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Mother's gene variation can influence alcohol-related disorders in fetus

Exposure to alcohol in the womb doesn't affect all fetuses equally. Why does one woman who drinks alcohol during pregnancy give birth to a child with physical, behavioral or learning problems -- known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorder -- while another woman who also drinks has a child without these problems?

24 Mar 2011

New insights into multiple myeloma research

Scientists have unveiled the most comprehensive picture to date of the full genetic blueprint of multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer. A study of the genomes from 38 cancer samples has yielded new and unexpected insights into the events that lead to this form of cancer and could influence the direction of multiple myeloma research.

24 Mar 2011

Restricting sodium consumption important in lowering blood pressure among sedentary people

The more physically active you are, the less your blood pressure rises in response to a high-salt diet, researchers reported at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions.

24 Mar 2011

Sequencing mouse cancer genome reveals mutations driving cancer in humans

Scientists who pioneered sequencing the genomes of cancer patients to find novel genetic changes at the root of the disease now have turned their attention to a laboratory workhorse — a mouse.

24 Mar 2011

Zebrafish model of human melanoma reveals new cancer gene

Looking at the dark stripes on the tiny zebrafish you might not expect that they hold a potentially important clue for discovering a treatment for the deadly skin disease melanoma. Yet melanocytes, the same cells that are are responsible for the pigmentation of zebrafish stripes and for human skin color, are also where melanoma originates.

24 Mar 2011

Gut bacteria and state of immune system influence personality

Researchers at McMaster University discovered that the "cross-talk" between bacteria in our gut and our brain plays an important role in the development of psychiatric illness, intestinal diseases and probably other health problems as well including obesity.

24 Mar 2011

Fudan, UTHealth introduce international network to fight against scleroderma

Scleroderma clinicians and researchers in the United States and China have launched an international network to fight this debilitating disease that affects more than one million people worldwide.

24 Mar 2011

MicroRNAs may play a key role in future medicine

Since their discovery in the 1990s, microRNAs have proven to play a complex role in normal and abnormal functioning of many organ systems. In the April issue of Translational Research, entitled "MicroRNAs: A Potential New Frontier for Medicine," an international group of medical experts explores several themes related to our current understanding of microRNAs and the role they may play in the future of medicine.

24 Mar 2011

New insights into cancer genome may lead to designer drugs for myeloma

Patients with myeloma could benefit from ‘designer’ drugs in the future after new genome-mapping technology has allowed scientists to identify a full genetic blueprint of the mutations which drive the bone marrow cancer.

23 Mar 2011

Xenon founder receives Canada Wightman Award for leadership in medical science

Dr. Michael Hayden, a Xenon founder and Chief Scientific Officer, has received the Canada Gairdner Wightman Award for leadership in medical science in Canada.

23 Mar 2011

Mayo Clinic receives $1 million gift for Lewy body dementia study

To help continue its internationally recognized work in Lewy body dementia, the Harry T. Mangurian, Jr., Foundation has awarded Mayo Clinic a $1 million gift, pledged over four years. Lewy body dementia, which combines aspects of both Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, is the second most common form of dementia in the United States.

23 Mar 2011

Genetic errors in women linked to increased risk of preeclampsia

Scientists have identified genetic errors in women with autoimmune diseases that increase the risk of preeclampsia, a potentially life-threatening condition that occurs in 10 percent of all pregnancies.

23 Mar 2011

Researcher to look for genes that can suppress epileptic seizures in fruit flies

"Exceptional, Unconventional Research Enabling Knowledge Acceleration" - is the name of a rare and competitive grant that Reenan recently won from the National Institutes of Health. Beginning April 1, Reenan will use the four-year, $1.3-million award to look for genes that can suppress seizures in fruit flies that he has cleverly engineered to mimic human epilepsy.

22 Mar 2011

Scientists develop new method for gene regulation study

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg, Germany, have developed a new method for studying gene regulation, by employing a jumping gene as an informant. Published online today in Nature Genetics, the new method is called GROMIT.

22 Mar 2011

Rxi's new RNAi preclinical data to be presented at Keystone conference

RXi Pharmaceuticals Corporation, a recognized leader in RNA interference based therapeutic discovery and development, today announced that new preclinical data using proprietary self-delivering RNAi compounds, including RXI-109, will be presented at the Keystone Symposia's Mechanism and Biology of Silencing conference being held March 20-25, 2011 in Monterey, California.

22 Mar 2011

Study identifies gene linked to higher risk of multiple sclerosis in children

Canadians have one of the highest rates of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) in the world with approximately 1,000 new cases diagnosed each year. Primarily striking in adulthood, physicians and researchers with the Canadian Pediatric Demyelinating Diseases Network (CPDDN), a multi-institutional and multidisciplinary group, have found that MS is being increasingly diagnosed in children.

21 Mar 2011

Study unravels molecular mechanism of biomolecule RNA that plays dynamic regulatory role in protein selection

If a big bunch of your brain cells suddenly went rogue and decided to become fat cells, it could cloud your decision-making capacity a bit. Fortunately, early in an organism's development, cells make firm and more-or-less permanent decisions about whether they will live their lives as, say, skin cells, brain cells or, well, fat cells.

21 Mar 2011

Research outlines how cilia disease gene products regulate early cilium formation

An international collaboration jointly led by University College Dublin, University of Alabama and Simon Fraser University, British Columbia has outlined in the Journal of Cell Biology how cilia disease gene products regulate important aspects of early cilium formation and the integrity of the ciliary transport gate.

21 Mar 2011

Tiny Locked Nucleic Acid-based compounds inhibit entire disease-associated microRNA families

A study published online in this week's Nature Genetics demonstrates that tiny Locked Nucleic Acid (LNA)-based compounds developed by Santaris Pharma A/S can inhibit entire disease-associated microRNA families. This provides a potential new approach for treating a variety of diseases including cancer, viral infections, cardiovascular and muscle diseases.

21 Mar 2011

Researchers discover 'broad spectrum' cancer suppressor gene

Portuguese researchers have discovered a "broad spectrum" cancer suppressor gene - called LRP1B - which acts by removing proteins crucial for cancer development from the tumour environment. The fact that LRP1B does not act on the tumour itself (in this study thyroid tumours) but, instead, on molecules which are known to be important to many different cancers is what makes it so interesting.

21 Mar 2011