DNA News and Research

RSS

DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Sea food for babies

Has your toddler eaten fish today? A University of Illinois food science professor has two important reasons for including seafood in your young child's diet, reasons that have motivated her work in helping to develop a tasty, nutritious salmon baby food for toddlers.

25 Aug 2010

Bisphenol A chemical may shorten reproductive lifespan in women: Research

A study posted today (Wednesday, August 25) at the online site of the journal Biology of Reproduction reports that exposure of pregnant female mice to the endocrine-disrupting chemical bisphenol A may produce adverse reproductive consequences on gene expression in fetal ovaries as early as 12 hours after the mother has first been exposed to the chemical.

25 Aug 2010

Vitamin D2 in AbM mushroom can neutralize oxidative stress: Research

Total Nutraceutical Solutions, Inc., announced that it has completed a research study comparing the therapeutic effect of single nutrient forms of synthetic Vitamin D3 and D2 versus natural Vitamin D2 within a whole food. The study focused on the control of Paraquat induced oxidative stress/biologic death.

25 Aug 2010

Researchers identify molecular signals that impact male fertility: Research

Male infertility is a common medical problem, affecting millions of men in the United States annually. Its causes include an inability to make productive sperm. Now, using yeast as a model organism, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine are beginning to identify the molecular signals that could in part underlie that problem.

25 Aug 2010

SureGene collaborates with Medco Health Solutions to conduct REST study

SureGene, LLC and the Medco Research Institute, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Medco Health Solutions, Inc., today announced that they have entered into a novel investigative research collaboration to evaluate whether variation in genetic biomarkers previously identified by SureGene can help predict drug response for widely prescribed antipsychotic drugs in patients with serious mental illness.

25 Aug 2010

Scientists discover influence of vitamin D in genes linked with autoimmune diseases

UK scientists at the University of Oxford have discovered that vitamin D can affect the activity of more than 200 genes of cells grown in the lab. Some of these genes are known from previous studies to be involved in diseases like diabetes and cancer.

24 Aug 2010

UNT Health Science Center analyzes DNA from unidentified human remains

Center for Human Identification at the University of North Texas Health Science Center (UNTHSC) analyzes DNA from unidentified human remains for law enforcement organizations and medical examiners across the country in an attempt to put a name to a body or victim. The result, in many cases, is resolution for family members who have spent years wondering about the fate of their loved one.

24 Aug 2010

Ensemble Therapeutics showcases data on new drug discovery platform at ACS National Meeting

Ensemble Therapeutics announced today the presentation of data on its macrocyclic-based drug discovery platform at the American Chemical Society National Meeting August 22-26, in Boston at the Boston Convention and Exposition Center.

24 Aug 2010

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals to present results on RNAi therapeutics at ACS National Meeting

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc.,a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it will make a total of 16 oral presentations at the American Chemical Society (ACS) Fall 2010 240th National Meeting & Exposition being held in Boston, Mass. from August 22-26, 2010.

24 Aug 2010

Pressure BioSciences collaborates with LBNL to analyze microbe for oil spill clean-up

Pressure BioSciences, Inc. today announced a collaboration with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory ("LBNL"). Scientists at LBNL are using the Company's pressure cycling technology ("PCT") platform in studies aimed at improving the analysis of microorganisms in environments with low biomass, such as oil reservoirs or deep sea oil plumes from oil spills.

24 Aug 2010

Research on OGF-OGFr complex helps to understand pathobiology of diseases

Researchers at The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania have discovered that the Opioid Growth Factor (OGF, [Met5]-enkephalin) and its receptor, OGFr, a clinically important system with potent antitumor properties, has controlled entry from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. The nucleocytoplasmic passage of OGF-OGFr is critical to cell proliferation and suggests that there are hierarchical levels of nuclear import.

24 Aug 2010

Epilepsy Therapy Project, EF announce recipients of New Therapy Grants Program

The Epilepsy Therapy Project (ETP) and the Epilepsy Foundation (EF) today announced the latest grant recipients of its New Therapy Grants Program, a unique joint venture of the non-profit epilepsy organizations, to advance promising epilepsy research in clinical development. The grant awards, totaling approximately $200,000 in funding, will support an experimental gene therapy that directly targets epileptogenic brain tissue, as well as an electrode system that has the potential to improve the efficacy of surgical therapies for certain epilepsy syndromes.

24 Aug 2010

Researchers find gene sequences of MLV in chronic fatigue syndrome patients' blood samples

Researchers have found murine leukemia viruses (MLV) related gene sequences in blood samples collected from patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and some healthy blood donors, according to a study published online today by the scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

24 Aug 2010

Researchers find new drug to treat circadian rhythm disorders

Researchers funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Medical Research Council (MRC) have successfully used a drug to reset and restart the natural 24 hour body clock of mice in the lab. The ability to do this in a mammal opens up the possibility of dealing with a range of human difficulties including some psychiatric disorders, jet lag and the health impacts of shift work.

24 Aug 2010

Research finds variation in sex chromosome may cause lupus in men

Genes reside along long chains of DNA called chromosomes. UCLA researchers have found that a variation in a gene on the sex chromosome X may enhance an immune response that leads to lupus in men.

24 Aug 2010

Applied Biosystems 3500 Dx Series Genetic Analyzers now available in Asia Pacific Region

Life Technologies Corporation today announced that its Applied Biosystems 3500 Dx Series Genetic Analyzers, the first CE IVD-marked capillary electrophoresis system for nucleic acid analysis, are now available for sale in Australia, India, New Zealand, Singapore, and Taiwan.

23 Aug 2010

Castor bean genome may help prevent potential bioterrorism events

A research team co-led by scientists from the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) and the Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS), University of Maryland School of Medicine, today published the sequence and analysis of the castor bean (Ricinus communis) genome in Nature Biotechnology.

23 Aug 2010

Researchers find new way to study oncogene's role in DNA repair

A key step in understanding the origins of familial breast cancer has been made by two teams of scientists at the University of California, Davis. The researchers have purified, for the first time, the protein produced by the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA2 and used it to study the oncogene's role in DNA repair.

23 Aug 2010

New diagnostic tool proves cost-effective in identifying rare genetic disorders

Mutations in a single gene can cause several types of developmental brain abnormalities that experts have traditionally considered different disorders. With support from the National Institutes of Health, researchers found those mutations through whole exome sequencing - a new gene scanning technology that cuts the cost and time of searching for rare mutations.

23 Aug 2010

NCF announces formal disease model for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The National CFIDS Foundation Inc., of Needham Mass, has announced its formal disease model for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) also known as Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) as well as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). According to the NCF, a subgroup of patients with CFS fit a unique disease profile based on a model for a radioactive toxin.

21 Aug 2010