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Study highlights the need for caution while using CRISPR-based gene therapies

A comprehensive study - conducted by researchers at Sanford Burnham Prebys, the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and other groups - has shown that gene editing, specifically gene knockout (KO), with CRISPR -Cas9 can favor cells with mutated forms of genes linked to cancer.

11 Nov 2021

New study offers genetic insight into why we look the way we do

Which genes control the defining features that make us look as we do? And how do they make it happen?

11 Nov 2021

Protein in the blood could predict type 2 diabetes many years before diagnosis

A large study led by Lund University in Sweden has identified a protein in the blood that could predict type 2 diabetes up to nineteen years before the onset of the disease.

11 Nov 2021

First detection of SARS-CoV-2 remdesivir resistance in an immunocompromised patient

A research group from the US (led by experts from Yale University School of Medicine) recently presented a case of an immunocompromised female patient with acquired deficiency of B lymphocytes who subsequently developed a protracted course of the infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

10 Nov 2021

Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 immune escape variants in an immunocompromised patient

A German case study recently published in the journal Nature Communications has characterized a long-term severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection dynamics in an immunosuppressed kidney transplant recipient and provided evidence for the evolution of SARS-CoV-2 into potentially harmful immune escape mutants during persistent infections.

10 Nov 2021

Whole senome sequencing can effectively secure a diagnosis for people with rare diseases

A world-first scientific study, published today in the New England Journal of Medicine, has shown that whole genome sequencing can uncover new diagnoses for people across the broadest range of rare diseases investigated to date and could deliver enormous benefits across the NHS.

10 Nov 2021

Stenoparib effectively inhibits SARS-CoV-2 variants in vitro

A new study assesses the antiviral activity of stenoparib against four SARS-CoV-2 strains.

10 Nov 2021

Cell-based viral replication system for screening of SARS-CoV-2 drugs

The current study reports a SARS-CoV-2 replicon system within stable cell lines that can be cultured with ease in a standard biosafety level 2 laboratory.

10 Nov 2021

New epigenetic editing technique may advance the treatment of many diseases

Type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and cancer are just some of the disorders associated with specific genes not "turning on" and "turning off" as they should.

9 Nov 2021

New computer program can read any genome sequence and decipher its genetic code

Yekaterina "Kate" Shulgina was a first year student in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, looking for a short computational biology project so she could check the requirement off her program in systems biology. She wondered how genetic code, once thought to be universal, could evolve and change.

9 Nov 2021

Researchers identify safety concerns with neuroblastoma candidate drug

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists looking for drugs to improve survival of children with high-risk neuroblastoma found a promising candidate in CX-5461.

9 Nov 2021

Scientists discover gene responsible for doubling the risk of respiratory failure from COVID-19

Scientists at Oxford University have identified the gene responsible for doubling the risk of respiratory failure from COVID-19.

9 Nov 2021

Multiplex network offers a systematic approach to study rare, uncharacterized diseases

Rare diseases are usually caused by a single genetic defect. Nevertheless, the search for the cause and the assessment of the effects is highly complex and difficult.

9 Nov 2021

SARS-CoV-2 infection in white-tailed deer

In the current study, SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were identified in over a third of free-ranging deer in northeast Ohio.

9 Nov 2021

Increase in SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence in Irish HCWs during third wave of pandemic

Healthcare workers and people they live with are at an increased risk of contracting severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Hospital healthcare workers (HCWs) worldwide have been found to have a higher number of SARS-CoV-2 infections and higher antibody seroprevalence compared to the general population.

8 Nov 2021

Scientists document the spread of atrial fibrillation risk gene across continents and over centuries

University of Utah Health scientists have documented the spread of a disease gene across continents and over centuries.

8 Nov 2021

Study points to a new, effective treatment option for patients with mesothelioma

Combining the immunotherapy agent durvalumab with the chemotherapy agents pemetrexed and cisplatin or carboplatin may provide a new treatment option for patients who have inoperable pleural mesothelioma, a cancer of the tissues lining the lungs, according to a phase II clinical trial led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy.

8 Nov 2021

Identification of a candidate effector gene at COVID-19 risk locus

A new study focuses on developing a comprehensive platform to decode the effects of sequence variation identified by GWAS.

8 Nov 2021

Study shows how whole genome sequencing could benefit children with cancer

Unravelling the entire genetic code for each child who has been diagnosed with cancer can give a more accurate diagnosis or reveal new treatment options, according to research presented at the NCRI Festival. These are the results of a pilot study of the process known as whole genome sequencing.

8 Nov 2021

Highly-sensitive PCR-based method to detect SARS-CoV-2 variants

A team of UK-based scientists has recently developed an allele-specific probe polymerase chain reaction method that can accurately detect different variants/lineages of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in respiratory samples. Furthermore, the method can detect viral variants even in samples with low viral RNA or degraded viral RNA. The study is currently available on the medRxiv* preprint server.

7 Nov 2021