Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

CALHM1 protein controls sense of taste, finds study

In collaboration with other research institutions, a Feinstein Institute for Medical Research investigator discovered a new protein that controls the sense of taste. The findings are published in the March issue of Nature.

7 Mar 2013

BIDMC investigator receives $50,000 CCF grant for research on pediatric cardiomyopathy

Maria Kontaridis, PhD, an investigator in the Division of Cardiology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), has received a $50,000 grant from the Children's Cardiomyopathy Foundation (CCF) for her research on pediatric cardiomyopathy.

7 Mar 2013

Study combines induced pluripotent stem cell technology and genetic correction to treat DMD

Researchers at the University of Minnesota's Lillehei Heart Institute have combined genetic repair with cellular reprogramming to generate stem cells capable of muscle regeneration in a mouse model for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

7 Mar 2013

Researchers discover how LRRK2 mutations in familial Parkinson's damage brain cells

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC), with collaborators at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, have discovered how the most common genetic mutations in familial Parkinson's disease damage brain cells.

6 Mar 2013

Wayne State receives U.S. patent allowance for vision restoration technology

Technology to restore vision through the use of a component of green algae developed by Dr. Zhou-Han Pan, professor and scientific director of the Ligon Research Center of Vision at the Kresge Eye Institute at Wayne State University, and licensed to RetroSense Therapeutics, a biotechnology company dedicated to developing gene therapy approaches to vision restoration, announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a Notice of Allowance for U.S. patent application (No. 12/299,574).

6 Mar 2013

Scientists report successful blocking of tumor development in genetic mouse model of human cancer

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists report the first successful blocking of tumor development in a genetic mouse model of an incurable human cancer.

6 Mar 2013

Screening healthy adults could potentially prevent rare genetic disorders

Millions of people unknowingly carry rare gene mutations that put them at high risk of developing preventable diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and several catastrophic blood vessel disorders.

6 Mar 2013

European scientists find root cause of age-related dementia

A team of European scientists from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf and the Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases at the University of Cologne in Germany has taken an important step closer to understanding the root cause of age-related dementia.

6 Mar 2013

SIRT1 gene may be involved in development of type 1 diabetes

A JDRF-funded study out of Switzerland has shown that a single gene called SIRT1 may be involved in the development of type 1 diabetes (T1D) and other autoimmune diseases. The study, "Identification of a SIRT1 Mutation in a Family with Type 1 Diabetes," was published today in Cell Metabolism and represents the first demonstration of a monogenetic defect leading to the onset of T1D.

6 Mar 2013

Deleting Plin2 gene prevents obesity in mice

Researchers have discovered that deleting a specific gene in mice prevents them from becoming obese even on a high fat diet, a finding they believe may be replicated in humans.

6 Mar 2013

Gene cluster implicated in Behçet's disease

Scientists may have uncovered an underlying genetic susceptibility for Behçet's disease in East Asian patients.

5 Mar 2013

FTO function may encompass more than body mass

Three variants in the fat mass and obesity associated gene are associated with significant predisposition to melanoma, show findings published in Nature Genetics.

5 Mar 2013

Schizophrenic people with MIR137 tend to develop illness at younger age

Some of the dramatic differences seen among patients with schizophrenia may be explained by a single gene that regulates a group of other schizophrenia risk genes. These findings appear in a new imaging-genetics study from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH).

5 Mar 2013

KMO gene variant associated with increased production of kynurenic acid

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have found an explanation for why the level of kynurenic acid (KYNA) is higher in the brains of people with schizophrenia or bipolar disease with psychosis. The study, which is published in the scientific periodical Molecular Psychiatry, identifies a gene variant associated with an increased production of KYNA.

5 Mar 2013

HIV might promote aging and disease progression in people with HCV, study results suggest

Infectious disease experts at Johns Hopkins have found that among people infected with the hepatitis C virus, co-infection with HIV, speeds damage and scarring of liver tissue by almost a decade.

5 Mar 2013

Eating your greens may be even more important than previously thought

Eating your greens may be even more important than previously thought, with the discovery that an immune cell population essential for intestinal health could be controlled by leafy greens in your diet.

5 Mar 2013

People with variations in FTO gene could be at increased risk of melanoma

The research shows that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma.

5 Mar 2013

Idera announces new data from IMO-3100 and IMO-8400 preclinical study on psoriasis

Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the presentation of new data showing that its selective Toll-like receptor antagonists, IMO-3100 and IMO-8400, normalized the gene expression of important cytokines in a preclinical study of skin inflammation that is commonly used as a model of psoriasis.

4 Mar 2013

Horizon forms 3 new Centers of Excellence for gene editing in Asia

Horizon Discovery (Horizon), a leading provider of research tools to support the development of personalized medicines, today announced it has established three new Centers of Excellence (CoE's) for gene editing in Asia.

4 Mar 2013

PsiOxus completes enrollment in MT-102 Phase II trial on cancer cachexia

PsiOxus Therapeutics, Ltd. (PsiOxus), a development stage biotechnology company, has completed patient enrollment for its Phase II clinical trial to study MT-102, a small molecule therapeutic for the treatment of cancer cachexia.

4 Mar 2013