Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

RNA-binding protein key to understanding myotonic dystrophy type 1

Increased levels of a protein called CUGBP1 play an important role in the adult-onset form of muscular dystrophy called myotonic dystrophy type 1, said Baylor College of Medicine researchers in a report that appears in the journal Molecular Cell.

12 Oct 2007

Researchers focus on neuregulin gene and schizophrenia

Queen's scientists have started research on a human gene that will lead to a better understanding of schizophrenia.

12 Oct 2007

New rapid and accurate method to identify adenoviruses

Grantees of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, have adapted a rapid and accurate new molecular typing strategy and used it to conduct one of the most comprehensive studies of adenoviruses ever performed in the United States.

12 Oct 2007

New molecules discovered that block cancer cells from modifying cell DNA

Researchers have discovered new small molecules that may prevent prostate cancer cells from turning off normal genes in a process that transforms normal cells into cancer cells. This significant discovery in the field of epigenetics has immediate implications in the development of new diagnostic tests and cancer medications.

12 Oct 2007

Gene SIRT1 could lead to new cholesterol strategies

MIT researchers have discovered a link between a gene believed to promote long lifespan and a pathway that flushes cholesterol from the body. The finding could help researchers create drugs that lower the risk of diseases associated with high cholesterol, including atherosclerosis (clogged arteries) and Alzheimer's disease.

12 Oct 2007

A tumor-blocking protein may be key in developing deadly form of pancreatic cancer

A tumor-blocking protein previously implicated in prostate and breast cancer development may also be behind the most aggressive type of pancreatic cancer. Researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson in Philadelphia have discovered that the protein pp32 – which normally applies the brakes on a cancer-causing gene – is missing in an aggressive form of pancreatic cancer.

12 Oct 2007

Genome update defines landscape of breast and colon cancers

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.

12 Oct 2007

Biopharmaceutical infrastructure key to lower drug development costs

Improvements to the technology infrastructure for researching and developing new biopharmaceuticals would be expected to save the industry hundreds of millions of dollars annually, according to a new economic study sponsored by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

12 Oct 2007

Aida granted new anti-cancer patent

One of mainland China's leading pharmaceutical companies, has announced that it was granted an additional patent related to its Rh-Apo2L anti-cancer drug, the second of three patents that had been applied for which Aida believes places it at the vanguard of China's pharmaceutical industry.

12 Oct 2007

Research shows how stem cells decide to become either skeletal or smooth muscle

Researchers have discovered a key protein that controls how stem cells "choose" to become either skeletal muscle cells that move limbs, or smooth muscle cells that support blood vessels, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

11 Oct 2007

Researchers reveal repressor protein blocks neural stem cell development

A protein known to repress gene transcription at the molecular level in a variety of processes also blocks embryonic neural stem cells from differentiating into neurons, according to a study by University of California, San Diego and Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers published online October 10 in Nature.

10 Oct 2007

Study unravels some of the mystery surrounding the devastating 1918 pandemic

Often called the most devastating epidemic in the recorded history of the world, the 1918 influenza virus pandemic was responsible for more than 40 million deaths across the globe.

10 Oct 2007

Mouse mammary tumor virus might be involved in causing human breast cancer

Mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) - which causes mammary cancer in mice - can replicate and spread in human cells, research published this week shows.

10 Oct 2007

Adult stem cells lack key pluripotency regulator

The protein Oct4 plays a major role in embryonic stem cells, acting as a master regulator of the genes that keep the cells in an undifferentiated state.

10 Oct 2007

Natural selection at the genetic level

In a molecular tour de force, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have provided an exquisitely detailed picture of natural selection as it occurs at the genetic level.

10 Oct 2007

Network approach finds potential breast cancer susceptibility gene

Like a crossword-puzzle solver who uses the letters in some answers to figure out others, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and an international group of collaborators have used data on genes involved in inherited forms of breast cancer to identify a gene linked to non-hereditary cases of the disease.

10 Oct 2007

First animal model of age-related macular degeneration

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have created the first animal model of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) caused by a mutation known to produce disease in people, an important first step in developing treatments.

10 Oct 2007

Genomic technologies to identify toxic chemicals should be developed

A new report from the National Research Council recommends that government agencies enhance their efforts to incorporate genomic data into risk assessments of chemicals and medicines, and calls for a concerted effort to fully develop these methods' potential to protect public health.

10 Oct 2007

Better understanding of what genomic changes paved the way for modern humans

Researchers have answered a similarly vexing (and far more relevant) genomic question: Which of the thousands of long stretches of repeated DNA in the human genome came first?

9 Oct 2007

One injection of gene therapy spreads through brain in animal study

By targeting a site in a mouse brain well connected to other areas, researchers successfully delivered a beneficial gene to the entire brain - after one injection of gene therapy.

9 Oct 2007