Prostate cancers are made up of hungry, growing cells. Now we’ve discovered how to cut off their food supply thanks to a study published in Cancer Research and supported by Movember. More below.

Also Australian science discoveries you may have missed from the past week.

• Heart cells growing in a test-tube – Melbourne
• How birds fly through narrow spaces without crashing – Brisbane
• A shoe to improve osteoarthritis – Melbourne
• Could yoghurt reduce heart disease – Perth
• Heavy metal music and depression – Melbourne
• And a dozen other stories below

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Prostate cancers are hungry, growing cells. Now we know how to cut off their food supply thanks to research to be published later this month in Cancer Research—work funded by Movember and the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia

Researchers at the Centenary Institute in Sydney have discovered a potential future treatment for prostate cancer—through starving the tumour cells of an essential nutrient they need to grow rapidly. [continue reading…]

The winner of the Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize, for her lung cancer research, is Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat, from Melbourne’s Walter and Eliza Hall Institute (WEHI). Having unravelled key information on how and why breast stem cells contribute to the progression of breast cancer, she is now turning to the challenge of lung cancer. Her prize […]

Posted on behalf of the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute for Medical Research

Discovery of the cellular ‘link’ between female hormones and the development of breast cancer has earned Walter and Eliza Hall Institute researcher Dr Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat the inaugural Lawrence Creative Prize from the Centenary Institute. [continue reading…]

How our skin says, “Don’t worry, these are good guys,” revealed today in PNAS.

There are more bacteria living on our skin and in our gut than cells in our body. We need them. But until now no-one knew how the immune system could tell that these bacteria are harmless.

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Science in Public media bulletin 18 October 2011.

• Immune peacekeepers discovered
• The Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize
• 2011 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science
• What’s behind Australia’s Physics Nobel
• Nobel Laureate Brian Schmidt on the 2011 Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science
• Australian “Immortal” documentary wins international film festival prize

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• High resolution images
• Liver factsheet
• Paper citation and abstract

Our livers can fight back against the immune system – reducing organ rejection but also making us more susceptible to liver disease. [continue reading…]

Applications for two prizes for biomedical research are closing very soon.

The $50,000 CSL Florey Medal closes tomorrow, 16 September.  The prize is awarded to researchers who have made significant achievements in biomedical science and human health advancement.  Find the selection criteria here and the nomination form here.

The Centenary Institute Lawrence Creative Prize is a $25,000 award for early-career researchers whose creative approach to biomedical research inspires others. Find more information and conditions here.  Applications close Monday 19 September. [continue reading…]