Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Alexion's Soliris may benefit patients with thrombotic microangiopathy from uncontrolled complement activation

Researchers reported today that Soliris® (eculizumab), a first-in-class terminal complement inhibitor developed by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc., may provide clinical benefits to patients with thrombotic microangiopathy (TMA) resulting from uncontrolled complement activation. TMA, the formation of blood clots in capillaries and small arteries, can lead to life-threatening damage in multiple organs including kidney failure, thrombocytopenia (abnormally low platelet count) and anemia.

15 Jun 2010

Researchers study how APOE4 becomes a potent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

A molecule implicated in Alzheimer's disease interferes with brain cells by making them unable to "recycle" the surface receptors that respond to incoming signals, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found.

15 Jun 2010

Tel Aviv University research suggests link between IVF treatments and autism

The first "test tube baby" was born in 1978. With advances in reproductive science, an estimated one percent of all American babies are now born each year through in vitro fertilization. But IVF and other assisted fertility treatments may be solving one problem by creating another, suggests new evidence from Tel Aviv University.

15 Jun 2010

Pediatric oncologist describes current state of science in combating neuroblastoma

Pediatric oncologist John M. Maris, M.D., describes the current state of the science in combating neuroblastoma, the most common solid cancer of early childhood. In his article in the June 10, 2010 New England Journal of Medicine, "Recent Advances in Neuroblastoma," Maris reviews the field's latest research knowledge—much of it based on efforts by Maris and his colleagues at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

15 Jun 2010

Entomologists to develop genetically engineered bacteria for killing mosquito larvae

Roughly half the world's population still lives in areas at risk of malaria transmission. Even in the United States, 1500 cases of malaria are reported annually on average.

15 Jun 2010

CLC-5 protein plays active part in inherited kidney disorder: Scientists

Scientists from the University of Leeds have discovered the mechanisms of a protein known to play an active part in the inherited kidney disorder, Dent's disease. The findings provide a new focus for future therapies for the disease, for which there is currently no cure.

15 Jun 2010

Parkinson’s disease linked to gene variant and pesticide: Study

Researchers from France reported in their new study that bad genes and exposure to certain banned pesticides could be blamed for development of Parkinson’s disease in men. In their study, published in the Archives of Neurology journal they show that men exposed to pesticides such as DDT and who had inherited genes for Parkinson’s disease were three and a half times more likely to develop Parkinson's than those with the normal version of the gene.

14 Jun 2010

DV Biologics executes agreement with System Biosciences to develop iPSC lines

DV Biologics LLC announced today that it has executed an agreement with System Biosciences LLC for the development of human-derived disease-specific induced pluripotent stem cell lines.

14 Jun 2010

USPTO issues patent covering methods for enhancing RNA silencing activity of RNAi agents

Silence Therapeutics plc announces the issuance of United States patent 7,732,593, titled Methods and Compositions For Controlling Efficacy of RNA Silencing, by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The issued patent, which is based on the seminal research of Phillip D. Zamore, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator, the Gretchen Stone Cook Chair of Biomedical Sciences, and Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Pharmacology at University of Massachusetts Medical School, generally claims methods of enhancing the RNA silencing activity of RNA interference (RNAi) agents through certain structural modifications.

14 Jun 2010

Children born after ART at increased risk of congenital malformation

Couples considering undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment should be informed about the increased risk of congenital malformation posed by the use of ART, the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics will hear today (Monday). Dr. G-raldine Viot, a clinical geneticist at the Maternit- Port Royal hospital, Paris, France, will say that she believed that most doctors working in ART clinics in France only told couples about such risks if they were asked specific questions.

14 Jun 2010

Researchers find new way to prevent blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa

Researchers at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center have found a way to use a radical new type of gene therapy to prevent blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa, giving hope to the estimated 100,000 Americans who suffer from this debilitating disease.

14 Jun 2010

CNVs increases patients' susceptibility to severe sepsis

Genetic makeup has been identified as a key factor leading to the development of sepsis, a systemic inflammatory reaction that occurs during infection. Sepsis is considered severe when associated with organ dysfunction.

14 Jun 2010

Researchers transform yellow fever vaccine to fend off mosquito borne parasites that cause malaria

There is no vaccine for malaria, which sickens almost a quarter of a billion people each year and kills a child every 30 seconds. That could be changing: researchers at The Rockefeller University have genetically transformed the yellow fever vaccine to prime the immune system to fend off the mosquito borne parasites that cause the disease.

14 Jun 2010

Genetic variation can predict how people infected with hepatitis C react to treatment: Scientists

A small genetic change can predict how people infected with hepatitis C react to treatment, paving the way to personalised therapy for this difficult to treat disease, the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics will hear today (Sunday 13 June). Dr. Zoltan Kutalik, from the Department of Medical Genetics, University of Lausanne, Switzerland, will tell delegates that individuals with this change, in a gene encoding for the antiviral cytokine (cell-signalling molecule) interferon lamda, reacts less well to treatment.

14 Jun 2010

New breakthrough in stem cell and tissue engineering

The mechanism by which 'polycomb' proteins critical for embyronic stem cell function and fate are targeted to DNA has been identified by UCL scientists.

14 Jun 2010

Research on genetic mutations could lead to accurate diagnosis of USH, says scientist

Usher syndrome, an inherited condition involving both hearing and vision loss, is not a simply recessively inherited disease, a scientist will tell the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics today (Saturday). Dr. Hanno Bolz, Associate Medical Director of the Bioscientia Centre for Human Genetics, Ingelheim, Germany, and active in teaching and research at the University Hospital of Cologne, will say that his team's research challenges the traditional view that USH was inherited as a single gene disorder, and shows that it may result from at least two different genetic mutations.

14 Jun 2010

Interactions between human and microbial cells determine health, physical well-being: Researchers

At birth, your body was 100-percent human in terms of cells. At death, about 10-percent of the cells in your body will be human and the remaining 90-percent will be microorganisms. That makes you a "supraorganism," and it is the interactions between your human and microbial cells that go a long way towards determining your health and physical well-being, especially your resistance to infectious diseases.

11 Jun 2010

Study results of genes regulated by ERB published in Journal of Biological Chemistry

Bionovo Inc. today announced the publication of results from a study demonstrating the three distinct classes of genes regulated by estrogen receptor beta. The results are published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry. This is an important discovery for future development of selective drugs regulating this pathway.

11 Jun 2010

Emerging science of epigenetics offers new insights at crossroads of genes and the environment: Article

An emerging arm of molecular biology is introducing a new interpretation of traditional concepts of human disease, explains an article published today in Nature. According to author Dr. Arturas Petronis at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, the emerging science of epigenetics is offering new insights at the crossroads of genes and the environment, or nature and nurture. Dr. Petronis is head of the Krembil Family Epigenetics Laboratory at CAMH and an international expert in the field.

11 Jun 2010

Abraxis BioScience presents phase 3 trial data on metastatic malignant melanoma

Abraxis BioScience, Inc. presented trial design information from its ongoing phase 3 registration trial of nanoparticle albumin bound (nab®) driven chemotherapy, nab-paclitaxel (ABRAXANE® for Injectable Suspension; paclitaxel albumin protein-bound particles for injectable suspension), in melanoma, an aggressive form of skin cancer that affects more than 68,000 people in the U.S. each year.

11 Jun 2010

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Alexion's Soliris may benefit patients with thrombotic microangiopathy from uncontrolled complement activation

Researchers study how APOE4 becomes a potent risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

Tel Aviv University research suggests link between IVF treatments and autism

Pediatric oncologist describes current state of science in combating neuroblastoma

Entomologists to develop genetically engineered bacteria for killing mosquito larvae

CLC-5 protein plays active part in inherited kidney disorder: Scientists

Parkinson’s disease linked to gene variant and pesticide: Study

DV Biologics executes agreement with System Biosciences to develop iPSC lines

USPTO issues patent covering methods for enhancing RNA silencing activity of RNAi agents

Children born after ART at increased risk of congenital malformation

Researchers find new way to prevent blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa

CNVs increases patients' susceptibility to severe sepsis

Researchers transform yellow fever vaccine to fend off mosquito borne parasites that cause malaria

Genetic variation can predict how people infected with hepatitis C react to treatment: Scientists

New breakthrough in stem cell and tissue engineering

Research on genetic mutations could lead to accurate diagnosis of USH, says scientist

Interactions between human and microbial cells determine health, physical well-being: Researchers

Study results of genes regulated by ERB published in Journal of Biological Chemistry

Emerging science of epigenetics offers new insights at crossroads of genes and the environment: Article

Abraxis BioScience presents phase 3 trial data on metastatic malignant melanoma

eBook: Using iPSCs models for human disease research and drug discovery eBook

Advancing benzodiazepine detection

The Surgeon-Scientist Pioneering Regenerative Engineering

Leveraging the Radian ASAP in standard casework