Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

TREM-1 gene disrupts inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer

Researchers at the Georgia Health Sciences University Cancer Center have identified a gene that disrupts the inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer.

23 Aug 2012

Blood cells returned to stem cell state by Johns Hopkins researchers

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a reliable method to turn the clock back on blood cells, restoring them to a primitive stem cell state from which they can then develop into any other type of cell in the body.

22 Aug 2012

RNA switches can better equip and regulate viruses for many therapeutic applications

Numerous viruses are used in the service of science today. They serve as gene taxis to transfer therapeutic genes into body cells or as therapeutic viruses targeted to infect and destroy cancer cells. For such applications, the viruses are often equipped with additional genes, such as for immune mediators or for proteins inducing programmed cell death. However, these gene products can harm the body if they are released at the wrong moment or at excessive levels.

22 Aug 2012

Acai supplementation could protect against oxidative stress and triple flies' lifespans

Bewildered by the array of antioxidant fruit juices on display in the supermarket and the promises they make? To sort out the antioxidant properties of fruits and berries, scientists at Emory University School of Medicine turned to fruit flies for help.

22 Aug 2012

Researchers report how Alzheimer's protein deposits disrupt signalling between nerve cells

How abnormal protein deposits in the brains of Alzheimer's patients disrupt the signalling between nerve cells has now been reported by researchers in Bochum and Munich, led by Dr. Thorsten M-ller from the Medizinisches Proteom-Center of the Ruhr-Universit-t, in the journal Molecular and Cellular Proteomics. They varied the amount of APP protein and related proteins associated with Alzheimer's disease in cell cultures, and then analysed how this manipulation affected other proteins in the cell.

22 Aug 2012

SSEA4+ marker helps identify and isolate precursors of insulin-producing pancreatic cells

For the millions of people worldwide with type 1 diabetes who cannot produce sufficient insulin, the potential to transplant insulin-producing cells could offer hope for a long-term cure. The discovery of a marker to help identify and isolate stem cells that can develop into insulin-producing cells in the pancreas would be a critical step forward and is described in an article in BioResearch Open Access, a new bimonthly peer-reviewed open access journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.

22 Aug 2012

Study on sea lamprey may indicate how potentially deleterious genes can be controlled

Research on a unique vertebrate called the sea lamprey shows that more than a thousand genes are shed during its early development.

22 Aug 2012

Mof protein plays a key role in epigenetics of stem cells

How do stem cells preserve their ability to become any type of cell in the body? And how do they "decide" to give up that magical state and start specializing? If researchers could answer these questions, our ability to harness stem cells to treat disease could explode. Now, a University of Michigan Medical School team has published a key discovery that could help that goal become reality.

22 Aug 2012

Investigators discover biological explanation for why low levels of oxygen advance SMA symptoms

Investigators at Nationwide Children's Hospital may have discovered a biological explanation for why low levels of oxygen advance spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) symptoms and why breathing treatments help SMA patients live longer. The findings appear in Human Molecular Genetics.

22 Aug 2012

Genetic key to severe malaria resistance uncovered

Researchers have identified two genetic variants linked with human resistance to severe malaria.

21 Aug 2012

Gene therapy applied to peripheral arterial disease

Hepatocyte growth factor gene therapy could be used to treat patients with severe peripheral arterial disease, suggest results of a phase I clinical trial.

21 Aug 2012

New silicon chips help identify patients with lupus

Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and Intel Corp. have collaborated to synthesize and study a grid-like array of short pieces of a disease-associated protein on silicon chips normally used in computer microprocessors.

21 Aug 2012

Dogs offer excellent animal model for human obsessive compulsive disorder study

The genetics research group, based at the University of Helsinki and the Folkh-lsan Research Center and led by Professor Hannes Lohi, has in collaboration with an international group of researchers investigated the characteristics and environmental factors associated with compulsive tail chasing in dogs.

21 Aug 2012

Study utilizes integrative approach to probe biology of bipolar disorder

The more that we understand the brain, the more complex it becomes. The same can be said about the genetics and neurobiology of psychiatric disorders. For "Mendelian" disorders, like Huntington disease, mutation of a single gene predictably produces a single clinical disorder, following relatively simple genetic principals. Compared to Mendelian disorders, understanding bipolar disorder has been extremely challenging. Its biology is not well understood and its genetics are complex.

21 Aug 2012

Lack of certain gene occurs in almost 28% of breast cancers

More than one out of every four cases of breast cancer is associated with a specific, missing gene - a finding that could have significant implications for chemotherapy treatments, according a recent study by Cornell University researchers.

20 Aug 2012

Agilent awarded patent for comparative genomic hybridization methods

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced that it was awarded a significant patent for comparative genomic hybridization methods. CGH methods help researchers study genetics and cancer in both basic and clinical research.

20 Aug 2012

PPR proteins recognise RNA targets via easy-to-understand code

The code determines the recognition of RNA molecules by a superfamily of RNA-binding proteins called pentatricopeptide repeat (PPR) proteins.

20 Aug 2012

ACS National Meeting & Exposition focuses on DNA wires and their potential use in identifying diseases

In a discovery that defies the popular meaning of the word "wire," scientists have found that Mother Nature uses DNA as a wire to detect the constantly occurring genetic damage and mistakes that ― if left unrepaired ― can result in diseases like cancer and underpin the physical and mental decline of aging.

20 Aug 2012

New book on malaria tells story of Plasmodium falciparum Genome Project

Few infectious diseases can rival malaria's ability to kill and cripple. Each year the disease causes hundreds of millions of people to be sickened and more than a million - mostly African children under the age of five - die.

18 Aug 2012

Computer simulations shed light on dynamic structure of major target for anti-cancer drugs

Using advanced computer simulations, University of Utah College of Pharmacy researchers have produced moving images of a protein complex that is an important target for anti-cancer drugs.

18 Aug 2012

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

TREM-1 gene disrupts inflammatory process implicated in liver cancer

Blood cells returned to stem cell state by Johns Hopkins researchers

RNA switches can better equip and regulate viruses for many therapeutic applications

Acai supplementation could protect against oxidative stress and triple flies' lifespans

Researchers report how Alzheimer's protein deposits disrupt signalling between nerve cells

SSEA4+ marker helps identify and isolate precursors of insulin-producing pancreatic cells

Study on sea lamprey may indicate how potentially deleterious genes can be controlled

Mof protein plays a key role in epigenetics of stem cells

Investigators discover biological explanation for why low levels of oxygen advance SMA symptoms

Genetic key to severe malaria resistance uncovered

Gene therapy applied to peripheral arterial disease

New silicon chips help identify patients with lupus

Dogs offer excellent animal model for human obsessive compulsive disorder study

Study utilizes integrative approach to probe biology of bipolar disorder

Lack of certain gene occurs in almost 28% of breast cancers

Agilent awarded patent for comparative genomic hybridization methods

PPR proteins recognise RNA targets via easy-to-understand code

ACS National Meeting & Exposition focuses on DNA wires and their potential use in identifying diseases

New book on malaria tells story of Plasmodium falciparum Genome Project

Computer simulations shed light on dynamic structure of major target for anti-cancer drugs

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