Genetic News and Research

RSS

Microfluidic chip for cancer diagnosis

For the first time an important diagnostic test for cancer has been miniaturized and automated onto a microfluidic chip by a team of University of Alberta researchers in Edmonton, Canada.

20 Jun 2007

Doubt cast on reliabilty of current models for breast cancer risk

A new study has challenged the accuracy of models currently used to predict a woman's risk of breast cancer.

20 Jun 2007

Environmental and genetic risk factors in the development of rheumatoid arthritis

Two new studies by a team in Sweden have identified smoking, a low formal level of education and certain metabolic indicators as important risk factors in the development of RA.

19 Jun 2007

Acquired DNA key to certain bacterial infection

Researchers announced this week the discovery of a mechanism by which Mycobacterium avium - a bacterium which can result in serious lung infections and is prevalent in emphysema and AIDS patients among others - infects tissue cells or macrophages and thus compromises the body's immunity.

19 Jun 2007

Faster, less expensive technique for mutating large, non-gene stretches of DNA

Genes account for only 2.5 percent of DNA in the human genetic blueprint, yet diseases can result not only from mutant genes, but from mutations of other DNA that controls genes.

19 Jun 2007

Alcohol may protect against rheumatoid arthritis

New data presented at EULAR 2007, the Annual European Congress of Rheumatology in Barcelona, Spain, suggests that alcohol may protect against rheumatoid arthritis, with three units a week exhibiting protective effects and ten units a week being more protective still.

19 Jun 2007

Many of the areas of the human genome previously thought to be deserts are in fact teeming with life

Most known human genes in the genome map are still incompletely annotated, says Professor Alexandre Reymond, from the Centre for Integrative Genomics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland and the Department of Genetic Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland.

19 Jun 2007

Otosclerosis gene identified

A gene responsible for the single most common cause of hearing loss among white adults, otosclerosis, has been identified for the first time, a scientist told the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Nice, France.

19 Jun 2007

Common DNA variations underlie susceptibility to fever after smallpox vaccination

Their finding is the first to link individual differences written into the genetic code with a vaccine-related complication, albeit a mild one.

19 Jun 2007

True nature of heterochromatin revealed

Not so long ago, the difficult-to-sequence, highly repetitive, gene-poor DNA found in regions of chromosomes known as heterochromatin was called "junk." Like dark matter in the universe, the true nature of heterochromatin was unknown.

19 Jun 2007

Embryos that are selected out as abnormal can undergo chromosomal modifications

Ms Tsvia Frumkin, from the Racine IVF unit, LIS Maternity Hospital, Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Centre, Tel Aviv, Israel, will tell the conference that her team's findings meant that the results of preimplantation genetic screening (PGS) for chromosomal abnormalities were not always reliable and should be interpreted with caution.

19 Jun 2007

BSD Medical files patent for 'smart bomb' delivery of chemotherapy in breast tumors

BSD Medical Corp. has filed a patent for a new non-invasive phased array breast treatment applicator developed to selectively heat breast cancer tumors.

19 Jun 2007

Health of babies not affected by embryo screening

New research has shown that babies born after pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) are as healthy as those born after conventional IVF treatment.

18 Jun 2007

Wurst protein plays a decisive role in breathing

A newly discovered transmembrane protein called "Wurst" (sausage) appears to play a decisive role in breathing ? possibly in all animals, from flies to human beings.

18 Jun 2007

New understanding of how the DNA helix replicates

A team of researchers led by University of Virginia Health System geneticists has uncovered a major secret in the mystery of how the DNA helix replicates itself time after time.

18 Jun 2007

Causes of childhood brain aneurysms

A new University of Cincinnati (UC) study questions the commonly held scientific belief that childhood brain aneurysms are caused by trauma, infection or underlying vascular malformations.

18 Jun 2007

Research on rare women's lung disease may yield insights into common diseases

For many decades, medical research studies focused primarily on men and the results of countless studies were then applied to women.

18 Jun 2007

Scientists link cell's protein recycling systems

Many age-related neurological diseases are associated with defective proteins accumulating in nerve cells, suggesting that the cell's normal disposal mechanisms are not operating correctly.

17 Jun 2007

Researchers use 'genomic pathway' to predict Parkinson's

A new Mayo Clinic study provides strong evidence that the joint effects of common DNA variations in several genes that encode proteins within a well-defined biological pathway largely explain why some persons get Parkinson's disease while others don't, and even predict with great accuracy at what age people might develop their first symptoms.

17 Jun 2007

Herpes virus hijacks DNA repair process

Scientists probing the details of viral infection have discovered an intriguing surprise: in mice, herpes viruses hijack their host cells' tools for fixing DNA damage and use those tools to enhance their own reproduction.

17 Jun 2007