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New evidence of very recent human adaptation

A Cornell study of genome sequences in African-Americans, European-Americans and Chinese suggests that natural selection has caused as much as 10 percent of the human genome to change in some populations in the last 15,000 to 100,000 years, when people began migrating from Africa.

12 Jul 2007

Magnetic nano tweezers show how cancer drug works

The annoying bulges of an over-wound telephone cord that shorten its reach and limit a caller's motion help to explain why drugs called camptothecins are so effective in killing cancer cells, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Delft University of Technology.

10 Jul 2007

Ownership of genetic information

We all share our genetic make up with relatives, but should we also share ownership of the results of DNA analysis or should this knowledge be considered private?

9 Jul 2007

Breakthrough new asthma gene found

In a large-scale study conducted with 2,643 children, international researchers with the participation of the Department of Experimental Pneumology of Ruhr-University Bochum (RUB), Germany (Prof. Dr. Albrecht Bufe), have discovered a gene variant that contributes significantly to the risk of childhood asthma.

5 Jul 2007

Understanding the human journey

In the first scientific publication from The Genographic Project, a five-year effort to understand the human journey, we see the first attempts to answer these age-old questions.

29 Jun 2007

Scientists discover role of ataxia telangiectasia mutated protein in DNA repair

Scientists from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS), National Cancer Institute (NCI), and Integrative Bioinformatics Inc. have made an important discovery about the role of an enzyme called ataxia telangiectasia mutated protein (ATM) in the body's ability to repair damaged DNA.

28 Jun 2007

Web-based software program helps predict survivability for some cancer patients

Oregon Health & Science University Cancer Institute researchers have developed a Web-based software program that can help head and neck cancer patients better predict their survivability.

28 Jun 2007

RNA polymerase points to new targets for drug design

Researchers at UAB (University of Alabama at Birmingham) have new information on the structure of a key enzyme in bacteria that could lead to improved antibiotics and less antibiotic resistance.

23 Jun 2007

40 percent of parents willing to have their child's DNA stored in a government biobank

Genetic testing holds great promise for the future. Information generated by genetic testing may provide information that leads to new treatments for common diseases such as heart disease and diabetes.

23 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

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

Scientists decode RNA mystery

A team of University of Maryland scientists have made a discovery that will help better direct drug therapies to their molecular targets.

15 Jun 2007

Should insurance companies have access to genetic test results

There is no good reason to deny insurers access to genetic information, argues a Professor of Ethics in a debate published in the British Medical Journal.

14 Jun 2007

What makes people susceptible to rheumatoid arthritis?

Peter K. Gregersen, MD, stares at x-rays of hands, searching out the telltale signs of inflamed joints and wrists from his research subjects with rheumatoid arthritis. With these clinical features at his side, he turns to the basic building blocks of life , the human genome , to figure out what makes these people susceptible to the disabling inflammatory condition.

14 Jun 2007