DNA News and Research

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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).

Virus widely used in gene therapy research yields important clues to genomic instability

Genomic instability, the rearrangement of chromosomes or an abnormal number of chromosomes, is a hallmark of many human cancers.

1 Jun 2007

Discovery of inherited gene mutation for leukemia

Researchers have discovered the first inherited gene mutation that increases a person's risk for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), one of the most common forms of the disease.

1 Jun 2007

Common cancer gene p53 sends death order to tiny killer

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have discovered one way the p53 gene does what it's known for stopping the colon cancer cells.

1 Jun 2007

Complete sequencing of DNA pioneer James D. Watson

454 Life Sciences Corporation, in collaboration with scientists at the Human Genome Sequencing Center, Baylor College of Medicine, announced in Houston, Texas, the completion of a project to sequence the genome of James D. Watson, Ph.D., co-discoverer of the double-helix structure of DNA.

1 Jun 2007

Breakthrough for breast cancer research

The most powerful genetic analysis of the DNA codes of over 40,000 women -- including those with breast cancer as well as those without the disease, has uncovered five common genetic variants that increase an individual's risk for breast cancer.

30 May 2007

New candidate breast-cancer susceptibility gene

Researchers at the Abramson Family Cancer Research Institute of the University of Pennsylvania and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute describe in this week's issue of Science a new candidate breast-cancer susceptibility gene.

28 May 2007

Scientists develop a more human-like mouse model of cancer

A team led by Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists has developed a more human-like mouse model of cancer they say will aid the search for cancer-causing genes and improve the predictive value of laboratory drug testing.

28 May 2007

Largest ever Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray study

The Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech has announced that it has completed the largest ever Affymetrix GeneChip Microarray study for a plant experimental system in an academic research setting.

28 May 2007

New gene therapy can nearly eliminate arthritis pain

Early-stage research has found that a new gene therapy can nearly eliminate arthritis pain, and significantly reduce long-term damage to the affected joints, according to a study published today in the journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

28 May 2007

Detailed portrait of 700 proteins that help maintain DNA integrity

Cells have the remarkable ability to keep track of their genetic contents and -- when things go wrong, to step in and repair the damage before cancer or another life-threatening condition develops.

28 May 2007

Genome detectives discover four more breast cancer genes

An international team of scientists say they have identified another four genes that increase a woman's likelihood of developing breast cancer.

28 May 2007

Scientists 'home in' on new breast cancer genes

Cancer Research UK scientists have isolated five regions of the genome containing genes which can increase a woman's risk of developing breast cancer, reveals a major international study published online in Nature.

27 May 2007

MicroRNAs may increase cancer susceptibility

New evidence indicates that small pieces of noncoding genetic material known as microRNAs (miRNAs) might influence cancer susceptibility.

24 May 2007

Groundbreaking research on type 1 congenital myotonic dystrophy

Each year, the parents of an estimated one in 20,000 newborns are shocked to learn their child has type 1 congenital myotonic dystrophy (CDM1), a progressive and crippling genetic disorder.

24 May 2007

Peering into the body and visualizing its molecular secrets one step closer to reality

Peering into the body and visualizing its molecular secrets, once the stuff of science fiction, is one step closer to reality with a study from researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

22 May 2007

Brca2 gene prevents medulloblastoma

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have gained some of the first major insights into how certain genes known to prevent cancer also guide the normal development of the nervous system before birth and during infancy by repairing DNA damage.

22 May 2007

MIT researchers uncover surprising difference in gene regulation in mouse and human liver cells

Scientists often study mice as a model for human biology and disease, because their basic biological processes are assumed to be essentially the same as those of humans.

22 May 2007

Biologist hopes mosquito can break viral chain

Most people do their best to avoid mosquitoes. But this summer Rollie Clem will play the wary host to his own homegrown swarm of Aedes aegypti, the yellow fever mosquito. He's made a room ready for them, and even a menu.

22 May 2007

Decoding gene expression in cancer tumors using noninvasive imaging

By correlating images of cancerous liver tissue with gene expression patterns, a research team led by a radiologist at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine has developed tools that may some day allow physicians to view a CT image of a cancer tumor and discern its genetic activity.

22 May 2007