Gene

A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It normally resides on a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains.

What are Genes?

Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the chemical information database that carries the complete set of instructions for the cell as to the nature of the proteins produced by it, its life span, maturity, function and death. Genes are the working subunits of DNA. Each gene contains a particular set of instructions, usually coding for a particular protein or for a particular function.

Horizontal Gene Transfer

Ras Genes and Cancer

Conditional Gene Knockout Techniques

Genetic Inheritance

What is SATI Gene Editing?

Gene Knockout versus Knockdown

Horizontal Gene Transfer and Antibiotic Resistance

The Latest Advances in Cell and Gene Therapy

What are Homeobox Genes?

Gene Knockin

Genetics and Gene Expression

See more featured articles »

Gene History

Tumor Suppressor Genes

Functions of BRCA1/2 Gene Products

Genes that Control Pluripotency

What are Homeobox Genes?

Gene Editing Techniques: ZFNs, TALENs or CRISPR?

Latest Gene News and Research

Everyday PFAS exposure alters placental function in early pregnancy

This study measured real-life PFAS concentrations in first-trimester human placentas and used these data to create a pregnancy-relevant PFAS mixture. In 3D trophoblast spheroid models, the mixture altered invasion, hormone secretion, and gene expression without broadly reducing viability at environmentally relevant doses.

8 Dec 2025

Genome-edited immune cell therapy shows promise for treating aggressive blood cancer

A groundbreaking new treatment using genome-edited immune cells, developed by scientists at UCL (University College London) and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH), has shown promising results in helping children and adults fight a rare and aggressive form of blood cancer called T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL).

8 Dec 2025

Study reveals new genetic insights into reticular pseudodrusen in people with AMD

A study funded in part by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has revealed important insights into the genetics of deposits in the eye, known as reticular pseudodrusen (RPD), that are linked to greater risk of vision loss among people with age-related macular degeneration (AMD).

8 Dec 2025

Industrial and farm chemicals quietly alter the balance of gut microbes

This study systematically screened over 1,000 agricultural and industrial chemicals and found that many can inhibit human gut bacteria in vitro. Beyond antimicrobial effects, these chemicals act as selective pressures that can reshape microbial competition, tolerance mechanisms, and metabolic pathways.

8 Dec 2025

Timing of genetic mutation dictates childhood leukemia aggressiveness

A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has uncovered why children with the same leukemia-causing gene mutation can have dramatically different outcomes: it depends on when in development the mutation first occurs.

8 Dec 2025

Serious side effects after CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma share a common immune root cause

Serious side effects, including neurotoxicity and intestinal inflammation, that appear weeks or months after patients receive CAR T cell therapy for multiple myeloma share a common immune root cause, are associated with high rates of death unrelated to cancer relapse-primarily infection-and may be avoidable.

8 Dec 2025

JAX wins $30 million contract to create computational "digital twins" of the human heart

Developing new drugs is one of the riskiest and most expensive endeavors in science. Today, The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) announced a bold initiative to improve that trajectory, powered by an up to $30 million contract from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) Computational ADME-Tox and Physiology Analysis for Safer Therapeutics (CATALYST) program.

8 Dec 2025

A slow-growing, bone-covered, noncancerous mass named as ossifying spindled and epithelioid tumor

It's not often that a pathologist gets to make a diagnosis that works for the patient by preventing treatment from occurring.

8 Dec 2025

New combination treatment offers significant benefits for people with recurring grade 3 astrocytoma

Huntsman Cancer Institute at the University of Utah (the U) participated in a clinical trial that found that a new combination treatment plan helped people with recurring grade 3 astrocytoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, live longer.

8 Dec 2025

Black patients with AML experience earlier onset and poorer outcomes

Compared with white patients, Black patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) were on average more than five years younger at diagnosis, more than 30% more likely to die of their disease, and more than 20% more likely to die of any cause, according to an analysis of data conducted over a 34-year period and supported by the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is a component of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

7 Dec 2025

Challenges and opportunities in delivering gene therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia

The first study assessing the real-world commercial roll-out of gene therapies for sickle cell disease and beta thalassemia offers lessons learned to inform best practices as manufacturers and medical centers prepare to meet growing demand for gene therapies in the coming years.

7 Dec 2025

Exa-cel shows complete success in early pediatric trials for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia

Preliminary results from two trials of the gene therapy exagamglogene autotemcel (exa-cel) suggest the therapy offers an effective cure for beta-thalassemia and sickle cell disease in children younger than 12.

6 Dec 2025

CRISPR-based Cellgorithm technology ushers in a new era of cell programming

Syntax Bio, a synthetic biology company programming the next generation of cell therapies, today announced the publication of new research in Science Advances detailing the company's CRISPR-based Cellgorithm technology, which lays the groundwork for programmable control of gene activity in human stem cells and offers an alternative to the slow, variable manual processes researchers use today.

5 Dec 2025

Genetic variant linked to higher heart failure risk in children with myocarditis

A genetic variant is likely putting some children suffering with myocarditis - inflammation of the heart muscle - at higher risk of developing heart failure, which can be fatal, according to a study published today in Circulation Heart Failure.

5 Dec 2025

New combination treatment helps people with recurring grade 3 astrocytoma, trial shows

5 Dec 2025

Study provides first molecular evidence that ferroptosis can drive neurodegeneration

Researchers at Helmholtz Munich, the Technical University of Munich and the LMU University Hospital Munich uncovered a mechanism that protects nerve cells from premature cell death, known as ferroptosis.

4 Dec 2025

Bacterial enzyme linked to heart complications in pneumonia

Pneumonia is a disease that burdens the healthcare system with more that 1.2 million emergency room visits each year and more than 41,000 adult deaths in the United States.

4 Dec 2025

Engineered herpes virus activates potent immune responses against glioblastoma

Researchers at Mass General Brigham have modified a herpes simplex virus (HSV-1) that stimulates the immune system to attack glioblastoma cells.

4 Dec 2025

Urine cfDNA patterns emerge as a promising tool for diagnosing bladder cancer

Researchers have discovered that analyzing specific patterns of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) fragmentation in a simple urine sample can effectively diagnose and stage bladder cancer, offering a much-needed alternative to invasive procedures like cystoscopies.

4 Dec 2025

Early pregnancy placenta models show significant effects from PFAS exposure

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a group of nearly 10,000 long-lasting chemical compounds that stay in the environment and have been linked to adverse health effects on humans, including pregnant women and their unborn children.

4 Dec 2025