Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

AMT receives Innovation Credit to develop gene therapy treatment for DMD

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, a leader in the field of human gene therapy, announced today that it will receive an Innovation Credit of up to EUR 4 million from the Dutch government to support the development of AMT's gene therapy treatment for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

6 Jan 2010

New research may yield more effective treatment for childhood leukemia

A team of Israeli scientists at the Sheba Medical Center's Research Center for Leukemia and Childhood Malignancies has discovered a method for developing a more effective and less perilous treatment for those suffering from childhood leukemia, the most common cancer in children.

6 Jan 2010

Findings reveals 'limpet-like' proteins can play a key role in DNA repair

UK scientists have found that a crafty family of 'limpet-like' proteins can play a crucial role in repairing DNA damage - according to two research papers published in Nature today (Wednesday). These findings could pave the way to the design of new anti-cancer drugs which target this process.

6 Jan 2010

Study reveals hereditary factors contribute to abdominal aortic aneurysm in twins

A new study in the January issue of the Journal of Vascular Surgery(®), published by the Society for Vascular Surgery®, reveals robust epidemiological evidence that hereditary factors contribute to aneurysm formation in twins.

6 Jan 2010

Perturbing DISC1 gene could help researchers treat mental illness, says study

Scientists have long eyed mutations in a gene known as DISC1 as a possible contributor to schizophrenia and mood disorders, including depression and bipolar disorder. Now, new research led by Johns Hopkins researchers suggests that perturbing this gene during prenatal periods, postnatal periods or both may have different effects in mice, leading to separate types of brain alterations and behaviors with resemblance to schizophrenia or mood disorders.

6 Jan 2010

DSMB recommends Quark Pharmaceuticals to continue clinical study of QPI-1002

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., the world leader in clinical development of RNAi-based therapeutics, announced today that the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board ("DSMB") recommended that QPI-1002 (I5NP) continue on to the next phase of clinical testing.

5 Jan 2010

Circumcision lowers HIV risk; changes bacterial community on penis microbiome

Circumcision, which substantially lowers HIV risk in men, also dramatically changes the bacterial communities of the penis, according to a study led by scientists at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) and Johns Hopkins University and published Jan. 6 in the scientific journal PLoS ONE.

5 Jan 2010

MindUp Cancer Project integrated into HIRU

Hiru Corporation welcomes the integration of its MindUp Cancer Project into the HIRU corporation. This asset was recently acquired on a cash and stock basis as reported previously.

5 Jan 2010

Scientists determine how RNAi, a biological response to RNA, can regulate gene expression

A team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has determined a hierarchical set of criteria that explain how the molecular precursors of gene-regulating small RNAs are sorted by the cellular machinery.

5 Jan 2010

Vitamin C reverses accelerated aging due to Werner's syndrome

A new research discovery published in the January 2010 print issue of the FASEB Journal suggests that treatments for disorders that cause accelerated aging, particularly Werner's syndrome, might come straight from the family medicine chest. In the research report, a team of Canadian scientists show that vitamin C stops and even reverses accelerated aging in a mouse model of Werner's syndrome, but the discovery may also be applicable to other progeroid syndromes.

5 Jan 2010

Scientists develop mucus-penetrating biodegradable nanoparticles to deliver drugs over time

Johns Hopkins University researchers have created biodegradable nanosized particles that can easily slip through the body's sticky and viscous mucus secretions to deliver a sustained-release medication cargo.

5 Jan 2010

Elusive human protein outsmarted

A team of researchers is being recognized for devising a new way to study a human protein that long has evaded close scrutiny by scientists investigating its role in the communication of important genetic messages inside a cell's nucleus to workhorse molecules found elsewhere.

5 Jan 2010

Study identifies novel factor that causes Alzheimer's disease

Inheritance of an extra copy of the gene- β -amyloid precursor protein, APP, in individuals with Down syndrome leads to the inevitable development of early onset Alzheimer's disease, known to be linked to the deposition of Amyloid β peptide or Aβ in the brain.

5 Jan 2010

Transcription factor promotes stem cell proliferation to repair tissue damage

The master regulator of muscle differentiation, MyoD, functions early in myogenesis to help stem cells proliferate in response to muscle injury, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University. The study appears online Jan. 4 in the Journal of Cell Biology (www.jcb.org).

5 Jan 2010

Anti-inflammatory prescription drug reduces the risk of common skin cancer in humans

A widely-available anti-inflammatory prescription drug can reduce the risk of a common skin cancer in humans, according to a researcher at Stanford's School of Medicine.

5 Jan 2010

Jamming bacterial communication may improve chronic wound care

Listening in on bacterial conversations could be the solution for improving chronic wound care, says a team of researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Their findings have been published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology.

5 Jan 2010

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals and Kyowa Hakko Kirin sign research collaboration and license agreement

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals, Inc., (Dicerna) a second generation RNA interference (RNAi) company developing novel therapeutics utilizing its proprietary Dicer Substrate Technology™ and Dicer Substrate siRNA (DsiRNA) molecules, and Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd. (Kyowa Hakko Kirin), one of Japan's leading biopharmaceutical companies, announced today that the two companies have entered into a research collaboration and license agreement for the research, development and commercialization of drug delivery systems and DsiRNA pharmaceuticals for therapeutic targets in oncology.

4 Jan 2010

US-German team studies genome mutations

"While the long term effects of genome mutations are quite well understood, we did not know how often new mutations arise in the first place," said Detlef Weigel, director at the Max Planck Institute in Germany. It is routine today to compare the genomes of related animal or plant species.

3 Jan 2010

Scientists discover a new family of giant virus

After Mimivirus, Mamavirus and the virophage, the group of giant viruses now has a new member called Marseillevirus. Discovered in an amoeba by the team led by Didier Raoult at the Unité de Recherche sur les Maladies Infectieuses et Tropicales Emergentes research group (CNRS/Université Aix-Marseille 2), a description of this new virus was published this week on the website of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

31 Dec 2009

Gene mutation that decreases flesh-eating disease discovered by scientists

Scientists at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston recently discovered a simple gene mutation that decreases the chance people will get a flesh-eating disease called necrotizing fasciitis. Further, they proved that inactivating this section of the gene lessens the devastating disease in humans.

30 Dec 2009