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Junk DNA may not be so ‘junky’ after all

Scientists have called it "junk DNA." They have long been perplexed by these extensive strands of genetic material that dominate the genome but seem to lack specific functions. Why would nature force the genome to carry so much excess baggage?

20 May 2009

NIH to develop therapeutics for rare and neglected diseases

The National Institutes of Health is launching the first integrated, drug development pipeline to produce new treatments for rare and neglected diseases. The $24 million program jumpstarts a trans-NIH initiative called the Therapeutics for Rare and Neglected Diseases program, or TRND.

20 May 2009

Autism discovery may explain why disorder strikes boys four times more than girls

UCLA scientists have discovered a variant of a gene called CACNA1G that may increase a child's risk of developing autism, particularly in boys. The journal Molecular Psychiatry publishes the findings in its May 19 advance online edition.

19 May 2009

Research may lead to improved TB vaccines

A team of Vanderbilt University Medical Center investigators has cracked one of clinical medicine's enduring mysteries - what happened to the tuberculosis vaccine. The once-effective vaccine no longer prevents the bacterial lung infection that kills more than 1.7 million people worldwide each year.

19 May 2009

Genetic variations may contribute to depression in heart disease patients

Individuals with heart disease are twice as likely to suffer from depression as the general population, an association the medical community has largely been unable to explain.

19 May 2009

Biological timekeeper studies reveal new temperature regulator and track clock protein across a day

Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have made new inroads into understanding the regulatory circuitry of the biological clock that synchronizes the ebb and flow of daily activities, according to two studies published May 15.

17 May 2009

New system to deliver siRNA into primary cells

In technology that promises to one day allow drug delivery to be tailored to an individual patient and a particular cancer tumor, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have developed an efficient system for delivering siRNA into primary cells.

17 May 2009

Variation of natural compound cures malaria in mice

Approximately 350 million to 500 million cases of malaria are diagnosed each year mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. While medications to prevent and treat malaria do exist, the demand for new treatments is on the rise, in part, because malaria parasites have developed a resistance to existing medications.

15 May 2009

Determining success or failure in cholesterol-controlling drugs

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego have discovered that a complex network of interactions between drugs and the proteins with which they bind can explain adverse drug effects. Their findings suggest that adverse drug effects might be minimized by using single or multiple drug therapies in order to fine-tune multiple off-target interactions.

15 May 2009

Scientists develop tool to study a deadly parasite’s histone code

In the Japanese art of paper folding, a series of folds can make the same sheet of paper into a ballerina or baby elephant. But try unfolding the baby elephant and making it into a ballerina. It's like trying to make a neuron from a kidney cell. Epigenetics, it turns out, isn't much different from this old Japanese art: Each fold, or epigenetic crease, both limits and permits further potential folds in a way that mirrors how epigenetic changes seal a cell's fate.

13 May 2009

Promising new targets for medications to treat cocaine addiction

Repeated use of addictive drugs such as cocaine causes long-lasting changes in parts of the brain involved in motivation and reward, among others, yet the precise mechanisms by which these changes are maintained are poorly understood.

13 May 2009

New genetic clues to treatment of hypertension

An international research team has identified a number of unsuspected genetic variants associated with systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and hypertension (high blood pressure), suggesting potential avenues of investigation for the prevention or treatment of hypertension.

12 May 2009

Discovery of eight previously unknown genes that affect blood pressure

Eight previously unknown genes that affect blood pressure were recently identified in a comprehensive international study comprising 34,433 Europeans. The findings of the study, in which Uppsala University researchers participated, are being presented in the Web edition of Nature Genetics.

11 May 2009

Scientists develop whole-genome sequencing approach to mapping mutations in fruit flies

The Stowers Institute's Hawley Lab and Molecular Biology Facility have developed a "whole-genome sequencing approach" to mapping mutations in fruit flies.

5 May 2009

New DEAR1 gene predicts local recurrence in early-onset breast cancer

A newly discovered gene known as DEAR1 is mutated in breast cancer and is an independent predictor of local recurrence-free survival in early-onset breast cancer, a research team headed by scientists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center reports in the journal PLoS Medicine.

5 May 2009

Potential molecular target for new schizophrenia treatments

A study on schizophrenia has implicated machinery that maintains the flow of potassium in cells and revealed a potential molecular target for new treatments. Expression of a previously unknown form of a key such potassium channel was found to be 2.5 fold higher than normal in the brain memory hub of people with the chronic mental illness and linked to a hotspot of genetic variation.

5 May 2009

Discovery of genetic marker linked to the risk of acetaminophen-induced liver injury

Acetaminophen (Tylenol and generics) is one of the most commonly used over-the-counter drugs in the United States. While generally safe, acetaminophen is known to cause severe liver injury if taken in high doses. But likely due to genetics, even the recommended dose can induce serious liver damage in a significant number of people.

4 May 2009

New, more effective and less costly method for testing drugs for potential toxicity

Adverse reactions to drugs represent one of the leading causes of death in the United States. But there may be a way to predict who is most likely to suffer a toxic side effect to a drug before they have even taken it.

4 May 2009

New early detection studies of lung cancer in non-smokers launched

Government and private sector cancer scientists today launched a research partnership to find biomarkers for lung cancer that develops in people who have never smoked. The research studies are designed to create a better understanding of the biology of lung cancer and to develop a test to detect early-stage lung cancer in lifetime nonsmokers.

4 May 2009

Discovery of gene associated with narcolepsy

Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health have identified a gene associated with narcolepsy, a disorder that causes disabling daytime sleepiness, sleep attacks, irresistible bouts of sleep that can strike at any time, and disturbed sleep at night. The gene has a known role in the immune system, which strongly suggests that autoimmunity, in which the immune system turns against the body's own tissues, plays an important role in the disorder.

3 May 2009