Genomic News and Research

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Scientists detect cancer genes with new algorithm

Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a new algorithm that enhances the ability to detect a cancer gene, and have applied their algorithm to map the set of tumor-suppressor genes involved in lung cancer.

10 May 2006

Hormones may affect how brain listens

From zebra fish to humans, reproductive hormones govern behavioral responses to courtship signals.

3 May 2006

Environmentally damaged DNA may contribute to human genetic diversity

In this month's issue of the leading scientific journal Genome Research, scientists from Kyushu University report how environmentally damaged DNA may contribute to human genetic diversity.

2 May 2006

Genetic and environmental factors impact chronic fatigue syndrome patients

People who suffer from chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) have a genetic make up that affects the body's ability to adapt to change, according to a series of papers released last week by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

2 May 2006

HCM detection rates doubled when genetic testing and imaging information are combined

Currently that genetic test correctly detects HCM only 40 percent of the time. But coupled with imaging information, the detection power of the test nearly doubles, to 79 percent, says Steve Ommen, M.D., director of Mayo's HCM Clinic and co-lead investigator of the Mayo Clinic research team.

28 Apr 2006

Researchers figure out how nuclear pores duplicate before cells divide

Researchers have long wondered how nuclear pores - the all-important channels that control the flow of information in and out of a cell's nucleus - double in number to prepare for the split to come when a cell divides. Now, for the first time, scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies watched as new funnel-like pore structures formed from scratch, and inserted themselves into the nuclear membrane.

28 Apr 2006

Four subtypes of blood cancer identified

Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborators have identified four distinct genetic subtypes of multiple myeloma, a deadly blood cancer, that have different prognoses and might be treated most effectively with drugs specifically targeted to those subtypes.

26 Apr 2006

WRN exonuclease structure and molecular mechanism imply an editing role in DNA end processing

A team of scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Scripps Research Institute has determined the crystal structure and molecular mechanisms of a key part of WRN, a protein that protects humans from premature aging and cancer.

23 Apr 2006

New London based centre for clinical genetic research

The London Genetics Centre will provide access to knowledge and expertise in clinical genetics across London's biomedical institutions, and help position London as the leading European centre for genetic medicine.

19 Apr 2006

Microarray analysis could lead to better understanding of mechanisms underlying the genetic propensity toward excessive drinking

The meta analysis, which examined more than 4.5 million data points on more than 100 microarrays from mouse models, also identified more than 1,300 functional groups, including signaling and transcription pathways, which may also play an important role in establishing a capacity for a "high level of alcohol consumption."

18 Apr 2006

Important new global mechanism for gene repression

Most of the time in most cells of the body, the great majority of genes are silenced, locked away within the compacted but orderly material that makes up chromosomes.

18 Apr 2006

A genomic signature of 254 genes predicting clinical outcome in Primary Cutaneous Melanoma identified

EORTC Melanoma Group researchers have identified a genomic signature predicting clinical outcome in Primary Cutaneous Melanoma, after patients having undergone standard treatment.

6 Apr 2006

Divergent behavioral roles of angiotensin receptor intracellular signaling cascades

Researchers at the University at Buffalo and the University of Pennsylvania were the first to demonstrate that two intracellular events, both stimulated by the same cell receptor, can provoke different behaviors in mammals.

23 Mar 2006

Crucial breakthrough in pectin biosynthesis

Most people know pectin as a common household gelling agent in making jams and jellies, but its uses are vast. It has anticancer properties, for instance, and may have a role in important biological functions including plant growth and development and defense against disease.

22 Mar 2006

The role of evolutionary genomics in the development of autism

Scientists at the London School of Economics, UK and Simon Fraser University, Canada have described the first hypothesis grounded in evolutionary genomics explaining the development of autism.

21 Mar 2006

A putative RNA-interference-based immune system in prokaryotes

Researchers have used computational methods to predict what could be a prokaryotic RNA-silencing mechanism similar to the eukaryotic RNA- interference system.

20 Mar 2006

New understanding of the critical molecular factors that permit viruses to jump from one species to another

Researchers studying strains of a lethal canine virus and a related human virus have determined why the canine virus was able to spread so quickly from cats to dogs, and then from sick dogs to healthy dogs.

19 Mar 2006

NHGRI announces comprehensive strategy to identify structural variation in human genome

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), one of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has announced its latest round of sequencing targets, with an emphasis on enhancing the understanding of how human genes function and how genomic differences between individuals influence the risk of health and disease.

19 Mar 2006

Discovery in yeast opens door to new source of information on DNA damage, repair, and cancer

The discovery in yeast cells of a genetic network that guards against lethal DNA damage is a first step in the creation of a database of disease-causing combinations of mutated human genes, according to researchers at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine led by Jef. D. Boeke, Ph.D.

15 Mar 2006

A map of recent positive selection in the human genome

By scanning the entire human genome in search of genetic variations that may signal recent evolution, University of Chicago researchers found more than 700 genetic variants that may be targets of recent natural positive selection during the past 10,000 years of human evolution.

13 Mar 2006