First successful embryo biopsy for deadly genetic cancer -- retinoblastoma

In a significant scientific achievement, physicians and scientists at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center have successfully employed preimplantation genetic diagnosis for retinoblastoma, resulting in the world's first babies born free of the deadly eye cancer. The news appears in this month's issue of the American Journal of Ophthalmology.

Cornell researchers seek volunteers to scout for beetle as it chews its way through region's viburnum bushes

Viburnum leaf beetles are chewing susceptible bushes into skeletal remains in central, western and northern New York state. The beetles, which face few predators, now appear to be taking aim at western New England and parts of Pennsylvania, and they are poised to move into the Hudson Valley, the New York City metropolitan area and Long Island.

New York farmers brace for an invasion of the swede midge, a little fly that could cause extensive crop damage

A tiny, voracious fly called the swede midge, which already has eaten its way across eastern Canada's cabbage and broccoli fields, now is threatening to descend on crops in states along the northern U.S. border. On Feb. 11 an educational session on the swede midge will be held for registered growers at the 2003 New York State Vegetable Conference in Liverpool, N.Y

New York Weill Cornell discovers anti-cancer drug tamoxifen boosts fertility in breast cancer patients

The Center for Reproductive Medicine and Infertility at NewYork Weill Cornell Medical Center has discovered that the wonder drug tamoxifen can help breast cancer patients have babies - even after they experience fertility loss associated with chemotherapy.

Soft-shell clams and mussels face jeopardy as Japanese shore crabs invade Penobscot Bay, Maine, say Cornell marine biologists

Japanese shore crabs, a square-shaped crustacean that poses a direct threat to soft-shell (steamer) clams, mussels and lobsters, were discovered July 13 by Cornell University marine biologists in Owl's Head, Maine, on the shores of Penobscot Bay. The detection of this crab, which has the potential to hurt Maine's seafood industry.

Ethanol fuel from corn faulted as 'unsustainable subsidized food burning' in analysis by Cornell scientist

Neither increases in government subsidies to corn-based ethanol fuel nor hikes in the price of petroleum can overcome what one Cornell University agricultural scientist calls a fundamental input-yield problem: It takes more energy to make ethanol from grain than the combustion of ethanol produces.

Plants' battle against disease is 'trench warfare at the molecular level,' BTI and Cornell scientists discover

By observing the battle between bacterial speck disease and tomatoes, biologists have discovered how plant cells resist some ailments. Researchers from the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research Inc. and Cornell can now demonstrate how disease-causing organisms deliver destructive agents to plants, and how the plants fight back.

Cows can keep udderly cool thanks to barn-ventilation advances by Cornell agricultural engineers

For many dairy cows, summertime living isn't easy. In the northeastern United States, heat stress can make the animals more susceptible to mastitis, laminitis and acidosis. It can also adversely affect the growth rates of unborn calves and reduce a cow's capacity to make milk by as much as one-third.

Plant-based medicine for hepatitis C is goal of state-assisted study by Cornell scientist and Ithaca company

The human hepatitis C virus is a target of drug-discovery research by a Cornell scientist and an Ithaca company, among the latest recipients of support from the New York Science, Technology and Academic Research program.