Genetic News and Research

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Valid consent for genomic epidemiology in developing countries

Genetic research has the potential to improve global health by discovering what makes people susceptible or resistant to certain diseases, and what causes the diseases themselves, thereby guiding prevention efforts.

25 Apr 2007

New biotech company develops UD-patented technologies for repairing genes

OrphageniX Inc., a new biotechnology company founded by University of Delaware researchers, has been established in Wilmington to develop and commercialize UD-patented technologies for repairing genes that cause rare, hereditary diseases such as sickle cell anemia and spinal muscular atrophy.

25 Apr 2007

Luminex Corporation licenses cystic fibrosis gene patent from John Hopkins

Luminex Corporation has announced that it has acquired a non-exclusive license from The Johns Hopkins University for the rights to use the university's patented cystic fibrosis genetic markers in the company's molecular diagnostic products sold in the United States.

From Luminex 25 Apr 2007

Underlying causes of hot flashes

Many women in the menopausal transition experience hot flashes: unpredictable, sometimes disruptive, periods of intense heat in the upper torso, neck and face.

25 Apr 2007

Gene analysis explains ethnic differences in sensitivity to chemotherapy in lung cancer

Analysis of three genetic mechanisms that cause non-small cell lung cancer might explain why East Asians respond better than other ethnic groups to a certain type of chemotherapy, a team led by UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers has found.

25 Apr 2007

Variations of two common genes associated with progression to more advanced forms of age-related macular degeneration

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD; when the center of the inner lining of the eye suffers thinning, atrophy, and in some cases bleeding), which can lead to visual impairment and legal blindness, is associated with variations in the genes CFH and LOC387715.

25 Apr 2007

Can a taste for poison drive speciation?

The endless struggle for survival in nature inevitably boils down to finding food and eluding predators.

25 Apr 2007

Age when a woman's periods start may affect her children's growth rate

Researchers from the Medical Research Council and University of Cambridge, led by Dr Ken Ong, studied the association between mother's age at first menstruation, mother's adult body size and obesity risk, and children's growth and obesity risk in 6,009 children from the UK Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) in Bristol.

25 Apr 2007

Why yearly checkups are important for women

Even women who are healthy need regular preventive services like breast exams, Pap tests, immunizations, and (starting at age 50) fecal occult blood testing, along with periodic measurements of weight, height, and blood pressure.

25 Apr 2007

Researchers identify key function of a molecule - wound healing in the skin

The skin is the largest organ of the human body. It protects against environmental influences and pathogens, regulates body temperature, and protects the body against dehydration.

24 Apr 2007

Similar brain chemicals influence aggression in fruit flies and humans

Serotonin is a major signaling chemical in the brain, and it has long been thought to be involved in aggressive behavior in a wide variety of animals as well as in humans.

24 Apr 2007

Scientists discover new virus responsible for deaths of 3 transplant recipients

Scientists in the Greene Infectious Disease Laboratory of the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and colleagues in the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory in Melbourne, Australia and 454 Life Sciences have discovered a new virus that was responsible for the deaths of three transplant recipients who received organs from a single donor in Victoria, Australia.

24 Apr 2007

Muscle restoration in an animal model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Using a new type of drug that targets a specific genetic defect, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, along with colleagues at PTC Therapeutics Inc. and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, have for the first time demonstrated restoration of muscle function in a mouse model of Duchenne's muscular dystrophy (DMD).

24 Apr 2007

Miscue of body's genetic repair system may cause Huntington's disease

Mayo Clinic researchers, along with collaborators from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and University of Oslo, Norway, have discovered that a miscue of the body's genetic repair system may cause Huntington's disease, a fatal condition that affects 30,000 Americans annually by destroying their nervous system.

24 Apr 2007