Genetic News and Research

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Preliminary Phase 2 study results of Plicera drug released

Amicus Therapeutics today announced preliminary results from its Phase 2 randomized, open-label study to assess the safety, tolerability and preliminary efficacy of its investigational drug, Plicera(TM) (afegostat tartrate), in treatment-naive adult patients with type 1 Gaucher disease.

2 Oct 2009

People with rare mutations of gene MUTYH at increased risk of bowel cancer

CANCER RESEARCH UK funded scientists have found that people who carry rare mutations within both copies of a gene called MUTYH are 28 times more likely to develop bowel cancer compared to the general population, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

1 Oct 2009

Women create nationwide movement to eradicate breast cancer

More than 300,000 women from across the U.S. have signed up for the Love/Avon Army of Women creating a nationwide movement to eradicate breast cancer. Eighty percent of the women who have joined the Army of Women have never had breast cancer, but want to play a role in ending the disease once and for all.

1 Oct 2009

Screening and diagnostic tests contribute to health care value across spectrum of care

Amidst ongoing debate in Congress over reforming the nation's health care system, a new report from the Lewin Group finds that screening and diagnostic laboratory tests are central to achieving some of the most important goals of health care reform.

1 Oct 2009

Doris Duke Innovations award for sickle cell disease research

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. announced today that research led by Donald B. Kohn, M.D., Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics (MIMG) and Pediatrics, the Director of the UCLA Human Gene Medicine Program and member of the Broad Stem Cell Research Center, and Philip Gregory, D. Phil., Sangamo's chief scientific officer and vice president, research, has been selected to receive a $486,000 Doris Duke Innovations in Clinical Research Award from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

1 Oct 2009

Grand Opportunity grant to pursue "whole-genome" sequencing of patients with autism

Children's Hospital Boston, with the Broad Institute and Harvard Medical School, has been awarded a Grand Opportunity grant from the National Institute of Mental Health as part of the federal stimulus package, to pursue "whole-genome" sequencing of patients with autism, using new technologies for rapid DNA sequencing to better understand autism's causes.

1 Oct 2009

Public lecture to highlight what causes cell division to go wrong and lead to cancer

University of Leicester research which substantially increases our understanding of what causes cell division to go wrong and lead to cancer will be highlighted in a public lecture at the University on Wednesday 14th October at 5.30-6.30pm.

1 Oct 2009

Raptor Pharmaceutical appoints Llew Keltner to its board of directors

Raptor Pharmaceutical Corp. ("Raptor" or the "Company") (Nasdaq: RPTPD), today announced the appointment of Llew Keltner, M.D., Ph.D., to the Company's board of directors. Dr. Keltner is currently CEO and President of Light Sciences Oncology, a privately-held biotechnology company developing a late-stage, light-activated therapy for hepatocellular cancer and other solid tumors.

1 Oct 2009

Rush University receives grants to study how epigenomic changes define cognitive decline

The National Institutes of Health has awarded Rush University Medical Center approximately $5.5 million in grants to study how epigenetic changes - chemical modifications to genes that result from diet, aging, stress, or environmental exposures - define and contribute to memory formation and cognitive decline. Results from the studies could profoundly alter the way the medical community understands, diagnoses, and treats Alzheimer's disease, according to the researchers.

1 Oct 2009

Social environment plays vital role in breast cancer

Social environment can play an important role in the biology of disease, including breast cancer, and lead to significant differences in health outcome, according to results of a study published in Cancer Prevention Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.

1 Oct 2009

Biology and geography scientists explain the spread of HIV-1 epidemic in Africa

Scientists studying biology and geography may seem worlds apart, but together they have answered a question that has defied explanation about the spread of the HIV-1 epidemic in Africa.

1 Oct 2009

NCI and NHGRI collaborate to characterize genetic and genomic changes that occur in cancers

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of twelve centers announced today by President Obama as part of an unprecedented large-scale, collaborative effort by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) to systematically characterize the genomic changes that occur in cancer.

1 Oct 2009

Latest optical and laser technology in medicine displayed at FiO meeting

From scopes that help premature babies breathe to techniques for imaging live neurons and beating hearts as they develop, the latest optical and laser technology being deployed in medicine and the biosciences will be on display at the Optical Society's (OSA) Annual Meeting, Frontiers in Optics (FiO), which takes place Oct. 11-15 at the Fairmont San Jose Hotel and the Sainte Claire Hotel in San Jose, Calif.

1 Oct 2009

Respiragene test for lung cancer motivates smokers to quit smoking

Smokers who learn their personal risk of lung cancer through gene-based risk assessment are more likely to be motivated to quit their habit, according to Dr. W. Jeffrey Allard, clinical affairs director of Synergenz Bioscience Ltd.

1 Oct 2009

U.S. patent for Idaho Technology’s high resolution nucleic acid melting techniques

Idaho Technology’s patent portfolio continues to grow as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office granted the company U.S. Patent No. 7,582,429 relating to methods of performing genetic analysis in the presence of a double-stranded nucleic acid binding dye.

30 Sep 2009

Expression Analysis announces grants for research into complex diseases

Expression Analysis, Inc., the industry’s leading provider of genomic services for clinical trials and research, announced today a family of grants focused on one unifying purpose: To accelerate research into complex diseases and aid researchers in unlocking biological mysteries.

30 Sep 2009

New center for gastrointestinal cancer research established

Georgetown University Medical Center today announced the creation of a center that may help advance a cure for one of the deadliest forms of cancer. The Otto J. Ruesch Center for the Cure of Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers will fund gastrointestinal cancer research, drug discovery and patient advocacy efforts at the Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center.

30 Sep 2009

Parathyroid gland transplants may prevent untreatable form of bone loss

An early laboratory success is taking University of Michigan researchers a step closer to parathyroid gland transplants that could one day prevent a currently untreatable form of bone loss associated with thyroid surgery.

30 Sep 2009

Researchers identify embryonic origin of Merkel cells

Publication in Journal of Cell Biology : researchers from ULB (IRIBHM) identify the embryonic origin of Merkel cells. Their research continue on an extremely aggressive cancer, the Merkel cell carcinoma

30 Sep 2009

Genetic factors play an important role in the development of type 1 diabetes

Under the direction of Prof. Dr. Anette Ziegler, scientists of the Diabetes Research Group at Helmholtz Zentrum München and Technische Universität München investigated the formation of antibodies to a zinc transporter in children with elevated risk for type 1 diabetes. The study provided indications of an early onset of the disease when specific antibodies in the blood and specific variants of the associated zinc transporter are present in the genome.

30 Sep 2009