DNA News and Research

RSS

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).

Anticancer drug Cisplatin induces side effects

Cisplatin, an anticancer drug widely used for treating various types of tumor, can induce side effects in the short term. A team of scientists, mostly from CNRS and the Université de Nice has provided first in vitro evidence that this antitumor agent modifies the sensitivity of cellular pressure sensors. This completely novel mechanism could help to elucidate certain neurological side effects of cisplatin hitherto unexplained.

6 Oct 2010

Profectus BioSciences awarded $3.1M Fast Track SBIR grant to develop prophylactic vaccine against HIV

Profectus BioSciences, Inc., a technology based vaccine company devoted to the treatment and prevention of chronic viral diseases, today announced the award of a Fast Track SBIR from the Division of AIDS, National Institutes of Health for $3.1M to support the development of the Company's Transition State Vaccine (TSV) technology for a prophylactic HIV Vaccine.

6 Oct 2010

Researchers find exposure to air pollution increases severity of asthma symptoms

Exposure to dirty air is linked to decreased function of a gene that appears to increase the severity of asthma in children, according to a joint study by researchers at Stanford University and the University of California, Berkeley.

6 Oct 2010

Knome announces winners of KnomeDISCOVERY Awards

Knome, Inc. today announced the winners of its inaugural KnomeDISCOVERY Awards, a program designed to spur new genetic insights into health.

6 Oct 2010

Preclinical data of Enzon's PEG-SN38 in pediatric neuroblastoma published in Clinical Cancer Research

Enzon Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the publication of preclinical data demonstrating that PEG-SN38 (EZN-2208), the Company's novel PEGylated DNA topoisomerase I inhibitor, led to significantly greater tumor regression as compared to CPT-11 (irinotecan) in both in vitro and in vivo models of pediatric neuroblastoma.

5 Oct 2010

Orthopedics This Week presents 2010 Spine Technology Awards to Axial Biotech

Axial Biotech, Inc., a company revolutionizing spine care through the development of molecular diagnostic technologies, was selected as a winner at the 2010 Spine Technology Awards.

5 Oct 2010

Covidien to showcase innovative surgical products at 96th ACS Clinical Congress

Covidien, a leading global provider of healthcare products, will preview new devices and showcase some of the Company's most innovative products at the 96th Annual Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons.

5 Oct 2010

cobas TaqScreen DPX Test now available with CE Mark: Roche

Roche announced today that the cobas TaqScreen DPX Test for use on the cobas s 201 system is now available with the CE Mark. It is the first IVD test to offer complete coverage of all human genotypes of parvovirus B19 (B19V) and hepatitis A virus (HAV) in one assay.

5 Oct 2010

mtDNA deletion: New biomarker for identifying malignant prostate cancer

Mitomics, world leader in the research and development of mitochondrial genome-based products to improve clinical insight and therapeutic decisions, today announced the publication of new research in the Canadian Urological Association Journal (CUAJ) showing that large-scale deletions in mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) can indicate cellular changes that are associated with the development of cancer.

5 Oct 2010

NIEHS awards grant to study environmental impact on genetic information

The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences has awarded $2.27 million to Indiana University researcher Joseph Shaw for a five-year study of how the environment alters genetic information through mutation and natural selection.

5 Oct 2010

Onconova announces agreement with FDA for Estybon- MDS Phase 3 trial

Onconova Therapeutics, Inc. announced agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the design of a pivotal Phase 3 trial for Estybon- (ON 01910.Na) as monotherapy in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), diseases affecting the production of healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.

5 Oct 2010

Life Technologies acquires Ion Torrent for $375 million

Life Technologies Corporation, a provider of innovative life science solutions, today announced that it has completed the previously announced acquisition of Ion Torrent for $375 million in cash and stock. In addition, sellers are entitled to additional consideration upon the achievement of certain milestones.

4 Oct 2010

Onconova enters agreement with FDA for Estybon Phase 3 trial SPA

Onconova Therapeutics®, Inc. announced agreement with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regarding a Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for the design of a pivotal Phase 3 trial for Estybon™ (ON 01910.Na) as monotherapy in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), diseases affecting the production of healthy blood cells in the bone marrow.

4 Oct 2010

Puerto Rican's awarness of genetic testing high, but usage low

Awareness of genetic testing was higher among adults in Puerto Rico compared to previous U.S. population-based studies, while use of genetic testing was lower, according to data presented at the Third AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities, held Sept. 30 to Oct 3, 2010.

4 Oct 2010

Merck's boceprevir Phase III studies for HCV to be presented at 61st AASLD

Merck today announced that final results from two pivotal Phase III studies of boceprevir, its investigational oral hepatitis C protease inhibitor, will be presented in oral plenary sessions at the 61st Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD), which is taking place from Oct. 29 through Nov. 2 in Boston. Results for boceprevir in response-guided therapy strategies, which evaluated treatment durations shorter than current standard therapy, will be presented during the meeting.

4 Oct 2010

NIH to award $64M under Transformative Research Projects program

The National Institutes of Health will award up to $64 million over five years to encourage exploration of exceptionally innovative and original research ideas that have the potential for extraordinary impact.

4 Oct 2010

Study shows hypomethylation increases through progression of multiple myeloma

DNA methylation, a modification of DNA linked to gene regulation — is altered with increasing severity in a blood cancer called multiple myeloma, according to a study by Mayo Clinic and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen).

4 Oct 2010

Benitec announces USPTO's reversal of all previous rejections in '099 Graham patent appeal

Benitec Limited, a leading Australian based company specialising in RNA interference (RNAi) technology is pleased to announce the United States Patent and Trademark Office's (USPTO) Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences decision ("the Decision") reversing all previous rejections in the US 6,573,099 (the '099 Graham patent) appeal.

4 Oct 2010

NIH announces T-R01 project award to examine human microbiome

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced today that Martin J. Blaser, MD, the Frederick H. King Professor of Internal Medicine at NYU Langone Medical Center has been awarded one of only twenty NIH Director's Transformative Research Projects (T-R01) award for research entitled "Disappearing Gastrointestinal Microbiota in Epidemic Obesity.

4 Oct 2010

Researchers identify ways to predict embryonic developmental success

Two-thirds of all human embryos fail to develop successfully. Now, in a new study, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have shown that they can predict with 93 percent certainty which fertilized eggs will make it to a critical developmental milestone and which will stall and die. The findings are important to the understanding of the fundamentals of human development at the earliest stages, which have largely remained a mystery despite the attention given to human embryonic stem cell research.

4 Oct 2010