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New Barts Cancer Research UK Centre launched

A new cancer centre, launched today, puts London at the forefront of cancer research.

23 Feb 2010

DNA interval in unexplored region of human genome increases risk for coronary artery disease

Scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory have learned how an interval of DNA in an unexplored region of the human genome increases the risk for coronary artery disease, the leading cause of death worldwide.

23 Feb 2010

Combining PARP inhibitors with existing cancer drugs promising

Ovarian and breast cancer treatments being developed that mix a protein inhibitor and traditional anticancer drugs are showing signs of success, according to a new review for Faculty of 1000 Biology Reports.

23 Feb 2010

Unique resource for families facing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

When she was forty-two, Joi Morris learned that she has a genetic mutation on a gene known as BRCA2. This meant that her risk of getting breast cancer could be as high as 84 percent by age seventy, and that her risk for ovarian cancer was also high.

23 Feb 2010

Gene study provides new clues to fight infections

Investigators at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston examined for the first time the long-term response to strep throat on a genome-wide level, shedding light on how group A streptococcus interacts with the patient's immune system and attempts to circumvent it.

23 Feb 2010

Medical test for aging adults could be helpful in determining infants’ intestinal conditions

A medical test initially researched for aging adults also could be helpful for premature babies, according to scientists with Texas AgriLife Research.

23 Feb 2010

UCI researchers create new breed of flightless mosquitoes for dengue control

UCI researchers and colleagues from Oxitec Ltd. and the University of Oxford created the new breed. Flightless females are expected to die quickly in the wild, curtailing the number of mosquitoes and reducing - or even eliminating - dengue transmission. Males of the strain can fly but do not bite or convey disease.

23 Feb 2010

New gene locus influencing risk for atrial fibrillation identified

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac arrhythmia - a chronic irregularity of heartbeat - which affects an estimated 1 million people in Germany. Although the condition is not acutely life-threatening, it does increase the risk of developing more serious illnesses, such as cardiac insufficiency, stroke and dementia. In the third of a series of genomewide asssociation studies, an international team of researchers, led by LMU physician PD Dr. Stefan K--b, now reports the identification of a new gene locus that has a significant influence on risk for atrial fibrillation.

22 Feb 2010

Researchers identify common gene variant associated with atrial fibrillation

An international research team has identified a common gene variant associated with a form of the irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation. In their report in the journal Nature Genetics, being published online, the investigators describe finding that variations affecting a protein that may help control the heart's electrical activity appear to increase the risk of what is called lone atrial fibrillation (AF), a type seen in younger individuals with no other form of heart disease.

22 Feb 2010

Genetics associated with DILI and SSR: FDA and SAEC complete third release of data

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the International Serious Adverse Event Consortium (SAEC) today announced the third release of data on the genetic basis of drug-induced liver injury (DILI) and serious skin reactions (SSRs).

22 Feb 2010

Children born through assisted reproduction at greater risk of obesity and type 2 diabetes related defects

More than three million children have been born as a result of assisted reproductive technologies since the birth of the first "test tube baby" in 1978. While the majority of these children are healthy and normal, as a group they are at greater risk of certain kinds of birth defects and being low birth weight, which is associated with obesity, hypertension and type 2 diabetes later in life.

22 Feb 2010

Roots of many adult diseases sprout in poverty: Scientist to discuss at AAAS meeting

The roots of many adult diseases sprout in poverty and other burdens on the socially disadvantaged. Rockefeller University-s Bruce S. McEwen, a self-described molecular sociologist, will talk about the effects such environmental stressors have on the brain and in turn other organ systems in a talk in San Diego this Friday at the 2010 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

22 Feb 2010

WCMC-Q students receive new round of UREP funds totaling $280,000

Twenty-eight WCMC-Q students have received grants totaling $280,000 in the latest, seventh, round of funding from the Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) to conduct advanced research projects with faculty members.

22 Feb 2010

Brain and tissue sample repository to help advance understanding and treatment of psychiatric diseases

Johns Hopkins Children's Center neurovirologist Robert Yolken, M.D., and collaborators from the Stanley Medical Research Institute have developed a large repository of brain and tissue samples to advance the understanding and treatment of bipolar disorder, major depression and schizophrenia.

20 Feb 2010

Animal study shows calcineurin enzyme is critical for normal heart function

Scientists are reporting the first-ever data to show that the enzyme calcineurin is critical in controlling normal development and function of heart cells, and that loss of the protein leads to heart problems and death in genetically modified mice.

20 Feb 2010

Variations among individual organisms attributed to differences in genes, environment or chance

Biologists attribute variations among individual organisms to differences in genes or environment, or both. But a new study of nematode worms with identical genes, raised in identical environments, has revealed another factor: chance.

19 Feb 2010

Cancer genomes: Distinguishing between 'driver' and 'passenger' mutations

A new study of mutations in cancer genomes shows how researchers can begin to distinguish the 'driver' mutations that push cells towards cancer from the 'passenger' mutations that are a by-product of cancer cell development. The study also shows that at least one in nine genes can be removed without killing human cells.

19 Feb 2010

Most genetic abnormalities shared across multiple cancers

An international team of researchers has created a genome-scale map of 26 different cancers, revealing more than 100 genomic sites where DNA from tumors is either missing or abnormally duplicated compared to normal tissues. The study, the largest of its kind, finds that most of these genetic abnormalities are not unique to one form of cancer, but are shared across multiple cancers. The work appears in the February 18 issue of the journal Nature.

19 Feb 2010

Simple molecular kit to reprogram any cell of the body into another

In an effort to sidestep the ethical dilemma involved in using human embryonic stem cells to treat diseases, scientists are developing non-controversial alternatives: In particular, they are looking for drug-like chemical compounds that can transform adult skin cells into the stem cells now obtained from human embryos. That's the topic of a fascinating article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

19 Feb 2010

Emerging concepts from gene regulation studies in immune cells

The seventh meeting in the “Emergence and Convergence” series jointly organized by La Fondation IPSEN and Nature brings together today in San Antonio (Texas, USA) leading experts to discuss concepts emerging from gene regulation studies in immune cells that have led to insights into the initiation and maintenance of epigenetic chromatin marks necessary for proper differentiation and function of these cells in the immune system.

19 Feb 2010