Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

RNAi enlisted in hunt for prawn vaccines

CSIRO researchers are using a biological phenomenon called RNA interference (RNAi) in an effort to develop a major biotechnological breakthrough for the aquaculture industry - vaccines for common prawn diseases.

16 Sep 2004

Surprise finding about male infertility

CANCER Research UK scientists have made a surprise finding about the molecular basis of male infertility, reporting their results in the current edition of Nature.

16 Sep 2004

A new vector of malaria in Africa called Oveng form

Malaria affects around 600 million people in the world and leads to an annual death toll of over 2 million. It is the world’s most widespread parasitic disease.

16 Sep 2004

Protein that causes juvenile Batten disease also plays a key role in normal cell function

The aberrant protein that causes juvenile Batten disease, a fatal neurodegenerative disorder of childhood, also plays a key role in normal cell function, Duke University Medical Center researchers have found.

16 Sep 2004

Drug combo may have a greater impact on cancer development

Cancer researchers have long suggested that new targeted drugs may work best when paired with other therapies. In a new study published today in Cancer Research, scientists have taken some of the first steps to demonstrate this synergy in mouse and cell line models.

16 Sep 2004

Stem cell science and orthopedic surgery may reduce failure rate in hip replacements

By combining stem cell science with orthopedic surgery, a team of researchers at the University of British Columbia and Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute aims to reduce the 10 per cent failure rate in hip replacements and make repeat replacements and other joint repairs obsolete within 10-15 years.

16 Sep 2004

Newly completed Chromosome 5 sequence will be a powerful tool for scientists trying to understand human disease

Four years after publicly revealing the official draft human genetic sequence, researchers have reached the halfway point in dotting the i's and crossing the t's of the genetic sentences describing how to build a human.

16 Sep 2004

Mighty mouse helps researchers tackle osteoporosis

A genetically engineered 'mighty mouse' is helping Medical College of Georgia researchers find the best way for young people to build bone and avoid osteoporosis.

16 Sep 2004

Research findings could lead to more effective repellents

If you think it doesn't do much good to swipe the fly that's going after the potato salad, guess again. You may be discouraging the fly's colleagues from taking up the raid.

15 Sep 2004

Role of gene identified in development of tumours in children

Medical researchers from Children’s Cancer Institute Australia for Medical Research (CCIA) have made significant progress in understanding tumour initiation in the aggressive, debilitating childhood cancer, neuroblastoma

14 Sep 2004

Liver cancer genes cluster into two subsets that correlate to survival

An analysis of the gene expression patterns of 91 unrelated liver tumors revealed two distinctive subclasses highly associated with patient survival, according to a new study published in the September 2004 issue of Hepatology.

14 Sep 2004

Brain function a key to addiction treatments

Neuroscience research should be informing drug addiction treatment and policy in Australia, according to Neuroscience of Psychoactive Substance Use and Dependence, a new report from the World Health Organization (WHO).

14 Sep 2004

Genetically modified bacterium as remedy for intestinal diseases

Researchers from the Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) at Ghent University are joining the fight against chronic intestinal disease with a genetically modified bacterium (Lactococcus lactis).

14 Sep 2004

Researchers have discovered a possible way to distinguish lethal from localized prostate cancers

If future studies show their test -- measuring the level of activity of a signaling pathway called Hedgehog -- can predict which prostate cancers will spread, the results could revolutionize decision making processes for prostate cancer patients, the researchers say.

13 Sep 2004

New genetic test can predict cleft lip or palate

Researchers have developed a new genetic test that can help predict whether parents who have one child with the "isolated" form of cleft lip or palate are likely to have a second child with the same birth defect. Isolated clefts account for 70 percent of all cleft lip and palate cases.

10 Sep 2004

New study will examine why people live exceptionally long lives

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis will head an ambitious study of people who live exceptionally long and healthy lives to identify the factors that account for their longevity.

10 Sep 2004

Suprising new information on the HOX genes

Researchers at the University of Bergen are now able to present new information on the HOX genes – the “software” to design animals. The findings are published in today’s issue of Nature.

10 Sep 2004

Cancer drug may reduce kidney disease in lupus

A drug that is already being tested as an anticancer agent, especially in lymphoma, may also reduce the kidney disease that is a result of systemic lupus, according to a researcher at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

10 Sep 2004

Grant to study genetics and drug interaction

A University of Minnesota researcher received a nearly $1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study how genetic differences affect whether people will experience dangerous drug interactions and how to adjust medications to avoid those interactions.

10 Sep 2004

New view of chromatin and gene activity

A genome - the DNA instructions for an organism - does not act alone. DNA is packaged with proteins into 'chromatin', which may be more or less tightly condensed. A popular proposal is that active genes are in 'open' chromatin (to allow access to them) and inactive genes are in tightly packed 'compact' chromatin.

10 Sep 2004