Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

New stem cell discovery may help scientists replace damaged organs

Stem-cell researchers at UC San Francisco have found a key role for a protein called BMI1 that may help scientists direct the development of tissues to replace damaged organs in the human body.

22 Jul 2013

Implications for treating some common food allergies

Food is an integral part of life; but, for some, it can be harmful. Allergic inflammation caused by inappropriate immune responses to some types of food has become a major public health issue. Over the past ten years, the prevalence of food allergies has increased by nearly 20 percent, affecting an estimated six million people in the U.S.

22 Jul 2013

Quickly clearing out damaged proteins may help prevent neurodegenerative disorders: Study

Recycling is not only good for the environment, it's good for the brain. A study using rat cells indicates that quickly clearing out defective proteins in the brain may prevent loss of brain cells.

22 Jul 2013

Weeds derived from crop plant pose special challenges for modern farming

The evolutionary biologist Stephen Jay Gould once asked whether the living world would be different "if the tape were played twice." If there were a duplicate Earth evolving quietly beside ours, would we observe the emergence of creatures like ourselves and of plants and anaimals familiar to us, or would the cast of characters be entirely different?

22 Jul 2013

New research project has potential to treat human deafness and loss of balance

The sounds of success are ringing at Kansas State University through a research project that has potential to treat human deafness and loss of balance.

20 Jul 2013

Structural properties have changed across bacterial families without putting limits on antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic-resistant bacteria have been emerging at an alarming rate. In some of the scariest of these pathogens, the mechanism responsible for the bacteria's ability to defeat antibiotics is a complex protein molecule embedded in the bacterial cell wall -- the enzyme β-lactamase.

20 Jul 2013

Investigators report complete catalog of genes expressed in retina

Investigators at Massachusetts Eye and Ear and Harvard Medical School have published the most thorough description of gene expression in the human retina reported to date. In a study published today in the journal BMC Genomics, Drs. Michael Farkas, Eric Pierce and colleagues in the Ocular Genomics Institute at Mass. Eye and Ear reported a complete catalog of the genes expressed in the retina.

20 Jul 2013

NKX2-8 mutation in dogs may be a risk factor for human neural tube defects, say researchers

A gene related to neural tube defects in dogs has for the first time been identified by researchers at the University of California, Davis, and University of Iowa.

20 Jul 2013

Researchers identify mechanism behind pediatric solid tumors

Most of the time, it takes decades of accumulating genetic errors for a tumor to develop. While this explains the general occurrence of cancer in adults, it leaves a gap in understanding of the cause of pediatric tumors.

20 Jul 2013

Researchers discover new functions for PTPN22 gene linked with autoimmune disease

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have identified infection-fighting and inflammation-suppressing functions for a gene associated with human autoimmune disease.

20 Jul 2013

Researchers uncover evidence that genetic changes play role in resistance to deadly disease

Researchers have long understood that genetics can play a role in how susceptible people are to contracting cholera, but a team of Harvard scientists is now uncovering evidence of genetic changes that might also help protect some people from contracting the deadly disease.

20 Jul 2013

Ketamine anesthesia drug can cause learning and memory disorders in children

Recent studies have found that anesthesia drugs have neurotoxicity on the developing neurons, causing learning and memory disorders and behavioral abnormalities. Ketamine is commonly used in pediatric anesthesia.

20 Jul 2013

Saint Luke's Health System opens new free-standing, in-patient hospice facility

Saint Luke's Health System's new free-standing hospice facility, Saint Luke's Hospice House, opens its doors on Friday, July 19, 2013 with a grand opening ribbon cutting ceremony and plan to begin admitting patients July 24.

20 Jul 2013

New research uncovers biological ties between obesity and asthma

Genes linked to chronic inflammation in asthma may be more active in people who are obese, according to new research that uncovers several biological ties between obesity and asthma.

19 Jul 2013

Researchers receive $10M March of Dimes grant to study causes of premature birth

Researchers from Dartmouth's Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences (iQBS), the Center for Integrative Biomedical Sciences, and the Center for Genomic Medicine at the Geisel School of Medicine are studying the unknown causes of premature birth, as part of a $10 million March of Dimes grant awarded to a research collaborative of seven U.S. universities and medical centers.

19 Jul 2013

NCI awards $1.5M grant to LSUHSC researcher to study role of chronic inflammation in cancer

Yan Cui, PhD, Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, & Parasitology at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans and the LSUHSC Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center, has been awarded a $1.5 million grant over five years by the National Cancer Institute to study the role of chronic inflammation in the development and progression of cancer.

19 Jul 2013

Researchers identify cellular channels critical for hearing

Ending a 30-year search by scientists, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified two proteins in the inner ear that are critical for hearing, which, when damaged by genetic mutations, cause a form of delayed, progressive hearing loss. Findings were published online July 18 by the journal Neuron.

19 Jul 2013

Scientists discover molecular switch that determines death or survival of cell

The study is the result of a collaboration of scientists at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, University of Michigan, and University of California San Diego, USA, who were interested in finding out whether autophagy can be affected by events in the cell nucleus. Surprisingly, they discovered that a signal chain in the nucleus serves as a kind of molecular switch that determines whether the cell dies or survives.

19 Jul 2013

Researchers identify genetic cause of severe obesity

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital have identified a genetic cause of severe obesity that, though rare, raises new questions about weight gain and energy use in the general obese population. The research, published in the journal Science on July 19, involved genetic surveys of several groups of obese humans and experiments in mice.

19 Jul 2013

Celgene to discontinue treatment with REVLIMID in phase III ORIGIN trial

Celgene Corporation today announced that after consultation with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Celgene will discontinue treatment with REVLIMID (lenalidomide) in the open-label, phase III ORIGIN trial, which enrolled 450 patients in over 100 sites in 26 countries.

18 Jul 2013

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

New stem cell discovery may help scientists replace damaged organs

Implications for treating some common food allergies

Quickly clearing out damaged proteins may help prevent neurodegenerative disorders: Study

Weeds derived from crop plant pose special challenges for modern farming

New research project has potential to treat human deafness and loss of balance

Structural properties have changed across bacterial families without putting limits on antibiotic resistance

Investigators report complete catalog of genes expressed in retina

NKX2-8 mutation in dogs may be a risk factor for human neural tube defects, say researchers

Researchers identify mechanism behind pediatric solid tumors

Researchers discover new functions for PTPN22 gene linked with autoimmune disease

Researchers uncover evidence that genetic changes play role in resistance to deadly disease

Ketamine anesthesia drug can cause learning and memory disorders in children

Saint Luke's Health System opens new free-standing, in-patient hospice facility

New research uncovers biological ties between obesity and asthma

Researchers receive $10M March of Dimes grant to study causes of premature birth

NCI awards $1.5M grant to LSUHSC researcher to study role of chronic inflammation in cancer

Researchers identify cellular channels critical for hearing

Scientists discover molecular switch that determines death or survival of cell

Researchers identify genetic cause of severe obesity

Celgene to discontinue treatment with REVLIMID in phase III ORIGIN trial

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