Insulin, Nutrition Found To Prevent Blood Stem Cell Differentiation In Fruit Flies
UCLA stem cell researchers have shown that insulin and nutrition keep blood stem cells from differentiating into mature blood cells in Drosophila, the common fruit fly, a finding that has implications for studying inflammatory response and blood development in response to dietary changes in humans. Keeping blood stem cells, or progenitor cells, from differentiating into blood cells is important as they are needed to create the blood supply for the adult fruit fly. The study found that the blood stem cells are receiving systemic signals from insulin and nutritional factors, in this case essential amino acids, that helped them to maintain their "stemness, " said study senior author Utpal Banerjee, professor and chairman of the molecular, cell and developmental biology department in Life Sciences and a researcher with the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine at UCLA.
Current Budget Climate Likely To Lead To Setbacks In Global Health Progress
The prospect of deep cuts in the federal budget threatens to reverse the dramatic progress of a bipartisan US commitment to defeat neglected diseases in developing countries, according to a new report releases by the Global Health Technologies Coalition (GHTC). Federal investments in global health research and development (R&D) programs that span multiple agencies have helped nurture an array of new vaccines, medicines, diagnostics, and other health products needed to combat diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis (TB), and childhood killers like pneumonia and diarrheal diseases.
Lab On A Chip Device Invented To Study Malaria
University of British Columbia researcher Hongshen Ma has developed a simple and accurate device to study malaria, a disease that currently affects 500 million people per year worldwide and claims a million lives. Spread by mosquitoes, malaria is caused by a tiny parasite that infects human red blood cells. Ma and his team designed a "lab on a chip" device to better understand the changes in red blood cells caused by Plasmodium falciparum, the most common species of malaria parasites. Ma explains the device will help those conducting laboratory research or clinical trials evaluate the efficacy of different compounds in treating malaria - a disease that is increasingly resistant to drugs.