A new genetically engineered mouse model appears promising as an effective tool for preclinical testing of novel therapies for ovarian cancer, which tends to be diagnosed in late stage. There are few effective treatments for the disease.

Start-up companies are instrumental in bringing the fruits of scientific research to market. Recognizing an opportunity to bring entrepreneurial minds to bear on the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the Avon Foundation for Women partnered with NCI and the Center for Advancing Innovation to launch the Breast Cancer Startup Challenge.

Earlier this year, Alan Rein, Ph.D., and Zhi-Ming (Thomas) Zheng, M.D., Ph.D., were elected to fellowship in the American Academy of Microbiology, the honorific leadership group within the American Society for Microbiology. They were among 88 microbiologists who were elected to the academy “through a highly selective, peer-review process, based on their records of scientific achievement and original contributions that have advanced microbiology,” according to the society’s website.

Antibody domains are emerging as promising biopharmaceuticals because of their relatively small size compared to full-sized antibodies, which are too large to effectively penetrate tumors and bind to sterically restricted therapeutic targets. In an article published in The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Tianlei Ying, Ph.D., Dimiter Dimitrov, Ph.D., and their colleagues in the Protein Interactions Group, Cancer and Inflammation Program, Center for Cancer Research, reported their design of a novel antibody domain, monomeric CH3 (mCH3).

In a research milestone reported in the June 20 issue of the journal Science, scientists have developed a minimally modified version of HIV-1, the virus that causes AIDS in infected humans, that is capable of causing progressive infection and AIDS in monkeys. The advance should help create more authentic animal models of the disease and provide a potentially invaluable approach for faster and better preclinical evaluation of new drugs and vaccines.