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UM researchers awarded FDA contract to expand high-throughput sequencing database

Researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have been awarded a research program contract from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to sequence, assemble, and annotate a population of bacterial pathogens using two high-throughput sequencing (HTS) technologies in support of the expansion of a vetted public reference database.

2 Apr 2014

New research shows obesity is linked to our ability to digest carbohydrates

New research indicates that obesity in the general population may be genetically linked to how our bodies digest carbohydrates.

1 Apr 2014

Genetic markers could help predict heart attack in patients with heart disease

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have identified a biological process that may help physicians predict when someone with heart disease is likely to have a heart attack in the near future.

31 Mar 2014

Research pinpoints location of key genetic regulators in blood cells

Research published online today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, presents an unprecedented look at five unique blood cells in the human body, pinpointing the location of key genetic regulators in these cells and providing a new tool that may help scientists to identify how blood cells form and shed light on the etiology of blood diseases.

27 Mar 2014

UMass Medical School students win 2014 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award

Colin Conine and Emma Watson, PhD students in the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences (GSBS) at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, received the 2014 Harold M. Weintraub Graduate Student Award for research into the mechanisms governing epigenetic inheritance and the complex interactions between diet, gene expression and physiology.

26 Mar 2014

Researchers develop mathematical model that provides insights about molecular mechanisms behind virus assembly

Mathematicians at the University of York have joined forces with experimentalists at the University of Leeds to take an important step in discovering how viruses make new copies of themselves during an infection.

25 Mar 2014

Not all doctors offer cancer gene testing to patients, study finds

Many cancer researchers believe that cutting-edge advances in genomics will pave the way for personalized or "precision" cancer medicine for all patients in the near future. A new study by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, however, suggest that not all doctors are ready to embrace tests that look for hundreds of DNA changes in patients' tumor samples, while others plan to offer this type of cancer gene testing to most of their patients.

25 Mar 2014

Scientists unlock one of mysteries of modern genetics

Scientists at Indiana University have unlocked one of the mysteries of modern genetics: how acquired traits can be passed between generations in a process called epigenetic inheritance. The new work finds that cells don't know to silence some genes based on information hardwired into their DNA sequences, but recognize heritable chemical marks that are added to the genes. These chemical tags serve as a form of molecular memory, allowing cells to recognize the genes and remember to silence them again in each new generation.

21 Mar 2014

New tool pinpoints genetic sources of disease

Many diseases are the result of either variations in the genome or reversible chemical changes to DNA, known as the epigenome. New data obtained by Johns Hopkins scientists show a connection between genetic variants and epigenetic information.

20 Mar 2014

Neurexin proteins play key role in formation of synaptic connections

Neuroscientists and bioengineers at Stanford are working together to solve a mystery: how does nature construct the different types of synapses that connect neurons -- the brain cells that monitor nerve impulses, control muscles and form thoughts.

19 Mar 2014

Self-assembling DNA cages hold potential promise in drug delivery

Move over, nanotechnologists, and make room for the biggest of the small. Scientists at the Harvard's Wyss Institute have built a set of self-assembling DNA cages one-tenth as wide as a bacterium.

17 Mar 2014

Scientists discover gene variation that makes humans have healthier blood lipid levels, reduced risk of heart attacks

Scientists have discovered a previously unrecognized gene variation that makes humans have healthier blood lipid levels and reduced risk of heart attacks -- a finding that opens the door to using this knowledge in testing or treatment of high cholesterol and other lipid disorders.

17 Mar 2014

Microbial DNA may be involved in the development of autoimmune processes, shows study

The interactions of the gut microbiota in children with typical diabetes autoantibodies differ from that in healthy children. The fact that these differences already exist before antibodies are detectable in the blood adds to the growing evidence that microbial DNA, the so-called microbiome, may be involved in the development of autoimmune processes.

13 Mar 2014

Researchers discover two new gene regions connected to bipolar disorder

First on top of the world and then in the depths of despair - this is what the extreme mood changes for people with bipolar disorder are like. Under the direction of scientists from Bonn, Mannheim and Basel, an international collaboration of researchers discovered two new gene regions that are connected to the prevalent disease. In addition, they were able to confirm three additional suspect genes.

11 Mar 2014

STSI releases Scripps Wellderly Genome Resource to explore genetic cause for certain illness

Scientists exploring the genetic causes of illnesses such as Alzheimer's disease, heart disease, cancer and diabetes now have a new tool - a reference DNA dataset built by researchers at Scripps Translational Science Institute (STSI).

7 Mar 2014

Safeguard Scientifics reports net income of $24 million for fourth quarter 2013

Safeguard Scientifics, Inc. today announced fourth quarter and full-year 2013 financial results. For the three months ended December 31, 2013, Safeguard's net income was $24.0 million, or $1.10 per share, compared to net loss of $10.8 million, or $0.51 per share for the same period in 2012. For the year ended December 31, 2013, Safeguard's net loss was $35.5 million, or $1.66 per share, compared to $39.4 million, or $1.88 per share for the same period in 2012.

6 Mar 2014

Scientists reveal how a genetic code variation results in devastating brain diseases

New findings reveal how a mutation, a change in the genetic code that causes neurodegeneration, alters the shape of DNA, making cells more vulnerable to stress and more likely to die.

6 Mar 2014

Human Longevity, UC San Diego sign new collaborative research agreement

The new collaborative research agreement between Human Longevity Inc. and the University of California, San Diego, announced today, represents a significant and necessary step in efforts to research and translate the potential of the human genome into novel and real treatments and therapies able to change and improve the human condition.

5 Mar 2014

Researchers identify eight neural subnetworks in mammalian cerebral cortex

The mammalian cerebral cortex, long thought to be a dense single interrelated tangle of neural networks, actually has a "logical" underlying organizational principle, reveals a study appearing Feb. 27 in the journal Cell.

4 Mar 2014

New web portal to speed discovery of genes responsible for rare disorders

A new web portal - called PhenomeCentral - is being launched today to connect clinicians and scientists worldwide in an effort to speed the discovery of genes responsible for rare disorders.

3 Mar 2014