Genetic Information News and Research

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Professor to develop DNA sequencing technologies to search for long-range genome interactions

Why do some people develop disease while others with the same genetic mutation don't? For example, the National Cancer Institute estimates that women who inherit a harmful BRCA2 mutation have a 45 percent chance of developing breast cancer by age 70.

11 Sep 2013

Life Technologies announces the Ion AmpliSeq Exome Certified Service Provider program

Life Technologies Corporation today announces the Ion AmpliSeq™ Exome Certified Service Provider program, a global organization of some of the world's top service providers that will sequence and analyze human exomes in as little as two days.

10 Sep 2013

New method helps reconnect injured organs or build functional human tissues from ground up

A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University has found a way to self-assemble complex structures out of bricks smaller than a grain of salt.

10 Sep 2013

UCSF to receive grant to study gene sequencing aimed at detecting disorders in newborns

UC San Francisco will receive $4.5 million over the next five years for a pilot project to assess whether large-scale gene sequencing aimed at detecting disorders and conditions can and should become a routine part of newborn testing.

6 Sep 2013

Research into 'personalised' medicine is being led by Greenwich team

Research into 'personalised' medicine is being led by a University of Greenwich team. Currently, many medicines which are prescribed to patients either do not work properly or have some significant side effects. The aim of personalised medicine, sometimes called 'precision' medicine, is to ensure that the most appropriate medicine is given to each patient and that the medicine is both effective and safe.

5 Sep 2013

UNC study to explore technology use in screening newborns for genetic conditions

As the clinical use of genomic testing expands, the practical and ethical considerations of using the technology to screen newborns for genetic conditions will be the focus of a new study undertaken at the University of North Carolina.

5 Sep 2013

NIH-funded study finds zebrafish model may help identify treatments for childhood epilepsy

According to new research on epilepsy, zebrafish have certainly earned their stripes. Results of a study in Nature Communications suggest that zebrafish carrying a specific mutation may help researchers discover treatments for Dravet syndrome (DS), a severe form of pediatric epilepsy that results in drug-resistant seizures and developmental delays.

4 Sep 2013

Nanostructures made of DNA strands can encapsulate, release small-molecule drugs

Nanoscale "cages" made from strands of DNA can encapsulate small-molecule drugs and release them in response to a specific stimulus, McGill University researchers report in a new study.

2 Sep 2013

Blood biomarkers predict suicidality

Researchers have found possible blood biomarkers for suicidal behavior that could help identify psychiatric patients at risk.

29 Aug 2013

Problems with key enzymes potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder

Problems with a key group of enzymes called topoisomerases can have profound effects on the genetic machinery behind brain development and potentially lead to autism spectrum disorder, according to research announced today in the journal Nature.

29 Aug 2013

Personality may be key to genetics of bipolar disorder

People with bipolar disorder vary significantly from their unaffected relatives, and from healthy controls, on several measures of personality, a study shows.

28 Aug 2013

Study paves way for understanding the crucial role of lncRNA in human neurons

Scientists at A*STAR's Genome Institute of Singapore have discovered an unusual gene that controls the generation of neurons. This important finding, which is crucial in understanding serious diseases of the brain such as Alzheimer's disease, was reported in the 8th August 2013 issue of the prestigious scientific journal, Molecular Cell.

28 Aug 2013

ASO may correct striatal transcriptional abnormalities and improve behavioral problems in HD mice

Findings from postmortem studies of the brains of Huntington's Disease (HD) patients suggest that transcriptional dysregulation may be an early step in the pathogenesis of HD before symptoms appear. Other studies report transcriptional alterations in the brains of some mouse models of HD.

27 Aug 2013

Scientists prove 50-year-old hypothesis of RNA 'higher-order' structure

When Francis Crick and James Watson discovered the double helical structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in 1953, it began a genetic revolution to map, study, and sequence the building blocks of living organisms.

27 Aug 2013

Researchers discover additional cystic fibrosis-causing mutations

Of the over 1,900 errors already reported in the gene responsible for cystic fibrosis, it is unclear how many of them actually contribute to the inherited disease. Now a team of researchers reports significant headway in figuring out which mutations are benign and which are deleterious. In so doing, they have increased the number of known CF-causing mutations from 22 to 127, accounting for 95 percent of the variations found in patients with CF.

26 Aug 2013

Scientists discover that chromosomal rearrangements can be advantageous

In a pioneer study published in the latest issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications, a research team at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci-ncia (IGC; Portugal), led by Miguel Godinho Ferreira in collaboration with Isabel Gordo, show for the first time that chromosomes rearrangements (such as inversions or translocations) can provide advantages to the cells that harbor them depending on the environment they are exposed.

23 Aug 2013

Researchers unveil comprehensive portrait of the genome of world's first immortal cell line

A team from the University of Washington has unveiled a comprehensive portrait of the genome of the world's first immortal cell line, known as HeLa. The cell line was derived in 1951 from an aggressive cervical cancer that killed Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American tobacco farmer and mother of five - the subject of the 2010 New York Times bestseller, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.

8 Aug 2013

Researchers identify specific genetic mutations that contribute to disorders of brain development

A collaborative team of researchers including scientists from UCLA has uncovered evidence that a specific genetic alteration appears to contribute to disorders of brain development, including schizophrenia. They also found that schizophrenia shares a common biological pathway with Fragile X mental retardation syndrome, a disorder associated with both intellectual impairment and autism.

7 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

Life Tech, Raintree Launch Oncology Testing, Patient Data Initiatives

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