxicity. The purpose of this work was to synthesize the novel biodegradable mPEG-PLGA-PLL NPs encapsulating siRNA, and examine the physical properties of NPs and in vitro siRNA release profile from NPs.

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Foundation Medicine and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Identify Novel Genomic Alterations in Lung and Colorectal Cancer
Findings highlight clinical application of next-generation sequencing to suggest targeted therapeutic options for patients.

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Diffusion Pharmaceuticals Begins Clinical Trial for Treatment of Primary Brain Cancer
Company announced clinical trial testing of its lead drug candidate trans sodium crocetinate (TSC) as a first-line treatment for newly diagnosed primary brain cancer, also known as glioblastoma or GBM.

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BioSante Pharmaceuticals Reports Positive LibiGel Safety Data Review for Phase III Program
BioSante Pharmaceuticals Reports Positive LibiGel Safety Data Review for Phase III Program.

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Syndax Pharmaceuticals Announces Entinostat Enhanced Activity of Cancer Immunotherapies
Data highlights novel immunomodulatory effects of entinostat in renal and prostate cancer models.

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Results From Phase I Clinical Trials Demonstrate Positive Safety Data of AVI BioPharma's RNA-Based Therapeutics
AVI BioPharma, Inc. have announced positive safety results from all six dose cohorts in the single ascending dose studies of AVI-6002 and AVI-6003, AVI's lead drug candidates being evaluated for the treatment of Ebola virus and Marburg virus, respectively.

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Anacor Pharmaceuticals Announces Preliminary Results from Two Safety Studies
AN2728 studies provide positive results, ointment well tolerated on large body surfaces and sensitive skin.

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Compugen Cancer Target Results Demonstrate Significant Potential for Cancer Immunotherapy
Findings support CGEN-15001T's potential as a powerful drug target for cancer immunotherapy.

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Molecular Insight Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Presents Human Data on Detection of Metastatic Prostate Cancer
The company's molecular imaging of metastatic prostate cancer in bone and soft tissue uses their new 99mTc-radiolabeled compounds.

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UA Awarded National Cancer Research Grant
The $600,000 grant will fund the Center for Targeted Cancer Therapies, created in 2002 to discover new therapies to treat pancreatic cancer.

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OGT Signs Licensing Deal for Colorectal Cancer Biomarkers
OGT has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Inven2.

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Expression Analysis Announces RNA-SEQ Grant Program
EA teams with Golden Helix and Illumina to offer three fully-funded grants for RNA-Seq studies.

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Debiopharm and Curis Announce Initiation of Phase Ib Expansion Study of Debio 0932
Company expects to initiate a combination Phase I/II study in NSCLC patients in the second quarter of 2012.

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PRECOS to Unveil New Service Portfolio at Cancer Targets & Therapeutics and AACR 2012
2012 conference examines new and emerging targets and therapeutics in the area of cancer research.

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PRECOS Appoints Dr Martin Page as Scientific Consultant
Appointment reinforces the ambition of PRECOS to contribute to the growing cancer therapy market.

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Sol-Gel Signs $27 M Deal for Dermatology Drug Delivery
Company has entered into a second development and licensing agreement with a leading U.S. pharmaceutical company.

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Critical Pharmaceuticals and The University of Nottingham to Develop Nano-Enabled Nasal Spray for Osteoporosis
The Technology Strategy Board and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) provide grant funding to support the £545,000 project.

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EPI Collaborates with the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
EPI collaborates on Liquid Tissue® personalized medicine assays in lung cancer treatment.

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The Gamida Cell-Teva Joint Venture Concludes Enrollment for the Phase III Study of StemEx(R)
The results of the StemEx study, a cord blood stem cell product for leaukemia and lymphoma, are expected during the second half of 2012.

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Jubilant and Endo Pharmaceuticals Announce Discovery Program Success
Jubilent announced an early stage milestone in one of their collaborative programs with Chadds Ford, Pa., USA-based Endo Pharmaceuticals that has nominated a candidate into full development.

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Automation of a Generic Fluorescence Methyltransferase Activity Assay
BioTek Instruments

Epigenetic processes are attracting considerable attention in drug discovery as their fundamental roles in controlling normal cell development and contributions to disease states become more clearly defined. This work combines a fluorescence-based assay with liquid handling and dispensing instrumentation and a multi-mode reader which can be used to monitor the biological activity of the histone methyltransferase (HMT) G9a, a model system.

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UBS109, a novel curcumin analogue, promotes apoptosis in Head and Neck cancer cells through activating death receptor signaling pathway
Emory Chemical Biology Discovery Center

UBS109, a new curcumin analogue, exhibited a potent anticancer activity, inhibiting colony formation and cancer cell growth in vitro, and tumor growth in a xenograft animal model in vivo. 2. UBS109 rapidly blocks the NF-?B signaling pathway through the

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miREC: A database of miRNAs involved in endometrial cancer
Life Sciences

The miREC database integrates public data about miRNAs and their target genes involved in the development of EAC in human, collected from recent literature. In future versions the database will be complemented with information derived by analyzing our in-house data and new published data by other researchers. The miREC database is the first database that focuses on integrating all available information about genes and miRNAs involved in endometrial cancer.

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MicroRNA expression in normal and malignant prostate tissues
University of Skövde

In this study the aim was to identify a miRNA expression signature that could be used to separate between normal and malignant prostate tissues. Nine miRNAs were found to be differentially expressed and they could be used to separate between the normal and malignant tissues. A cross-validation procedure confirmed the generality of this expression signature, showing an accuracy of 85%.

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Repurposing Drugs for the Treatment of Multi-Drug Resistant Breast Cance
National University of Ireland, Galway

In this study, the Johns Hopkins Clinical Compound Library, containing approximately 1,500 FDA and foreign-approved clinical compounds, was used to screen a multi-drug resistant, triple negative breast cancer cell line for drug sensitivity.

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Intronic polymorphisms in Daucus carota AOX2b generate putative genotype specific miRNA
University of Évora

A study in the carrot alternative oxidase gene DcAOX2b from several individual plant genotypes of D. carota cv. Rotin revealed the frequent occurrence of intron length polymorphisms (ILPs). Here we will present an in silico analysis performed in order to identify putative miRNA sites at three different sizes of intron 1. The overall research approach aims to develop functional marker candidates for carrot plant breeding.

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A high-throughput colony formation assay for profiling novel compounds and RNAi reagents using the Acumen® eX3
TTP Labtech Ltd

Cell colony formation assays measure a cell's ability to grow unattached to a surface and have applications in a range of areas including hematopoietic stem cell research, cell transformation studies and the prediction of responses of tumors to chemotherapeutic agents. The results of this study demonstrated that Acumen eX3 can be used as a high-throughput platform for investigation of effects of test compounds and RNAi reagents on cell colony formation.

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Altering microRNA miR-15a/16 Levels as Potential Therapy in CLL: Extrapolating from the de novo NZB Mouse Model
University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey

Expression of miR15a/16-1 was increased using lentiviral delivery (in vitro and in vivo) or by BSAP knockdown to inhibit B-CLL malignancy.

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Demethylation and Re-Expression of Tumor Suppressor Genes: A Novel Approach for Cancer Therapy
Boston University School of Medicine, Cancer Center

In this study, we demonstrated that a combination therapy using suboptimal doses of HDACi and calpeptin, an inhibitor of calpain, produced synergistic type growth inhibition and reduced cancer cell motility in cancer cells. We hypothesize that the re-expression of tumor suppressor genes by demethylation and other mechanisms sensitize the cells and allows for apoptotic death.

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Targeted gene silencing of the MAPK pathway in acute myeloid leukemia cells using RNAi
Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia

This study explores the potential of multiple gene knockdown in acute myeloid leukemia of pivotal genes controlling the MAPK pathway using RNA interference. Results demonstrate that blocking a major signaling pathway is more complicated than just knocking down the expression of a few genes.

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Dual-Glo Luciferase Reporter-Gene Assay on the SpectraMax M5, LMax II384 and Analyst GT Microplate Readers
Molecular Devices

Reporter-gene assays are used to study eukaryotic gene expression. Dual genetic reporters are commonly used in transient transfections of cultured cells to minimize experimental variability. Recently, Promega introduced a Dual-Glo Lucoferase assay system which replaced the outdated ‘flash’ assays used previously. Ensuring both genetic reporters have different substrate requirements enables them to be detected using a single reaction mixture.

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Sequence-Specific DNA Assay
Molecular Devices

The Threshold® system from Molecular Devices, together with the Immuno Ligand Assay (ILA) kit can be used to measure specific DNA sequences. Biotinylated or fluorescienated oligonucleotide probes, specific to the target sequence, anneal to the digested target DNA creating a probe-target hybrid which can then be detected and quantified against a standard curve, with pleasing results.

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Measurement of Proteasome Inhibition in Live Cells in Molecular Devices Microplate Fluorometers
Molecular Devices

The proteasome is a massive protein complex which can recognize and bind targeted proteins, and inject them into the central core where the proteins are successively degraded into short peptides. Whereas protein synthesis is well-understood after decades of study, major advances in our knowledge of protein degradation have occurred only in the last two decades.

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A Fast and Simple Method For Measuring P-Glycoprotein (Pgp) Inhibition
BMG Labtech

Pgp expression has been linked to the effl ux of chemotherapeutic drugs in human cancers leading to multidrug resistance. Pgp activity can also result in low oral absorption and poor brain penetration. Interaction of drugs with the Pgp may also cause an increase in toxicity of co-administered compounds.

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Validated Luminometric DLR™ Reporter Gene Assay with Thermo Scientific Varioskan® Flash
Thermo Fisher Scientific

One of the most common luminometric assays is Dual Luciferase® Reporter Assay from Promega corp. This application note shows how this assay is performed with Varioskan Flash multitechnology microplate reader. The note includes the performance of the normal DLR assay and results from some tests showing important aspects of the basic behaviour and performance of the DLR™ chemistry. This paper describes the overall efficiency of the Varioskan Flash in the measurement of DLR assay.

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FabRICATOR® - perfect F(ab?)2 fragments in minutes
Genovis

Fab and F(ab?)2 antibody fragments are used in applications or assays where the presence of the Fc region may cause problems. If antibodies are used for staining of a specific target in tissues like spleen, lymph or in peripheral blood preparations, cells with Fc receptors (macrophages, monocytes, natural killer cells and B lymphocytes) can bind to the Fc region of the antibody and cause a background staining in areas that do not contain any antigen. Fab and F(ab?)2 fragments are also desirable

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DNA Transfection with High Transfection Efficiency and Low Toxicity Using NIMT®FeOfection
Genovis

Transfection of DNA is used to analyze and study functions of genes, regulatory sequences and metabolism in living cells. To study cells and the effects of the gene transfer researchers need methods that give high transfection efficiencies, during a period of time and with low toxicity. Lipid based transfection agents often generates good transfection rates but with high toxicity. Here the novel NIMT®FeOfection transfection agents are tested for its ability to transfect different cell types and

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Efficient Delivery of siRNA in Human Renal Cell Carcinoma Cell Line Using NIMT®FeOfection | PURPLE
Genovis

Short interfering RNA (siRNA) transfection is an exciting new method for introducing foreign genetic information by inducing RNA interference. siRNA works by silencing key sequences on messenger RNA, which turns off specific genes by cleaving them on the RNA strand. For this process to work efficiently one of the key steps is delivery of the siRNA into cells. Here, novel siRNA delivery agent NIMT®FeOfection|PURPLE is tested for its ability to deliver siRNA.

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Knockdown of BACE-1, an Alzheimer’s Disease Drug Target, with NIMT®FeOfection|PURPLE
Genovis

Small interfering RNA (siRNA) has become a widely used tool over the past years in the study of gene function and shows potential for drug development. However, in vivo siRNA delivery is the major obstacle that has to be overcome. The commercial cationic lipid based transfection reagents are toxic to the cells and are not compatible for in vivo application.

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NIMT®FeOfection|PURPLE in siRNA Delivery into HEK293 Cells
Genovis

Short interfering RNA (siRNA) is used in many different applications to study gene silencing. For successful gene silencing the siRNA delivery method is crucial. An attentive delivery agent should stabilize the siRNA and give minimal background effects on cell viability and metabolism. NIMT®FeOfection|PURPLE is explored here for its siRNA delivery ability.

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