Mutation News and Research

RSS

Call for more genetic research in the sport and exercise sciences

Genetic research into athletic ability should be encouraged for its potential benefits in both sport and public health, a leading group of scientists meeting at the University of Bath said today.

13 Sep 2007

Older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity

It turns out that older men chasing younger women contributes to human longevity and the survival of the species, according to new findings by researchers at Stanford and the University of California-Santa Barbara.

13 Sep 2007

Proteins Nox1 and Nox2 play important role in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

University of Iowa researchers investigating the basic biology of cell signaling have made a discovery that may have therapeutic implications for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other neurodegenerative diseases.

13 Sep 2007

Unique role for blood formation gene MLL identified

All blood cell production in adults depends on the steady work of a vital gene that if lost results in early bone marrow failure, Dartmouth Medical School cancer geneticists have found.

13 Sep 2007

New insight into breast cancer development in high-risk women

Physicians who treat women with the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 often remove their patients' ovaries to eliminate the source of estrogen they believe fuels cancer growth.

12 Sep 2007

Mutations in the insulin gene can cause permanent neonatal diabetes

Mutations in the insulin gene can cause permanent neonatal diabetes, an unusual form of diabetes that affects very young children and results in lifelong dependence on insulin injections, report researchers from the University of Chicago and Peninsula University (Exeter, UK) in Sept. 18, 2007, issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, published early online.

11 Sep 2007

Novel enzyme may offer huge range of potential therapeutic agents

By guiding an enzyme down a new evolutionary pathway, a team of University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers has created a new form of an enzyme capable of producing a range of potential new therapeutic agents with anticancer and antibiotic properties.

10 Sep 2007

Scientists shed new light on how antibodies fight HIV

By furthering scientists' understanding of the molecular mechanisms that separate the minority of successful HIV antibodies from the majority of ineffective antibodies, the work may have implications for future attempts to design an HIV vaccine.

10 Sep 2007

Schizophrenia-linked gene keeps new adult brain cells under control

The study reveals that the gene, known as Disrupted-In-Schizophrenia 1 (DISC1), directs the incorporation of new neurons into the adult brain and keeps the process under control. The gene's newly discovered roles might help to explain why schizophrenia's symptoms generally arise in adolescence or early adulthood, the researchers suggested.

10 Sep 2007

Researchers develop mouse model of autism spectrum disorders

Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have genetically engineered mice that harbor the same genetic mutation found in some people with autism and Asperger syndrome.

10 Sep 2007

Mutated mice provide new insights into autism

Mice containing a mutated human gene implicated in autism exhibit the poor social skills but increased intelligence akin to the title character's traits in the movie “Rain Man,” researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

10 Sep 2007

Clearer picture of how a dividing cell rebuilds the nuclear envelope

Just how a dividing cell rebuilds the nuclear envelope, the protective, functional wrapping that encases both the original and newly copied genetic material, has been a source of controversy for the last 20 years.

10 Sep 2007

Research highlights importance of starch in human beginnings

To think that world domination could have begun in the cheeks. That's one interpretation of a discovery, published online September 9 in Nature Genetics, which indicates that humans carry extra copies of the salivary amylase gene.

10 Sep 2007

Ultraconserved elements in the genome: Are they indispensable?

Three years ago, "ultraconserved elements" were discovered in the genomes of mice, rats, and humans.

5 Sep 2007

Antiobesity gene

Researchers have revealed an antiobesity gene that has apparently been keeping critters lean during times of plenty since ancient times.

5 Sep 2007

Key differences discovered between avian and human flu

St. Jude scientists have found key features that distinguish influenza viruses found in birds from those that infect humans.

5 Sep 2007

New bird flu cases in Vietnam leaves four dead

The Ministry of Health in VietNam says there have been five new human bird flu cases of the deadly virus in the country since June this year.

4 Sep 2007

Indonesia denies human to human spread of bird flu

The Indonesian government has been forced to speak out about the continued spread of bird flu in the vast archipelago following the release of an analysis which suggests the deadly virus had been spread by person to person contact.

4 Sep 2007

Researchers look at malaria resistance to chloroquine

Funded by a $1.5 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), scientists at Binghamton University, State University of New York, hope to understand how the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum evolved resistance to the once-effective medication chloroquine.

3 Sep 2007

New phages to treat bacterial diseases

Viruses found in the River Cam in Cambridge, famous as a haunt of students in their punts on long, lazy summer days, could become the next generation of antibiotics, according to scientists speaking today (Monday 3 September 2007) at the Society for General Microbiology's 161st Meeting at the University of Edinburgh, UK, which runs from 3-6 September 2007.

3 Sep 2007