Genes News and Research

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Gene mutations may not always predict cardiomyopathy

More than 750,000 people in the United States have dilated cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening condition in which the heart's main pumping chamber, the left ventricle, enlarges and grows increasingly weak.

2 Jul 2019

Scientists discover a new way to kill drug-resistant parasites

Over one billion people, including 880 million children, are infected with intestinal nematode worms, such as roundworms, hookworms and tapeworms, according to the World Health Organization.

2 Jul 2019

'Scissors' component of CRISPR/Cas9 sometimes gets stuck

In biotech these days, CRISPR/Cas9 is a hot topic, because of its utility as a precise gene editing tool. Before humans repurposed it, CRISPR/Cas9 was a sort of internal immune system bacteria use to defend themselves against phages, or viruses that infect bacteria, by slicing up the phages' DNA.

2 Jul 2019

Study reveals time taken for DNA repair after chemotherapy

In the time it takes for an Amazon Prime delivery to arrive, cells damaged by chemotherapy can almost completely fix their most important DNA. That is the case in the livers of mice at least, according to a new study.

2 Jul 2019

Large doses of traditional chemotherapy drug spur immune system attack on cancer cells

More than 60 years ago, British physician Denis Parsons Burkitt and his associates achieved one of the signal successes in cancer medicine when they cured children in sub-Saharan Africa with a form of lymphoma by treating them with high doses of the chemotherapy drug cyclophosphamide.

2 Jul 2019

Scientists uncover new pathway to make cancers self-destruct

For years, researchers have been trying to target a gene called MYC that is known to drive tumor growth in multiple cancer types when it is mutated or over-expressed, but hitting that target successfully has proven difficult.

1 Jul 2019

Health screening from age 40 helps avoid the black hole of aging

Seeing a health professional for a full health screening - even when you feel healthy - from around age 40 enables people to make changes when problems first set in, experts say.

1 Jul 2019

Research provides genomic warning flag just in time for beach season

An article published today in the Open Access journal GigaScience might make you squirm if you plan to hit the beach this summer. The article presents the draft genomes of three different jellyfish species.

30 Jun 2019

Novel population-based approach to examine families where AF occurs with left atrial fibrosis

Atrial fibrillation is a condition that produces an irregular heartbeat that affects about two percent of the general population and six percent of people over 65 years of age.

29 Jun 2019

Study uncovers new way to identify driver genes important for cancer progression

Until now, researchers believed recurrent mutations (hotspot mutations) in cancer tumors were the important mutations (driver mutations) that promoted cancer progression.

29 Jun 2019

New target identified for treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

An article published in Experimental Biology and Medicine (Volume 244, Issue 9, June 2019) (https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1535370219843827) identifies a new target for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

29 Jun 2019

New diagnostic test could end unnecessary chemotherapy for breast cancer

A diagnostic test developed at The University of Queensland might soon determine if a breast cancer patient requires chemotherapy or would receive no benefit from this gruelling treatment.

29 Jun 2019

Comprehensive gene activity database could significantly reduce animal use

A comprehensive database of gene activity in mice across ten disease models, which could significantly reduce animal use worldwide, has been developed by scientists at the Francis Crick Institute, which gives a full picture of the immune response to different pathogens.

29 Jun 2019

Researchers find a way to divide patients with ulcerative colitis into groups

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found a way of using gene expression conserved across species to divide patients with the inflammatory bowel disease ulcerative colitis into two distinct groups.

29 Jun 2019

Cells in humans are affected by thirdhand smoke, study shows

Thirdhand smoke can damage epithelial cells in the respiratory system by stressing cells and causing them to fight for survival, a research team led by scientists at the University of California, Riverside, has found. The finding could assist physicians treating patients exposed to thirdhand smoke.

28 Jun 2019