Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

New genetic signature could cause bile duct cancer

Investigators at the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center have identified a new genetic signature associated with bile duct cancer, a usually deadly tumor for which effective treatment currently is limited.

19 Jan 2012

Novel technique accurately maps gene-regulation proteins

A novel technique has been developed and demonstrated at Penn State University to map the proteins that read and regulate chromosomes -- the string-like structures inside cells that carry genes.

19 Jan 2012

GSA honors researchers, educators for distinguished service in the field of genetics

The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce the 2012 recipients of its five awards for distinguished service in the field of genetics. The recipients of these awards were nominated and selected by their colleagues.

19 Jan 2012

USPTO issues new patent to PBL's RNAi technology

Plant Bioscience Limited (PBL) is pleased to announce that the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued out US Patent No. 8,097,710 with fundamental claims directed to methods of inducing gene silencing using short RNA molecules, or DNA constructs encoding short RNA molecules, in a wide range of organisms, including in plants and humans.

19 Jan 2012

TB associated with EGFR mutations in patients with lung adenocarcinoma

Tuberculosis (TB) has been suspected to increase a person's risk of lung cancer because the pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis can induce genetic damage. However, direct evidence of specific genetic changes and the disease have not been extensively reported.

19 Jan 2012

Promega announces beta launch of Find My Gene

Promega announces the beta launch of the online gene exploration tool Find My Gene. Find My Gene integrates a number of robust functionalities to help researchers better understand their gene's function.

19 Jan 2012

Courtagen announces acquisition of Medicinal Genomics

Courtagen Life Sciences, Inc.

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Automation and Genomics 18 Jan 2012

RaNA Therapeutics completes $20.7 million round of financing

RaNA Therapeutics, Inc. today announced it has completed a $20.7 million round of financing co-led by Atlas Venture, SR One, and Monsanto, with participation of Partners Innovation Fund. The company is developing a technology platform to enable selective activation of target genes and expression of therapeutic factors by targeting a type of regulatory RNA called long non-coding RNA.

18 Jan 2012

Pediatric research project to expand data collection linked to newborn screening results

Within the first days of life, screening tests are performed on all newborns born in the U.S. to identify rare and often life-threatening medical conditions that are not apparent at birth. These newborn screening programs have been operating for decades, permitting doctors to intervene early and improve outcomes in potentially devastating conditions.

18 Jan 2012

Defects in mitochondria lead to devastating neurodegenerative disease

A devastating neurodegenerative disease that first appears in toddlers just as they are beginning to walk has been traced to defects in mitochondria, the 'batteries' or energy-producing power plants of cells. This finding by a team of researchers, led by investigators from the Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital - The Neuro- at McGill University, was published in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists identify pathway that activates hepsin on the surface of breast tumor cells

Scientists from the University of Helsinki and from UCSF have exposed a cell pathway that breast tumor cells use to destruct local tissue neighborhood. Cancer cells may use this pathway to free themselves from mammary epithelial tissue architecture, to spread to surrounding tissues. The cell pathway, the researchers found, is a biochemical chain of events leading to activation of a protein-cleaving enzyme on the surface of the tumor cells.

18 Jan 2012

Connection between Musashi1 and HuR proteins can lead to glioblastoma

Most research on glioblastoma development, a complicated tumor of the brain with a poor prognosis, has focused on the gene transcription level, but scientists suggest that post-transcriptional regulation could be equally or even more important.

18 Jan 2012

Alnylam sues Tekmira over LNP-formulated siRNA molecules

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Tekmira Pharmaceuticals Corporation in the U.S. District Court of the District of Massachusetts.

18 Jan 2012

Scientists identify hepsin protein's role in breast cancer

Cancers rarely are deadly unless they evolve the ability to grow beyond the tissues in which they first arise. Normally, cells -- even early-stage tumor cells -- are tethered to scaffolding that helps to restrain any destructive tendencies. But scientists from the University of Helsinki, Finland, and from UCSF have identified a cleaver-wielding protein that frees some tumor cells, allowing them to further misbehave.

18 Jan 2012

'Pro-survival' protein inhibitors may improve outlook for AML patients

Melbourne researchers have discovered that acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), an aggressive blood cancer with poor prognosis, may be susceptible to medications that target a protein called Mcl-1.

18 Jan 2012

Researchers discover gene that causes benign familial infantile epilepsy

A team of Australian researchers has come a step closer to unlocking a mystery that causes epileptic seizures in babies.

17 Jan 2012

Animal study confirms dramatic effects of natural formula against prostate cancer

New animal study confirms the dramatic effects of a natural formula against aggressive prostate cancer tumors. Researchers at the Methodist Research Institute at Indiana University conducted the study on mice, using a human prostate cancer xenograft model.

17 Jan 2012

Study examines weather patterns around the time of flu pandemics

Worldwide pandemics of influenza caused widespread death and illness in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009. A new study examining weather patterns around the time of these pandemics finds that each of them was preceded by La Ni-a conditions in the equatorial Pacific.

17 Jan 2012

Source of infantile epilepsy found in a gene

Researchers from Adelaide have discovered a 20-year mystery about a type of epilepsy in infants. It is caused by a single mutation in one gene they found. The discovery will allow for better screening, diagnosis and prediction of the risk of seizures for sufferers of benign familial infantile epilepsy, the researchers say.

16 Jan 2012

ForSight VISION4 to receive first milestone payment for Lucentis drug delivery device

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group, today announced it will make its first milestone payment to ForSight VISION4, Inc. as part of an exclusive license agreement to develop the company's investigational drug delivery device, designed to provide sustained delivery of Lucentis (ranibizumab).

13 Jan 2012