Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Gene therapy offers potential alternative to pacemakers

Researchers have developed a gene transplant procedure that can transform ordinary heart muscle cells into “biological pacemaker” cells that maintain heart rhythm.

17 Jul 2014

Researcher finds genetic identifier that may allow clinicians to determine babies at risk for autism

A researcher at Seattle Children's Hospital and Research Institute has found a genetic identifier for autism that includes physical features that may eventually allow clinicians to identify babies who are at risk for autism before they are born.

17 Jul 2014

Researchers find link between genetic makeup and nation's happiness

Genetics could be the key to explaining nation's levels of happiness, according to research from the University of Warwick.

17 Jul 2014

Deadly neurodegenerative disease treated in worms gives hope for humans

An untreatable and deadly neurodegenerative disease has been modelled and treated in worms by University of Liverpool researchers, suggesting a cure could be found for humans.

17 Jul 2014

Investigators identify gene that underlies devastating autoinflammatory condition in children

Investigators have identified a gene that underlies a very rare but devastating autoinflammatory condition in children. Several existing drugs have shown therapeutic potential in laboratory studies, and one is currently being studied in children with the disease, which the researchers named STING-associated vasculopathy with onset in infancy (SAVI).

17 Jul 2014

Single injection of protein FGF1 enough to restore blood sugar levels

In mice with diet-induced diabetes—the equivalent of type 2 diabetes in humans—a single injection of the protein FGF1 is enough to restore blood sugar levels to a healthy range for more than two days.

17 Jul 2014

CIP2A pathway involved in erlotinib response

Researchers have identified a novel mechanism, involving the cancerous inhibitor of protein phosphatase 2A pathway, which mediates the anti-tumour effects of erlotinib in non-small-cell lung cancer cells without epidermal growth factor receptor mutations.

16 Jul 2014

Scientists build artificial cells programmed to eat their undesirable neighbors

A team of researchers has devised a Pac-Man-style power pellet that gets normally mild-mannered cells to gobble up their undesirable neighbors. The development may point the way to therapies that enlist patients’ own cells to better fend off infection and even cancer, the researchers say. A description of the work will be published July 15 in the journal Science Signaling.

16 Jul 2014

Thirteen scientists receive grant to identify new treatments, cure for psoriasis

Thirteen scientists received a total of $1.05 million in funding from the National Psoriasis Foundation for projects that aim to identify new treatments and a cure for psoriasis—an autoimmune disease that appears on the skin, affecting 7.5 million Americans—and psoriatic arthritis—an inflammatory arthritis that affects the joints and tendons, occurring in up to 30 percent of people with psoriasis.

16 Jul 2014

Scientists sequence genome of Asian liver fluke, a cancer-causing parasite

Scientists have sequenced the genome and characterised the genes of the Asian liver fluke, Opisthorchis viverrini. This parasite causes diseases that affect millions of people in Asia and is associated with a fatal bile duct cancer.

16 Jul 2014

Study finds that friends who are not biologically related still resemble each other genetically

If you consider your friends family, you may be on to something. A study from the University of California, San Diego, and Yale University finds that friends who are not biologically related still resemble each other genetically.

16 Jul 2014

Findings reveal mechanism underlying hippocampal neuronal injury after TBI

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) causes gene expression changes in different brain regions. Cyclooxygenase-2, glutamate receptor-2, and platelet activating factor receptor expression levels are related to the occurrence and development of TBI.

16 Jul 2014

Researchers reveal molecular interplay between Roquin and RNA

The Roquin protein, discovered in 2005, controls T-cell activation and differentiation by regulating the expression of certain mRNAs. In doing so, it helps to guarantee immunological tolerance and prevents immune responses against the body's own structures that can lead to autoimmune disease.

16 Jul 2014

Engineering single-celled parasite in cat's intestine as cancer vaccine

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a single-celled parasite that is happiest in a cat's intestines, but it can live in any warm blooded animal. Found worldwide, T. gondii affects about one-third of the world's population, 60 million of which are Americans.

16 Jul 2014

Personalized medicine for breast cancer patients may be just around the corner

For breast cancer patients, the era of personalized medicine may be just around the corner, thanks to recent advances by USC Stem Cell researcher Min Yu and scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

16 Jul 2014

New avenues for treatment of Alzheimer's disease

Judes Poirier, PhD, C.Q., from the Douglas Mental Health Institute and McGill University in Montr-al (Canada) and his team have discovered that a relatively frequent genetic variant actually conveys significant protection against the common form of Alzheimer's disease and can delay the onset of the disease by as much as 4 years.

15 Jul 2014

Advanced Cell Diagnostics’ in situ hybridization technology reaches two major milestones

Advanced Cell Diagnostics Inc. (ACD), a leader in the field of molecular pathology and developer of cell and tissue-based analysis tools, has announced that its RNAscope® RNA in situ hybridization technology has reached two major milestones. In just three years, over 100 peer-reviewed papers featuring the technology have been published, and with the significant increase in use of RNAscope, ACD has now built a library of over 4000 target probes for numerous species. Probes are designed to order in under two weeks, and in just six months the library has grown by over 1500, reflecting the wide interest in ACD’s breakthrough technology.

From Advanced Cell Diagnostics 15 Jul 2014

Pfizer to in-license Absorption Systems' BCRP-MDCK cells

Absorption Systems, a leader in novel test systems for drug transporters, announces a license agreement with Pfizer Inc., in which Pfizer will in-license Absorption Systems' BCRP-MDCK cells. This cell line is stably transfected with the human ABCG2 gene, which codes for a protein known as BCRP (breast cancer resistance protein).

15 Jul 2014

Research demonstrates new computer software to help diagnose cancer cells

In pathology, cells and cell nuclei are usually examined using a microscope for bio-marker expressions in tumours. This analysis is used to weigh up the treatment options for patients who have cancer, for example.

15 Jul 2014

New potential avenues to predict and prevent ovarian cancer metastasis

Circulating tumor cells spread ovarian cancer through the bloodstream, homing in on a sheath of abdominal fatty tissue where it can grow and metastasize to other organs, scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center report in Cancer Cell.

15 Jul 2014