Dr. Lorenz Studer was part of a team of researchers from MSK and Weill Cornell that screened over 1,000 FDA-approved drugs and traditional medicines to determine which, if any, could block the Zika Virus in human fetal brain cells. The team found that the compound hippeastrine hydrobromide, an active ingredient of the medicinal plant Lycoris radiata (red spider lily), was able to not only block the infection in the fetal brain cells, but also eliminated preexisting Zika infection. The compound also showed promise in infected brains of adult mice.
Patient Derived Tumor Xenograft Models New to the Catalog!
Patient Derived Tumor Xenograft Models: Promise, Potential and Practice, which features several contributors from MSK, offers guidance on how to conduct PDX modeling and trials.
This resource also features
- Guidance on data interpretation and regulatory aspects
- Useful techniques and strategies for working with PDX models
- Practical tools and potential pitfalls for best practices
- All knowledge of PDX models research in one resource
- Results of first ever global survey on standards of PDX development and usage in academia and industry
Patient Derived Tumor Xenograft Models: Promise, Potential and Practice may be found in our eJournal A-Z listing or by searching Summon.
July Picks – Complex Questions Without Easy Answers!
The Curious Case of Motherhood and Longevity subtitled “Why do studies of the effects of reproduction on a woman’s body come to such wildly different conclusions?” was published earlier this month on Undark. In it, Olivia Campbell explores this complicated topic and talks with researchers about the factors involved. While many news stories gloss over the contradictory findings on the costs and benefits of reproduction for women Campbell is clear that, “We want the answer to be simple, but it just isn’t”.
Technology is Biased Too. How Do We Fix it? Turning to algorithms to avoid human error is problematic since human bias is built into technology. On FiveThirtyEight, Laura Hudson, discusses some research into how automated systems reinforce prejudice and why it is difficult to fix them.
From Science, two recent items related to sticky subjects…. Sci-Hub and Science Funding through the NIH:
- Sci-Hub’s cache of pirated papers in so big, subscription journals are doomed, data analyst suggests discusses this study in PeerJ.
- Relatively few NIH Grantees get Lion’s Share of Agency’s Funding refers to this study from the Berkman Klein Center.