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New electrochemical CRISPR biosensor can help improve diagnosis of diseases

The CRISPR/Cas technology can do more than alter genes. A research team at the University of Freiburg is using what are known as gene scissors - which scientists can use to edit genetic material - in order to better diagnose diseases such as cancer.

25 Nov 2019

U of T, ASU scientists develop first direct gene circuit

Scientists at the University of Toronto and Arizona State University have developed the first direct gene circuit to electrode interface by combining cell-free synthetic biology with state-of-the-art nanostructured electrodes.

25 Nov 2019

DNA-modulated liquid droplets may explain how prion proteins clump

Researchers at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in Brazil, have identified that the interaction between prion proteins and DNA may be behind the formation of protein amyloid aggregates and of the emergence of neurodegenerative diseases such as Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other spongiform encephalopathies.

22 Nov 2019

Researchers turn to older treatment methods for new health challenges

The last thing anyone wants during a stay in the hospital is a hospital-acquired infection. Nosocomial infections, as they are called, are on the rise as more pathogens become resistant to drugs currently available.

21 Nov 2019

Newly developed ChiTaRS database can collect cases of druggable fusion targets

When sections from two separate genes merge due to various factors, such as translocation or splicing, the hybrid that is formed is called a gene fusion. In recent years, it has been discovered that these fusion events play a vital role in the development of cancers and other complex diseases.

20 Nov 2019

New point-of-care medical device rapidly and accurately detects viruses

The gene-editing tool CRISPR has been heralded as a scientific miracle destined to eradicate diseases from sickle-cell anemia to cancer, or decried as "the genetic scissors that tailor the human gene pool," an ethically risky technology driving us toward a designer babies.

11 Nov 2019

Illinois researchers develop lab-on-a-smartphone system to detect infectious diseases

Infectious diseases such as Zika and Dengue remain a top contributor to death and disability across the globe, according to the World Health Organization.

10 Nov 2019

Novel detection method for retinoblastoma

A retinoblastoma is a dangerous cancer often occurring in very young children, under 2, which can cause blindness or the loss of the eye. The tumor is a diffuse, gluey mass spread all over the eye. It also spreads easily. As a result of this, direct biopsy is impossible, unlike with most other tumors. Instead, eye examination by ophthalmologists (eye specialists) and ultrasound imaging are needed to make a diagnosis.

5 Nov 2019

Researchers make progress toward gene-based strategies to treat inherited neurometabolic diseases

Researchers are making great strides toward developing gene-based strategies to treat a variety of inherited neurometabolic diseases characterized by severe neurological involvement.

29 Oct 2019

Hong Kong Baptist University receives FDA orphan drug designation for novel aptamer

A research team from the School of Chinese Medicine at Hong Kong Baptist University has successfully developed a novel aptamer, i.e. a single-stranded piece of DNA, for the treatment of osteogenesis imperfecta (OI) with the aid of artificial intelligence (AI) technology.

23 Oct 2019

Koalas protect their germline cells against retroviral attack

In a new study published in the journal Cell, scientists have found that koala DNA is protected against attack by retroviruses by a special type of immune response, which distinguishes foreign DNA from the host genome and destroys it before it can proliferate. This finding could help us understand both how koalas survive these infections, and the mechanics of adaptive gene change.

15 Oct 2019

Simple way to effectively transport medication into the brain identified

For the first time, scientists have identified a simple way that can effectively transport medication into the brain - which could lead to improved treatments for neurological and neurodegenerative diseases.

11 Oct 2019

CRISPR RNA-cutting enzyme programmed to destroy viruses in human cells

Many of the world's most common or deadly human pathogens are RNA-based viruses -- Ebola, Zika and flu, for example -- and most have no FDA-approved treatments.

10 Oct 2019

Cholera pathogen can acquire large stretches of genetic material from neighboring bacteria

In 2015, EPFL researchers led by Melanie Blokesch published a seminal paper in Science showing that the bacterium responsible for cholera, Vibrio cholerae, uses a spring-loaded spear to literally stab neighboring bacteria and steal their DNA.

8 Oct 2019

Carnegie Mellon and Yale win NIH grant to advance gene editing technique

A research team from Carnegie Mellon University and Yale University will advance their innovative, synthetic nucleic acid-based gene editing technique under a new grant from the National Institutes of Health's Somatic Cell Genome Editing Program.

7 Oct 2019

Entos Pharmaceuticals signs new collaboration agreement with biopharmaceutical company

Entos Pharmaceuticals Inc. ("Entos" or the "Company"), a healthcare biotechnology company focused on the development of next-generation nucleic acid-based therapies using their Fusogenix drug delivery platform, today announced it has entered into a research, development and collaboration agreement ("Agreement") with a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company ("Partner") focused on the development of novel therapeutic compounds targeting autoimmune and inflammatory diseases.

3 Oct 2019

New technique can rapidly image synaptic proteins at high resolution

Our brains contain millions of synapses -- the connections that transmit messages from neuron to neuron. Within these synapses are hundreds of different proteins, and dysfunction of these proteins can lead to conditions such as schizophrenia and autism.

26 Sep 2019

Faster, cheaper, better: improved gene therapy tool production

The heart of modern therapy is increasingly personalized and targeted at specific cellular or genetic deficits. This requires gene therapy, in many cases. A new study, published on 19 September 2019 in the journal Nature, describes an improved way to produce purified gene carrier viruses called AAVs cheaply and quickly, from the culture medium.

22 Sep 2019

Anti-cancer protein promotes tumor resistance, shows study

Areas of solid tumors that have limited access to oxygen, a condition called hypoxia, are highly resilient against chemo and radiation therapy.

20 Sep 2019

AMP announces recipients of 2019's Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics

The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), the premier global, molecular diagnostics professional society, today announced the recipients of this year's Award for Excellence in Molecular Diagnostics, Jeffrey A. Kant Leadership Award and Meritorious Service Award.

19 Sep 2019