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Garvan Institute professor receives 2010 Prime Minister's Prize for Science

Professor John Shine AO FAA, Executive Director of Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research, received the 2010 Prime Minister's Prize for Science, the nation's most highly respected award for scientific achievement, in Parliament House tonight.

17 Nov 2010

LRI pleased with FDA Advisory Committee's approval of Benlysta for lupus

The Lupus Research Institute (LRI) and its National Coalition of state and local lupus organizations are pleased with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee's vote to recommend approval of Benlysta® for active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), offering patients new found hope for the first approved treatment option in more than 50 years.

17 Nov 2010

FDA Arthritis Advisory Committee recommends approval of BENLYSTA for SLE

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and GlaxoSmithKline PLC today announced that the Arthritis Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has voted 13 to 2 to recommend that the FDA approve BENLYSTA (belimumab) for the treatment of autoantibody-positive patients with active systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

17 Nov 2010

Researchers suggest that genetic screening may predict heart attack risk

Testing for 11 specific genetic variations in hundreds of people with no history of heart disease provided information that led to revision of their estimated heart attack risk, say Mayo Clinic researchers.

17 Nov 2010

OtoSCOPE method offers single-run genetic testing for hearing loss

Pinpointing the exact genetic cause of inherited deafness has always involved sequencing one gene at a time, a process that can take up to a year and cost roughly $1,000 per gene. It would cost around $75,000 to test all known deafness causing genes using this approach. Now University of Iowa researchers working with colleagues at Baylor College of Medicine have developed a test that can screen all of the genes known to cause deafness in a single run, in one to three months and for about $2,000.

16 Nov 2010

Scientists discover new genetic variants linked to bowel cancer

Cancer Research UK-funded scientists have discovered four new genetic variants linked to bowel cancer by combining data from three major genome studies, reveals a study published in Nature Genetics.

16 Nov 2010

Spontaneous mutations can cause mental retardation

Dutch geneticists affiliated with the Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre present as a novel research paradigm that spontaneous mutations are an important cause of mental retardation.

15 Nov 2010

Scientists uncover DNA sequence variations associated with cardiac electrical activity

Scientists studying genetic data from nearly 50,000 people have uncovered several DNA sequence variations associated with the electrical impulses that make the heart beat. The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, may pave the way for a greater understanding of the mechanisms for abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death.

15 Nov 2010

Research on fruit flies reveal novel human pain gene

While it has become clear in recent years that susceptibility to pain has a strong inherited component, very little is known about actual "pain genes" and how they work. In the November 12th issue of Cell, researchers at Children's Hospital Boston and their collaborators report on a novel human pain gene. People with minor variations in this gene showed clear differences in susceptibility to acute heat pain and chronic back pain.

12 Nov 2010

German Genetic Diagnostics Act in need of amendment

Many aspects of the German Genetic Diagnostics Act (Gendiagnostikgesetz) are out of touch with the latest technology, almost impossible to implement in clinical practice, or even detrimental to the success of recognised screening tests, such as newborn screening. The Act, which came into force in February 2010, is in desperate need of amendment.

11 Nov 2010

New discovery can develop diagnostic test to identify gene mutation in AML

Decoding the DNA of a woman who died of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has led researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to a gene that they found to be commonly altered in many patients who died quickly of the disease.

11 Nov 2010

Cognitive differences exist between modern humans, Neanderthals: Researchers

Whether cognitive differences exist between modern humans and Neanderthals is the subject of contentious disputes in anthropology and archaeology. Because the brain size range of modern humans and Neanderthals overlap, many researchers previously assumed that the cognitive capabilities of these two species were similar.

10 Nov 2010

NEWMEDS launches largest database to advance drug development for depressio, schizophrenia

In a remarkable and unprecedented collaboration NEWMEDS (Novel Methods leading to NeW MEdications in Depression and Schizophrenia) have pooled resources to bring together data of 23,401 anonymized patients from 67 trials on 11 compounds in over 25 countries to form the single largest database of clinical trial data ever amassed in psychiatric research.

10 Nov 2010

UC Davis researchers identify new pathway to repair oxidative-damaged DNA

UC Davis researchers have found a new pathway for repairing DNA damaged by oxygen radicals. The results are published this week in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

10 Nov 2010

Genetic region linked to survival in patients with advanced bowel cancer

Scientists have discovered a genetic region linked to survival in patients with advanced bowel cancer, according to a study being presented at the National Cancer Research Institute (NCRI) Cancer Conference today (Tuesday).

9 Nov 2010

UC researchers receive four-year grant to study mechanism of malarial parasite replication in RBCs

Today, about half the world's population lives in areas at risk of malaria transmission. The disease is transmitted to humans through bites from mosquitoes, and each year causes hundreds of thousands of deaths worldwide, with about 1,500 of these in the United States.

8 Nov 2010

Scientists identify genes that enable some immune systems to halt HIV; finding could spur drug, vaccine development

Tiny variants in a protein that alerts the body to infection could explain how one in 300 HIV-infected people are able to resist the onset of AIDS for years without needing any treatment, researchers said Thursday in a study published online in the journal Science, Agence France-Presse reports

8 Nov 2010

Inviragen to present data on CHIKV vaccine at ASTMH meeting

Inviragen, a biotechnology company developing vaccines to protect against infectious diseases worldwide, together with investigators at the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) and the Division of Vector Borne Diseases (DVBD) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, will make an oral presentation today at the annual American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene (ASTMH) meeting on preclinical results of the Company's experimental chikungunya virus (CHIKV) vaccine.

8 Nov 2010

New benchtop robotic workstation simplifies next-generation sequencing workflows

IntegenX, Inc. today at the 60th Annual American Society of Human Genetics Meeting announced the launch of their Apollo 324 System, a benchtop robotic workstation that automates the construction of DNA fragment libraries for next-generation sequencing.

8 Nov 2010

Agilent announces solution for exon analysis based on SurePrint G3 Exon Microarrays

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced a solution for exon analysis based on SurePrint G3 Exon Microarrays. The solution provides a major expansion of Agilent's portfolio of gene expression reagents, microarrays and bioinformatics systems. This new system, available in mid-November, enables researchers to examine alternately expressed exons according to recently updated content, providing a global picture of RNA expression.

4 Nov 2010