Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Acetylon receives U.S. patent for ACY-1215 to treat multiple myeloma

Acetylon Pharmaceuticals Inc. today announced that it has been granted U.S. Patent 8,148,526 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). This patent contains fundamental composition of matter claims covering the Company's selective HDAC6 inhibitor, ACY-1215, which is currently being investigated in human clinical trials for the treatment of multiple myeloma.

21 Apr 2012

Scientists discover tumor-targeting neural stem cells

Could engineered human stem cells hold the key to cancer survival? Scientists at the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN), the world's first bioengineering and nanotechnology research institute, have discovered that neural stem cells possess the innate ability to target tumor cells outside the central nervous system. This finding, which was demonstrated successfully on breast cancer cells, was recently published in leading peer reviewed journal, Stem Cells.

21 Apr 2012

Researchers uncover 22 new genes linked with autism, other neurodevelopmental disorders

When chromosomes replicate, sometimes there is an exchange of genetic material within a chromosome or between two or more chromosomes without a significant loss of genetic material. This exchange, known as a balanced chromosomal abnormality (BCA), can cause rearrangements in the genetic code.

21 Apr 2012

March of Dimes selects UTMB scientist to receive Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award

The March of Dimes Foundation has chosen University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston assistant professor Muge Kuyumcu-Martinez to receive a two-year, $150,000 Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Award. The grant will support her research on congenital heart defects, the most common type of major birth defect.

21 Apr 2012

Perivascular fat tissue may influence onset of atherosclerosis

Researchers at UC have confirmed that fat surrounding the outside of arteries in humans-particularly the left coronary artery-may influence the onset of coronary artery disease, or atherosclerosis, which is the leading cause of death in the U.S.

21 Apr 2012

Researchers discover novel genetic mechanism of idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia

Researchers at National Jewish Health have discovered a novel genetic mechanism of immune deficiency. Magdalena M. Gorska, MD, PhD, and Rafeul Alam, MD, PhD, identified a mutation in Unc119 that causes immunodeficiency known as idiopathic CD4 lymphopenia.

21 Apr 2012

Positive results from Alnylam’s ALN-PCS Phase I trial on severe hypercholesterolemia

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today positive results from its Phase I clinical trial of ALN-PCS, an RNAi therapeutic targeting PCSK9 for the treatment of severe hypercholesterolemia.

21 Apr 2012

Chinese scientists make significant breakthrough in animal cloning

Chinese scientists from BGI, the world's largest genomics organization, together with the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Shihezi University, Xinjiang province, made a significant breakthrough in animal cloning.

20 Apr 2012

Rare CARD14 gene mutations can lead to plaque psoriasis

Scientists led by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first gene directly linked to the most common form of psoriasis, a chronic skin condition.

20 Apr 2012

Scientists discover new ways to help detect and treat osteoporosis

Scientists at the University of Sheffield have discovered new ways to help detect and treat the debilitating brittle bone disease osteoporosis.

20 Apr 2012

HDAC9 gene can lead to obesity-induced body fat dysfunction

Cardiac researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) have found that a certain cellular pathway is linked to obesity-related disorders, like diabetes, heart disease and fatty liver disease.

20 Apr 2012

BuruliVac project getting closer to a vaccine

During a meeting in Lisbon, the partners of the BuruliVac research consortium found the project to be running smoothly, and getting closer to a vaccine against Buruli ulcer, a disfiguring and mutilating disease that causes a lot of suffering and now is difficult to treat. Several vaccine candidates work well in mice and are ready for further testing on blood of patients; one is ready for testing in mice.

19 Apr 2012

Final data from Santaris’ miravirsen Phase 2a trial on HCV to be presented at ILC 2012

Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, will present final data from a Phase 2a trial showing that miravirsen given as a four-week monotherapy treatment provided robust dose-dependent anti-viral activity with a mean reduction of 2 to 3 logs from baseline in HCV RNA (log10 IU/mL) that was sustained well beyond the end of therapy.

19 Apr 2012

First neurobiological model for third-party punishment

In a paper published online on April 15 by the journal Nature Neuroscience, a pair of neuroscientists from Vanderbilt and Harvard universities has proposed the first neurobiological model for third-party punishment. It outlines a collection of potential cognitive and brain processes that evolutionary pressures could have re-purposed to make this behavior possible.

19 Apr 2012

Differentiated luminal-like breast cancer cells can generate larger tumors

New findings in breast cancer research by an international team of scientists contradict the prevailing belief that only basal-like cells with stem cell qualities can form invasive tumors. Research led by Ole William Petersen at the University of Copenhagen (CU) and Mina Bissell of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and has shown that luminal-like cells with no detectable stem cell qualities can generate larger tumors than their basal-like counterparts.

19 Apr 2012

New genetic signature may predict NSCLC patients at risk of relapse

A new genetic signature identified by Spanish researchers may provide doctors with robust and objective information about which patients with early stage lung cancer are at low or high risk of relapse following surgery, investigators report at the 3rd European Lung Cancer Conference in Geneva. Their work also opens new avenues for immunotherapy for lung cancer.

19 Apr 2012

Researchers extract structural information from triple helix DNA in gas phase

A team of researchers at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) have managed for the first time to extract trustworthy structural information from a triple helix DNA in gas phase, that is to say in conditions in which DNA is practically in a vacuum.

19 Apr 2012

Study explains why some people develop kidney stones and others do not

Kidney stones strike an estimated 1 million Americans each year, and those who have experienced the excruciating pain say it is among the worst known to man (or woman).

19 Apr 2012

BCCA, UBC scientists identify new breast cancer genes

Scientists at the BC Cancer Agency and University of British Columbia have identified new breast cancer genes that could change the way the disease is diagnosed and form the basis of next-generation treatments.

19 Apr 2012

Brain size and IQ secret may lie in genes: Study

The study, conducted by a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide, measured the size of the brain and its memory centers in thousands of MRI images from 21,151 healthy people while simultaneously screening their DNA. According to the researchers, a variant in a gene called HMGA2 affected the brain size, as well as a person's intelligence.

18 Apr 2012