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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

TGen receives $20,000 grant from ACF for STEM education

The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) received another boost today for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education with a $20,000 grant from the Arizona Community Foundation (ACF).

7 Aug 2013

Ensemble Therapeutics initiates research and development collaboration with Novartis

Ensemble Therapeutics, a biotechnology company developing Ensemblins, a novel class of small molecule therapeutics with the power of biologics, today announced the initiation of a two-part research and development collaboration with Novartis.

6 Aug 2013

Study reveals nearly 40% of tumors are caused by viruses

The results of a large-scale analysis of the association between DNA viruses and human malignancies suggest that many of the most common cancers are not associated with DNA viruses.

6 Aug 2013

Novel way to dramatically raise potency of drug candidates targeting RNA

Scientists from the Jupiter campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have shown a novel way to dramatically raise the potency of drug candidates targeting RNA, resulting in a 2,500-fold improvement in potency and significantly increasing their potential as therapeutic agents.

6 Aug 2013

Study shows how bioactive component in soy foods plays a role against colon cancer

University of Illinois scientists have evidence that lifelong exposure to genistein, a bioactive component in soy foods, protects against colon cancer by repressing a signal that leads to accelerated growth of cells, polyps, and eventually malignant tumors.

6 Aug 2013

Columbia researchers identify 18 new genes that drive glioblastoma multiforme

A team of researchers at the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University Medical Center has identified 18 new genes responsible for driving glioblastoma multiforme, the most common-and most aggressive-form of brain cancer in adults. The study was published August 5, 2013, in Nature Genetics.

6 Aug 2013

New England Biolabs Gains Access To Advanced NGS Library Prep Method

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From New England Biolabs 6 Aug 2013

Affymetrix introduces new OncoScan FFPE Assay Kit

Affymetrix, Inc. announced the launch of the new OncoScan™ FFPE Assay Kit, a whole-genome copy number assay for highly degraded FFPE solid tumor samples, at the Cancer Cytogenomics Microarray Consortium conference being held in Chicago this week.

5 Aug 2013

Disruption to TOP3B gene increases susceptibility to schizophrenia and a learning disorder

A team of researchers have shown that schizophrenia and a disorder associated with autism and learning difficulties share a common biological pathway. This is one of the first times that researchers have uncovered genetic evidence for the underlying causes of schizophrenia.

5 Aug 2013

Study opens door to possible treatments for variety of mitochondrial diseases

By borrowing a tool from bacteria that infect plants, scientists have developed a new approach to eliminate mutated DNA inside mitochondria-the energy factories within cells. Doctors might someday use the approach to treat a variety of mitochondrial diseases, including the degenerative eye disease Leber hereditary optic neuropathy. The research, published online today in Nature Medicine, was funded by the National Eye Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health.

5 Aug 2013

Specific mutations in FLT3 receptor can contribute to acute myeloid leukemia

Specific mutations (N676K) in the FLT3 receptor can contribute to the development of acute myeloid leukemia. The FLT3 receptor regulates cell growth, while activating gene mutations promote the uncontrolled proliferation of white blood cells. These findings were reported in the specialist journal Blood by a group of scientists from the Helmholtz Zentrum München and the Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich as part of a clinical research collaboration with the German Cancer Consortium.

3 Aug 2013

Study offers new hope for treatment of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma

Researchers have discovered how an experimental drug is capable of completely eradicating human lymphoma in mice after just five doses. The study, led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College, sets the stage for testing the drug in clinical trials of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, the most common subtype of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, itself the seventh most frequently diagnosed cancer in the U.S.

2 Aug 2013

International meeting to focus on carbon ion radiotherapy for cancer patients

Cancer experts from around the world are converging in Denver on Thursday and Friday to analyze the success of cutting-edge radiation therapies, and to determine how one promising treatment option could be delivered for the first time to cancer patients in the United States.

2 Aug 2013

Verinata Health receives New York's Laboratory Permit for CLIA-certified verifi prenatal test

Illumina, Inc. (NASDAQ: ILMN) today announced that Verinata Health, an Illumina company, received the Clinical Laboratory Permit from the New York State Department of Health for its CLIA-certified, CAP-accredited laboratory.

2 Aug 2013

Researchers hope to exploit unique metabolic profile of cancer

Researchers from the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have identified a characteristic unique to cancer cells in an animal model of cancer -- and they believe it could be exploited as a target to develop new treatment strategies.

2 Aug 2013

New type of chemical modification affects proteins, could provide insights into causes of cancer

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have discovered a new type of chemical modification that affects numerous proteins within mammalian cells. The modification appears to work as a regulator of important cellular processes including the metabolism of glucose.

2 Aug 2013

Study proposes novel approach for understanding how genome affects biology of the human body

Recent technological developments in genomics have revealed a large number of genetic influences on common complex diseases, such as diabetes, asthma, cancer or schizophrenia. However, discovering a genetic variant predisposing to a disease is only a first step. To apply this knowledge towards prevention or cure, including tailoring treatment to the patient’s genetic profile –also known as personalized medicine – we need to know how this genetic variant affects health.

1 Aug 2013

Study discover two new mechanisms that govern editing in key neurodevelopmental gene

RNA editing gives organisms a way to adapt the instructions that their DNA provides for making proteins. Few people would have described RNA editing as a simple process, but a new paper in Nature Communications demonstrates the process as more complex and difficult to predict than previously assumed. The study, done in living fruit flies, discovered two new mechanisms that govern editing in a key neurodevelopmental gene.

1 Aug 2013

Sequenom CMM, CombiMatrix sign collaboration agreement to market CMA testing for NIPT

Sequenom, Inc., a life sciences company providing innovative diagnostic testing and genetic analysis solutions, and CombiMatrix Corporation, a molecular diagnostics laboratory performing DNA-based testing services for developmental disorders and cancer, today jointly announced that the Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine LLC and CombiMatrix have entered into a collaboration agreement to market chromosomal microarray analysis testing services to broaden and confirm the results of noninvasive, prenatal testing to physicians and their patients.

1 Aug 2013

'Dark matter' in human genome may play role in cancer biology and cell death

The St. Laurent Institute, a non-profit medical research institute focused on the systems biology of disease, today announced in a study published in the July edition of Genome Biology, that genetic matter, previously ignored by the scientific community, may play an important role in cancer.

1 Aug 2013