Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Research opens possibility of developing single-dose gene therapy for inherited arrhythmias

Researchers at Boston Children's Hospital report creating the first human tissue model of an inherited heart arrhythmia, replicating two patients' abnormal heart rhythms in a dish, and then suppressing the arrhythmia with gene therapy in a mouse model.

17 Jul 2019

Don't Miss the Blood-Brain Barrier Drug Delivery (B3DD) Summit this August

The B3DD Summit will be held in Boston from August 13-15, 2019. This news story provides an overview of what you can expect at this year's conference.

From Blood-Brain Barrier Delivery Summit (B3DD) 17 Jul 2019

Researchers identify chemical compounds that increase stability of haploid cell

Since the emergence of molecular genetics more than fifty years ago, scientists have tried to isolate haploid mammalian cells, that is, cells with half the number of chromosomes contained in somatic cells. Haploid cells are a powerful genetic tool to analyze gene function.

17 Jul 2019

Slug serves as 'command central' for determining breast stem cell health

A new study published in Cell Reports found that a transcription factor called Slug serves as 'command central' for determining breast stem cell health, regulating both stem cell activity and repair of DNA damage.

17 Jul 2019

Gene modulation goes wireless hacking the "boss gene"

Researchers from the University at Buffalo have successfully used technology to wirelessly tweak the functioning of a gene FGFR1. This gene is vital in the growth of embryos into adults. Their experiments were successful in the lab grown brain tissues and shows potential in therapeutics.

16 Jul 2019

BU professor awarded NIH grant to study Down syndrome

Tarik F. Haydar, PhD, professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Boston University School of Medicine, has been awarded a two-year Exploratory/Developmental Research Grant Award (R21) from the National Institutes of Health.

16 Jul 2019

New method spots rare immune cells reactive against cancer

Researchers from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research have developed a new method to spot rare immune cells that are reactive against cancer cells, from within a patient's own immune system.

16 Jul 2019

Single-cell encapsulation technology can protect transplanted MSCs from immune attack

Bone marrow transplants of hematopoietic stem cells have become standard treatment for a host of conditions including cancers of the blood and lymphatic systems, sickle cell anemia, inherited metabolic disorders, and radiation damage.

16 Jul 2019

Human pancreas on a chip could help identify possible cause of CF-Related Diabetes

Scientists created human pancreas on a chip that allowed them to identify the possible cause of a frequent and deadly complication of cystic fibrosis (CF) called CF-Related Diabetes, or CFRD.

16 Jul 2019

EMBL study reveals uncoupling between chromatin topology and gene expression

Molecular biologists long thought that domains in the genome’s 3D organization control how genes are expressed.

16 Jul 2019

HIV therapy leaves unrepaired holes in the immune system's wall of defense

If they don't receive antiretroviral therapy (ART), most HIV patients see a progressive weakening of their immune system.

16 Jul 2019

Fungal infection study identifies specific genetic vulnerability among Hmong people

Ten years ago, in Marathon County, Wisconsin, 55 people were sickened by an uncommon fungal infection called blastomycosis. Thirty patients were hospitalized. Two people died.

16 Jul 2019

Diet and nutrition influence microbiome in colonic mucosa

Diet is important in maintaining human health, but its underlying mechanism is not yet fully understood. Now, a team of researchers sheds light on the connection of diet and health, and it has something to do with the microbiome composition in human colonic mucosa.

15 Jul 2019

Scientists discover hundreds of protein-pairs through coevolution study

Scientists have discovered hundreds of new protein-protein interactions by looking for co-evolution in some residues of aligned protein sequences.

15 Jul 2019

Nanoparticles used to deliver CRISPR gene editing tools into the cell

Researchers from Tufts University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have developed a novel method to effectively deliver the CRISPR/Cas9 (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR) associated protein 9) gene editing tools into the liver for genetic studies.

15 Jul 2019

Genetic contribution to distractibility helps explain procrastination

Wouldn’t it be nice to blame your genes for your procrastination? Now, using a combination of questionnaires and genetic testing, German researchers have found that with increasing dopamine in the brain, women tended to show greater tendencies to procrastinate.

14 Jul 2019

Revolutionary gene replacement surgery restores vision in patients with retinal degeneration

More than a year after becoming one of the first medical institutions nationally to complete a revolutionary gene replacement surgery to restore vision in patients with retinal degeneration, surgeons at the of The Vision Center at Children's Hospital Los Angeles have successfully completed the procedure on an additional 13 patients.

14 Jul 2019