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Researchers use dynamic time-series data to help improve accuracy of genome mapping

If you already have the sequenced map of an organism's genome but want to look for structural oddities in a sample, you can check the genomic barcode -- a series of distances between known, targeted sites -- by cutting a DNA sequence at those sites and examining the distance between the cuts.

30 Dec 2015

Zinc levels in breast milk may help identify breast-feeding problems

Zinc levels in breast milk may be able to serve as an indicator of breast function during lactation, according to Penn State health researchers.

23 Dec 2015

Novel drug shows promise in mouse models of human metastatic breast cancer

A doctor treating a patient with a potentially fatal metastatic breast tumor would be very pleased to find, after administering a round of treatment, that the primary tumor had undergone a change in character - from aggressive to static, and no longer shedding cells that can colonize distant organs of the body. Indeed, most patients with breast and other forms of cancer who succumb to the illness do so because of the cancer's unstoppable spread.

23 Dec 2015

Certain gut bacteria linked to type 2 diabetes, reveal Russian scientists

A group of Russian scientists, including Dr Elena Kostryukova, the Head of the Laboratory of Postgenomic Research in Biology of the Scientific Research Institute of Physical-Chemical Medicine and a researcher at MIPT (Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology), and Maria Vakhitova, an MIPT postgraduate student, has discovered that the presence of certain bacteria in the gut may be linked to the development of type 2 diabetes.

21 Dec 2015

New sensor can detect estrogen levels in liquids

Estrogen is a tiny molecule, but it can have big effects on humans and other animals. Estrogen is one of the main hormones that regulates the female reproductive system - it can be monitored to track human fertility and is sometimes administered to livestock like cows and sheep to control the reproductive cycle.

25 Nov 2015

Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories licenses SNP probe technology from OGT

Oxford Gene Technology (OGT), The Molecular Genetics Company, has entered into a deal with Baylor Miraca Genetics Laboratories (BMGL), licensing the use of OGT’s proprietary single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array probe technology.

From Oxford Gene Technology 12 Nov 2015

Crucial change in single DNA base predisposes children to aggressive form of cancer

Pediatric oncology researchers have pinpointed a crucial change in a single DNA base that both predisposes children to an aggressive form of the childhood cancer neuroblastoma and makes the disease progress once tumors form.

12 Nov 2015

Study shows rare HER2 missense mutations do not spread breast cancer on their own

Results of a new laboratory study by Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center researchers suggests that some rare “missense” mutations in the HER2 gene are apparently not — on their own — capable of causing breast cancer growth or spread.

12 Nov 2015

Two genetic variants interact to alter the brain responses to high-calorie foods

For the first time, researchers have identified two genetic variants that interact to alter the brain responses to high-calorie foods, a tie that could aid in the development of targeted treatments for obesity and overweight. Researchers at Imperial College London led by Tony Goldstone, MD, PhD, of Consultant Endocrinologist, found that two gene variants - FTO and DRD2 - influenced activity in the brain reward system when looking at pictures of high-calorie foods.

6 Nov 2015

Researchers identify seven genetic risk loci involved in atopic march

There's a typical "career" for some allergic people, and it starts very early on the skin: babies develop atopic dermatitis, food allergies may follow, then comes asthma and later on hay fever. A group of scientists led by Ingo Marenholz and Young-Ae Lee at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association, working with colleagues from several institutions, has now identified seven genetic risk loci for this course of disease.

6 Nov 2015

Researchers use genomic techniques to show why different strains of Salmonella infect particular animal species

It's called bird flu for a reason. Particular characteristics about the influenza virus known as H5N1 allow it to primarily affect avifauna, though in some worrying cases the disease has been passed to humans.

3 Nov 2015

Study reports discovery of new class of DNA repair enzyme

This year's Nobel Prize in chemistry was given to three scientists who each focused on one piece of the DNA repair puzzle. Now a new study, reported online Oct. 28 in the journal Nature, reports the discovery of a new class of DNA repair enzyme.

30 Oct 2015

Liposomal sizing and the Coulter principle: an interview with Professor Melvin E. Klegerman

For about the last 25 years, the cardiology group here have been developing a platform technology for both the diagnosis and treatment of atherosclerosis.

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Particle Counting and Characterization 28 Oct 2015

Four microRNAs appear to play critical roles in controlling cholesterol, triglyceride metabolism

Four tiny segments of RNA appear to play critical roles in controlling cholesterol and triglyceride metabolism. In their report receiving advance online publication in Nature Medicine, a Massachusetts General Hospital-based research team describes finding how these microRNAs could reduce the expression of proteins playing key roles in the generation of beneficial HDL cholesterol, the disposal of artery-clogging LDL cholesterol, control of triglyceride levels and other risk factors of cardiovascular disease.

27 Oct 2015

Bioengineers develop continuously tunable method to find and quantify DNA, RNA biomarkers

A Rice University laboratory has developed a continuously tunable method to find and quantify DNA and RNA biomarkers.

20 Oct 2015

ToMMo constructs Japanese population reference panel from genome information of 1,070 individuals

A research group at Tohoku Medical Megabank Organization (ToMMo) has successfully constructed a Japanese population reference panel (1KJPN), from the genome information of 1,070 individuals who had participated in the cohort studies of the Tohoku Medical Megabank Project.

19 Oct 2015

Brown University researchers describe new method to test HIV mutations

Tests that can distinguish whether HIV-positive people are infected with a drug-resistant strain or a non-resistant strain allow patients to get the most effective treatment as quickly as possible. In the November edition of the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, a team of Brown University researchers describes a new method that works faster and more sensitively in lab testing than the current standard technologies.

16 Oct 2015

International consortium provides standard protocol for using Oxford Nanopore's DNA-sequencing device

The MinION, a handheld DNA-sequencing device developed by Oxford Nanopore, has been tested and evaluated by an independent, international consortium coordinated by EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI).

16 Oct 2015

Antiviral agent protects rhesus monkeys from deadly Ebola virus

Rhesus monkeys were completely protected from the deadly Ebola virus when treated three days after infection with a compound that blocks the virus's ability to replicate. These encouraging preclinical results suggest the compound, known as GS-5734, should be further developed as a potential treatment, according to research findings to be presented tomorrow at the IDWeek conference.

12 Oct 2015

Study opens new doors to research possible treatment for patients suffering from neuropathic pain

Chronic pain results from disease or trauma to the nervous system. Damaged nerve fibres with heightened responses to normal stimuli send incorrect messages to pain centres in the brain. This phenomenon, called "peripheral and central sensitization" is one of the key mechanisms involved in the condition which touches people with diabetes, cancer, and those suffering from multiple sclerosis, among others.