Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Targeting opioid receptor offers relief for chronic itching

A common side effect of opioids is intense itching -- a problem for some patients who need the drugs for pain relief and for others fighting addiction.

17 Apr 2018

Scientists provide insight into how gene associated with autoimmunity contributes to disease

Researchers have provided new insight into how a gene associated with autoimmunity contributes to disease in humans.

17 Apr 2018

Researchers develop new method to study activity of inflammatory cells

The process that the body sets in motion in the event of inflammation is complex, but also impressive. The main role here is played by immune cells migrating from the blood into the tissue to fight the inflammation.

17 Apr 2018

New faster, streamlined method for bowel cancer detection and treatment

Researchers at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) and the University of Adelaide have discovered a faster, more cost-effective way to determine which DNA mutations cause human bowel cancer.

17 Apr 2018

Bacterial 'gene swapping' affects emergence and spread of infectious diseases

A new study by scientists at the University of Liverpool documents, for the first time, how the ability of bacteria to swap genetic material with each other can directly affect the emergence and spread of globally important infectious diseases.

17 Apr 2018

Researchers shed light on role of striosomal neurons in reinforcement learning

A pleasant surprise or a nasty shock is likely to be a memorable experience. For instance, if you touch a hot oven, you very quickly learn not to do it again.

17 Apr 2018

Specific odors from malaria infected individuals attract more mosquitoes

Malaria causes the bodies of its human hosts to emit specific odors from the skin that make the hosts even more attractive to mosquitoes, which invites further bites and risks infection of more mosquitoes and wider transmission of the disease.

17 Apr 2018

Researchers discover potential hurdle for personalized medicine

A recent study has shown that loss of the Erk oncogene can stimulate tumorigenesis in cells where Ras has been eliminated. The findings may have important consequences for the development of personalized medicines that target Ras.

17 Apr 2018

Discovery of 100 new genes may aid research into pigmentation diseases

A new study identified more than 100 genes that play a key role in determining the color of human hair. The findings may have important implications for pigmentation diseases such as melanoma.

17 Apr 2018

Large ALS-causing protein aggregates protect rather than harm neurons

Scientists at the UNC School of Medicine have made a significant advance in the understanding of the complex and fatal neurodegenerative disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease.

17 Apr 2018

Precancerous colon polyps in Lynch syndrome patients display immune activation

Colon polyps from patients with Lynch syndrome, a hereditary condition that raises colorectal cancer risk, display immune system activation well before cancer development, according to research from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

16 Apr 2018

Anti-PD-1 treatment reduces tumor size and post-surgical relapse of lung cancer

A drug given to early stage lung cancer patients before they undergo surgery showed major tumor responses in the removed tumor and an increase in anti-tumor T-cells that remained after the tumor was removed, which resulted in fewer relapse cases in the patients.

16 Apr 2018

Breakthrough study promises to bring gene-editing technology much closer to therapeutic reality

Imagine a future where a guided biomachine put into your body seeks out defective gene sequences in each cell and edits in the correct information with precision accuracy.

13 Apr 2018

'Molecular microscope' system for transplant biopsy more effective than conventional methods

A transplant biopsy system that uses gene chips to read molecules is far safer and more effective than existing approaches used for heart transplant biopsies and is showing promising results for lung transplant biopsies, new University of Alberta-led research shows.

13 Apr 2018

Versatile mouse model opens doors to new targeted cancer therapies

Researchers from the Seve Ballesteros Foundation-CNIO Brain Tumour Group at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre have developed an extremely powerful and versatile mouse model that will improve cancer research and accelerate pre-clinical testing of novel targeted therapies. Their work appears in Nature Communications.

13 Apr 2018

Scientists from Cure First and SEngine Precision Medicine discover common link in 28% of all cancers

Seattle scientists from Cure First, a non-profit research organization, and SEngine Precision Medicine, a biotech developing targeted, more effective, and less toxic cancer therapeutics, co-authored one of 27 high-profile papers published today by Cell Press.

13 Apr 2018

New 'lymphoma micro-reactor' device targets chemo-resistant tumors

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a cancer that is diagnosed in the U.S. more than 70,000 times annually, arises from overly proliferating immune cells within the body's lymph nodes, which are connected to a network of lymph vessels through which lymphatic fluid flows.

12 Apr 2018

New, sensitive HBV assay may allow earlier detection of hepatocellular carcinoma

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) can progress to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A study published in The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics describes a new HBV assay that offers advantages over currently used methods because it has the capability to detect closed circular DNA (cccDNA) in serum, single cells, and preserved tissue samples.

12 Apr 2018

CU Anschutz scientists receive $3.8 million DoD grant to boost EB research

Scientists from the Gates Center for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Colorado School of Medicine are part of a consortium awarded $3.8 million from the U.S. Department of Defense to move discoveries in stem cell-created skin grafts into the manufacturing stage, bringing further hope to victims of debilitating inherited skin diseases.

12 Apr 2018

UCLA scientists identify four subtypes of melanoma with different drug sensitivities

Melanoma, a relatively rare but deadly skin cancer, has been shown to switch differentiation states - that is, to regress to an earlier stage of development - which can lead it to become resistant to treatment.

12 Apr 2018