Gene Transfer News and Research

RSS

Gene Transfer is the insertion of genetic material into a cell.

Cancer immunotherapy named 2013 Breakthrough of the Year by journal Science

Detect. Destroy. Remember. The mantra of the immune system's relentless campaign against infectious invaders and the body's own abnormal cells finally is applying to cancer in meaningful ways.

28 Dec 2013

Mount Sinai researchers win Best Manuscript Award for research on repair, reversal of heart attack damage

The Editors of the American Heart Association's (AHA) journal Circulation Research have awarded Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai researchers a "Best Manuscript Award" for their investigations on repair and reversal of heart attack damage.

20 Nov 2013

Study shows bacteria can passively integrate damaged DNA in their own genome

From a bacteria's perspective the environment is one big DNA waste yard. Researchers have now shown that bacteria can take up small as well as large pieces of old DNA from this scrapheap and include it in their own genome.

20 Nov 2013

New gene transfer strategy effective for achieving persistent immunotherapy to treat tumors

Cancer immunotherapy can successfully use the body's own immune system to kill tumor cells. But some current approaches to stimulate an antitumor immune response are short-lived, with limited clinical effectiveness. A new gene transfer strategy that introduces modified, immune-stimulating human stem cells is both feasible and effective for achieving persistent immunotherapy to treat leukemias and lymophomas, according to a study published in Human Gene Therapy, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers.

11 Oct 2013

Three Penn Medicine researchers awarded grants for neuromuscular disease research

The Muscular Dystrophy Association has awarded research grants totaling over $1,000,000 to three Penn Medicine researchers: James Shorter, PhD, associate professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics; Hansell Stedman, MD, associate professor of Surgery; and Lee Sweeney, PhD, director of the Center for Orphan Disease Research and Therapy.

9 Oct 2013

Scientists discover that copper alloys shut down highly infectious norovirus

Scientists from the University of Southampton have discovered that copper and copper alloys rapidly destroy norovirus - the highly-infectious sickness bug.

12 Sep 2013

Study: Deficiency of protein causes age-related memory loss and Alzheimer's disease

A team of Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers, led by Nobel laureate Eric R. Kandel, MD, has found that deficiency of a protein called RbAp48 in the hippocampus is a significant contributor to age-related memory loss and that this form of memory loss is reversible.

29 Aug 2013

Inhalable gene therapy may restore function of crucial enzyme to reverse deadly PAH

The deadly condition known as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), which afflicts up to 150,000 Americans each year, may be reversible by using an inhalable gene therapy, report an international team of researchers led by investigators at the Cardiovascular Research Center at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

31 Jul 2013

Action Medical Research funds three new Research Training Fellowships

Action Medical Research, the UK-wide charity funding vital research to help sick and disabled babies and children, has today announced it is funding three new Research Training Fellowships worth more than £470,000.

9 Jul 2013

Bacterial DNA more likely to integrate in the genome of tumors than in normal healthy cells

Bacterial DNA may integrate into the human genome more readily in tumors than in normal human tissue, according to a new study from the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Genome Sciences. Researchers analyzed genomic sequencing data available from the Human Genome Project, the 1,000 Genomes Project and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). They considered the phenomenon of lateral gene transfer (LGT), the transmission of genetic material between organisms in the absence of sex.

21 Jun 2013

RetroNectin reagent now available for gene therapy clinical research

In an effort to aid progress in gene therapy clinical research, representatives of Clontech laboratories, Inc. and its parent company Takara Bio Inc. announce the availability of clinical grade RetroNectin reagent for direct supply to biomedical researchers.

17 Jun 2013

New nanoparticle gene delivery method to prevent stenting procedure complications

Stent angioplasty saves lives, but there often are side effects and complications related to the procedure, such as arterial restenosis and thrombosis. In the June 2013 issue of The FASEB Journal, however, scientists report that they have discovered a new nanoparticle gene delivery method that may overcome current limitations of gene therapy vectors and prevent complications associated with the stenting procedure.

1 Jun 2013

IFR scientists mine the genome of C. botulinum to reveal new information about toxin genes

The toxin that causes botulism is the most potent that we know of. Eating an amount of toxin just 1000th the weight of a grain of salt can be fatal, which is why so much effort has been put into keeping Clostridium botulinum, which produces the toxin, out of our food.

15 May 2013

Ceregene announces top-line data from CERE-12 Phase 2b clinical study for Parkinson's disease

Ceregene, Inc. today announced the top-line data from its double-blind, randomized, controlled Phase 2b clinical study of CERE-120 (AAV-neurturin), a gene therapy product designed to deliver the neurotrophic factor neurturin, for Parkinson's disease.

20 Apr 2013

Researchers expand hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow transplantation

More than 50,000 stem cell transplants are performed each year worldwide. A research team led by Weill Cornell Medical College investigators may have solved a major issue of expanding adult hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) outside the human body for clinical use in bone marrow transplantation -- a critical step towards producing a large supply of blood stem cells needed to restore a healthy blood system.

25 Mar 2013

Translational Research's April issue examines progress, outlook of gene therapy research

The April issue of Translational Research examines the progress and outlook of gene therapy research, with a specific focus on the clinical applicability of gene therapy today.

22 Mar 2013

New therapeutic approach for bladder pain syndrome

Severe chronic pain associated with conditions such as bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis often require the use of opioid medication, with the risk of dependency and serious adverse reactions.

15 Mar 2013

Insights into HIV-1 virion makeup could improve gene therapy

A discovery about how the HIV-1 virion packages genomic RNA may help researchers to improve the efficacy of gene therapy.

18 Feb 2013

New approach could make gene therapy dramatically more effective for HIV patients

A research team from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has discovered an approach that could make gene therapy dramatically more effective for patients.

16 Feb 2013

New hope for leukemia patients

Nine of twelve leukemia patients who received infusions of their own T cells after the cells had been genetically engineered to attack the patients' tumors responded to the therapy, which was pioneered by scientists in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania

10 Dec 2012