Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Study shows how a nervous system coordinates distinct behavioral outputs

For a nematode worm, a big lawn of the bacteria that it eats is a great place for it to disperse its eggs so that each hatchling can emerge into a nutritive environment.

11 Jun 2020

Researchers use human stem cell models to analyze degeneration in glaucoma

More than 3 million Americans have glaucoma, a serious eye condition causing vision loss. Using human stem cell models, researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine found they could analyze deficits within cells damaged by glaucoma, with the potential to use this information to develop new strategies to slow the disease process.

11 Jun 2020

Developing lymphatic vessels in zebrafish

When an embryo develops, a wide variety of proteins and enzymes trigger a series of biochemical reactions. The development of the lymphatic vasculature is crucially dependent on one specific protein - the growth factor VEGF-C.

11 Jun 2020

Neural circuits that control hibernation-like behaviors discovered in mice

The dream of suspended animation has long captivated the human imagination, reflected in countless works of mythology and fiction, from King Arthur and Sleeping Beauty to Captain America and Han Solo.

11 Jun 2020

Race-related differences in genetic determinants of COVID-19 severity

Researchers at the University of Iowa have identified differences in gene expression levels between African Americans and European Americans that may explain the disproportionately higher rates of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases and related deaths among African Americans.

11 Jun 2020

German researchers recommend early screening and treatment for spinal muscular atrophy

The advent of therapeutic interventions for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) has increased the importance of presymptomatic diagnosis and treatment. When to start treatment in children with less severe disease remains controversial.

11 Jun 2020

Researchers identify two brain phenomena that may explain the side-effects of ketamine

Researchers have identified two brain phenomena that may explain some of the side-effects of ketamine.

11 Jun 2020

Study reveals completely new mechanism for mitochondrial disease

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have discovered that excessive degradation of the power plants of our cells plays an important role in the onset of mitochondrial disease in children.

11 Jun 2020

Overactive enzyme causes an inherited form of high blood pressure

A Turkish family from a village near the Black Sea first caught the attention of medical researchers in the early 1970s.

11 Jun 2020

Novel fungal compound can turn on p53 gene in cancer cells

Cancers cells use a special technique to propagate; they delete their "programmed death" gene through mutation, "forget" to die when their lifetime is over, and continue to grow instead.

11 Jun 2020

A lead compound can significantly reduce or eliminate toxoplasmosis and malaria

Toxoplasma gondii infection is one of the most frequent parasitic infections of humans. This parasite is present in the brain of an estimated two billion people--about 40 percent of all humans on earth. It is endemic throughout the world, causing water and food-borne epidemics that result in toxoplasmosis.

10 Jun 2020

Using nanotheranostics approach to treat cancer

The concept of theranostics revolves around the stratification of patients into specific groups based on their response to different treatments and their disease risks.

10 Jun 2020

Baboon could prove to be a relevant model to test Alzheimer's disease interventions

Scientists at Texas Biomedical Research Institute's Southwest National Primate Research Center recently published findings indicating the baboon could prove to be a relevant model to test therapeutics and interventions for neurodegenerative diseases, such as early stage Alzheimer's and related dementias.

10 Jun 2020

Anticardiolipin antibodies and COVID-19

A new study has shown that anticardiolipin antibodies are associated with the novel coronavirus infection or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that causes COVID-19.

10 Jun 2020

Researchers evaluate survivin expression in neuroendocrine tumors

Volume 11, Issue 23 of @Oncotarget reported that tissue microarrays of 132 patients were stained for survivin using immunohistochemistry and correlated with outcomes.

10 Jun 2020

Unique antiviral action of cholesterol 25-hydroxylase against SARS-CoV-2

A new study by U.S. and Chinese researchers, currently available on the bioRxiv* preprint server, demonstrates how cholesterol 25-hydroxylase and its enzymatic product 25-hydroxycholesterol can inhibit membrane fus

10 Jun 2020

COVID-19 mouse model could accelerate the search for treatments, vaccines

The global effort to quickly develop drugs and vaccines for COVID-19 has been hampered by limited numbers of laboratory mice that are susceptible to infection with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

10 Jun 2020

Texas A&M scientists develop 2D nanosheets to advance cancer treatment

Scientists in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Texas A&M University are developing new ways to advance the field of regenerative medicine and cancer treatment. They are developing a 2D nanosheet that is 1,000 times smaller than a strand of hair.

10 Jun 2020

UMSOM researchers identify how certain gene mutations cause ALS

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified how certain gene mutations cause amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

10 Jun 2020