DNA News and Research

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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).

New genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes

In the most comprehensive look at genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes to date, a U.S.-Finnish team, working in close collaboration with two other groups, has identified at least four new genetic variants associated with increased risk of diabetes and confirmed existence of another six.

27 Apr 2007

World's first microRNA knockout mouse

A role for a microRNA in the immune system has been shown by study of one of the world's first microRNA knockout mouse, reported in Science.

27 Apr 2007

Researchers find clear genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes

Scientists from the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Lund University and Novartis have announced the discovery of three unsuspected regions of human DNA that contain clear genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes, and another that is associated with elevated blood triglycerides.

27 Apr 2007

Mutations in a gene that helps regulate cell division linked to inherited form of fatal lung disease

Mutations in a gene that helps regulate cell division are responsible for some inherited cases of a fatal lung disease, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

27 Apr 2007

DuPont settles patent case with Bio-Rad Laboratories

DuPont has announced that it has settled patent infringement litigation against Bio-Rad Industries, Inc. of Hercules, Calif.

27 Apr 2007

Influence of the cellular microenvironment on breast cancer

This month The American Journal of Pathology highlights the influence of the cellular microenvironment on breast cancer by promoting three articles from the current issue.

27 Apr 2007

After hours gene appears to interfere with normal regulation of the body clock on a cellular level

Wheel-running mice have helped scientists to identify an altered body clock gene that can make a normal day up to three hours longer.

27 Apr 2007

First online models of biological molecules

A University of Massachusetts Amherst biochemist is creating the first online models of biological molecules like enzymes and proteins customized to figures in scientific research articles.

26 Apr 2007

Relationship found between DNA nanomechanics and damage

It has long been known that UV light can damage DNA, reducing its ability to replicate and interact with proteins, and often resulting in the development of skin cancers.

25 Apr 2007

Scientists discover important step in cortisol production

When a person's under stress or injured, the adrenal gland releases cortisol to help restore the body's functions to normal.

25 Apr 2007

Surprising new theory on antibiotic resistance

A surprising new theory developed at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha, Nebraska, suggests that some bacterial cells act as "suicide bombers" in cell communities, with the altruistic intention of dying for the common good - and in the process, strengthening other cells that then become resistant to antibiotic drugs.

25 Apr 2007

New biotech company develops UD-patented technologies for repairing genes

OrphageniX Inc., a new biotechnology company founded by University of Delaware researchers, has been established in Wilmington to develop and commercialize UD-patented technologies for repairing genes that cause rare, hereditary diseases such as sickle cell anemia and spinal muscular atrophy.

25 Apr 2007

Luminex Corporation licenses cystic fibrosis gene patent from John Hopkins

Luminex Corporation has announced that it has acquired a non-exclusive license from The Johns Hopkins University for the rights to use the university's patented cystic fibrosis genetic markers in the company's molecular diagnostic products sold in the United States.

From Luminex 25 Apr 2007

Miscue of body's genetic repair system may cause Huntington's disease

Mayo Clinic researchers, along with collaborators from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and University of Oslo, Norway, have discovered that a miscue of the body's genetic repair system may cause Huntington's disease, a fatal condition that affects 30,000 Americans annually by destroying their nervous system.

24 Apr 2007

Junk DNA plays a role in controlling when genes turn on and off

Large swaths of garbled human DNA once dismissed as junk appear to contain some valuable sections, according to a new study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California-Santa Cruz.

24 Apr 2007

Key to understanding all biological processes is recognition

A human body has more than 10 to the power of 27 molecules with about one hundred thousand different shapes and functions.

24 Apr 2007

New drug offers hope to muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis sufferers

Scientists in the United States say an experimental drug may be able to compensate for the genetic error responsible for some cases of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD) and cystic fibrosis.

23 Apr 2007

Discovery of important clue to the susceptibility of individuals to Crohn's disease

Crohn's disease is a chronic relapsing inflammatory disorder of the intestinal tract that affects an estimated 0.15% of people in the developed world. Common symptoms include abdominal pain and diarrhea, but the disorder is often associated with debilitating clinical complications.

21 Apr 2007

M. D. Anderson wins $8.3-million to research environmental causes of major diseases

An $8.3-million federal grant to The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center Science Park - Research Division addresses the complex interplay between such varied factors as genetics, diet, and environmental exposure to toxins that cause cancer, asthma, diabetes, cardiovascular and other diseases.

21 Apr 2007

Significant genetic differences found in three types of chimpanzee

The largest study to date of genetic variation among chimpanzees has found that the traditional, geography-based sorting of chimps into three populations,western, central and eastern, is underpinned by significant genetic differences, two to three times greater than the variation between the most different human populations.

21 Apr 2007