Model Organisms News and Research

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GENETICS 2010 meeting highlights latest research on human genetic disorders

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) biennial meeting, "GENETICS 2010: Model Organisms to Human Biology," June 12-15, 2010, at the Sheraton Boston, Massachusetts, will bring together investigators who study genetic models in organisms such as flies, yeast, fungi, mice and other non-human organisms, with researchers in human genetics

24 Mar 2010

Sea squirts help in fight against Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease affects an estimated 27 million people worldwide. It is the most common form of age-related dementia, possibly the most feared disease of old age. There is no cure, and the available drugs only help to relieve symptoms without slowing progression of the disease. One of the characteristic changes in the brains of Alzheimer's patients is the accumulation of plaques and tangles; currently, the best hope for curing or at least slowing the disease lies in developing drugs that target this buildup.

2 Mar 2010

HHMI investigator to discuss how brain creates and controls emotions

Scientists know little about how the brain creates and controls emotions - an uncertainty that presents a major obstacle in the effort to develop treatments for emotional disorders. "The study of the brain science of emotion is in its infancy," says Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator David Anderson, "yet emotional and psychiatric disorders continue to take an enormous toll on human society."

22 Feb 2010

New research units established for Japanese-German research collaboration

With its ten new Research Units, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) is intensifying interdisciplinary and multiple-location collaboration among researchers pursuing specific scientific questions and new avenues of research.

17 Feb 2010

Researchers use model organism to test new therapies for retinal degeneration

Research by Johns Hopkins sensory biologists studying fruit flies, has revealed a critical step in fly vision. Humans with problems in this same step suffer retinal dystrophies, which manifest as visual defects ranging from mild visual impairments to complete blindness.

16 Feb 2010

DFG approves establishment of new CRCs; research topics range from modern prostheses to political reforms to marine bacteria

The DFG has approved the establishment of 17 new Collaborative Research Centres as of 1 January 2010. This decision was made recently by the relevant Grants Committee in Bonn.

1 Dec 2009

Autism Consortium holds its fourth annual symposium to update on autism

The Autism Consortium, an innovative collaboration of researchers, clinicians, funders and families dedicated to catalyzing research and enhancing clinical care for autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), held its fourth annual symposium on October 28th, 2009, at Harvard Medical School in Boston.

6 Nov 2009

Researchers use fruit fly model for diabetes research

As rates of obesity, diabetes, and related disorders have reached epidemic proportions in the US in recent years, scientists are working from many angles to pinpoint the causes and contributing factors involved in this public health crisis. While sedentary lifestyles and diets high in sugar and fat contribute significantly to the rise in diabetes rates, genetic factors may make some people more vulnerable than others to developing diabetes.

4 Nov 2009

Scientists identify potential drug target for curing alcohol drinking behavior

A group of drunken fruit flies have helped researchers from North Carolina State and Boston universities identify entire networks of genes-also present in humans-that play a key role in alcohol drinking behavior.

4 Nov 2009

NHGRI and NIMH fund $45 million to establish Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) and National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), both part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced grants expected to total approximately $45 million to establish new Centers of Excellence in Genomic Science at the Medical College of Wisconsin and University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill as well as to continue support of existing centers at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Southern California.

29 Sep 2009

G-bor Bal-zsi's innovative research in drug resistance earns select honor

A unique approach to understanding how cells develop resistance to drugs has won a scientist at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center a New Innovator Award from the National Institutes of Health.

26 Sep 2009

New study on behaviour of telomeres during cell division in cancerous human cells

A process that limits the number of times a cell divides works much differently than had been thought, opening the door to potential new anticancer therapies, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center report in the Aug. 7 issue of the journal Cell.

2 Sep 2009

Study on basic mechanisms that control fertility in worms may help to know how some woman regain their fertility after cancer treatment

Scientific dogma has long asserted that females are born with their entire lifetime's supply of eggs, and once they're gone, they're gone. New findings by researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, published online Aug. 27 in Science, suggest that in nematode worms, at least, this does not hold true.

28 Aug 2009

Research suggests core nuclear pore elements shared by all eukaryotes

For perhaps 1.8 billion years after life first emerged on Earth, a sort of evolutionary writer's block stalled the development of organisms more complicated than single cells. Then, a burst of experimental creativity about 1.7 billion years ago brought the cell nucleus onto the scene, stashing the cell's genetic material inside a protective inner membrane and setting the stage for the evolution of more sophisticated creatures from yeast, say, to plants and human beings.

12 Jul 2009

Cancer drugs erlotinib and gefitinib might treat alcoholism

A class of drugs already approved as cancer treatments might also help to beat alcohol addiction. That's the conclusion of a discovery in flies of a gene, dubbed happyhour, that has an important and previously unknown role in controlling the insects' response to alcohol.

22 May 2009