Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Researchers use computer modelling to identify mechanism behind aggressive brain tumours

Researchers at Uppsala University have used computer modelling to study how brain tumours arise.

19 Sep 2016

Gender matching key for corneal transplants? An interview with Professor Kaye

The cornea is a transparent tissue lining the front of the eye, that is invisible tissue to the naked eye. It is a delicate tissue and disease or injury may lead to a loss of transparency or a change in the shape of the cornea, resulting in severe visual impairment.

19 Sep 2016

Researchers underscore importance of immune-based prevention to conquer cancer

In a Perspective piece published this week in PNAS, cancer researchers from across the country, including faculty at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Moores Cancer Center, write that a greater emphasis on immune-based prevention should be central to new efforts like the federal Cancer Moonshot program, headed by Vice President Joe Biden.

19 Sep 2016

Researchers identify mutant traits in mouse for many human disease genes

About one-third of all genes in the mammalian genome are essential for life. An international, multi-institutional research collaboration identified, for the first time, mutant traits in the mouse for 52 human disease genes, which significantly contributes to the understanding of the genetic bases for some human diseases, including cardiovascular defects, spina bifida, and metabolic disorders, among many others. The study was published this week in Nature.

19 Sep 2016

Research findings may help better understand genetic origins of Familial Mediterranean Fever

A team of scientists led by Stony Brook University researchers have discovered a new mechanism for a bacterial toxin to inhibit inflammation.

19 Sep 2016

Memory of heart attack can be stored in genes through epigenetic changes, study shows

Both heredity and environmental factors influence our risk of cardiovascular disease. A new study, by researches at Uppsala University, shows now that the memory of a heart attack can be stored in our genes through epigenetic changes.

19 Sep 2016

Researchers explain novel approach for analyzing diverse immune responses

The response to infection is highly variable from one individual to another. The Milieu Intérieur consortium, coordinated by Prof. Matthew Albert (Immunobiology of dendritic cells Unit, Institut Pasteur / Inserm) and Dr Lluis Quintana-Murci (Human Evolutionary Genetics Unit, Institut Pasteur / CNRS) seek to establish the parameters that characterize the immune system of healthy individuals and its natural variability.

16 Sep 2016

Research seeks to improve nutritional and milling quality of new oat varieties

Most of the oats American milling companies use comes from Canada—that's something South Dakota State University oats breeder Melanie Caffé-Treml wants to change. Her research seeks to increase the quality of locally-grown oats.

15 Sep 2016

Research findings point to potential new targeted therapy for SMA

For the first time, scientists found that in spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the affected nerve cells that control muscle movement, or motor neurons, have defects in their mitochondria, which generate energy used by the cell.

15 Sep 2016

Columbia researchers find way to reawaken potent cancer-fighting molecule in tumor cells

A potent cancer-fighting molecule in our cells can be reawakened by reducing levels of a protein - called SET - that's often found in excess in cancer cells, a new study from Columbia University's Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center has found.

15 Sep 2016

Oral antidiabetic drug modulates the body's nitrogen and urea metabolism

The most frequently prescribed oral antidiabetic drug metformin significantly affects metabolic pathways.

14 Sep 2016

Study finds South Africans living with HIV more resilient despite chronic pain

When one thinks about chronic conditions that are commonly painful, HIV doesn't typically spring to mind. However, more than 50% of HIV-positive individuals experience a painful condition like headache, chest pain or neuropathy, and that pain is frequently experienced as moderate to severe in intensity.

14 Sep 2016

New four-stranded version of DNA may hold key to development of targeted cancer therapies

Scientists have identified where a four-stranded version of DNA exists within the genome of human cells, and suggest that it may hold a key to developing new, targeted therapies for cancer.

13 Sep 2016

International researchers discover 44 novel gene sites linked to hypertension

In papers receiving advance online publication in Nature Genetics, two international multi-institutional research teams describe identifying a total of 44 novel gene sites associated with hypertension or high blood pressure.

13 Sep 2016

Scientists uncover new role of ChAT enzyme in regulating blood pressure

In a study published today in the prestigious journal Nature Biotechnology, scientists from The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Karolinska Institutet discovered that T-cells capable of producing the neurotransmitter acetylcholine can regulate blood pressure.

13 Sep 2016

Researchers uncover specific sites in the genome linked to high blood pressure

Three large, collaborating international consortia of researchers, including a team co-led by investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital, have uncovered new genes and sites in the genome tied to elevated blood pressure, implicating certain biological pathways and pointing toward new therapeutic strategies for treating hypertension.

12 Sep 2016

Genome-wide studies reveal evolutionary conserved enzyme facilitates DNA replication

Genome-wide studies of fission yeast (Schizosaccharomyces pombe) suggest that the evolutionary conserved enzyme Pfh1 helicase facilitates DNA synthesis by tracking along with the replication apparatus, promoting intact DNA synthesis at hard-to-replicate sites and consequently suppressing DNA damage. The findings are published in PLOS Genetics.

12 Sep 2016

Male signals trigger female animals for reproduction but with harmful effects

A research team led by a Northwestern University scientist has discovered that male animals, through their invisible chemical "essence," prime female animals for reproduction but with the unfortunate side effect of also hastening females' aging process.

12 Sep 2016

Heat shock proteins may play role in triggering Schistosoma invasion

A protein known for helping cells withstand stress may also act as a switch that triggers free-swimming Schistosoma larvae to begin penetrating the skin and transforming into the parasitic flatworms that burden more than 240 million people worldwide with schistosomiasis.

9 Sep 2016

Scientists discover potential new genetic causes for intellectual disability

An international group of researchers has for the first time identified a set of 30 inherited recessive genes that play a role in intellectual disability (ID), a neurodevelopmental disorder that, according to the Centers for Disease Control, affects as many as 213 million people around the world.

9 Sep 2016