Researchers at D'Or Institute for Research and Education and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro have taken an important step toward using the implantation of stem cell-generated neurons as a treatment for Parkinson's disease. Using an FDA approved substance for treating cancer, they were able to grow dopamine-producing neurons derived from embryonic stem cells that remained healthy and functional for as long as 15 months after implantation into mice, restoring motor function without forming tumors.

Brazilian researchers described five new species of ascidians, commonly known as sea squirts, ascidians are marine invertebrates that generally form permanently submerged colonies. Exotic molecules obtained from research on ascidians have been explored worldwide for use in combating cancer.

Environmental filtering -- not a host of other theories -- determines local plant diversity in one of Earth's biodiversity hotspots according to an article in the Sept. 26 edition of Science by Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute scientist Benjamin Turner and colleagues from the University of Western Australia.

In a collaborative study, researchers from the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory at the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials, the University of California in San Diego and the Technische Universität München identified a new mechanism to inhibit proteasomes, protein complexes that are a target for cancer therapy.

Researchers from the University of Sao Paulo have identified an RNA known as INXS that modulates the action of an important gene in the process of programmed cell death. In experiments on mice, they were able to effect a 10-fold reduction in the volume of subcutaneous malignant tumors. The findings were published in the most recent issue of the journal Nucleic Acids Research.