The future of graduate and postdoctoral training in the biosciences.

This article summarizes the outcomes of the second national conference on the Future of Bioscience Graduate and Postdoctoral Training. Five topics were addressed during the conference: diversity in leadership positions; mentoring; modernizing the curriculum; experiential learning; and the need for better data on trainees. The goal of the conference was to develop a consensus around these five topics and to recommend policies that can be implemented by academic and research institutions and federal funding agencies in the United States.

Essiac and Flor-Essence herbal tonics stimulate the in vitro growth of human breast cancer cells.

Background: People diagnosed with cancer often self-administer complementary and alternative medicines (CAMs) to supplement their conventional treatments, improve health, or prevent recurrence. Flor-Essence and Essiac Herbal Tonics are commercially available complex mixtures of herbal extracts sold as dietary supplements and used by cancer patients based on anecdotal evidence that they can treat or prevent disease. In this study, we evaluated Flor-Essence and Essiac for their effects on the growth of human tumor cells in culture.

Mammary gland branching morphogenesis is diminished in mice with a deficiency of insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), but not in mice with a liver-specific deletion of IGF-I.

The development of the mouse mammary gland occurs postnatally. Hormonal activation of local growth factor pathways stimulates rapid elongation and branching of the rudimentary gland through the fatty stroma. Earlier studies showed that GH is required for mammary gland ductal morphogenesis and that IGF-I mediates this action of GH.

Requirement of estrogen receptor-alpha in insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1)-induced uterine responses and in vivo evidence for IGF-1/estrogen receptor cross-talk.

In the uterus insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) signaling can be initiated by estradiol acting through its nuclear receptor (estrogen receptor (ER)) to stimulate the local synthesis of IGF-1. Conversely, in vitro studies have demonstrated that estradiol-independent ER transcriptional activity can be induced by IGF-1 signaling, providing evidence for a cross-talk mechanism between IGF-1 and ER. To investigate whether ER alpha is required for uterine responses to IGF-1 in vivo, both wild-type (WT) and ER alpha knockout (alpha ERKO) mice were administered IGF-1, and various uterine responses to IGF-1 were compared.