Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Researchers elucidate mechanism that induces skeletal muscle atrophy in patients with congestive heart failure

It is a paradox: Patients with advanced congestive heart failure lose skeletal muscle mass, but their heart muscles become enlarged to provide the body with an adequate supply of blood and thus with oxygen. It has long been known that the protein angiotensin II plays a villainous role in this process, but the exact mechanism has remained unclear.

12 Aug 2015

Researchers develop user-friendly platform for analyzing transcriptomic and epigenomic big data

Researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center have developed a user-friendly, integrated platform for analyzing the transcriptomic and epigenomic "big data."

12 Aug 2015

Researcher study potential biomarker to determine patients at risk for aggressive breast cancer

Biomarkers are an important part in detecting certain cancers such as the BRCA gene in breast cancer and the PSA antigen in prostate cancer. They are easy to identify in a blood test and can help in diagnosing and giving a prognosis.

12 Aug 2015

New study reveals role of hydrogen sulfide gas in autoimmune disease

The immune system not only responds to infections and other potentially problematic abnormalities in the body, it also contains a built-in brake in the form of regulatory T cells, or Tregs. Tregs ensure that inflammatory responses don't get out of hand and do damage. In autoimmune diseases, sometimes these Treg cells don't act as they should.

12 Aug 2015

New TSRI discovery could open way to incorporate sulfur into natural antibiotic products

In a discovery with implications for future drug design, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have shown an unprecedented mechanism for how a natural antibiotic with antitumor properties incorporates sulfur into its molecular structure, an essential ingredient of its antitumor activity.

11 Aug 2015

Embryonic stem cells may help researchers to study physiological effects of environmental pollutants on human health

A recent study published in the Journal of Environmental Sciences shows that embryonic stem cells could serve as a model to evaluate the physiological effects of environmental pollutants efficiently and cost-effectively.

11 Aug 2015

Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University participate in NCI MATCH Trial

The Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, in partnership with Wayne State University School of Medicine, is one of the lead academic centers participating in the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) MATCH (Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice) Trial in the United States, set to begin in the next few weeks.

11 Aug 2015

New technology advances genome engineering

In his mind, Basil Hubbard can already picture a new world of therapeutic treatments for millions of patients just over the horizon. It's a future in which diseases like muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and many others are treated permanently through the science of genome engineering.

11 Aug 2015

UBC researchers identify gene that could be important cause of obesity

Scientists at the University of British Columbia have discovered a gene that could be an important cause of obesity.

11 Aug 2015

Researchers report role of two gene-regulating molecules in Parkinson's disease

As Parkinson's disease progresses in patients, a puzzling dichotomy plays out in their brains. One set of neurons degenerates, while a similar population nearby is spared the same degree of damage. Why the difference? An answer to this question could clear the way for preventions and treatments for this disease, which impairs movement.

11 Aug 2015

PrediXcan method improves detection of genes linked to complex diseases, biological traits of interest

A new computational method developed by scientists from the University of Chicago improves the detection of genes that are likely to be causal for complex diseases and biological traits. The method, PrediXcan, estimates gene expression levels across the whole genome - a better measure of biological action than single mutations - and integrates it with genome-wide association study (GWAS) data.

11 Aug 2015

Researchers identify first gene that causes common form of mitral valve prolapse

An international research collaboration led by Massachusetts General Hospital investigators has identified the first gene in which mutations cause the common form of mitral valve prolapse (MVP), a heart valve disorder that affects almost 2.5 percent of the population.

11 Aug 2015

DISC-1: schizophrenia's "Rosetta Stone" gene? An interview with Professor Kevin Fox

The DISC-1 gene has been studied intensively over the years because people with mutations in DISC1 have a high likelihood of mental illness. DISC-1 was known to be associated with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major clinical depression and autism.

10 Aug 2015

Deerfield provides $20 million financing to Editas Medicine

Deerfield Management Company, L.P.'s venture capital fund, Deerfield Healthcare Innovations Fund, L.P., today announced its first therapeutics-based investment by participating, along with Deerfield Private Design Fund III, in providing financing to Editas Medicine. In total, Deerfield invested $20 million in this early-stage institutional financing.

10 Aug 2015

GenVec reports net loss of $1.9 million for second quarter 2015

GenVec, Inc. today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015. For the three months ended June 30, 2015, GenVec reported a net loss of $1.9 million, or $0.11 per share, on revenues of $0.1 million, compared with a net loss of $1.7 million, or $0.10 per share, on revenues of $0.1 million, for the same period in the prior year.

7 Aug 2015

Johns Hopkins researchers discover role of TDP-43 protein in autopsy brain cells of patients with ALS

Autopsies of nearly every patient with the lethal neurodegenerative disorder amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and many with frontotemporal dementia (FTD), show pathologists telltale clumps of a protein called TDP-43. Now, working with mouse and human cells, Johns Hopkins researchers report they have discovered the normal role of TDP-43 in cells and why its abnormal accumulation may cause disease.

7 Aug 2015

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' revenues decrease to $0.4 million in second quarter 2015

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals, Inc., today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2015 and provided an overview of key milestones for the company's lead drug candidates.

7 Aug 2015

Leading public health scholars argue that increasing national focus on precision medicine misguided

The increasing national focus on personalized or 'precision' medicine is misguided, distracting from broader investments to reduce health inequities and address the social factors that affect population health, two leading public health scholars argue in the New England Journal of Medicine.

7 Aug 2015

Researchers identify genome-organizing mechanism that transmits vital genetic materials during mitosis

Chromosomes are responsible for carrying our genes and essentially protecting the information that helps ensure normal, healthy growth, with vital instructions being passed on from cell to cell by a process known as mitosis. While this copying mechanism has been well understood for decades, scientists have been unable to describe exactly how genetic information is protected and properly segregated as mitosis is happening.

7 Aug 2015

UNC researchers show how a genetic mutation disables molecular switch and causes autism

Last December, researchers identified more than 1,000 gene mutations in individuals with autism, but how these mutations increased risk for autism was unclear. Now, UNC School of Medicine researchers are the first to show how one of these mutations disables a molecular switch in one of these genes and causes autism.

7 Aug 2015

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Researchers elucidate mechanism that induces skeletal muscle atrophy in patients with congestive heart failure

Researchers develop user-friendly platform for analyzing transcriptomic and epigenomic big data

Researcher study potential biomarker to determine patients at risk for aggressive breast cancer

New study reveals role of hydrogen sulfide gas in autoimmune disease

New TSRI discovery could open way to incorporate sulfur into natural antibiotic products

Embryonic stem cells may help researchers to study physiological effects of environmental pollutants on human health

Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University participate in NCI MATCH Trial

New technology advances genome engineering

UBC researchers identify gene that could be important cause of obesity

Researchers report role of two gene-regulating molecules in Parkinson's disease

PrediXcan method improves detection of genes linked to complex diseases, biological traits of interest

Researchers identify first gene that causes common form of mitral valve prolapse

DISC-1: schizophrenia's "Rosetta Stone" gene? An interview with Professor Kevin Fox

Deerfield provides $20 million financing to Editas Medicine

GenVec reports net loss of $1.9 million for second quarter 2015

Johns Hopkins researchers discover role of TDP-43 protein in autopsy brain cells of patients with ALS

Lexicon Pharmaceuticals' revenues decrease to $0.4 million in second quarter 2015

Leading public health scholars argue that increasing national focus on precision medicine misguided

Researchers identify genome-organizing mechanism that transmits vital genetic materials during mitosis

UNC researchers show how a genetic mutation disables molecular switch and causes autism

Industry Focus: Cell & Gene Therapy eBook

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