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).

Not just humans benefit from animal biotechnology

Laboratory animals are the source of major discoveries and breakthroughs in biology, not just in tackling disease but also unravelling fundamental molecular processes.

25 Oct 2007

Potential new ways to treat ulcers

The alarming truth is more than 14.5 million people suffer from ulcers worldwide due to factors such as stress and the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS).

24 Oct 2007

Genetics of alcoholism

While both environmental and genetic factors contribute to the risk of developing alcohol dependence, it is believed to be a largely heritable – 52 to 64 percent – disease.

24 Oct 2007

Combination targets offer new hope in fight against cancer

While some targeted therapies - drugs developed to attack specific molecules in the critical chemical pathways occurring within cancer cells - work well by themselves, increasingly researchers are finding that they work better when teamed with other targeted and conventional therapies.

24 Oct 2007

Hate those greens?....could be in your genes!

Scientists in the UK are suggesting that food preferences may all be the result of a person's DNA.

24 Oct 2007

Advances in drug screening

With the discovery of suitable molecular targets - cellular molecules along pathways crucial for sustaining the life of cancer cells - comes the perplexing dilemma of where to find the next therapeutics that will bind to and disable those targets.

23 Oct 2007

Extract from broccoli protects skin sun damage

U.S. researchers have discovered that as well as being healthy food, broccoli also helps skin cells fight off damage caused by harmful ultraviolet radiation.

23 Oct 2007

Gold-like drugs to treat arthritis

Scientists at Duke University Medical Center may have solved the mystery surrounding the healing properties of gold - a discovery they say may renew interest in gold salts as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis and other inflammatory diseases.

22 Oct 2007

Australian researchers stelp closer to discovering the cause of epileptic seizures

Scientists still do not know what causes epileptic seizures, but researchers from Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute are one step closer to solving this puzzle with the help of their newly developed genetically modified epileptic mouse.

22 Oct 2007

New genetic and phenotypic data involved in autism released to researchers worldwide

The Autism Consortium, a group of researchers, clinicians and families dedicated to radically accelerating research and enhancing clinical care for autism, announced today that it has completed the first genome scan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through its Autism Gene Discovery Project and has released the reference data set to a database that autism researchers around the world can use.

22 Oct 2007

Syngenta licenses chromatin gene stacking technology

Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. has announced that it has entered into a research and commercial license agreement for Chromatin's proprietary gene stacking technology.

22 Oct 2007

Discovery of two genes linked to a disabling form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis

An international team of researchers led by a Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center geneticist has discovered two genes linked to a disabling form of arthritis called ankylosing spondylitis, a painful and progressive disease in which some or all of the spine's vertebrae fuse together.

22 Oct 2007

New virus drug will have to shoot at moving targets

The reproduction of

22 Oct 2007

Chromatin licenses gene stacking technology to Syngenta Biotechnology

Chromatin Inc. has announced that it has entered into a research and commercial license agreement with Syngenta Biotechnology Inc. for Chromatin's proprietary gene stacking technology.

22 Oct 2007

Bacteria use plant defence for genetic modification

Bacteria that cause tumours in plants modify plant genomes by skilfully exploiting the plants' first line of defence.

22 Oct 2007

800-year-old mummies from Mongolia help advance DNA extraction

Dr. Heather Coyle and three forensic science graduate students at the University of New Haven have developed a new method for preparing certain skeletal remains for DNA extraction thanks to some 800-year-old mummies from Mongolia and the research the group is doing for the Smithsonian Institution.

22 Oct 2007

Transgenics sped up

A new method of constructing artificial plant chromosomes from small rings of naturally occurring plant DNA can be used to transport multiple genes at once into embryonic plants where they are expressed, duplicated as plant cells divide, and passed on to the next generation -- a long-term goal for those interested in improving agricultural productivity.

19 Oct 2007