Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

New genome-editing techniques could make recombinant-protein drugs cheaper

The mammalian cell lines that are engineered to produce high-value recombinant-protein drugs also produce unwanted proteins that push up the overall cost to manufacture these drugs. These same proteins can also lower drug quality

24 Apr 2020

Goblet cells in the human nasal passage may play key role in enabling COVID-19 infections

Two significant international studies involving hundreds of scientists, including a human geneticist at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest that specific cells in the human nasal passage shaped like a champagne glass, known as goblet cells, may play a significant role in enabling COVID-19 infections.

24 Apr 2020

Study can serve as basis for developing new approaches for obesity, diabetes

In the 21st century, the search for methods of treating noncommunicable diseases, such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, and diabetes are among the top priorities.

24 Apr 2020

Scientists are developing synthetic COVID-19 antibody to treat sick patients

A team of researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, in collaboration with GenScript, is developing a synthetic antibody to SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID-19). This antibody is intended to block the virus from entering human lung cells, and would be another potential treatment option for COVID-19.

24 Apr 2020

Study: Astrocytes regulate neuronal circuits involved in learning and memory

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine reveal that astrocytes, the most abundant cells in the brain, play a direct role in the regulation of neuronal circuits involved in learning and memory. The findings appear in the journal Neuron.

24 Apr 2020

Study: JNK and BNP activity can reverse cardiovascular damage, reduce risk of death from sepsis

Overreaction is rarely useful, and in the case of the human immune system, it can be outright deadly. When the body overreacts to an infection, the result is sepsis - a life-threatening condition that frequently leads to acute organ dysfunction, including deterioration of the heart and blood vessels, which make up the cardiovascular system.

24 Apr 2020

Research looks at best ways to tackle coronavirus crisis

A new study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology in April 2020 discusses the most attractive approaches among the broad spectrum of experimental and theoretical strategies being worked on to counter the COVID-19 pandemic.

24 Apr 2020

A protein discovery could pave way to better treatments for obesity

A USC-led international team of scientists has found the precise shape of a key player in human metabolism, which could lead the way to better treatments for obesity and other metabolic disease.

23 Apr 2020

Researchers develop a faster visualization method for constructing pan-genome subgraphs

Kadir Dede and Dr. Enno Ohlebusch at Ulm University in Germany have devised a method for constructing pan-genome subgraphs at different granularities without having to wait hours and days on end for the software to process the entire genome.

23 Apr 2020

FUJIFILM Diosynth Biotechnologies Enters Strategic Partnership With OXGENE™ To Address Supply Bottlenecks In Gene Therapy Development And Manufacturing

FDB announced a strategic partnership with OXGENE™, an industry leader in the design and development of gene therapy technologies.

From OXGENE 23 Apr 2020

Higher levels of specific gene can indicate better prognosis in prostate cancer

The most common form of cancer in older men is prostate cancer. In many cases the tumor grows slowly and can be treated effectively, but it is sometimes more aggressive and becomes terminal.

23 Apr 2020

UMD professor outlines new theoretical framework for heredity

The common view of heredity is that all information passed down from one generation to the next is stored in an organism's DNA. But Antony Jose, associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics at the University of Maryland, disagrees.

23 Apr 2020

A new method to deliver therapeutic proteins inside the body

A new way to deliver therapeutic proteins inside the body uses an acoustically sensitive carrier to encapsulate the proteins and ultrasound to image and guide the package to the exact location required, according to Penn State researchers. Ultrasound then breaks the capsule, allowing the protein to enter the cell.

23 Apr 2020

Meis1 protein plays key role in stopping cell division in the heart

UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists have discovered a protein that works with others during development to put the brakes on cell division in the heart, they report today in Nature.

23 Apr 2020

Study: Patients’ genetically edited stem cells successfully reversed diabetes in mice

Using induced pluripotent stem cells produced from the skin of a patient with a rare, genetic form of insulin-dependent diabetes called Wolfram syndrome, researchers transformed the human stem cells into insulin-producing cells and used the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to correct a genetic defect that had caused the syndrome.

22 Apr 2020

Study creates a new platform to study single-cell genomics of many diseases

Although advances in genetics and genomics reveal numerous disease-associated gene mutations, physicians and researchers still wrestle with the tricky challenge of linking those mutations to actual disease-causing processes.

22 Apr 2020

Scientists identify cells likely targeted by novel coronavirus

Researchers at MIT; the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard; and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard; along with colleagues from around the world have identified specific types of cells that appear to be targets of the coronavirus that is causing the Covid-19 pandemic.

22 Apr 2020

Study shows why depression affects women more than men

Researchers at Mount Sinai have found that a novel class of genes known as long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) expressed in the brain may play a pivotal role in regulating mood and driving sex-specific susceptibility versus resilience to depression.

22 Apr 2020

Scientists find gene signature for poor response to standard therapy in rare uterine cancer

Women who don't survive a rare and aggressive uterine cancer called uterine serous carcinoma, have high expression of a group of 73 genes, a score scientists say can help identify these women and improve their outcome.

22 Apr 2020

Researchers uncover how cancer cells don their invisibility cloaks

Immunotherapy drugs that target a protein called programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the surface of cancer cells have quickly become a mainstay to treat many forms of cancer, often with dramatic results. But exactly how cancer cells turn on this protein was not completely understood.

22 Apr 2020