Genetic News and Research

RSS

Tiny balls of minerals are better vehicles for promising mRNA-based therapy

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers have developed a safer and more efficient way to deliver a promising new method for treating cancer and liver disorders and for vaccination -- including a COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna Therapeutics that has advanced to clinical trials with humans.

2 Jul 2020

Study identifies a promising way to delay the onset of Alzheimer's disease

Currently we are facing a dementia epidemic, estimations showing that by 2050 approximately 131 million people will be affected. Every 7 seconds a patient is diagnosed worldwide.

2 Jul 2020

Studies show how individual cells maintain their internal clocks

Two new studies led by UT Southwestern scientists outline how individual cells maintain their internal clocks, driven both through heritable and random means.

2 Jul 2020

Developing Vaccines and Therapeutics by Exploiting Structure in Spherical Nucleic Acids

An interview discussing the use of spherical nucleic acids (SNAs) and what they show about the importance of structure in pharmaceutical development.

From Pittcon 2 Jul 2020

Novel microbiome-based diagnostic tool can identify liver fibrosis, cirrhosis

Chronic liver disease represents a major global public health problem affecting an estimated 844 million people, according to the World Health Organization. It is among the top causes of mortality in Australia, the UK and the United States.

2 Jul 2020

Scientists find coronavirus' Achilles' heel

A team of scientists at the University of California San Francisco has found out how SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) invades proteins in the cells that serve as master regulators of key cellular processes.

1 Jul 2020

New tool to increase accessibility for COVID-19 testing

A research group from the University of California Santa Barbara recently demonstrated a cost-effective, simple, and much less toxic method to isolate host and pathogen nucleic acids and proteins in order to streamline the detection of DNA and RNA viruses – including the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

1 Jul 2020

Scientists find a simpler approach to generate sensory cells of the inner ear

Scientists from the USC Stem Cell laboratories of Neil Segil and Justin Ichida are whispering the secrets of a simpler way to generate the sensory cells of the inner ear.

1 Jul 2020

Study sheds light on selective neuronal vulnerability in Alzheimer’s disease

When Alzheimer's disease strikes, the entire brain doesn't crumble at once. Instead the mind unravels like grim clockwork, beginning with the telltale degradation of a group of brain cells in the entorhinal cortex.

1 Jul 2020

Research reveals new genetic insights into how the brain folds

New research is helping unlock the mystery of how the brain folds as a baby develops in the womb - a process critical to healthy brain function.

1 Jul 2020

Women with breast cancer diagnosed at earlier stage in states with expanded Medicaid coverage

In a new study by Yale Cancer Center, researchers have demonstrated that in states with expanded Medicaid coverage through the Affordable Care Act a higher percentage of women with breast cancer had their disease diagnosed at an early stage.

1 Jul 2020

Researchers develop a potential treatment approach for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease

A team led by Case Western Reserve University medical researchers has developed a potential treatment method for Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD), a fatal neurological disorder that produces severe movement, motor and cognitive dysfunction in children.

1 Jul 2020

Study: Even moderate exercise during pregnancy boosts benefits of breastmilk for babies

A new study led by researchers at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine finds even moderate exercise during pregnancy increases a compound in breast milk that reduces a baby's lifelong risks of serious health issues such as diabetes, obesity and heart disease.

1 Jul 2020

Study indicates that primitive proteins could have progressed to form living cells

What did the very first proteins – those that appeared on Earth around 3.7 billion years ago – look like? Prof. Dan Tawfik of the Weizmann Institute of Science and Prof. Norman Metanis of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have reconstructed protein sequences that may well resemble those ancestors of modern proteins, and their research suggests a way that these primitive proteins could have progressed to forming living cells.

1 Jul 2020

Specific SARS-CoV-2 genetic elements found in different insect species

In a recent bioRxiv paper, researchers from Norway and the US demonstrate the presence of a highly conserved, mobile genetic element (thus far with unknown function) in genomes of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and a large number of insects – opening the door for hitherto unexplored treatment opportunities.

30 Jun 2020

Research shows IQGAP1 as a common target in variants of triple negative breast cancer

The cover for issue 26 of Oncotarget features Figure 6, "Mislocalization of IQGAP1-BRCA1 in human TNBC tumors phenocopies the dominant mutants and the TNBC cells," by Osman, et al. and reported that IQGAP1 is a signaling scaffold implicated in TNBC, but its mechanism is unknown.

30 Jun 2020