Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Study: Combination of melanoma drugs prevents cancer from growing or spreading

A first-of-its-kind randomized clinical trial offers strong and perhaps surprising evidence that a combination of two targeted melanoma drugs when given continuously keeps patients' cancer from growing or spreading longer when compared with intermittent treatment, according to study results to be presented at the 2020 virtual annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research.

27 Apr 2020

Talazoparib did not show overall survival benefit in patients with advanced BRCA-mutated breast cancer

New data from the Phase III EMBRACA trial led by researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found the PARP inhibitor talazoparib did not demonstrate a statistically significant overall survival (OS) benefit for patients with metastatic HER2-negative breast cancer and mutations in the BRCA1/2 genes.

27 Apr 2020

Mapping complex peripheral immune response to severe COVID-19

In a recent article publicly available at medRxiv, researchers from Stanford have presented a single-cell atlas of the peripheral immune response to coronavirus disease (COVID-19), highlighting pertinent immunological features associated with the severe forms of the disease.

26 Apr 2020

New study indicates novel therapies for Duchenne muscular dystrophy

When an actor is unable to perform in the theatre, an understudy--ideally one with some practice in the role--can take her place on stage.

25 Apr 2020

Rice University wins prestigious grant to develop new therapies for sickle cell disease

A Rice University lab has won a prestigious National Institutes of Health grant to pursue gene-editing research it hopes will lead to a cure for sickle cell disease (SCD).

25 Apr 2020

New brain cell models created to evaluate therapies for Sanfilippo C syndrome

The Sanfilippo syndrome type C is a severe neurodegenerative disease which appearws during the first years of life and for which there is no treatment yet.

24 Apr 2020

Syphilis bacterium likely uses a single gene to evade immune attack

The bacterium that causes syphilis, Treponema pallidum, likely uses a single gene to escape the immune system, research from UW Medicine in Seattle suggests.

24 Apr 2020

Research shows how the immune system reacts to hepatitis C viruses

If a virus penetrates a cell, the immune system reacts immediately and produces the signaling protein interferon.

24 Apr 2020

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