prandd's blog
Vienna, 19th July 2007. The Alzheimer's vaccine known as Affitope AD01 from Affiris has now entered the clinical phase of its development. All relevant regulatory and statutory approvals have been secured and this innovative treatment is now being tested on humans for the first time. This development means that the 8.5 million-Euro venture capital finance agreement the company concluded with Munich-based MIG-Fonds in April 2006 has reached a key milestone on schedule. Up to 24 Alzheimer's patients are to be vaccinated, with the aim of this initial phase I trial being to demonstrate the vaccine's safety and its suitability for human use. The trial is being run at the Vienna General Hospital and is due to be completed within one year. If it can be successfully proven that the vaccine has a positive safety and suitability profile, the second stage of the clinical development process could begin as early as next year. The aim of this stage in clinical testing would be to demonstrate the vaccine's efficacy, a goal that no treatment anywhere in the world has yet achieved.
Three-stage procedures offer an optimal relationship between costs and benefits in analysing genetic influences in diseases and therapies, a fact that has major practical importance for the ever growing number of gene analyses. This finding from a current project by the Austrian Science Fund FWF was presented at the 5th International Conference on Multiple Comparison Procedures (MCP2007) in Vienna, which recently drew to a close. The conference, held at the Medical University, focused on the increasingly important issue of boosting the efficiency of medical studies in statistical terms.
"Wie funktioniert RNAi?" – Das ist eine Frage, die sich ForscherInnen
weltweit schon seit Jahren stellen. Nun ist einer Forschungsgruppe am Campus
Vienna Biocenter rund um Prof. Renée Schroeder (MFPL) und Dr. Javier
Martinez (IMBA) ein bedeutender Schritt zur Beantwortung dieser Frage
gelungen. Die Ergebnisse der Arbeit werden heute im international
renommierten Wissenschaftsjournal CELL veröffentlicht und unterstreichen die
Bedeutung der österreichischen Forschung im RNA-Feld, die auch vom
Wissenschaftsfonds FWF intensiv unterstützt wird.
Nickel-rhodium nanowires exhibit surprisingly high reactivity towards oxygen. As a result, they offer future development potential for new types of chemical catalysts. These findings were the result of research by an Austrian and Swedish research group who succeeded in growing one-dimensional nickel stripes on a rhodium substrate in a controlled manner. The team is part of the national research network "Nanoscience on Surfaces", which has been supported by the FWF Austrian Science Fund since December 2003.
The chemotherapy drug docetaxel currently offers the best treatment for androgen-independent prostate cancer. That is the result of a now published clinical trial that compared the efficacy of the two most widely used chemotherapy drugs. When using docetaxel, the risk of disease progression was cut by more than 50% than when using the next-best chemotherapy drug.
It is more difficult for doctors to diagnose complex sources of pain in women than in men and the reasons for this are rooted in language use. This finding, which is of major importance for both doctors and patients, is revealed by a now completed project by the FWF Austrian Science Fund. The results of this research into how the two genders typically describe pain are to be presented at the 2nd International Congress of Gender Medicine on 2nd and 3rd June in Vienna.
A single receptor molecule can perform different functions in different cancer types, thereby complicating approaches to therapy. This was the key finding of a study recently published in the British Journal of Cancer (BJC)*. The study compared the functionality of the HER2/neu receptor in the cancer cells of breast and ovarian cancer tissue. Supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the team of scientists involved have shown that the cellular process regulated by this receptor vary greatly between different cancer types. As HER2/neu is the target of successful breast cancer therapy, this result is of major significance for the treatment of ovarian cancer.
Von Kindern produzierte Trickfilme bieten einen facettenreichen Einblick in die Wahrnehmungswelt der jungen Generation. Das zeigt ein aufwändiges Projekt des Wiener "Zoom" Kindermuseums: Kindern und Jugendlichen wurde während zahlreicher Workshops die Möglichkeit gegeben, selbst Animationsfilme herzustellen. Die in diesen Filmen enthaltenen Botschaften wurden im Rahmen des vom Österreichischen Wissenschaftsfonds FWF unterstützten Projekts jetzt interpretiert. Erste Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die neue Generation ein gespaltenes Verhältnis zu technischem Fortschritt und große Angst vor der Umweltzerstörung hat - und dass Geschlechterstereotype noch lange nicht überwunden sind.
Animated films produced by children offer wide-ranging insights into how the younger generation see the world around them. This was the conclusion of an extensive project run by the "Zoom" Children’s Museum in Vienna, Austria. During a number of workshops, children and young people were given the opportunity to make their own animated films. The messages these films contain have now been interpreted as part of the project, which is supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. Initial results indicate that the young generation is in two minds about technological progress and is extremely worried about our impact on the environment. The study also showed that gender stereotypes are far from being overcome.
The world’s first comprehensive account of private art collections in the USSR comes from Austria and has now been published as a book. Based on rare primary sources, the book documents how private collectors – despite political repressions – "survived" the Soviet era. They collected art not in line with the official canon, thereby saving much of the country’s cultural heritage. The monograph draws on intensive research facilitated by a Hertha Firnberg grant, financed by the Austrian Science Fund FWF. The study, spanning seven decades from Lenin to Gorbachev, gives a nuanced picture of private art collecting in the former Soviet Union and clears up a number of common misconceptions.
A recently approved project of the sixth EU Framework Programme – MimoVax – is focussing on a new target for an Alzheimer's vaccine. The project, coordinated by the Austrian company Affiris GmbH, centres on the use of immune reactions to combat previously overlooked forms of the beta-amyloid that cause Alzheimer's disease. It is being run by seven partner organisations from three countries and has received an exceptionally positive response from Brussels – as well as Euro 2.4 million in financial support.
Standardised employment contracts based on the "equal work, equal pay" principle boost motivation. There is a clear increase in performance levels and market efficiency compared to working conditions based on individually negotiated contracts. This important finding was uncovered by scientists from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, as they analysed results from an economic experiment. The project, supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF), has attracted great interest in Austria, as it also seems relevant to the type of collective contract that is commonplace there.
The living conditions of the first farmers from the early Stone Age are being comprehensively reconstructed for the first time ever in Austria. This has been made possible by an interdisciplinary research project currently underway aimed at the thorough investigation of two early settlements. The project, supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, is expected to produce results that will be of great significance throughout Europe.
ERSTER PATIENT IN PHASE II STUDIE ÜBER FX06 BEI PATIENTEN MIT HERZINFARKT (F.I.R.E.-Studie) BEHANDELT
Das Wiener biopharmazeutische Unternehmen Fibrex Medical Research & Development GmbH gab heute den Start klinischer Studien der Phase II an Herzinfarktpatienten bekannt. Fibrex ist auf die Entwicklung neuer Medikamente zur Behandlung von kardiovaskulären und entzündlichen Erkrankungen fokussiert. Der von Fibrex entwickelte Wirkstoff FX06 verminderte in zahlreichen Laborversuchen den Schaden am Herzmuskel nach einem Infarkt. Ziel der als F.I.R.E. (FX06 In Reperfusion) benannten Studie ist es die Wirksamkeit von FX06 bei Herzinfarktpatienten zu bestätigen.
A team of Austrian physicists has recently developed ultra-thin pressure sensors that can also be processed into sensitive textiles. The breakthrough came with the arrival of technology for building up a sufficiently large electrical field in polymer foams. This enabled thin-film transistors to switch in reaction to pressure. Possible applications arising from this project funded by the Austrian Science Fund FWF include ultra-thin microphones, pressure sensors for replacement skin, and interactive clothing.
