Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

New paper-based technology could lead to earlier detection of cancer

Washington State University researchers have developed a technology that is more than 30 times more sensitive than current lab-based tests in finding early stage cancer biomarkers in blood.

4 Jun 2020

New risk genes for problematic alcohol use discovered

Do you have what is known as problematic alcohol use? Then statistically you will also be particularly genetically predisposed to develop e.g. depression and insomnia. And to become dependent on drugs and tobacco. This is shown by a new international study in which researchers from iPSYCH are involved.

4 Jun 2020

Human protein plays key role in transcription and genome integrity

Researchers from the University of Seville and Cabimer discover that the UAP56/DDX39B protein remove DNA-RNA hybrids from the genome

4 Jun 2020

Small protein has a large impact on bacterial gene regulation

Meningococci are bacteria that can cause life-threatening meningitis and sepsis. These pathogens use a small protein with a large impact: The RNA-binding protein ProQ is involved in the activation of more than 250 bacterial genes.

4 Jun 2020

Study offers potential targets for treating people with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome

Researchers have discovered that a defective form of the protein aortic carboxypeptidase-like protein (ACLP) from patients with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is retained in cells and induces cellular stress.

4 Jun 2020

Researchers treat TMC1-related deafness with gene therapy

When Wei Hsi (Ariel) Yeh was a young undergraduate student, one of her close friends went from normal hearing to complete deafness in the span of one month.

4 Jun 2020

Base Genomics launches and raises $11 million USD to progress development of its TAPS technology

Epigenetics company Base Genomics has launched with a team of leading scientists and clinicians to set a new gold standard in DNA methylation detection.

4 Jun 2020

New technique opens the door to treating genetic forms of hearing loss

Using a new genetic engineering technique, known as base editing, researchers from Boston Children's Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, have restored hearing in mice with a known recessive genetic mutation.

3 Jun 2020

AFFiRiS announces preclinical results of monoclonal antibody mAB C6-17 in Huntington's

AFFiRiS, a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel disease-modifying specific active immunotherapies, today announced that detailed preclinical results with its monoclonal antibody mAB C6-17 to treat Huntington's Disease were published in the peer-reviewed journal Neurobiology of Disease.

3 Jun 2020

Scientists uncover why developing nerve cells take a wrong turn

A group of scientists from CECAD, the Cluster of Excellence 'Cellular Stress Responses in Aging-Associated Diseases,' have found a mechanism by which neurodevelopmental diseases concerning neurons can be explained: The loss of a certain enzyme, UBE2K, impeded the differentiation of stem cells by silencing the expression of genes important for neuronal differentiation and, therefore, the development and generation of neurons.

3 Jun 2020

Genetic variations linked to COVID-19 severity

A new report by researchers from Thailand's Mahidol University and published on the preprint server medRxiv in May 2020 reports that the clinical severity of COVID-19 may be linked to the genetic makeup of the patient in addition to external factors.

3 Jun 2020

Study sheds new light on how respiratory virus breaks into cells to cause infection

New research from University of Alberta microbiologists has shed new light on how the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)--one of the most common viral infections--breaks into our cells to cause infection.

3 Jun 2020

Blood group type may affect susceptibility to COVID-19 respiratory failure

A group of over 120 researchers from various institutions across Europe has performed the first genome-wide association study to reveal host genetic factors that may contribute to respiratory failure in cases of coronavirus disease 209 (COVID-19).

3 Jun 2020

New test identifies CAD-affected children who may benefit from uridine

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and the Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa in Spain have created a test that determines which children with CAD deficiency - a rare metabolic disease - are likely to benefit from receiving uridine, a nutritional supplement that has dramatically improved the lives of other children with the condition.

3 Jun 2020

Researchers discover key gene essential for survival of leukemia stem cells

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most common forms of blood cancer among adults and is associated with a low survival rate, and leads to the inhibition of normal blood formation.

3 Jun 2020

Researchers examine the role of two genes that cause triple-negative breast cancer

Researchers at Tulane University School of Medicine identified a gene that causes an aggressive form of breast cancer to rapidly grow.

3 Jun 2020

Sample inactivation may contribute to false-negative rate of SARS-Cov-2

To protect medical laboratory personnel from infection when testing clinical samples for SARS-CoV-2, most laboratories inactivate the virus before testing.

3 Jun 2020

Despite landscape obstacles, pronghorn exhibit little genetic variation

A University of Wyoming researcher led a study that showed Wyoming pronghorn exhibit little-to-no population genetic differentiation even though their range spans hundreds of kilometers, multiple mountain ranges, and three major interstate highways.

3 Jun 2020

A vectored vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2

The current pandemic of COVID-19 is caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a betacoronavirus similar to that which caused the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV earlier. Scientists are pursuing therapeutic drugs and vaccines to counter the relentless spread of the virus, but so far, none has been established to be effective. However, several are in clinical trials in various parts of the world.

2 Jun 2020

Study reveals how a fat cell's immune response worsens obesity

When obesity occurs, a person's own fat cells can set off a complex inflammatory chain reaction that can further disrupt metabolism and weaken immune response--potentially placing people at higher risk of poor outcomes from a variety of diseases and infections, including COVID-19.

2 Jun 2020