Genetic Information News and Research

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Therapeutic cloning treats Parkinson's disease in mice

Research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) has shown that therapeutic cloning, also known as somatic-cell nuclear transfer (SCNT), can be used to treat Parkinson's disease in mice.

25 Mar 2008

New software finds 11 genetic variations to type 2 diabetes

Mathematicians at Michigan Technological University have developed powerful new tools for winnowing out the genes behind some of humanity's most intractable diseases.

25 Mar 2008

Need for federal legislation that protects the use of genetic information in employment and insurance coverage

A policy monograph highlighting the need for federal protections against genetic discrimination in employment and insurance practices was released by the American College of Physicians (ACP).

25 Mar 2008

Cutting edge computing sheds light on how life on earth may have originated

The UK's national computing grid, along with their counterparts in the US (TeraGrid) and Europe have helped UCL (University College London) scientists shed light on how life on earth may have originated.

19 Mar 2008

London's HIV epidemic was driven by clusters of sexual contacts

The rapid growth of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in London during the late 1990s was driven in part by transmission of the AIDS virus within clusters of sexual contacts, with individuals frequently passing the virus to others within months after becoming infected themselves, according to research published in PLoS Medicine by Andrew Leigh Brown and colleagues at the University of Edinburgh and London's Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

18 Mar 2008

Body mass index higher among bariatric surgery patients with 2 genetic variations

The combination of two obesity-related genetic variations may be associated with an increased body mass index (BMI) among severely obese patients undergoing bariatric weight loss surgery, according to a report in the March issue of Archives of Surgery.

18 Mar 2008

Human Proteinpedia, a portal to share human protein data among the scientific community

Today, scientists have access to a large amount of biological information through the Internet.

17 Mar 2008

Improved method for genetically manipulating human embryonic stem cells

UC Irvine researchers have discovered a dramatically improved method for genetically manipulating human embryonic stem cells, making it easier for scientists to study and potentially treat thousands of disorders ranging from Huntington's disease to muscular dystrophy and diabetes.

10 Mar 2008

New insight into the fundamentals of Parkinson's disease

A single change in a protein may play a role in whether someone develops Parkinson's disease, say University of Florida Genetics Institute researchers writing in a recent issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

27 Feb 2008

Largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation

University of Michigan scientists and their colleagues at the National Institute on Aging have produced the largest and most detailed worldwide study of human genetic variation, a treasure trove offering new insights into early migrations out of Africa and across the globe.

21 Feb 2008

Discovery of gene expression pathway that influences process of oxidative stress

The same chemical reaction that causes iron to rust plays a similarly corrosive role in our bodies.

21 Feb 2008

Evidence supports bats as SARS virus source

Scientists who have studied the genome of the virus that caused severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) say their comparisons to related viruses offer new evidence that the virus infecting humans originated in bats.

20 Feb 2008

Location location location, even for genes

Moving an active gene from the interior of the nucleus to its periphery can inactivate that gene report scientists from the University of Chicago Medical Center in an article to be published early online Feb.13, 2008, in the journal Nature.

14 Feb 2008

Discovery of 'overdrive' protein could broaden drug design options

New research by scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows for the first time that an important family of proteins known to function at the cell surface also functions at a site within the cell.

13 Feb 2008

Researchers decode genetics of chlorophyll d

A bacterium that harvests far-red light by making a rare form of chlorophyll (chlorophyll d) has revealed its genetic secrets, according to a team of researchers who recently sequenced the bacteria's genome.

8 Feb 2008

New understanding of cancer initiation

Researchers at the University of Nebraska Medical Center (UNMC) in Omaha have assisted in a significant discovery - the understanding of a common mechanism of cancer initiation - that could result in better cancer assessment, prevention and detection.

7 Feb 2008

A possible H5N1 vaccine

A vaccine against the most common and deadliest strain of avian flu, H5N1, has been engineered and tested by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Vaccine Research and Novavax Inc.

4 Feb 2008

Direct sequencing of single RNA strands with tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy

The genetic alphabet contains four letters. Although our cells can readily decipher our genetic molecules, it isn't so easy for us to read a DNA sequence in the laboratory. Scientists require complex, highly sophisticated analytical techniques to crack individual DNA codes.

28 Jan 2008

Telepathic genes recognize similarities in each other

Genes have the ability to recognise similarities in each other from a distance, without any proteins or other biological molecules aiding the process, according to new research published this week in the Journal of Physical Chemistry B.

25 Jan 2008