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Learning technique may help overcome cognitive issues in fragile X syndrome

A learning technique that maximizes the brain's ability to make and store memories may help overcome cognitive issues seen in fragile X syndrome, a leading form of intellectual disability, according to UC Irvine neurobiologists.

10 Dec 2014

Researchers freeze biological structures to illustrate DNA double-strand break process

Scientists from the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, led by Guillermo Montoya, have developed a method for producing biological crystals that has allowed scientists to observe --for the first time-- DNA double chain breaks. They have also developed a computer simulation that makes this process, which lasts in the order of millionths of a second, visible to the human eye.

9 Dec 2014

Study finds that disarray in methylation helps tumors adapt to changing circumstances

The genetic tumult within cancerous tumors is more than matched by the disorder in one of the mechanisms for switching cells' genes on and off, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard report in a new study.

9 Dec 2014

Agent THZ1 shrinks human-like small cell lung tumors in mice

Small cell lung cancer - a disease for which no new drugs have been approved for many years - has shown itself vulnerable to an agent that disables part of tumor cells' basic survival machinery, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology reported.

9 Dec 2014

Scientists receive NIH grants to explore sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

Nine groups of scientists will receive funding totaling $5.9 million in 2014 to work together on increasing the understanding of sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), the leading cause of death from epilepsy. The consortium becomes the second Center Without Walls, an initiative to speed the pace of research on difficult problems in epilepsy by promoting collaborative research.

9 Dec 2014

BAZ2A protein directly influences the aggressiveness of prostate cancer

A protein that influences the epigenetic characteristics of tumor cells is directly linked to the grade of malignancy of prostate cancer. This key discovery has been made by a team of scientists from the German Cancer Research Center, the University of Zurich, Hamburg-Eppendorf University Hospital, Heidelberg University, and other institutes in a study of 7,700 samples of tumor tissue.

9 Dec 2014

$IMBRUVICA-rituximab combination well tolerated in patients with relapsed or refractory MCL$

IMBRUVICA-rituximab combination well tolerated in patients with relapsed or refractory MCL

New IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) Phase II data announced by Pharmacyclics, Inc. today demonstrates its potential utility as a combination therapy when used with rituximab. Data suggest that the overall efficacy and safety profile of IMBRUVICA is well tolerated when combined with rituximab in patients with relapsed or refractory mantle cell lymphoma (MCL).

9 Dec 2014

Case Western Reserve selected to lead $27.3 million international effort to identify causes of SUDEP

Case Western Reserve is one of two universities in the country selected to lead a $27.3 million international effort to identify the causes of a mysterious and deadly phenomenon that strikes people with epilepsy without warning.

9 Dec 2014

MD Anderson study sheds light on miR569 gene

A genetic misfire called the 3q26.2 amplicon can cause real havoc. In fact, it is among the most frequent chromosomal aberrations seen in many cancers, including ovarian and breast cancers.

9 Dec 2014

Phase 2 RESONATE-17 study: IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) improves survival in CLL patients with del 17p

Results from the Phase 2 RESONATE-17 (PCYC-1117) study show IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) was associated with an 82.6 percent investigator-assessed overall response rate (ORR; the primary endpoint) and a 79 percent progression-free survival (PFS) rate at 12 months in people living with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) or small lymphocytic lymphoma (SLL) who have a genetic mutation known as deletion 17p (del 17p).

9 Dec 2014

Screening system spots cancerous changes invisible to sequencing

A technique that can identify causes of cancer invisible to genetic sequencing has uncovered large sets of previously unknown pancreatic cancer genes. It is hoped that this study will boost research into a disease that is still poorly understood and for which five-year survival rates have stood at around 5 per cent for the past four decades.

8 Dec 2014

Findings open new avenues for research to predict risk of therapy-related AML

For a small percentage of cancer patients, treatment aimed at curing the disease leads to a form of leukemia with a poor prognosis. Conventional thinking goes that chemotherapy and radiation therapy induce a barrage of damaging genetic mutations that kill cancer cells yet inadvertently spur the development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), a blood cancer.

8 Dec 2014

Rutgers researcher receives NIH grant to develop rapid test to diagnose Ebola

Rutgers researcher David Alland, working with the California biotechnology company Cepheid, has received a grant of nearly $640,000 from the National Institutes of Health to develop a rapid test to diagnose Ebola as well as other viruses that can cause symptoms similar to Ebola.

8 Dec 2014

Cellular mechanisms of alcohol dependence: an interview with Dr Sanna, TSRI

In the brain there are both excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitters. These are molecules that are released from nerve endings in the brain and in the periphery and either excite or inhibit other nerve cells, also known as neurons.

8 Dec 2014

Spark Therapeutics, Pfizer partner to develop SPK-FIX for potential treatment of hemophilia B

Spark Therapeutics, a late-stage gene therapy company developing treatments for debilitating genetic diseases, announced today that it has entered into a global collaboration with Pfizer Inc. for the development and potential commercialization of SPK-FIX, a development program advancing proprietary, bio-engineered adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors for the potential treatment of hemophilia B.

8 Dec 2014

Henry Ford Hospital recruits patients to participate in brain cancer clinical trial

Henry Ford Hospital today announced that it is actively recruiting patients to participate in a clinical trial taking place at the Hermelin Brain Tumor Center which is showing promising results in patients with brain cancer.

8 Dec 2014

Researchers report promising outcomes from clinical trial in patients with dyskeratosis congenita

Researchers at Dana-Farber/Boston Children's Cancer and Blood Disorders Center report promising outcomes from a clinical trial with patients with a rare form of bone marrow failure who received a hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) after pre-treatment with immunosuppressive drugs only. This is the first trial reporting successful transplant in dyskeratosis congenita (DC) patients without the use of any radiation or conventional cytotoxic chemotherapy beforehand.

8 Dec 2014

Researchers discuss effects of mother-infant bedsharing

Recommendations by physician groups to avoid bedsharing among mothers and their babies are intended to reduce sleep-related infant deaths. But evidence suggests that the risks of bedsharing have been over-emphasized, advice never to bedshare is unrealistic, and avoiding bedsharing may interfere with breastfeeding, according to an article in Breastfeeding Medicine, the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

8 Dec 2014

Subsets of cells drive spread of multiple myeloma

Although it is among the most highly metastatic of all cancers, multiple myeloma is driven to spread by only a subset of the myeloma cells within a patient's body, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have found in a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Hematology.

8 Dec 2014

Baylor-led researchers identify gene linked to familial glioma

An international consortium of researchers led by Baylor College of Medicine has identified for the first time a gene associated with familial glioma (brain tumors that appear in two or more members of the same family) providing new support that certain people may be genetically predisposed to the disease.

8 Dec 2014

Genetic News and Research

Learning technique may help overcome cognitive issues in fragile X syndrome

Researchers freeze biological structures to illustrate DNA double-strand break process

Study finds that disarray in methylation helps tumors adapt to changing circumstances

Agent THZ1 shrinks human-like small cell lung tumors in mice

Scientists receive NIH grants to explore sudden unexpected death in epilepsy

BAZ2A protein directly influences the aggressiveness of prostate cancer

IMBRUVICA-rituximab combination well tolerated in patients with relapsed or refractory MCL

Case Western Reserve selected to lead $27.3 million international effort to identify causes of SUDEP

MD Anderson study sheds light on miR569 gene

Phase 2 RESONATE-17 study: IMBRUVICA (ibrutinib) improves survival in CLL patients with del 17p

Screening system spots cancerous changes invisible to sequencing

Findings open new avenues for research to predict risk of therapy-related AML

Rutgers researcher receives NIH grant to develop rapid test to diagnose Ebola

Cellular mechanisms of alcohol dependence: an interview with Dr Sanna, TSRI

Spark Therapeutics, Pfizer partner to develop SPK-FIX for potential treatment of hemophilia B

Henry Ford Hospital recruits patients to participate in brain cancer clinical trial

Researchers report promising outcomes from clinical trial in patients with dyskeratosis congenita

Researchers discuss effects of mother-infant bedsharing

Subsets of cells drive spread of multiple myeloma

Baylor-led researchers identify gene linked to familial glioma

eBook: Using iPSCs models for human disease research and drug discovery eBook

Bringing real-time analytics to downstream bioprocess monitoring

Designing fluidic architecture for scalable diagnostic platforms

Evaluating new approaches for rare disease genomics

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