Life Sciences : In The News

Surgeons at the University of Pennsylvania fix a patient's sleep apnea with a procedure involving robots, according to NPR.

At 32, it just didn't make sense that Daniel Sheiner was exhausted literally from the moment he woke up. "It didn't get any better over the course of the day, and I knew that was not normal," Sheiner says.

A sleep study confirmed Sheiner had one of the worst cases of apnea his doctors had ever seen. After trying a number of different treatments, his doctors finally tried a surgery using robots to treat his stubborn apnea � with positive results.



Source: NPR
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A new study by Thomas Jefferson University researchers finds that spontaneous cessation of smoking may signal the onset of lung cancer, according to The Washington Post.

A provocative, though small, study suggests that the very act of quitting smoking may be a symptom of not-yet-diagnosed lung cancer.

That's the curious conclusion reached by a team of researchers led by Barbara Campling at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia when they surveyed 115 lung cancer patients, all of them current or former smokers, at the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Source: The Washington Post
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Chester County based biotech company Morphotek is halfway toward completion of a $40 million manufacturing pilot plant.

In April 2010 Morphotek broke ground to build a 60,000-square-foot manufacturing pilot plant for its drugs in clinical trials. The project is currently at the halfway point with completion expected in October.

The new pilot drug plant is a true Chester County project. It was designed by Arcus Design Group of Uwchlan and is being built by HCS Builders of West Whiteland.

Morphotek will use the new space to produce experimental cancer-fighting drugs used in early stage clinical trials.

Morphotek, which has 200 employees now, expects to add 30 to 50 more in 2012, Morphotek President Philip Sass said.

Source: The Mercury
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According to Professor Michael Oshinsky of Thomas Jefferson University, if you really want help overcoming a hangover--drink a cup of coffee with an aspirin.

Scientists have confirmed what millions have suspected for years if you want to soothe a tired head - simply take some caffeine and a painkiller.

A University of Pennsylvania scientist co-authored a research paper that sheds new light on the previously dismissed wing colors of many insects, reports Gizmodo.

Generations of biologists seem to have missed this partly because they didn't look for it, and partly because the colors are most evident against a dark background. Against a white background, they're invisible - which is exactly how most entomologists study transparent wings.

"You hold the wing up against the light, so you can see the veins," said study co-author Daniel Janzen, an evolutionary ecologist at the University of Pennsylvania. "If you're looking through a microscope, you try to get a clear view behind the wing. It's the antithesis of getting wing color."

Original source: Gizmodo
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A locally led study suggests the kind of formula babies drink has a major ipmact on weight gain and could impact future risk of developing obesity, diabetes and other health issues, reports U.S. News and World Report.

"Events early in life have long-term consequences on health, and one of the most significant influences is early growth rate," study lead author Julie Mennella, a developmental psychobiologist at Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, said in a news release from the center. "We already know that formula-fed babies gain more weight than breast-fed babies. But we didn't know whether this was true for all types of formula."

In a study published online Dec. 27 in the journal Pediatrics, researchers assigned 2-week-old bottle-fed babies to either take a formula based on cow's milk (35 babies) or a protein hydrolysate-based formula (24 babies). The infants drank the formula for seven months. Both had the same amount of calories but the cow's milk-based formula had less protein.

Those who drank the cow's milk-based formula gained weight faster, more than babies typically do on breast milk.

Original source: U.S. News and World Report
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A study authored by Drexel University's Joke Bradt says listening to music appears to have a calming effect on hospital patients, reports Reuters.

Each year, more than 300,000 Americans are put on mechanical ventilation in intensive care units across the country, many recovering from a serious accident, surgery, cancer, or any number of life-threatening events.

Ventilators make it difficult -- if not impossible -- for them to communicate their needs, or ask questions about their treatment or survival chances. connected to breathing machines, reports Reuters.

While the reason music works is still unclear, Bradt said in an e-mail to Reuters Health, it might provide a distraction, or somehow communicate with the brain regions responsible for emotional regulation.

Original source: Reuters
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The Scientist takes a quick look at the historic discovery of the genetic underpinnings of cancer, courtesy of Philly's finest some 50 years ago.

In 1956, Peter Nowell joined the University of Pennsylvania faculty and began what he calls "poorly defined studies of leukemia." By rinsing blood cells with tap water before staining and mounting them on a microscope slide, Nowell inadvertently caused the cells to swell and flatten, and most importantly, disrupted their mitotic spindle�allowing him to visualize their chromosomes more easily.

Nowell teamed up with David Hungerford, a PhD student at the nearby Fox Chase Cancer Center, and together they detected that a chunk seemed to be missing from chromosome 22 in the leukocytes of CML patients. They published their findings in 1960, and the shortened chromosome was named after the city where it was discovered. But their suggestion that the aberration itself was causing the cells to proliferate abnormally met with a less-than-enthusiastic reception, recalls Nowell. One reviewer even said that the observation probably had no relevance to the clinical disease.

Original source: The Scientist
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Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified genetic changes that may heighten the risk of developing the eating disorder anorexia, reports MSNBC.

Studies done on twins have led researchers to believe that anorexia is highly heritable, and that genes could account for more than half of a person's susceptibility to the condition. However, few genes have been implicated as risk factors, the genetic underpinnings of anorexia have remained, for the most part, unknown.

To solve the mystery, (CHOP Center for Applied Genomics Director Dr. Hakon) Hakonarson and his colleagues scanned the genomes of 1,003 people with anorexia (whose average age was 27), and compared them with the genomes of 3,733 children (whose average age was 13) who did not have anorexia. While it's possible that some of the children might later develop anorexia, the number would be so small that it would be unlikely to impact the analysis, Hakonarson said.

The researchers found a few spots along the genome where the two groups differed. These so-called single-nucleotide polymorphisms, or SNPs could play a role in the genetic underpinnings of the disease.

Original source: MSNBC
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Drexel University's Plasma Institute, the nation's larges such research center, is moving its laboratories to Camden's Waterfront Technology Center, reports The Philadelphia Inquirer.

"We don't think of the [Pennsylvania-New Jersey] border as significant," said Mark Greenberg, Drexel's provost. "We're a region here."

By all accounts, New Jersey has welcomed Drexel's interest. For example, the Plasma Institute's labs on the entire fifth floor of the Waterfront Technology Center were built at no cost to Drexel, with $3.5 million coming from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and $1.5 million from the federal Economic Development Administration. The institute also received $158,355 toward its 10-year lease from the $175 million fund that came with the 2002 state takeover of Camden.

The institute was crowded out of its space at 34th Street and Lancaster Avenue in Philadelphia, according to its director, Alexander Fridman. But it also was attracted to working in the same building as the Applied Communications and Information Networking (ACIN) program, a business incubator Drexel started in Camden several years ago to develop technologies and products for military use.

Original source: The Philadelphia Inquirer
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Richard Woodward, currently working on University City Science Center startup Vascular Magnetics, Inc., and a veteran of 16 other startups, has been named Rowan University's VenturePreneur in Residence, reports the Courier-Post.

Bringing in mentors with hands-on experience makes education more meaningful, says Niranjan Pati, dean of the Rohrer College of Business at Rowan.

"His (Woodward's) interaction will immensely benefit our students in terms of gaining practical insights to make great business plans even better."

Woodward holds a Ph.D. in molecular cell biology. His father worked for the phone company and his mother studied nursing while yearning to be a flight attendant.

Original source: The Courier-Post
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Our sister publication Keystone Edge writes about Malvern biopharmacetucial startup Recro Pharma, among the new breed of companies presenting at the annual Biotech 2010 conference in Philadelphia.

There's no denying that the down economy has been rough for the life sciences sector. When industry news website FiercePharma listed the 10 companies that laid off the most workers in 2009, seven firms on the list had a presence in the Keystone State. But Chris Molineaux, president of the statewide advocacy group Pennsylvania Bio that is hosting its annual Biotech 2010 event next week, says the upheaval of Big Pharma represents a new model for the industry.

No longer will huge companies try to do every task under one corporate banner, Molineaux says. Already, it's increasingly common to outsource tasks like information technology, financing and the administrative aspects of clinical drug trials. Researchers remain in-house or come to a company through an acquisition.

"It's going to be more of a patchwork. We're not going to have 15 large pharmaceutical companies," Molineaux says. "We'll probably have 50 medium-sized pharmaceutical companies and dozens of these smaller contractors."

Original source: Keystone Edge
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Nurses at Thomas Jefferson University hospitals in Philadelphia will be able to solve practice problems, promote quality improvement and conduct research projects through a new evidence-based practice model, reports Nurse.com.

Jefferson's Evidence-Based Practice and Research Staff Nurse Leadership Committee is overseeing the model's implementation.

"By using evidence-based practice, staff nurses can develop important skills to design and implement clinical projects that improve nurse-sensitive and patient outcome indicators," Meg Bourbonniere, RN, PhD, Jefferson's vice president for nursing research, said in a news release.

Original source: Nurse.com
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A Temple University study has found that a small electrical shock to certain parts of the brain could improve memory, reports Britain's Daily Telegraph.

If developed it could provide treatment for stroke victims as well as people whose memory fades through other ailments or even old age.

"We know a lot about how to make people's memory worse, but we don't know very much about how to make people's memory better," said Ingrid Olson, a psychologist who led the study.

Original source: Daily Telegraph
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The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has found new hope for babies and toddlers suffering from neuroblastoma, a rare but deadly cancer, in a pair of studies, reports USA Today.

Both therapies offer better, safer treatments for the disease, and belong to the emerging field of "personalized" cancer therapy, with medications tailored to the specific genetic profiles of a patient's tumor, says co-author John Maris of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

A study of 226 children focused on an experimental, man-made antibody, called ch14.18, given as a cocktail with other immune stimulants. Doctors randomly assigned half of children to get standard care and half to receive the new antibody, according to the study in today's New England Journal of Medicine.

Original source: USA Today
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