Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

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

Pyruvate kinase M2 fuels tumor growth by influencing H3 histone protein

A metabolic protein that nourishes cancer cells also activates tumor-promoting genes by loosening part of the packaging that entwines DNA to make up chromosomes, a team led by scientists at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reports in the Aug. 16 issue of Cell.

17 Aug 2012

Study helps explain how large DNA viruses undergo rapid evolution

Scientists have discovered that poxviruses, which are responsible for smallpox and other diseases, can adapt to defeat different host antiviral defenses by quickly and temporarily producing multiple copies of a gene that helps the viruses to counter host immunity.

17 Aug 2012

New DNA sequencing tests improve ability to analyze genetic disorders

Scientists at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School (UMDNJ-NJMS) have developed new DNA sequencing tests that hold significant promise for decreasing costs associated with diagnosing cancer and hereditary diseases, including cysticfibrosis.

17 Aug 2012

U-M, IGC launch new joint venture for personalized medicine

As a key step toward providing patients with treatments based on their own DNA profiles, the University of Michigan and the International Genomics Consortium (IGC) have launched a new joint venture that will help usher in an age of personalized medicine.

17 Aug 2012