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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Researchers identify first gene involved in adolescent brain development
December 19, 2013 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Researchers at the Douglas Institute Research Centre, affiliated with McGill University, have isolated a gene, DCC, which is responsible for dopamine connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex during adolescence. Working with mice models, they have shown that…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Groundbreaking discovery in deadly childhood cancer
December 18, 2013 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – A new study by Canadian researchers may pave the way for more effective treatment of an aggressive and deadly type of brain tumour, known as ETMR/ETANTR. The tumour, which is seen only in children under four, is…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Synchrotron research examines novel antibiotic approach
December 9, 2013 by Lab Canada Saskatoon, SK – A successful collaboration between the Canadian Light Source (CLS) and the University of Saskatchewan (U of S) will provide valuable research for treating difficult urinary tract infections (UTI). Veterinarian Dr. Patricia Dowling and CLS industrial scientist Julie…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
High-risk gene for Alzheimer’s impacts brain from childhood
December 4, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – People who carry a high-risk gene for Alzheimer’s disease show changes in their brains starting in childhood – decades before the illness appears – according to new research from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Researchers inhibit tumour growth in colorectal cancer
December 3, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Scientists and surgeons at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered a promising new approach to treating colorectal cancer by disarming the gene that drives self-renewal in stem cells that are the root cause of disease, resistance to…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Chemical dispersants less harmful than thought: study
December 3, 2013 by Lab Canada Kingston, ON – The chemical dispersant used to counteract the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 may not be as harmful to fish as first thought, says new research from Queen’s University professor Peter Hodson…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Tumour-on-a-chip technology impacts cancer research
November 18, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – A two-year collaboration between two labs at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) has led to the development of a new microfluidics screening platform that can accurately predict the way nanoparticles will…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Some oils may actually increase risk of heart disease
November 13, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto and London, ON – A new analysis in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) shows that some vegetable oils that claim to be healthy may actually increase the risk of heart disease, and Health Canada should reconsider cholesterol-lowering claims on…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Combining herpes with chemo can help fight cancer
November 12, 2013 by Lab Canada Hamilton, ON – Combining a herpes virus with chemotherapy is showing promise in killing cancer cells and tumours in mice, two McMaster University studies have found. Led by Sam Workenhe, a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Karen Mossman, chair…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Thin, active invisibility cloak demonstrated for first time
November 12, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – An ‘invisibility’ cloak that is thin, scalable and adaptive to different types and sizes of objects has been demonstrated by two researchers in the Edward S. Rogers Sr. Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering at the University…
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BiologyLaboratoryResearch Results
Synchrotron light monitors arsenic in mine-tailings site
October 29, 2013 by Lab Canada Saskatoon, SK – Amphibians living in an old mine tailings site near Upper Seal Harbour, Nova Scotia, show high levels of arsenic after being tested using synchrotron light, leading scientists to believe these animals could be the canary in the…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Novel screening method aids in antibiotic discovery
October 21, 2013 by Lab Canada Hamilton, ON – In the battle against antibiotic resistant bacteria, researchers at McMaster University have found resistance itself is a successful pathway for discovering new antibiotic drugs. “In essence, we’ve made resistance useful instead of a scary problem,” said Gerry…
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LaboratoryMaterials ScienceResearch Results
Want ripples on your icicles? Scientists suggest adding salt
October 15, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Though it’s barely the beginning of autumn, scientists at the University of Toronto are one step closer to explaining why winter’s icicles form with Michelin Man-like ripples on their elongated shapes. Experimental physicist Stephen Morris and PhD…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Weather patterns play significant role in seasonal flu
September 13, 2013 by Lab Canada Hamilton, ON – Influenza is like a cloud, moving across Canada with the fall weather, McMaster University researchers have found. They have established that the spread of seasonal flu in Canada is tied to low temperature and low humidity and…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Early-onset Parkinson’s disease linked to genetic deletion
September 10, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Scientists at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and University Health Network (UHN) have found a new link between early-onset Parkinson’s disease and a piece of DNA missing from chromosome 22. The findings help shed…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
DNA cages may aid drug delivery
September 3, 2013 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – A study by researchers at McGill University marks a step toward the use of biological nanostructures to deliver drugs to diseased cells in patients. The findings, which focus on nanoscale ‘cages’ made from strands of DNA that…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
RNA double helix structure identified using synchrotron light
August 27, 2013 by Lab Canada Saskatoon, SK – When Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, it began a genetic revolution to map, study, and sequence the building blocks of living organisms. DNA encodes the genetic…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Virus-derived particles target blood cancer
August 20, 2013 by Lab Canada Ottawa, ON – Researchers have developed special virus-derived particles that can kill human blood cancer cells in the laboratory and eradicate the disease in mice with few side effects. The study is published in Blood Cancer Journal by co-senior authors…
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AgriculturalLaboratoryResearch Results
Chemists discover 23 new molecules in red wine
August 20, 2013 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – Scientists have long espoused the health benefits of red wine. Now University of British Columbia chemists have discovered 23 new molecules that could mean there are even more virtues in vino. Associate professor Cédric Saucier, who runs…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Researchers find best stem cells for bone marrow transplants
August 11, 2013 by Lab Canada Hamilton, ON – McMaster University researchers have discovered the location of human blood stem cells that may improve bone marrow transplants. The best stem cells are at the ends of the bone. It is hoped this discovery will lead to…
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BiologyLaboratoryResearch Results
Monarch butterfly generations tracked through migration
August 11, 2013 by Lab Canada Guelph, ON – Biologists at the University of Guelph have for the first time mapped the migration pattern across the continent over an entire breeding season. That information might help conserve a creature increasingly threatened by loss of habitat and…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Genome of HeLa cell line now released to scientists
August 9, 2013 by Lab Canada Bethesda, MD – The first study to sequence and analyze the entire genome of a HeLa cell line, along with access to its sequence data, was published August 7 in its final version, by G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics, an open-access, scientific journal…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
PTEN discovery provides knowledge to individualize treatment
August 9, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – Scientists at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre have discovered a function of the tumour suppressor gene PTEN that helps explain why certain promising therapies fail in many cancer patients, a finding that could aid in delivering tailored,…
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BiologyLaboratoryResearch Results
Bird vaccine may halt West Nile Virus
August 1, 2013 by Lab Canada Vancouver, BC – University of British Columbia researchers have developed a vaccine that may halt the spread of West Nile Virus (WNV) among common and endangered bird species. WNV, a mosquito borne pathogen, arrived in North America in 1999 and…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
3-D look at prions may help find cure to brain diseases
August 1, 2013 by Lab Canada Edmonton, AB – Researchers at the University of Alberta have collaborated to create antibodies for a leading prion study in Switzerland and created a 3-D image showing where those antibodies bind to the prion molecule. That will help design the…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Checklist avoids flaws in preclinical animal research
July 29, 2013 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – Only 11% of drugs that enter clinical trials in humans are ultimately found safe and effective enough to receive regulatory approval. One possible reason for this dismal success rate is flawed preclinical animal research. A number of…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Pressurized virus blasts its infectious DNA into human cells
July 24, 2013 by Lab Canada Pittsburgh, PA – The virus that causes those painful lip blisters known as cold sores has an internal pressure eight times higher than a car tire, and uses it to literally blast its infectious DNA into human cells, scientists are…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Wildfires projected to get more common, harder to control
July 22, 2013 by Lab Canada Edmonton, AB – Devastating wildfires the likes of which razed Slave Lake in 2011 will become more common and tougher to control, according to new study from researchers at the University of Alberta. The study appears in a special issue…
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LaboratoryResearch Results
Team obtains ground-breaking measurements using IR light
July 14, 2013 by Lab Canada Saskatoon, SK – Scientists at the Canadian Light Source (CLS) have obtained high-resolution measurements in the infrared (IR) spectrum that they say could change the way research is conducted using synchrotron light. CLS spectroscopist Brant Billinghurst said he and his…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Discovery maps cell growth processes
July 14, 2013 by Lab Canada Toronto, ON – A discovery regarding how normal cells communicate and control their growth has been made by researchers in Dr. Anthony Pawson’s lab at the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital. The novel findings have the potential to better…
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LaboratoryLife SciencesResearch Results
Novel research model discovered for auto-immune disease study
July 5, 2013 by Lab Canada Montreal, QC – A team of researchers at the IRCM, led by Dr. Javier M. Di Noia in the Immunity and Viral Infections research division, discovered a novel research model for the study of auto-immune diseases. The scientists are the…
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LaboratoryResearch Results