Genetic News and Research

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Spread of pancreatic cancer to the liver or lungs depends on plasticity of tumor cells

Pancreatic cancer often spreads, forming metastases in the liver or lungs. The prognosis is better for patients with metastases in the lungs.

9 Jul 2018

Researchers identify genes associated with aggressive behavior

Researchers from the University of Barcelona and collaborators have pin-pointed forty genes that are associated with aggressive behaviors in humans and in mice.

9 Jul 2018

Researchers use gene therapy to cure obesity and type 2 diabetes in mice

A research team from the UAB led by Professor Fatima Bosch has managed to cure obesity and type 2 diabetes in mice using gene therapy.

9 Jul 2018

Preventative HIV vaccines induce robust, comparable immune responses in humans and monkeys

More than three decades after the identification of the human immunodeficiency virus, scientists are still working to develop a preventative vaccine that could finally put an end to the epidemic for which there are nearly two million new infections each year.

9 Jul 2018

Researchers unmask functioning of protein involved in DNA repair during spermatogenesis

Researchers from the Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology and the Institute for Biotechnology and Biomedicine of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have unmasked the functioning of a protein involved in DNA repair, ATR, in the meiotic recombination process which takes place during the development of spermatocytes - sperm precursor cells- and how inhibiting this protein causes anomalies which block spermatogenesis.

9 Jul 2018

Study finds key evidence about genetic make-up of heart condition linked to sudden arrhythmic death

A new study published in Circulation, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Heart Association and led by a cardiologist at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre at Toronto General Hospital has found evidence that only one of the 21 genes normally associated with Brugada Syndrome, a serious genetic heart condition associated with the risk of sudden arrhythmic death, is a definitive cause of the condition.

9 Jul 2018

Researchers trace history of human Hepatitis B in the Bronze Age

Thanks to viral traces in the genomes of ancient people, researchers from South Ural State University were able to determine that man has been suffering from Hepatitis B since at least the Bronze Age.

9 Jul 2018

Researchers discover biomarkers that accurately identify hypervirulent K. pneumoniae

Imagine a pathogen that infects completely healthy people and can cause blindness in one day and flesh-eating infections, brain abscesses and death in just a few days.

9 Jul 2018

UT Southwestern researchers uncover body's microreactors for innate immunity

A DNA-sensing enzyme forms droplets that act as tiny bioreactors creating molecules to stimulate innate immunity – the body's first response to infection, UT Southwestern researchers report. The work, reported today in the journal Science, could lead to novel treatments for infections, autoimmune disease, and cancer.

9 Jul 2018

Single-cell RNA sequencing reveals how complex brain circuit works

The complexity of the human brain presents scientists with immense challenges as they try to find new treatments for a host of diseases and conditions. But the advent of a new technology known as single-cell RNA sequencing is opening a window into how the brain works.

6 Jul 2018

Study finds common risk gene for both job-related exhaustion in shift workers and Alzheimer's

A Finnish study published in the respected SLEEP journal shows that a variation in the melatonin receptor 1A (MTNR1A) gene is linked to the risk of Alzheimer's disease in the elderly.

6 Jul 2018

Researchers find new way to convert skin cells into pluripotent stem cells

Our bodies consist of many different kinds of cells, each with their own role. The Japanese scientist Shinya Yamanaka had made earlier the discovery, earning the Nobel Prize in 2012, that cells from adult skin can be converted to cells typical of early embryos, so-called induced pluripotent stem cells.

6 Jul 2018

Researchers use precision genomics to search genetic mutations causing accelerated aging

Mayo Clinic researchers are using precision genomics to search for undiscovered, inheritable genetic mutations that cause accelerated aging. In a study recently published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings, researchers conducted a study assessing 17 patients with short telomere syndromes - rare conditions that result in premature DNA and cellular deterioration.

6 Jul 2018

Researchers question previous understanding of Parkinson's disease

Parkinson's disease was first described by a British doctor more than 200 years ago. The exact causes of this neurodegenerative disease are still unknown.

6 Jul 2018

Senate Committee recommends change in laws to prevent mitochondrial disease in Australian babies

Australian women at risk of having babies suffering severe mitochondrial disease may soon be able to have healthy children, following the Senate Community Affairs References Committee recommendation to move towards legalizing mitochondrial donation, a ground-breaking IVF technique that replaces energy-generating DNA in the mother’s egg with donor material.

6 Jul 2018