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Researchers aim to fight cancer by developing 'personalised' cancer therapies

Cancer is incredibly complex, and each tumour is unique. This calls for a targeted approach. Researchers at KU Leuven's Department of Oncology, in Belgium, want to fight cancer by developing 'personalised' cancer therapies. To bolster their efforts, they have established the new Fund for Innovative Cancer Research.

26 Jun 2014

Women who give birth later in life tend to live longer

Women who are able to naturally have children later in life tend to live longer and the genetic variants that allow them to do so might also facilitate exceptionally long life spans.

26 Jun 2014

Study confirms association between older maternal age at birth of last child and exceptional longevity

Women who had their children later in life will be happy to learn that a new study suggests an association between older maternal age at birth of the last child and greater odds for surviving to an unusually old age.

26 Jun 2014

House approves trauma care programs, newborn screening changes

The House on Tuesday passed legislation by voice vote to reauthorize trauma care programs. Traumatic injury is the top cause of death for people under age 45, according to the Centers for Disease Control. One of the bills, H.R. 4080, would reauthorize Trauma Care System Planning Grants to boost access to trauma care through fiscal 2019 (Marcos, 6/24).

25 Jun 2014

Gene partnership may be fueling cancer spread in as much as 20% of cancers

A key cancer-causing gene, responsible for up to 20 percent of cancers, may have a weak spot in its armor, according to new research from the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota.

25 Jun 2014

Study: Cohesin mutations are common in melanoma and bladder cancer

Massive sequencing of cancer genomes brings to light new genes every day that could be involved in the process of tumour formation.

25 Jun 2014

Frederic Bushman gets Pioneer Award from Human Gene Therapy

Frederic D. Bushman, PhD's (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine) early pioneering work in understanding how HIV reproduces by inserting its genetic material into the DNA of a host cell led to key advances in the ability to move pieces of DNA and whole genes between cells.

25 Jun 2014

University of Maryland School of Medicine receives NIH grant to establish neuroscience research center

The University of Maryland School of Medicine's Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, a research center in the School's Department of Psychiatry, was awarded a $10.7 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a Silvio O. Conte Neuroscience Research Center that will examine the causes of schizophrenia and search for possible new treatments.

25 Jun 2014

Myosin binding protein C holds the key to new treatments for heart disease

Loyola University Chicago recently hosted a meeting of more than 60 of the world's leading researchers of a protein that could hold the key to new treatments for heart disease.

25 Jun 2014

Small antioxidant molecules suppress colon cancer associated with colitis

Researchers from Case Western Reserve and Dartmouth universities have shown that a class of small antioxidant molecules carries enormous promise for supressing colon cancer associated with colitis.

25 Jun 2014

New study finds genetic links between schizophrenia risk and cannabis use

Genes that increase the risk of developing schizophrenia may also increase the likelihood of using cannabis, according to a new study led by King's College London, published today in Molecular Psychiatry.

25 Jun 2014

New method to help patients with cancer, genetic conditions, neurological disorders

UT Arlington physics researchers may have developed a way to use laser technology to deliver drug and gene therapy at the cellular level without damaging surrounding tissue. The method eventually could help patients suffering from genetic conditions, cancers and neurological diseases.

25 Jun 2014

Alcoholic liver disease: an interview with Dr Vinood Patel, University of Westminster

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide and also in the UK. As its name indicates this disease arises due to consuming excessive amounts of alcohol (80 g/day) over an extended period, normally 10-20 years.

24 Jun 2014

SLAC research reveals rapid DNA changes that act as molecular sunscreen

The molecular building blocks that make up DNA absorb ultraviolet light so strongly that sunlight should deactivate them - yet it does not. Now scientists have made detailed observations of a "relaxation response" that protects these molecules, and the genetic information they encode, from UV damage.

24 Jun 2014

NIH awards $4 million to map developing human lung

A team of investigators at The Saban Research Institute of Children's Hospital Los Angeles has been awarded $4 million over five years by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute for LungMAP, an atlas of the developing human lung.

24 Jun 2014

Computer analysis of family photos could help diagnose rare genetic disorders

Computer analysis of photographs could help doctors diagnose which condition a child with a rare genetic disorder has, say Oxford University researchers.

24 Jun 2014

New invention provides simple, highly effective way for patients to self-treat keloid scars

Scars - in particular keloid scars that result from overgrowth of skin tissue after injuries or surgeries - are unsightly and can even lead to disfigurement and psychological problems of affected patients. Individuals with darker pigmentation - in particular people with African, Hispanic or South-Asian genetic background - are more likely to develop this skin tissue disorder.

24 Jun 2014

Death rates remain higher for African-Americans with colon cancer

African-Americans with colon cancer are half as likely as Caucasian patients to have a type of colon cancer that is linked to better outcomes. The finding may provide insight into why African-Americans are more likely to die of colon cancer than Caucasians with the same stage of disease.

24 Jun 2014

Growth hormone deficiency may protect people from developing Type 2 diabetes, cancer

People who lack growth hormone (GH) receptors also appear to have marked insulin sensitivity that prevents them from developing diabetes and lowers their risk for cancer, despite their increased percentage of body fat, new research finds.

24 Jun 2014

UK scientists unlock untapped genetic information to better understand Intellectual Disability in children

Teams of leading UK scientists have joined forces to unlock an untapped source of genetic information in a bid to better understand and treat children with Intellectual Disability. Experts from Cambridge, Cardiff, and UCL (University College London) will be given unprecedented access to genetic information on intellectual disability from NHS Regional Genetics Centres across the UK as part of a first phase study funded by the Medical Research Council and Medical Research Foundation.

24 Jun 2014