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Interleukin Genetics announces clinical study data on osteoarthritis progression

Interleukin Genetics, Inc. and the Thurston Arthritis Research Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill announced today findings from a large clinical study to evaluate the role of genetic factors in osteoarthritis progression which showed patients with radiographic evidence of knee osteoarthritis who inherited a specific pattern of genetic variations in the interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra) gene were almost twice as likely to progress to severe disease as other patients.

23 Sep 2010

Signal Genetics, Array BioPharma partner to advance personalized medicine in multiple myeloma

Signal Genetics, a privately held predictive genetic testing company focused on oncology, today announced the company will work with Array BioPharma to help push forward both companies' goals of markers for patient selection, helping bring personalized medicine and companion diagnostics to patients with multiple myeloma, a cancer of the bone marrow and antibody producing cells.

23 Sep 2010

Study links progressive osteoarthritis to IL-1Ra gene variations

Scientists from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine and Interleukin Genetics, Inc. announced today findings from a large clinical study to evaluate the role played by genetic factors in the worsening of osteoarthritis.

22 Sep 2010

New genes associated with osteoarthritis progression

21 Sep 2010

New professional handbook highlights fast-growing trends in scientific knowledge

As genomic advances reveal new insights into what underlies human health and disease, important questions emerge about the meaning of this information for entire families especially children and their parents. Now, a new professional handbook is available to help researchers, practitioners, and policy makers understand the impacts of these discoveries on child and family well-being.

21 Sep 2010

Lab testing is backbone of prevention: ACLA president

Sen. Tom Harkin (D-IA), chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and long-time advocate of prevention, will keynote a National Journal Policy Summit focused on unraveling the complexities of the cost and value of prevention in a post health reform world. The Sept. 21 event is being underwritten by the American Clinical Laboratory Association and its educational arm, Results for Life.

18 Sep 2010

Hastings Center Report examines ethical controversies over use of personalized medicine

As government support for personalized medicine grows, a consumer advocate, a patient, and bioethicists explore ethical controversies. Direct-to-consumer genetic tests, privacy, targeted cancer therapies, and Henrietta Lacks are among topics in a special issue of the Hastings center Report

18 Sep 2010

Blood vessel growth promoting microRNA predicts diabetes: Study

For the first time, scientists have found that blood levels of some ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) are different among people with type 2 diabetes and those who subsequently develop the disease compared to healthy controls, according to research reported in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

17 Sep 2010

NHLBI selects NuGEN to provide automated reagent solutions for expression profiling

NuGEN Technologies, the provider of innovative RNA and DNA amplification and sample preparation technologies for genomic analysis, today announced it has been selected by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) to provide automated reagent solutions for expression profiling of approximately 6,000 blood samples from the Framingham Heart Study.

16 Sep 2010

Scientists discover 13 genes linked to human body mass

Johns Hopkins scientists who specialize in unconventional hunts for genetic information outside nuclear DNA sequences have bagged a weighty quarry 13 genes linked to human body mass. The experiments screened the so called epigenome for key information that cells remember other than the DNA code itself and may have serious implications for preventing and treating obesity, the investigators say.

16 Sep 2010

Veracyte presents FNA clinical trial data at International Thyroid Congress

Veracyte, Inc., a molecular diagnostics company pioneering the emerging field of molecular cytology, announced that initial data from its large-scale, prospective, multi-center clinical trial were presented today at the 14th International Thyroid Congress, held in Paris, France.

16 Sep 2010

NIH awards grants to map human brain's connections in high resolution

The National Institutes of Health today awarded grants totaling $40 million to map the human brain's connections in high resolution. Better understanding of such connectivity promises improved diagnosis and treatment of brain disorders.

16 Sep 2010

Researchers identify risk gene for schizophrenia

An international team of researchers has identified a risk gene for schizophrenia, including a potentially causative mutation, using genome-wide association data-mining techniques and independent replications.

15 Sep 2010

Genes behind aggregation of arsenic in plants

In many countries arsenic in food is a major problem. But researchers at the University of Skövde in Sweden have now identified two genes that may play a crucial role in how arsenic is stored in plants.

13 Sep 2010

Health risk assessments

At various points in our lives, we're curious about our health risks, wondering about our susceptibility for everything from high cholesterol to a deadly inherited disease. We might want to learn more about our risks when we reach a certain age or experience a bout of bad health; when we hear about a friend or co-worker coping with a dreaded illness; or read the latest headlines about disease research.

13 Sep 2010

Researchers elucidate Qua1 spatial structure region of Sam68 protein

Using NMR spectroscopy, Professor Michael Sattler and his team elucidated the spatial structure of the Qua1 region of Sam68, which is responsible for the dimerization of the protein. In collaboration with the research group of Professor Ruth Brack-Werner of the Institute of Virology, the authors showed that this region is essential for the biological function of Sam68.

13 Sep 2010

Good Start Genetics to develop pre-pregnancy genetic test with completed $18M Series A financing

Good Start Genetics, Inc., today announced the completion of an $18 million Series A financing. The proceeds of this financing will be used to complete the development and launch of the Company's pre-pregnancy genetic test, which utilizes advanced DNA sequencing technology to screen for a panel of genetic disorders including those recommended by the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG).

10 Sep 2010

Good Start Genetics $18 million Series A financing round co-led by Safeguard Scientifics

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc., a holding company that builds value in growth-stage life sciences and technology companies, today announced that it has co-led a $18 million Series A financing round for Good Start Genetics, Inc. with OrbiMed Advisors, LLC and SV Life Sciences Advisers LLP.

10 Sep 2010

Structure of key protein for cellular signal transduction elucidated

Scientists of the Institute of Structural Biology of Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Technische Universität München have succeeded in elucidating the structure of an important region of the Sam68 protein. Sam68 is a key protein for cellular signal transduction. The Journal of Biological Chemistry has selected the report of these research findings as one of two "papers of the week" for its September 10, 2010 issue and has chosen the structural model as cover image.

10 Sep 2010

Researchers reveal surface protein alteration mechanism of mycoplasma bacteria

Pathogenic bacteria have evolved a variety of mechanisms to avoid being killed by the immune systems of the humans and animals they invade. Among the most sophisticated is that practised by mycoplasmas, which regularly change their surface proteins to confuse the immune system. Recent work in the group of Renate Rosengarten and Rohini Chopra-Dewasthaly at the University of Veterinary Medicine, Vienna has revealed surprising new details of the way they do so and at the same time raised important evolutionary questions.

9 Sep 2010