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Novel set of genes linked with epithelial ovarian cancer patient survival

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues from 11 other institutions in the United States and the United Kingdom have used two genome-wide association studies (GWAS) - one from the U.S. and one from the U.K. - to detect a novel set of genes found to be associated with epithelial ovarian cancer patient survival.

7 Mar 2012

Pten gene can also fight against obesity, ageing process

This result, obtained after five years' research, is published in leading journal Cell Metabolism. The authors, led by Manuel Serrano (CNIO), believe it will open the door to new therapeutic options not only against cancer, but against obesity and even the ageing process.

7 Mar 2012

Researchers reveal how melanoma develops resistance to Zelboraf

Cancer is tough to kill and has many ways of evading the drugs used by oncologists to try and eliminate it. Now, researchers at UCLA's Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have uncovered how an advanced form of melanoma gets around an inhibitor, Zelboraf, which targets the mutated BRAF gene.

7 Mar 2012

African Americans more likely to develop keloid after head and neck surgery

African Americans are seven times more likely than Caucasians to develop an excessive growth of thick, irregularly shaped and raised scarring on their skin - known as a keloid - following head and neck surgery, according to a new study from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

7 Mar 2012

CU Cancer Center aims to make progress against squamous cell lung cancer

Recent advances in targeted cancer treatments greatly bolster the prognosis for many types of lung cancer, but according to a University of Colorado Cancer Center investigator, "practically nothing has improved in squamous cell lung cancer in the last decades."

7 Mar 2012

Dysfunctional family environment increases genetic risk for drug abuse

The risk of abusing drugs is greater - even for adopted children - if the family environment in which they are raised is dysfunctional, according to a new study conducted by a collaborative team from Virginia Commonwealth University and Lund University in Sweden.

6 Mar 2012

New DNA-reading technology could lead to correct genetic diagnosis for muscle-wasting diseases

Scientists at The University of Nottingham have used a revolutionary new DNA-reading technology for a research project that could lead to correct genetic diagnosis for muscle-wasting diseases.

6 Mar 2012

New, freely available Web-based program helps predict effect of mutations on mRNA splicing

In a brief paper in the journal Bioinformatics, Brown University researchers describe a new, freely available Web-based program called Spliceman for predicting whether genetic mutations are likely to disrupt the splicing of messenger RNA, potentially leading to disease.

6 Mar 2012

Scientists identify gene that causes adult-onset primary cervical dystonia

Researchers have identified a gene that causes adult-onset primary cervical dystonia, an often-painful condition in which patients' necks twist involuntarily.

5 Mar 2012

Bill Gates meets MTBVAC TB vaccine researchers in Spain

On 21 February Bill Gates met with Dr. Carlos Martin of the University of Zaragoza and members of his team in Madrid, Spain. The scientists are working on the development of MTBVAC, a new vaccine against tuberculosis (TB). Gates showed great interest in the scientific background of MTBVAC, the most advanced vaccine based on attenuation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

5 Mar 2012

X-rays help decipher how natural antibiotics defy a longstanding set of chemical rules

Researchers working at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have used powerful X-rays to help decipher how certain natural antibiotics defy a longstanding set of chemical rules - a mechanism that has baffled organic chemists for decades.

4 Mar 2012

Scientists discover how to enhance production of hepatocytes to repair damaged liver tissue

Scientists have shed light on how the liver repairs itself with research that could help develop drugs to treat liver disease.

4 Mar 2012

R-loop formation may drive under-methylation and autoimmunity

Researchers at the University of California, Davis, have figured out how the human body keeps essential genes switched "on" and silences the vast stretches of genetic repeats and "junk" DNA.

3 Mar 2012

Ion channels assembled in different combinations distinguish temperatures

The winter sun feels welcome, but not so a summer sunburn. Research over the past 20 years has shown that proteins on the surface of nerve cells enable the body to sense several different temperatures. Now scientists have discovered how just a few of these proteins, called ion channels, distinguish perhaps dozens of discrete temperatures, from mildly warm to very hot.

3 Mar 2012

Negative effects of environmental toxicants can pass across generations

A Washington State University researcher has demonstrated that a variety of environmental toxicants can have negative effects on not just an exposed animal but the next three generations of its offspring.

3 Mar 2012

REST molecule acts as an adapter in stem cells, times neuronal development

Upon fertilisation, a single cell is formed when egg and sperm fuse. Our entire body, with more than 200 specialised cell types and billions of cells are formed from this single cell. It is a scientific mystery how the early stem cells know what cell type to become, but a precise timing of the process is crucial for correct development and function of our body.

3 Mar 2012

Bacteria may be talking to each other with a contact-dependent language

What if bacteria could talk to each other? What if they had a sense of touch? A new study by researchers at UC Santa Barbara suggests both, and theorizes that such cells may, in fact, need to communicate in order to perform certain functions. The findings appear today in the journal Genes & Development.

2 Mar 2012

First study to focus on platelet genetics in African Americans

Researchers, led by scientists from Johns Hopkins, have found five previously unknown gene mutations believed to be associated with elevated blood platelet counts in African-Americans, findings they say could someday lead to the development of new drugs to help prevent coronary artery disease.

2 Mar 2012

Planarian flatworms reveal new insights into stem cell biology

Devising a novel method to identify potential genetic regulators in planarian stem cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have determined which of those genes affect the two main functions of stem cells. Three of the genes are particularly intriguing because they code for proteins similar to those known to regulate mammalian embryonic stem cells. Such genetic similarity makes planarians an even more attractive model for studying stem cell biology in vivo.

2 Mar 2012

New link between polyamine regulation and ESC biology

A*STAR scientists have for the first time, identified that precise regulation of polyamine levels is critical for embryonic stem cell (ESC) self-renewal - the ability of ESCs to divide indefinitely - and directed differentiation.

2 Mar 2012