Genome News and Research

RSS

Medicinal plants: from genes to drugs

We eat plants, wear their products, burn them for fuel, and use them to build our houses. Plants are the very basis of the food chain on earth. They are also the source of oxygen in the atmosphere, and a treasure house containing a host of compounds that have biological effects on the body. Some of these chemicals are produced as self-defence, to guard against pests and diseases.

27 Nov 2019

Mystery surrounds gene edited babies one year on

A year back Chinese scientist He Jiankui was in the news for all the wrong reasons. He had helped create the world’s first genetically edited human babies. After a year the world is still in dark about the whereabouts and health of the babies he had created and he himself has been not seen since January this year.

27 Nov 2019

Potential new treatment for mitochondrial diseases discovered from fruit fly genes

Researchers have discovered a way to reverse the impact of disease-causing mitochondrial mutations by targeting fruit fly gene.

27 Nov 2019

Hibernators reveal genetic clues to better understand and treat obesity, metabolic disorders

Hibernation is one of nature's strangest quirks, inducing bears and other mammals to pack on massive weight- amounts that would be unhealthy for humans - so they can survive months of slumber. Yet when these animals reemerge, they are as fit as ever.

27 Nov 2019

Study points to two types of motion that keeps cells in shape

The health of cells is maintained, in part, by two types of movement of their nucleoli, a team of scientists has found. This dual motion within surrounding fluid, it reports, adds to our understanding of what contributes to healthy cellular function and points to how its disruption could affect human health.

26 Nov 2019

Studying the genomes of hibernating mammals could improve understanding and treatment of obesity

A discovery about mammalian genomes and hibernation could aid understanding and treatment of obesity and metabolic disorders.

26 Nov 2019

Diabetes curriculum may help empower students to make healthy choices

For Lola McPherren, learning about diabetes is personal. The Juanita High School ninth-grader had a grandfather with diabetes. She recalled that he gave himself a shot of insulin before a meal, and that he also never really changed his diet to help control the disease. He died in February.

25 Nov 2019

New antiviral drug drives treatment resistance in influenza viruses

On January 31, 2019, an 11-year old boy in Japan went to a medical clinic with a fever. The providers there diagnosed him with influenza, a strain called H3N2, and sent him home with a new medication called baloxavir.

25 Nov 2019

Discovery in C. difficile biology opens new window to developing treatments for dangerous infections

A process called sporulation that helps the dangerous bacterium Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) to survive inhospitable conditions and spread is regulated by epigenetics, factors that affect gene expression beyond the DNA genetic code, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai report.

25 Nov 2019

New electrochemical CRISPR biosensor can help improve diagnosis of diseases

The CRISPR/Cas technology can do more than alter genes. A research team at the University of Freiburg is using what are known as gene scissors - which scientists can use to edit genetic material - in order to better diagnose diseases such as cancer.

25 Nov 2019

Recent discovery about C. difficile could pave the way for new treatments

Researchers have found that sporulation, which helps the bacterium C. difficile survive and spread, is regulated by epigenetics.

25 Nov 2019

New flu drug makes influenza viruses develop resistance

Researchers have discovered a mutation in strains of influenza treated with a drug that makes the virus resistant to treatment.

25 Nov 2019

Accelerating Medicines Partnership program for Parkinson’s disease launches new data portal

The Accelerating Medicines Partnership program for Parkinson's disease (PD) has launched a data portal to provide de-identified information collected from 4,298 PD patients and healthy controls to researchers working to develop effective therapies for the disease.

22 Nov 2019

Scientists investigate the dynamics of molecular changes in gliomas

Until relatively recently, cancer was viewed as a single disease with sub-types based on where in the body it arose.

22 Nov 2019

Extra DNA scooped up alongside cancer-causing genes helps drive tumor growth

One of the ways a cancer-causing gene works up enough power to turn a normal cell into a cancer cell is by copying itself over and over, like a Xerox machine.

21 Nov 2019

Coriell Institute for Medical Research wins $7.7 million NINDS contract

Coriell Institute for Medical Research has been awarded a $7.7 million contract by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, part of the National Institutes of Health focused on the study of nervous system disorders.

21 Nov 2019

Doughnut-shaped circles of ecDNA provide tumor cells with a malignant twist

Deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA encodes information, not only in its sequence but also in its shape.

21 Nov 2019

Research team publishes findings from study of TAF1 syndrome

An international, multidisciplinary research team from more than 50 institutions, led by geneticist and psychiatrist Gholson Lyon, MD, PhD, of the New York State Office for People With Developmental Disabilities' Institute for Basic Research in Developmental Disabilities, today announced publication of findings from its study of the rare disease TAF1 syndrome.

21 Nov 2019

Study uncovers new Alzheimer's risk gene

A new paper in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology finds a gene that may help explain a large part of the genetic risk for developing Alzheimer's disease.

21 Nov 2019