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LaboratoryLife Sciences
BC researchers discover human breast stem cells that regrow mammary tissue
November 24, 2008 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – A team of scientists at the BC Cancer Agency have made an important advance for breast cancer. Published this week in the medical journal, Nature Medicine, the study shows that the normal female breast contains a population…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Ontario researchers play key role in identifying new colorectal cancer genes
November 24, 2008 by Lab Canada Ottawa, ON – Researchers from Ottawa and Toronto played a key role in an international team that identified four new genes for colorectal cancer. The discovery, published online in Nature Genetics on November 16, examined 38,710 genetic markers in 13,315…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Women under-represented in cardiac-related clinical trials, says study
October 28, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Women have successfully broken the glass ceiling in the boardroom, in politics, and on the home front. Is it now time for women to lobby for equal representation in research trials? According to the Heart and Stroke…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Vaccine to reduce E coli 0157 in cattle receives licensing approval
October 27, 2008 by Lab Canada Belleville, ON – Biopharmaceutical company Bioniche Life Sciences says its Econiche vaccine, which is designed to reduce the shedding by cattle of Escherichia coli (E coli) O157:H7, has received full licensing approval from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Econiche…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Research collaboration to focus on delivering siRNAs to disease sites
August 26, 2008 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Tekmira Pharmaceuticals says it has entered a research collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb in which Tekmira’s SNALP technology will be used to deliver small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) to specific organs and tissues outside of the liver. The relationship…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Scientists uncover the key to controlling how stem cells develop
August 7, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Canadian researchers are one step closer to controlling human embryonic stem cell differentiation thanks to the work of scientists Dr Cheryle Sguin and Dr Janet Rossant of the developmental and stem cell biology program at the Hospital…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Research institutes join in project to improve cancer target discovery
July 7, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – The Terry Fox Research Institute (TFRI) and the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) have launched a new joint cancer research project. The project, called the Selective Therapies Target Identification Program, will identify specific cancer molecules as…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
France-Quebec-Canada partnership to focus on Alzheimer’s research
July 7, 2008 by Lab Canada Laval, QC – The health research funding organizations of Quebec (the Fonds de la recherche en sant du Qubec, FRSQ), France (the Institut national de la sant et de la recherche mdicale, Inserm) and Canada (the Canadian Institutes of Health…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesNew Facilities
New supercomputer to speed cancer research
July 7, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – A new supercomputer – the second-most powerful in the country behind that of Environment Canada – recently launched at University Health Network will analyze millions of protein images in a search for more effective cancer treatments. Led…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences
Collaborative research database to benefit complementary and alternative medicine
March 31, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – The McGill University Health Centre Research Institute and the University of Calgary in collaboration with Centennial College are launching a searchable database of outcome measures intended for complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) researchers – the IN-CAM Outcomes…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Researchers identify a gene responsible for cases of Lou Gehrig’s
March 31, 2008 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – A team of Canadian and French researchers has identified a novel gene responsible for a significant fraction of ALS (sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) cases. ALS is commonly referred to as Lou Gehrig’s disease, an incurable neuromuscular disorder…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesTrends in Science & Research
Medical firsts at Canadian research hospitals tallied in new report
March 26, 2008 by Lab Canada Ottawa, ON – The Association of Canadian Academic Healthcare Organizations (ACAHO), the national voice of teaching hospitals, regional health authorities and their research institutes (collectively known as “research hospital”) has released a report entitled “Eureka! World First Discoveries and Other…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Research promising for cystic fibrosis
March 20, 2008 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – New University of Toronto research may hold promise for developing innovative therapies against cystic fibrosis and may also serve as a model for future therapies against the HIV virus. Led by Dr Igor Stagljar, University of Toronto…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
HIV breakthrough: Researchers identify protein that fights immunodeficiency
March 7, 2008 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Canada-US research team has solved a major genetic mystery: How a protein in some people’s DNA guards them against killer immune diseases such as HIV. In an advance online edition of Nature Medicine, the scientists explain how…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Pandemic flu vaccine provides 100% protection in mice at low doses
January 22, 2008 by Lab Canada Quebec City, QC – Biotechnology company Medicago says that, in a preclinical study, low doses of its H5N1 avian influenza virus-like particle (VLP) vaccine provided 100% protection in mice against a lethal challenge of live H5N1 viruses. In addition, the…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Canada’s first cloned pigs born at McGill
December 10, 2007 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers in McGill University’s department of animal science have successfully produced three litters of cloned pigs, a Canadian first that will eventually contribute to advancing biomedical research into human ailments such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease. “This…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Toronto discovery in novel stem cell transplant
November 12, 2007 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – University Health Network researcher Dr John Dick and Hospital for Sick Children collaborator Dr Jayne Danska have discovered a gene with properties allowing successful engraftment of stem cells from human bone marrow into mice. Researchers hope further…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Researchers use skin-derived stem cells to repair spinal cord injuries
September 10, 2007 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Researchers at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and the University of British Columbia (UBC) have used skin-derived stem cells to repair spinal cord injuries in rats. This research was made possible with the support of a…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife SciencesNew Technology & Applications
Grants support imaging research for cancer
August 20, 2007 by Lab Canada London, ON – A new grant program has given 11 scientists in London support in developing sophisticated imaging technology to detect cancer on a microscopic level. A $385,000 grant by Cancer Care Ontario (CCO) is being distributed through the Cancer…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Enzyme discovery sheds light on vitamin D
July 30, 2007 by Lab Canada Kingston, ON – Surprising findings by Queen’s University researchers have shed new light on how the vitamin D is broken down in the human body. “The effectiveness of vitamin D therapy is partly dependent on how quickly it will be…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Study uses ecology and evolution to model the rise of antibiotic resistance
July 30, 2007 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers at McGill and Oxford Universities have applied ecological and evolutionary theory to demonstrate how bacteria become resistant to antibiotics in hospitals. Their study, published in the July 25 online edition of Proceedings of the Royal Society…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
New proteomics research promises to revolutionize biomedical discovery
July 19, 2007 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Human cells function through the concerted action of thousands of proteins that control their growth and differentiation. Yet, the specific function of most human proteins remains either unknown or poorly characterized. Diseases being often due to aberrations…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Major new genome partnership to catalogue all common copy number variations
July 9, 2007 by Lab Canada Toronto, Boston, Hinxton – An international team will use high-density microarrays and new computer algorithms to improve the detection of variants in the human genome which are implicated in various diseases. The new systems are the foundation of Phase 2…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
New research uncovers fresh evidence linking genes to heart disease
May 7, 2007 by Lab Canada Ottawa, ON – Researchers at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute (UOHI) have identified a piece of the DNA sequence that boosts a person’s susceptibility to heart disease by up to 40% regardless of other established risks such as cholesterol,…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Key found to killing cystic fibrosis-related superbug
April 23, 2007 by Lab Canada London, ON – Researchers from the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at the University of Western Ontario, working with a group from Edinburgh, have discovered a way to kill the cystic fibrosis superbug, Burkholderia cenocepacia. The investigators, under the…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Scientists find major susceptibility genes for Crohn’s disease
April 16, 2007 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – A consortium of Canadian and American researchers led by Dr John Rioux, associate professor of medicine at the Montreal Heart Institute and the Universit de Montral, report in the April 15 online edition of Nature Genetics the…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Discovery may lead to ‘smart’ therapies for breast, ovarian cancer
March 19, 2007 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – A team of researchers at the University of British Columbia have found that a protein called podocalyxin – which the researchers had previously shown to be a predictor of metastatic breast cancer – changes the shape and…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Canadian team launches second phase of international autism genome project
February 19, 2007 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Fresh from their latest discovery and supported by $26.7 million in public and private funding, Canadian and international scientists have launched the second phase of a global scientific effort to map the genes responsible for causing autism.…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Scientists discover new compound that kills drug-resistant malaria
February 12, 2007 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Researchers at the Toronto General Research Institute and Ontario Cancer Institute have discovered a synthetic compound that targets and kills malaria parasites, including a drug-resistant strain. Scientists at the Centre for Molecular Design and Preformulations, at Toronto…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Canadian research collaboration produces food safety vaccine against E coli 0157:H7
January 11, 2007 by Lab Canada Belleville, ON – Biopharmaceutical company Bioniche Life Sciences says it is scaling up production of its cattle vaccine against E. coli 0157:H7 vaccine, in order to ensure sufficient supply to meet Canadian demand. The vaccine, which received received authorization from…
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LaboratoryLife Sciences
Probiotics help produce safer, healthier chickens, researchers discover
December 20, 2006 by Lab Canada Guelph, ON – Giving chickens probiotics – dietary supplements that contain live beneficial bacteria – stimulates their immune system and reduces the Salmonella bacteria in their gut by more than 99%, a University of Guelph professor and an Agriculture and…
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General Science & ResearchLaboratoryLife Sciences