Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Link between eosinophils and asthma

Mayo Clinic researchers have used a comparative genomic strategy to demonstrate a causative link between eosinophils, a rare type of white blood cell, and asthma.

18 Sep 2004

New culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims

Researchers have uncovered a new culprit behind the brain injury suffered by stroke victims. Their new study, published in the Sept. 17 issue of Cell, links brain cell damage to a rise in brain acidity following the oxygen depletion, or ischemia, characteristic of stroke.

18 Sep 2004

Jellyfish advance science

Salmon fishermen trolling along the waters off Puget Sound in Washington are often witness to an awesome sight when they haul in their catch: salmon captured in nets that glow brilliantly against the nighttime sky.

16 Sep 2004

The same gene functions in vision and immune system, research shows

Scientists have learned that a family of genes long known to be integral to the immune system also plays a role in vision, perhaps preventing certain blinding diseases.

16 Sep 2004

Potential stem cells treatment for retinitis pigmentosa and other retinal degenerations

A team of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute was able to preserve visual function in mice that were genetically predisposed to developing a profound degenerative disease that destroys their retinas.

16 Sep 2004

New method targeting hypermethylation detects ovarian cancer in the blood

Fox Chase Cancer Center researchers have found a new way to detect ovarian cancer in the blood. Reported in the Sept. 15, 2004, issue of Cancer Research, the new method targets hypermethylation--one mechanism used by cancer cells to turn off genes that protect against tumor development.

16 Sep 2004

ChemGenex discovers five new depression genes

ChemGenex Pharmaceuticals has announced that it has filed for patent protection for a further five novel depression-associated gene targets discovered by its depression and anxiety research group.

16 Sep 2004

RNAi enlisted in hunt for prawn vaccines

CSIRO researchers are using a biological phenomenon called RNA interference (RNAi) in an effort to develop a major biotechnological breakthrough for the aquaculture industry - vaccines for common prawn diseases.

16 Sep 2004

Surprise finding about male infertility

CANCER Research UK scientists have made a surprise finding about the molecular basis of male infertility, reporting their results in the current edition of Nature.

16 Sep 2004

Protein that causes juvenile Batten disease also plays a key role in normal cell function

The aberrant protein that causes juvenile Batten disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of childhood, also plays a key role in normal cell function, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found.

16 Sep 2004

Drug combo may have a greater impact on cancer development

Cancer researchers have long suggested that new targeted drugs may work best when paired with other therapies. In a new study published today in Cancer Research, scientists have taken some of the first steps to demonstrate this synergy in mouse and cell line models.

16 Sep 2004

Newly completed Chromosome 5 sequence will be a powerful tool for scientists trying to understand human disease

Four years after publicly revealing the official draft human genetic sequence, researchers have reached the halfway point in dotting the i's and crossing the t's of the genetic sentences describing how to build a human.

16 Sep 2004

Mighty mouse helps researchers tackle osteoporosis

A genetically engineered 'mighty mouse' is helping Medical College of Georgia researchers find the best way for young people to build bone and avoid osteoporosis.

16 Sep 2004

Role of gene identified in development of tumours in children

Medical researchers from Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA) have made significant progress in understanding tumour initiation in the aggressive, debilitating childhood cancer, neuroblastoma

14 Sep 2004

Liver cancer genes cluster into two subsets that correlate to survival

An analysis of the gene expression patterns of 91 unrelated liver tumors revealed two distinctive subclasses highly associated with patient survival, according to a new study published in the September 2004 issue of Hepatology.

14 Sep 2004

Genetically modified bacterium as remedy for intestinal diseases

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at Ghent University are joining the fight against chronic intestinal disease with a genetically modified bacterium (Lactococcus lactis).

14 Sep 2004

New genetic test can predict cleft lip or palate

Researchers have developed a new genetic test that can help predict whether parents who have one child with the "isolated" form of cleft lip or palate are likely to have a second child with the same birth defect. Isolated clefts account for 70 percent of all cleft lip and palate cases.

10 Sep 2004

Suprising new information on the HOX genes

Researchers at the University of Bergen are now able to present new information on the HOX genes – the “software” to design animals. The findings are published in today’s issue of Nature.

10 Sep 2004

Cancer drug may reduce kidney disease in lupus

A drug that is already being tested as an anticancer agent, especially in lymphoma, may also reduce the kidney disease that is a result of systemic lupus, according to a researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

10 Sep 2004

New view of chromatin and gene activity

A genome - the DNA instructions for an organism - does not act alone. DNA is packaged with proteins into 'chromatin', which may be more or less tightly condensed. A popular proposal is that active genes are in 'open' chromatin (to allow access to them) and inactive genes are in tightly packed 'compact' chromatin.

10 Sep 2004