Genetic News and Research

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New web-based platform established for reporting vaccine target recommendations for COVID-19

As genetic sequences of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the novel pneumonia (COVID-19), are similar to those of the 2003 SARS virus, SARS-CoV, knowledge and data of SARS-CoV may be useful for finding ways to combat COVID-19.

30 Jun 2020

Salk Institute expands research to find treatments and cures for COVID-19

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues across the globe, the Salk Institute joins in efforts to understand the fundamental science behind the novel coronavirus to pave the way to treatments and cures.

30 Jun 2020

Study provides mechanistic explanation of psychotic symptoms in young people

Schizophrenia symptoms may be the result of increased connections between sensory and language-processing brain areas.

30 Jun 2020

SAFB1 may be a diagnostic marker for neurodegenerative diseases, shows study

Bristol scientists have discovered a novel pathology that occurs in several human neurodegenerative diseases, including Huntington's disease.

30 Jun 2020

GHGA to address need for access to genomic and phenomic data

In Germany, there is currently a lack of infrastructure to deal with high-volume biological and biomedical data, such as data found in medical records.

30 Jun 2020

Glitches in DNA replication have important implications for treating cancer

USC researchers peering deep inside a living cell have discovered something surprising: Its system for preventing genetic damage linked to diseases can fail so badly that the cell would be better off without it.

30 Jun 2020

Spike protein and human ACE2 binding ability shows SARS-CoV-2 viral adaptation

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv in June 2020 reports some important findings that could shed light on this question. As the pandemic marches on, having claimed over 500,000 lives and caused well over 10 million infections to date, the task of defining and predicting factors that predispose to infectivity across species becomes ever more critical.

30 Jun 2020

Study: Even the sickest COVID-19 patients produce T cells that help fight the virus

A new study from researchers at La Jolla Institute for Immunology (LJI) and Erasmus University Medical Center (Erasmus MC) shows that even the sickest COVID-19 patients produce T cells that help fight the virus.

30 Jun 2020

Researchers develop potential new therapy for common form of muscular dystrophy

Researchers have designed a potential new treatment for one of the most common forms of muscular dystrophy, according to a new study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

29 Jun 2020

Antibiotic resistance genes tend to persist in E. coli through 'genetic capitalism'

We have known for some time that over-use of antibiotics is causing a frightening increase in antibiotic resistance in bacteria, through the rapid spread of antibiotic resistance genes.

29 Jun 2020

Scientists discover osmotic stress as stimulator of cellular waste disposal

Cellular waste disposal, where autophagy and lysosomes interact, performs elementary functions, such as degrading damaged protein molecules, which impair cellular function, and reintroducing the resulting building blocks such as amino acids into the metabolic system.

29 Jun 2020

Researchers show how upregulation of a single gene by SARs-CoV-2 can trigger cytokine storm

The SARS-CoV-19 virus initially has a limited capability to invade, attacking only one intracellular genetic target, the aryl hydrocarbon receptors (AhRs).

29 Jun 2020

Remodeling may make neurons more prone to Alzheimer's disease

Neurons that regularly remodel are more prone to Alzheimer's disease and die when that remodeling goes awry, a new study suggests. The work is the first to track the progression of Alzheimer's at the genetic and molecular levels within neurons vulnerable to the disease.

29 Jun 2020

NUS researchers discover protein that promotes cancer progression

Cancers arise when the genetic code of normal cells is altered, causing excessive growth. Researchers from the Cancer Science Institute of Singapore at the National University of Singapore have discovered a protein that drives the growth of cancers of the esophagus or liver by altering the genetic code in a novel way.

29 Jun 2020

Study shows connection between blood pressure and eye health in young children

Young children with narrow retinal artery diameters were more likely to develop higher blood pressure, and children with higher blood pressure levels were more likely to develop retinal microvascular impairment during early childhood, according to a new study published today in Hypertension, an American Heart Association journal.

29 Jun 2020

Smart MRI scan used for heart disease can help assess aggressive cancers in children

A type of smart MRI scan used in people with heart disease could help assess whether children's cancers are especially aggressive and spot early signs that targeted treatments are working, a new study suggests.

29 Jun 2020

Similarities between coronaviruses and human genes promote infection

A new study published on the preprint server bioRxiv* in June 2020 shows that the proportion of A/T pairing in viral genomes may increase the tendency to infect humans because of the matching molecular features in some host genes, that increases the susceptibility of the host to the virus.

28 Jun 2020

Genomics used to trace origin of SARS-CoV-2 in Canada

A new study published in June 2020 on the preprint server bioRxiv discusses the use of phylogenetic analysis to trace the origin of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), and its spread into and then within Canada. The study findings may help optimize public health policies in the case of future outbreaks.

28 Jun 2020

Researchers identify a novel mutation through whole-exome sequencing

Long QT syndrome (LQTS), caused by an ion channel-related gene mutation, is a malignant heart disease with a clinical course of a high incidence of ventricular fibrillation and sudden cardiac death in the young.

27 Jun 2020

Towbin receives NIH grant to study modifier genes in cardiomyopathy

Jeffrey A. Towbin, MD, of Le Bonheur Children's Hospital and the University of Tennessee Health Science Center was awarded a Research Project Grant (R01) from the National Institutes of Health with co-principal investigators Enkhsaikha Purevjav, MD, PhD and Lu Lu, MD, MS.

26 Jun 2020