http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress provides the latest news from Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne Swiss scientists reveal the mechanism responsible for aging hidden deep within mitochondria—and dramatically slow it down in worms by administering antibiotics to the young. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-05-aging-processonly-antibiotics.html Medical research Wed, 22 May 2013 13:00:11 EST news288446394 At a time when sequencing the genome is becoming democratized, questions have arisen about the interpretation of these data and their secure storage. Sophia Genetics, an EPFL Science Park start-up, specializes in this. The company recently raised 2.8 million francs. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-genome.html Genetics Fri, 19 Apr 2013 09:20:01 EST news285581427 A new class of drugs for the treatment of severe diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases is developed by the start-up Bicycle Therapeutics. The company is generating bicyclic peptides that can selectively bind disease-related proteins and to modulate their function without affecting other proteins in the body. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-04-peptides-treatment-severe-diseases.html Medical research Mon, 15 Apr 2013 07:30:01 EST news285229035 A tiny, EPFL-designed implantable device that can be positioned within the eye and controlled remotely may well revolutionize the treatment of glaucoma. The device should be through testing this year and on its way to the market in 2014 via Rheon Medical, an EPFL spin-off. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-micro-tap-glaucoma.html Ophthalmology Mon, 25 Mar 2013 09:42:54 EST news283423361 A healthy adult must generate as many as one hundred billion new red blood cells each day, to maintain the numbers circulating in his blood. A team of EPFL researchers has identified a key step in the process by which red blood cells are born. The discovery could not only shed light on the causes of blood disorders such as anaemia, it could also bring closer the medics' dream of being able to manufacture red blood cells in the lab—thus providing a potentially inexhaustible supply of an essential component of blood for transfusion. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-cellular-bells-key-red-blood.html Medical research Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:00:08 EST news282480353 EPFL researchers develop a tool for oncologists using the electrical signature of cancer cells to get just the right treatment dosage for each patient. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-03-dose-oncology.html Cancer Mon, 04 Mar 2013 17:00:01 EST news281616375 Some 90,000 patients per year are treated for Parkinson's disease, a number that is expected to rise by 25 percent annually. Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS), which consists of electrically stimulating the central or peripheral nervous system, is currently standard practice for treating Parkinson's, but it can involve long, expensive surgeries with dramatic side effects. Miniature, ultra-flexible electrodes developed in Switzerland, however, could be the answer to more successful treatment for this and a host of other health issues. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-disease-deep-brain.html Parkinson's & Movement disorders Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:40:10 EST news280381195 For an amputee, replacing a missing limb with a functional prosthetic can alleviate physical or emotional distress and mean a return of vocational ability or cosmetics. Studies show, however, that up to 50 percent of hand amputees still do not use their prosthesis regularly due to less than ideal functionality, appearance, and controllability. But Silvestro Micera, of the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, is paving the way for new, smart prosthetics that connect directly to the nervous system. The benefits are more versatile prosthetics with intuitive motor control and realistic sensory feedback—in essence, they could one day return dexterity and the sensation of touch to an amputee. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-02-quest-bionic.html Medical research Mon, 18 Feb 2013 03:38:15 EST news280381078 More than a hundred patients suffering from severe motor impairments have voluntarily participated in the development of non-invasive brain-machine interfaces. The main purpose of these machines is to allow the patients either regain some of their mobility or improve their social relationships. Today, three presentations took place in Sion during the closing seminar of the TOBI European research program, which has been coordinated by EPFL for approximately four years. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-mind-machines.html Neuroscience Thu, 24 Jan 2013 06:40:01 EST news278231329 It is well known that violent adults often have a history of childhood psychological trauma. Some of these individuals exhibit very real, physical alterations in a part of the brain called the orbitofrontal cortex. Yet a direct link between such early trauma and neurological changes has been difficult to find, until now. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2013-01-childhood-trauma-brain.html Psychology & Psychiatry Tue, 15 Jan 2013 04:24:20 EST news277446252 Symptoms of an autoimmune disease disappeared after a team of scientists retrained the white blood cells. This method is extremely promising for treating diseases such as type I diabetes and multiple sclerosis. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-12-autoimmune-diseaseretraining-white-blood-cells.html Immunology Mon, 17 Dec 2012 15:00:13 EST news274961600 It may soon be possible to test a person for cancer with just a drop of their blood and a small machine. As part of a European research project, scientists have developed a device for detecting the HSP70 protein, which is over-expressed in patients with many types of cancer. The objective: to make a diagnosis extremely early in the disease process, thereby improving outcomes for patients. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-11-scientists-method-extremely-early-cancer.html Cancer Fri, 02 Nov 2012 11:35:55 EST news271074899 Researchers at EPFL and Harvard Medical School have joined forces to develop an imaging technique that can provide in situ observations of the internal ear, an area which has until now been inaccessible. This groundbreaking work may finally make it possible to understand the mechanisms underlying hearing loss. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-epfl-harvard-loss.html Medical research Wed, 17 Oct 2012 08:34:14 EST news269681647 There are some genes that are only activated in the very first days of an embryo's existence. Once they have accomplished their task, they are shut down forever, unlike most of our genes, which remain active throughout our lives. EPFL scientists have unveiled part of this strange mechanism. The same process, accidentally initiated later in life, could be responsible for many kinds of cancer. The discovery is described in a recent article in the journal Cell Reports. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-10-cancer-embryonic-gene-silencing-mechanism-awry.html Genetics Thu, 04 Oct 2012 12:03:56 EST news268571024 One of the greatest challenges in neuroscience is to identify the map of synaptic connections between neurons. Called the "connectome," it is the holy grail that will explain how information flows in the brain. In a landmark paper, published the week of 17th of September in PNAS, the EPFL's Blue Brain Project (BBP) has identified key principles that determine synapse-scale connectivity by virtually reconstructing a cortical microcircuit and comparing it to a mammalian sample. These principles now make it possible to predict the locations of synapses in the neocortex. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-09-blue-brain-accurately-neurons.html Neuroscience Mon, 17 Sep 2012 15:00:13 EST news267097310