Genetic News and Research

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Experts condemn CRISPR babies research as original manuscript is made public

Scientists have criticized the gene-editing of the Chinese twins last year, following the first public release of the research.

4 Dec 2019

Study identifies improved treatment option for neuroblastoma

Neuroblastoma is a rare form of malignant tumor, primarily affecting children under the age of six. A research team led by molecular pathologist Lukas Kenner from MedUni Vienna's Department of Pathology has now discovered, through genome sequencing, that the protein ALK and the cancer gene PIM1 are involved in the development of this tumor.

4 Dec 2019

Study explores whether disability is a risk factor for miscarriage

A new study compared the proportion of women with any cognitive, physical, or independent living disability who experienced a miscarriage during the previous 5-year period to women without disabilities.

3 Dec 2019

New project could mark a pivotal advancement in therapies to address male sterility

Researchers from the University of Georgia, Emory University School of Medicine and the University of Pittsburgh have received a $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to test a novel method of producing viable sperm cells from skin cells.

3 Dec 2019

Common cold virus could infect fetus via placenta

According to researchers, the common cold viruses are capable of infecting human placental cells and may thus transmit the infection to the fetus in the womb during pregnancy. The new study was published in the journal PLOS ONE, and provides the first concrete proof that this type of carriage is possible.

3 Dec 2019

Zebrafish study supports accuracy of CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing tool

Along with the promise that CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology can offer new human therapies is the need to ensure its safety. A recent study showed that CRISPR-Cas9 did not produce off-target gene mutations in zebrafish. These results, published in Frontiers in Genetics, confirm previous data in animal models that the risk to the rest of the genome from gene editing is minimal.

3 Dec 2019

Researchers discover regulatory map of the human EphB4 gene

Pierluigi Scalia and coworkers at the Sbarro Institute for Cancer Research and Molecular Medicine at Temple University in Philadelphia, and the affiliated Italian research organization ISOPROG, have announced the regulatory map of the human EphB4 gene.

3 Dec 2019

New treatment approach could improve outcomes for people with cystic fibrosis

A new approach to treating people with cystic fibrosis (CF) has been shown to reduce inflammation, which has the potential to reduce the need for lung transplants and lower the risk of death.

3 Dec 2019

Freiburg scientists decipher basic molecular control mechanisms behind cellular identity

A research team headed by Prof. Dr. Sebastian Arnold and Jelena Tosic from the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Freiburg has now succeeded in deciphering basic molecular control mechanisms by which stem cells decide which embryonic cell types to turn into.

3 Dec 2019

Genetic testing results help woman to make decisions about her treatment and preventive care

Wendy Richardson, 52, of Ridgefield, Connecticut, has always been aware that she has a strong family history of cancer.

3 Dec 2019

New computational method can help predict and design allosteric functions in proteins

Called the "second secret of life", allostery is one of the most fundamental processes of biology and has been a central focus among scientists across the life sciences spectrum, from fundamental biology to drug development.

3 Dec 2019

New findings regarding maintenance and functioning of the endosome

On a daily basis, multitudes of molecules enter each cell in our body. These can be nutrients or signal molecules or pathogenic microorganisms. An organelle in the cell directs these molecules to other stations for further processing.

3 Dec 2019

Study: Complementary health approach is recommended by over half of U.S. office-based physicians

A new study has shown that more than half (53.1%) of office-based physicians in the U.S., across specialty areas, recommended at least one complementary health approach (CHA) to their patients during the previous 12 months, with female physicians (63.2%) more likely to recommend a CHA than male physicians (49.3%).

3 Dec 2019

Blood proteins could help provide a comprehensive 'liquid health check' in future

Proteins in our blood could in future help provide a comprehensive 'liquid health check', assessing our health and predicting the likelihood that we will we will develop a range of diseases, according to research published today in Nature Medicine.

2 Dec 2019

Study suggests two new approaches against bone metastases from prostate cancer

When prostate cancer spreads, it most often spreads to bone. And while the 5-year survival rate for prostate cancer that has not spread is nearly 100 percent, once the disease reaches bone, the 5-year survival rate is only 29 percent.

2 Dec 2019

Study reveals clue to preventing addiction relapse

With any addiction in which a user has successfully resisted a chemical, activity or substance, relapse is vexing. And with opioids, it's often deadly. Fatal overdoses following relapse from an opioid addiction is reaching epidemic proportions.

2 Dec 2019

Many people with risk factors do not develop early signs of heart disease, studies show

Two new studies find that many people with risk factors for heart disease, such as diabetes, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure, do not develop early signs of heart disease if their coronary artery calcium score is low.

2 Dec 2019

Virome analysis reveals clues for increased risk of type 1 diabetes in children

New results from The Environmental Determinants of Diabetes in the Young study show an association between prolonged enterovirus infection and the development of autoimmunity to the insulin-producing pancreatic beta-cells that precedes type 1 diabetes.

2 Dec 2019

75-year old blood-stained microscope slide reveals historical spread of malaria

DNA from 75-year old eradicated European malaria parasites uncovers the historical spread of one of the two most common forms of the disease, Plasmodium vivax, from Europe to the Americas during the colonial period, finds a new study co-led by UCL.

2 Dec 2019

New study uncovers multiple effects of little-known DNA repair protein

Injury and repair are part of the normal life cycle of any tissue or organ in the human body. However, if macroscopic tears or breaks occur in the bones or joints, for instance, the effects are immediately perceptible. Not so with chromosomes, which contain the DNA of life. Both extremely valuable and extremely fragile, DNA is the focus of highly efficient repair proteins.

2 Dec 2019