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Micro-RNAs programmed cells can lead to malignant growth

Cancer becomes life threatening when tumor cells start leaving their primary site. They travel through the lymph and blood streams to other tissues where they grow into metastases. This transition to malignancy is associated with characteristic changes in the cancer cells. The activity of several genes is reprogrammed and, thus, the production of proteins anchoring cells to a tissue is reduced. On the other hand, the amount of surface markers which make a cancer cell mobile increases.

9 Sep 2010

'Cloud computing improves' speed of analyzing RNA sequencing data

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have developed new software that greatly improves the speed at which scientists can analyze RNA sequencing data. RNA sequencing is used to compare differences in gene expression to identify those genes that switched on or off when, for instance, a particular disease is present.

9 Sep 2010

Ohio State University receives five-year grant to improve drug therapy using gene profiles

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences has awarded a $9.1 million, five-year grant to The Ohio State University for a study titled "Expression Genetics in Drug Therapy." The goal of the research is to enhance drug response rates and reduce the number of adverse drug reactions among patients taking medication.

9 Sep 2010

NIH announces $161.3 million for expansion of Pharmacogenomics Research Network

The National Institutes of Health plans to spend $161.3 million over the next five years to expand the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN), a nationwide collaborative of scientists focused on understanding how genes affect a person's response to medicines.

8 Sep 2010

NIH announces $15 million for expansion of Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base

To help advance research on how genes affect responses to medicines, the National Institutes of Health is spending $15 million over five years to expand a key resource, the Pharmacogenomics Knowledge Base (PharmGKB), http://www.pharmgkb.org/ .

8 Sep 2010

KRN cell transfer model provides novel opportunity for rheumatoid arthritis research

Current research provides a novel model for rheumatoid arthritis research. The related report by LaBranche et al, "Characterization of the KRN cell transfer model of rheumatoid arthritis, a chronic yet synchronized version of the K/BxN mouse," appears in the September 2010 issue of The American Journal of Pathology.

8 Sep 2010

NIH awards St. Jude $8.6M to focus on anticancer agent research in children

With its new expansion of the Pharmacogenomics Research Network (PGRN), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) awarded St. Jude Children's Research Hospital a prestigious grant to focus on anticancer agent research in children.

8 Sep 2010

DTC consumers express concern on personal genetic risk test

One half of people using direct to consumer (DTC) personal genetic risk tests express concerns about testing yet more than 80 percent want to know their risk even for non preventable genetic diseases, according to a study in the September Genetics in Medicine, the official peer reviewed journal of The American College of Medical Genetics (ACMG).

8 Sep 2010

UCSF scientists to receive two grants for personalized medicine research

UCSF scientists will receive two grants totaling $15.1 million over the next five years to expand their research into how genes affect an individual's response to medication and to strengthen a global network of researchers involved in these efforts.

7 Sep 2010

British, Austrian scientists awarded K. J. Zülch Prize for basic neurological research

British and Austrian scientists receive award for basic neurological research. Alastair Compston and Hans Lassmann are this year's recipients of the K. J. Zülch Prize for basic neurological research. In bestowing this award, the Gertrud Reemtsma Foundation is honouring two scientists who have made crucial contributions to research on multiple sclerosis. Alastair Compston's work has provided important insights into the genetics and treatment of multiple sclerosis.

7 Sep 2010

Researchers to develop new treatment strategy for cancer

Cancer is a difficult disease to treat because it's a personal disease. Each case is unique and based on a combination of environmental and genetic factors. Conventional chemotherapy employs treatment with one or more drugs, assuming that these medicines are able to both "diagnose" and "treat" the affected cells. Many of the side effects experienced by chemotherapy patients are due to the fact that the drugs they are taking aren't selective enough.

7 Sep 2010

Childhood cancer survivors 5 times more likely to get cancer again: Study

According to a new study, children who survive cancer are at a higher risk of cancer later in life or may die early of other cause. The study included almost 900 young cancer survivors treated at Sydney Children's Hospital, from 1972 to 1999, alongside new cancer cases and early deaths. The risk of cancer was five times higher in childhood cancer survivors, the results showed, compared with the overall NSW population, that these survivors were seven and a half times more likely to die early.

5 Sep 2010

PennHIP radiographic method may hold potential to evaluate human susceptibility to hip dysplasia

A study comparing a University of Pennsylvania method for evaluating a dog's susceptibility to hip dysplasia to the traditional American method has shown that 80 percent of dogs judged to be normal by the traditional method are actually at risk for developing osteoarthritis and hip dysplasia, according to the Penn method.

4 Sep 2010

UB symposium to discuss in silico molecular design, high-throughput screening to treat diseases

Twenty-first-century pharmaceutical breakthroughs require 21st-century drug discovery tools, such as computational or in silico molecular design and high-throughput screening of effective, new compounds. That's the theme of a University at Buffalo symposium to be held Sept. 11 on "Twenty-first Century Bioscience: In Silico Methods and High-Throughput Screening," which will feature a variety of cutting-edge advances in the field developed by researchers in Western New York and throughout the US.

3 Sep 2010

Preventive surgery protects against breast, ovarian cancer in women carrying BRCA1, BRCA2 gene mutations

Women who have gene mutations that put them at high risk of ovarian and breast cancer can significantly reduce the risk of developing or dying from these cancers by having their healthy ovaries or breasts removed, according to a new study reported in the Sept. 1 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

3 Sep 2010

New peer-reviewed study on chemopreventive effects of Protandim

LifeVantage Corporation, the maker of Protandim®, a clinically proven, science-based therapy for oxidative stress, announced today that a new peer-reviewed study involving Protandim® was published in the scientific journal PLoS ONE. The study, conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University, examined the biochemical mechanisms that underlie the ability of Protandim® to suppress tumors in mice. That ability was previously demonstrated by the authors in a study involving a mouse two-stage model of chemically-induced skin cancer.

3 Sep 2010

Counterpart of cerebral cortex discovered in marine worms

Our cerebral cortex, or pallium, is a big part of what makes us human: art, literature and science would not exist had this most fascinating part of our brain not emerged in some less intelligent ancestor in prehistoric times. But when did this occur and what were these ancestors? Unexpectedly, scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have now discovered a true counterpart of the cerebral cortex in an invertebrate, a marine worm.

3 Sep 2010

First direct evidence that X-linked TLR7 gene promotes lupus in humans

Lupus Research Institute-funded researcher Betty Tsao, PhD, at the University of California Los Angeles has discovered that humans-males in particular-with a variant form of the immune receptor gene "Toll Like Receptor 7 (TLR7)" are at increased risk of developing the autoimmune disease systemic lupus erythematosus (lupus). This breakthrough finding offers renewed hope for developing more targeted treatments.

3 Sep 2010

Study establishes critical roles for cancer-causing Myc gene in stem cell biology

Stem cells might be thought of as trunks in the tree of life. All multi-cellular organisms have them, and they can turn into a dazzling variety other cells-kidney, brain, heart or skin, for example. One class, pluripotent stem cells, has the capacity to turn into virtually any cell type in the body, making them a focal point in the development of cell therapies, the conquering of age-old diseases or even regrowing defective body parts.

3 Sep 2010

Simple protocol for determining Gross Chromosomal Rearrangement mutation rates

A cell devotes a significant amount of effort to maintaining the stability of its genome, preventing the sorts of chromosomal rearrangements characteristic of many cancers. Assays that measure the rate of gross chromosomal rearrangements (GCRs) are needed in order to understand the individual genes and the different pathways that suppress genomic instability.

3 Sep 2010