Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

DCC gene involved in adolescent brain development may play a role in mental health vulnerability

As many parents of mentally ill adults will confirm anecdotally, the first symptoms of "something not quite right" with their children begin to appear during the teen years. It is known that during this teenaged phase of brain development, adolescents are particularly vulnerable to psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, depression and drug addiction.

17 Dec 2013

Arizona scientists investigate intriguing effects of spaceflight on microbial pathogens

At Arizona State University's Biodesign Institute, Cheryl Nickerson and her team have been investigating the intriguing effects of spaceflight on microbial pathogens.

17 Dec 2013

New gene mutation helps doctors give more accurate diagnosis of mitochondrial myopathy

A new gene mutation which will help doctors give a more accurate diagnosis of a particular type of brain and muscle disease in children has been discovered for the first time by University of Leeds experts.

17 Dec 2013

Study provides important new perspective on how we look at bladder cancer biology

Bladder cancer will kill upward of 170,000 people worldwide this year, but bladder cancer isn't fatal in the bladder. Instead, in order to be fatal the disease must metastasize to faraway sites. The question has been this: does localized, non-muscle invasive bladder cancer eventually become the more dangerous, muscle-invasive form of the disease, or are NMI and MI bladder cancers genetically distinct from the start?

17 Dec 2013

Genetically targeted drugs used for lung cancer may also have applications in colorectal cancer patients

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published online ahead of print in the journal Molecular Cancer Research shows that ALK and ROS1 gene rearrangements known to drive subsets of lung cancer are also present in some colorectal cancers. These results imply that drugs used to target ALK and ROS1 in lung cancer may also have applications in this subset of colorectal cancer patients.

17 Dec 2013

UCLA scientists receive $21M grant to conduct groundbreaking clinical trials on stem cell science

Scientists from UCLA are now bringing their groundbreaking stem cell science directly to patients in two exciting new clinical trials scheduled to begin in early 2014, thanks to funding from California's stem cell agency.

17 Dec 2013

Moderate drinking may bolster our immune system and help fight off infection: Study

Medical science has known for years that people who drink moderate amounts of alcohol actually have a reduced risk of death. In general, they are healthier and have better cardiovascular function that those who don't drink alcohol at all.

17 Dec 2013

Emergency Nurses Association introduces NEW Geriatric eLearning Course for Nurses

The Emergency Nurses Association announced today the launch of its NEW online Geriatric Emergency Nursing Education Course—GENE.

17 Dec 2013

Rich club disconnectivity may be ‘core’ schizophrenia feature

The impaired “rich club” connectivity observed in the brains of patients with schizophrenia is also present in their unaffected siblings, report researchers.

17 Dec 2013

Scientists reveal how MRSA strain rapidly rises to prominence

Scientists believe they have an explanation for how the most common strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus rapidly rose to prominence. Research published in mBio-, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology, suggests that the strain recently acquired a number of genes from common skin bacteria that allow it to grow and thrive on the skin where other strains of MRSA cannot.

17 Dec 2013

Study reveals that two wastewater treatment plants in China fail to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Tests at two wastewater treatment plants in northern China revealed antibiotic-resistant bacteria were not only escaping purification but also breeding and spreading their dangerous cargo.

17 Dec 2013

Mirimus develops enhanced tools for reversible gene suppression

Over the last decades, RNA interference (RNAi) has become an indispensable tool for functional genetic studies by harnessing the power of a cell intrinsic mechanism enabling reversible gene silencing.

17 Dec 2013

Alnylam initiates Phase II study with ALN-TTRsc for treatment of ATTR

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has initiated a pilot Phase II study with ALN-TTRsc, a subcutaneously delivered RNAi therapeutic targeting the transthyretin gene in development for the treatment of TTR-mediated amyloidosis.

17 Dec 2013

Utah researchers discover naturally occurring genetic variation that cause inflammatory arthritis

University of Utah researchers have discovered a naturally occurring genetic variation in mice that predisposes carriers toward developing severe, inflammatory arthritis. The finding implicates a new class of genes in arthritis progression, potentially opening doors to new treatment options.

17 Dec 2013

Two existing drugs show promise as potential treatments for cervical cancer

Two existing drugs - one the active ingredient in an anti-fungal medication and the other now used to control iron levels in the blood - both show promise as potential treatments for cervical cancer, according to newly published research by scientists at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.

17 Dec 2013

Scientists establish a goal of creating vaccine gene chip to speed up vaccine testing

Testing the efficacy of vaccines in clinical trials takes years, even decades. Yet challenging infections like HIV, malaria and dengue are striking today. To speed up vaccine testing, scientists at the Emory Vaccine Center have established a goal of creating a "vaccine gene chip."

17 Dec 2013

Research findings point to possible new strategy for treating ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, better known as Lou Gehrig's disease, is a devastating illness that gradually robs sufferers of muscle strength and eventually causes a lethal, full-body paralysis. The only drug available to treat the disease extends life spans by a meager three months on average.

17 Dec 2013

New regulation for cancer-causing protein may help develop targeted therapies

Researchers with the Cincinnati Cancer Center (CCC) and the University of Cincinnati (UC) Cancer Institute have discovered a new regulation for the cancer-causing protein KRas which may help with the development of targeted therapies for patients with a KRas mutation.

17 Dec 2013

PAM50 FDA-cleared breast cancer test to be launched at ARUP Laboratories

The PAM50 breast cancer signature developed at the University of Utah and Huntsman Cancer Institute received FDA approval and will launch at ARUP Laboratories in Salt Lake City. The test utilizes gene expression data from 50 genes weighted together with clinical variables to generate a risk category and numerical score to assess a patient's risk of distant recurrence at ten years in postmenopausal women with node-negative (Stage I or II) or node-positive (Stage II), Hormone Receptor-Positive (HR+) breast cancer.

16 Dec 2013

BioLineRx reports promising initial results from Phase 2 trial of BL-8040 in AML patients

BioLineRx, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to identifying, in-licensing and developing promising therapeutic candidates, announced today promising initial results for its BL-8040 drug candidate in a Phase 2 clinical trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

16 Dec 2013

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

DCC gene involved in adolescent brain development may play a role in mental health vulnerability

Arizona scientists investigate intriguing effects of spaceflight on microbial pathogens

New gene mutation helps doctors give more accurate diagnosis of mitochondrial myopathy

Study provides important new perspective on how we look at bladder cancer biology

Genetically targeted drugs used for lung cancer may also have applications in colorectal cancer patients

UCLA scientists receive $21M grant to conduct groundbreaking clinical trials on stem cell science

Moderate drinking may bolster our immune system and help fight off infection: Study

Emergency Nurses Association introduces NEW Geriatric eLearning Course for Nurses

Rich club disconnectivity may be ‘core’ schizophrenia feature

Scientists reveal how MRSA strain rapidly rises to prominence

Study reveals that two wastewater treatment plants in China fail to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Mirimus develops enhanced tools for reversible gene suppression

Alnylam initiates Phase II study with ALN-TTRsc for treatment of ATTR

Utah researchers discover naturally occurring genetic variation that cause inflammatory arthritis

Two existing drugs show promise as potential treatments for cervical cancer

Scientists establish a goal of creating vaccine gene chip to speed up vaccine testing

Research findings point to possible new strategy for treating ALS

New regulation for cancer-causing protein may help develop targeted therapies

PAM50 FDA-cleared breast cancer test to be launched at ARUP Laboratories

BioLineRx reports promising initial results from Phase 2 trial of BL-8040 in AML patients

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