The Daily Scan

UCLA Group Turns Skin Cells Into Embryonic Cells

FuturePundit: UCLA Group Turns Skin Cells Into Embryonic Cells.

"Confirming work reported a few months ago by other researchers, a group at UCLA have demonstrated that adult human skin cells can be reprogrammed to act like embryonic stem cells."

"This research helps to get around the opposition to embryonic stem cell research. But these results also demonstrate progress in understanding cellular differentiation. Scientists first had to discover genes that play a role keeping cells in the embryonic state before they could know how to turn very differentiated (specialized) cells into much more flexible wider purpose cells"

Dr. Frank Dixon, 87; molecular biology pioneer founded Scripps Research Institute

Digital Pathology blog: Dr. Frank Dixon, 87; molecular biology pioneer founded Scripps Research Institute.

"Dr. Frank Dixon, an immunologist who pioneered the use of radiolabeling in molecular biology, who was among the first to explain how autoimmune diseases worked and who founded the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, died Friday at his home in the San Diego community of La Jolla Shores. He was 87."

Joshua Lederberg dies

The Scientist: Joshua Lederberg dies.

"Joshua Lederberg, Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist who shaped the field of bacterial genetics, and served as chair of The Scientist's advisory board since 1986, died on Saturday (February 2). He was 82."

RNA screen helps reveal what makes a cancer cell tick

Ars Technica: RNA screen helps reveal what makes a cancer cell tick.

"A couple of papers appeared in last week's edition of Science that looked at the same problem: how do you identify the genes that help keep a cancer cell dividing? It's the uncontrolled division that makes these cells dangerous, and blocking that is the goal of cancer therapeutics. The papers used a clever approach to answering it, and came to some interesting conclusions."

Biomarker CCSA-2 Shows High Sensitivity and Specificity for Colorectal Cancer

Medscape: Biomarker CCSA-2 Shows High Sensitivity and Specificity for Colorectal Cancer. 

"Colon-cancer-specific antigen-2 (CCSA-2) is a serum-based biomarker that can potentially be used for detecting the presence of colon cancer. According to preliminary research presented at the 2008 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium, CCSA-2 has a specificity of 80.1% and sensitivity of 91.3% for colon cancer."