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Study reveals new regulatory elements in human genome

An international research team led by Kerstin Lindblad-Toh at the Broad Institute, US and Uppsala University, Sweden has mapped and compared the genomes of 29 mammals. The findings, published in Nature, reveal millions of new regulatory elements in the human genome that in various ways govern how proteins are formed. The new knowledge is important for our understanding of how mutations in human genes give rise to diseases.

13 Oct 2011

Researchers identify age-dependent beta cell proliferation pathway

As a person ages, the ability of their beta cells to divide and make new beta cells declines. By the time children reach the age of 10 to 12 years, the ability of their insulin-producing cells to replicate greatly diminishes. If these cells, called beta cells, are destroyed-as they are in type 1 diabetes-treatment with the hormone insulin becomes essential to regulate blood glucose levels and get energy from food.

13 Oct 2011

Genetic mystery of bacterium causing ‘Black Death’ revealed

Between 1347 and 1351 - a period of just five years, Europe's Black Death wiped out about 30 million people - 30 to 50% of the population on the continent. Now geneticists have reconstructed the genome of the bacterium that caused the plague. It is found to be an ancient strain of a bacterium called Yersinia pestis very similar to the strain the exists today.

13 Oct 2011

Skin cell to liver cell shows promise for genetic liver disease

In a new scientific breakthrough, researchers have taken skin cells from a patient with liver disease and turned them into replacement liver cells. Although the procedure is years before it can be used in humans, but if approved, it could launch a new era of personalized therapies for serious genetic disorders.

13 Oct 2011

Scientists sequence complete genome of naked mole rat

Scientists have sequenced the complete genome of the naked mole rat, a pivotal step to understanding the animal's extraordinarily long life and good health. A colony of more than 2,000 naked mole rats at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio contributed to the findings, published today in the journal Nature.

13 Oct 2011

NanoString introduces nCounter Analysis System

NanoString Technologies, Inc., a privately held provider of life science tools for translational research and developer of molecular diagnostics, today announced the launch of its second generation nCounter Analysis System.

From NanoString Technologies 13 Oct 2011

Breakthrough in the study of chlamydia genetics

A breakthrough in the study of chlamydia genetics could open the way to new treatments and the development of a vaccine for this sexually transmitted disease.

13 Oct 2011

Affymetrix launches Axiom Pan-African Array

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced at the ICHG/ASHG annual conference in Montreal, the worldwide launch of the Axiom Genome-Wide Pan-African Array, the first commercial product to maximize genomic coverage of both common and rare alleles in populations of African ancestry, including West African, East African, and African American.

13 Oct 2011

Ovarian cancer patients survive longer with BRCA2 mutation in tumors

Among women with a certain type of high-grade ovarian cancer, having BRCA2 genetic mutations, but not BRCA1, was associated with improved overall survival and improved response to chemotherapy, compared to women with BRCA wild-type, according to a study in the October 12 issue of JAMA.

12 Oct 2011

ASHG to honor U of U geneticist with William Allan Award

As a teenager just moved to Iowa from war-ravaged Germany in 1951, John M. Opitz, M.D., wanted to study developmental biology, but his "very Prussian" mother insisted he go to medical school instead.

12 Oct 2011

AzTE, Roche sign license agreement to develop revolutionary DNA sequencing system

Roche and Arizona Technology Enterprises (AzTE) announced today an agreement to license several technologies developed by Dr. Stuart Lindsay at the Biodesign Institute- at Arizona State University and Dr. Colin Nuckolls of the Columbia University Nanoscience Center for the development of a revolutionary DNA sequencing system.

12 Oct 2011

World class scientist presents fourth Environmental Microbiology Lecture

World class scientist Professor Willem M. de Vos will explain next Monday how the microbes that are closest to our hearts - gut microbes - could underpin a new way of thinking about human biology. As well as looking at our own genes, we can now include those of our microbes in studies of human health and disease. This is a significant shift in the way we approach human biology.

11 Oct 2011

Study to examine legal, ethical issues of providing genetic research results to relatives

A team of researchers, Gloria Petersen, Ph.D., of Mayo Clinic, Barbara Koenig, Ph.D., of the University of California, San Francisco, and Susan Wolf, J.D., of the University of Minnesota, have received a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the National Cancer Institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute to study the ethical and legal implications of providing genetic research results, such as DNA test results, from tissue donated to research bio banks to relatives of the donor.

11 Oct 2011

Scientists identify 16M SNPs that associate with risk of gout, serum uric acid levels

Scientists at deCODE Genetics and academic collaborators from Iceland, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands and the USA report the discovery of low frequency variants in the human genome that associate with risk of gout, a common inflammatory arthritis, and serum uric acid levels.

10 Oct 2011

Study identifies three new chromosomal regions implicated in susceptibility to melanoma

The genomic analysis technologies enable the study of genetic factors related to numerous diseases. In few areas this researches brought such a big and useful volume of information as in the case of melanoma.

10 Oct 2011

Affymetrix commercializes 18 new array designs for whole-transcriptome analysis

Affymetrix, Inc. today announced commercialization of 18 new array designs for whole-transcriptome analysis of model and applied research organisms that will allow scientists to obtain a more complete gene expression view than traditional 3' biased arrays.

7 Oct 2011

Thriving stem cells created by cloning technique

In a breakthrough that has been debated and awaited for long, scientists have finally derived colonies of embryonic stem cells from human embryos created using cloning technology.

6 Oct 2011

Researchers gain insight on how roundworm's brain operates as it moves

Using new optical equipment, a team of 11 researchers put roundworms into a world of virtual reality, monitored both their behavior and brain activity and gained unexpected information on how the organism's brain operates as it moves.

4 Oct 2011

NIH Director to deliver keynote address at eighth SIO international conference

The Society for Integrative Oncology (SIO) announced today that National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, will deliver the keynote address at its eighth international conference, which is co‐sponsored by Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

4 Oct 2011

Complete Genomics, Scripps collaborate to unlock genetic secrets of lifelong health

Complete Genomics Inc., the whole human genome sequencing company, and the not-for-profit Scripps Health system today announced a major collaboration that will help further the Wellderly Study, a landmark scientific research initiative aimed at unlocking the genetic secrets of lifelong health.

4 Oct 2011