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Study finds risk markers for Parkinson's disease hiding in unusual spots

Clues that point toward new risk mechanisms for developing Parkinson's disease are hiding in some unusual spots, according to a study published today in Scientific Reports

28 Jul 2016

Extra-coding RNA modulates neuronal DNA methylation patterns

The creation of memories in the brain involves addition or removal of methyl groups at precise spots on chromosomal DNA. But what controls the careful targeting of these neuronal DNA methylation dynamics?

8 Jul 2016

Researchers identify candidate genes controlling phenolic compound accumulation in broccoli

Love it or hate it, broccoli is touted as a superfood, offering an array of health benefits. And it's about to get even more super.

23 Jun 2016

Rare ADCY9 mutations linked to non-syndromic oral clefts in Puerto Ricans

Today at the 45th Annual Meeting & Exhibition of the American Association for Dental Research, researcher Carmen Buxó-Martínez, University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, will present a study titled "Identification of Rare ADCY9 Mutations and Non-syndromic Oral Clefts in Puerto Ricans." The AADR Annual Meeting is being held in conjunction with the 40th Annual Meeting of the Canadian Association for Dental Research.

19 Mar 2016

Discovery could lead to better therapies for people with obsessive compulsive disorder

Research led by investigators in veterinary and human medicine has identified genetic pathways that exacerbate severity of canine compulsive disorder in Doberman pinschers, a discovery that could lead to better therapies for obsessive compulsive disorder in people.

27 Feb 2016

Scientists resolve tumor heterogeneity using innovative DEPArray technology

Using the innovative DEPArray technology, scientists at Silicon Biosystems, a Bologna (Italy) and San Diego (CA, USA) based biotech company, were able to solve one of the biggest limitation in the study of cancer genetic: tumor samples heterogeneity.

22 Feb 2016

Researchers identify brain region where Alzheimer's disease starts

A critical but vulnerable region in the brain appears to be the first place affected by late onset Alzheimer's disease and may be more important for maintaining cognitive function in later life than previously appreciated, according to a new review of the scientific literature.

17 Feb 2016

Researchers report first-ever link between noradrenergic neurons and vulnerability to depression

The team of Bruno Giros, a researcher at the Douglas Mental Health University Institute and professor of psychiatry at McGill University, reports the first-ever connection between noradrenergic neurons and vulnerability to depression. Published in the journal Nature Neuroscience, this breakthrough paves the way for new depression treatments that target the adrenergic system.

15 Feb 2016

FDA clears Sangamo BioSciences' SB-318 IND application for treatment of MPS I

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc., the leader in therapeutic genome editing, announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has cleared the Company's Investigational New Drug (IND) application for SB-318, a single treatment strategy intended to provide a life-long therapy for Mucopolysaccharidosis Type I (MPS I).

8 Feb 2016

Research offers novel insights into root causes of schizophrenia

Schizophrenia is a mysterious and devastating disorder that afflicts one percent of the adult population worldwide. Its symptoms — hallucinations, emotional withdrawal, and cognitive impairment — are chronic and typically emerge just as individuals are entering adulthood. Today's medications treat just one of these symptoms (psychosis); treatments for the underlying disease and its many other symptoms have been hard to develop, because no one really understands what causes the disorder.

31 Jan 2016

Using Single-Molecule Studies to Understand Cellular Processes: An Interview with Professor W. E. Moerner

Single fluorescent molecules provide a local nanometer-sized probe of complex systems. We can measure the motion of the single molecule, use them to achieve imaging on a scale down to 20 nanometers, or we can infer aspects of the behaviour of the object under study by the details of the light that is emitted.

From Pittcon 26 Jan 2016

Mirati announces initiation of glesatinib Phase 2 clinical trial in NSCLC patients

Mirati Therapeutics, Inc. today announced that the Phase 2 clinical trial of glesatinib (MGCD265) has commenced. The Company also announced that "glesatinib" is the proposed generic name for MGCD265.

21 Dec 2015

Brain regions cause PTSD patients to generalize non-threatening events

Regions of the brain function differently among people with post-traumatic stress disorder, causing them to generalize non-threatening events as if they were the original trauma, according to new research from Duke Medicine and the Durham VA Medical Center.

16 Dec 2015

Oxford Gene Technology launches Cytocell FISH probe for bladder cancer

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has launched its CE-IVD labelled Cytocell Aquarius® P16/3c/7c/17c Probe Kit, a cost-effective, ready-to-use fluorescence in situ hybridisation (FISH) probe kit for non-invasive detection of bladder cancer — for sale in Europe.

From Oxford Gene Technology 6 Oct 2015

Study finds significant differences across hospitals providing care for children with medical complexity

Although children with high health care needs represent a small percentage of the overall pediatric population, they account for a large percentage of pediatric health care costs, including up to 40% of pediatric hospital charges. In recent years, there has been more information available about the medical care received by these children, but generally studies have been limited to care provided in hospital settings.

6 Oct 2015

Chromosome 3q26.2 rearrangements linked to poor CML prognosis

Rearrangements of chromosome 3q26.2 have a significant negative impact on patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia, suggests research published in Blood.

1 Oct 2015

Researchers identify new gene locus that may protect children from developing malaria in Africa

Published today in Nature, the findings detail a new gene locus that can explain why, in communities where everyone is constantly exposed to malaria, some children develop severe malaria and others don't. Now, researchers can be sure that this particular stretch of our DNA plays a crucial role in the progression of the disease.

1 Oct 2015

Brain cells in Parkinson's disease die prematurely, burning out like an overheating motor

The death of brain cells in Parkinson's disease may be caused by a form of cellular energy crisis in neurons that require unusually high quantities of energy to carry out their job of regulating movement, researchers at the University of Montreal reported today.

28 Aug 2015

Brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form long-term memories

Researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center have found how even brief exposure to sudden sounds or mild trauma can form permanent, long-term brain connections, or memories, in a specific region of the brain. Moreover, the research team, working with rats, says it was able to chemically stimulate those biological pathways in the locus coeruleus -- the area of the brain best known for releasing the "fight or flight" hormone noradrenaline -- to heighten and improve the animals' hearing.

25 Aug 2015

Research: Critical aspects of human genome's regulatory program encoded by genomic sequence elements

Since the classical studies of Jacob and Monod in the early 1960s, it has been evident that genome sequences contain not only blueprints for genes and the proteins that they encode, but also the instructions for a coordinated regulatory program that governs when, where and to what extent these genes and proteins are expressed.

4 Aug 2015