Cancer (Epigenetics)
Cancer doesn’t discriminate; men, women and children are all susceptible to this horrible disease that takes thousands of lives each and every year. At IMRIC, research is being done in conjunction with McGill University in the development of personalized cancer treatment.
This research could break down the barriers of traditional forms of treatment and help to save more lives in the process.
Epigenetics Research
Jerusalem, April 11, 2011 – Researchers at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have discovered a previously unknown mechanism whereby tumor cells invade normal tissues, spreading cancer through various organs.
Based on the collaborative work done with Dr. James Shapiro, a world renowned researcher in islet transplantation for diabetes at the University of Alberta, Prof. Yuval Dor and colleagues have identified a key signal that prompts existing insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas to form new beta cells in mice, a breakthrough discovery that may ultimately help researchers find ways to restore or increase beta cell function in people with type 1 diabetes.
Jerusalem, March 31, 2011 - Two scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem are to be awarded the Sir Zelman Cowen Universities Fund Prize for Discovery in Medical Research, it has been announced. Dr. Eli Pikarsky and Prof. Sigal Ben-Yehuda are being recognized for their contributions to the understanding of human disease.
Prof. Ben-Yehuda of the department of microbiology and molecular genetics at the Institute for Medical Research Israel Canada (IMRIC) in the Faculty of Medicine was nominated for her contributions to our understanding of the biology of bacteria. Her discoveries, which include the demonstration of a previously unknown ‘nanotube’ form of communication between cells, are also fundamental for understanding the mechanisms of bacterial resistance to antibiotics. In a statement, the Sir Zelman Cowen Universities Fund said that "this gives her work great importance for the treatment of infections caused by the growing number of resistant bacteria."
