Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

TBX5 gene expression could play key role in congenital heart disease

Congenital heart disease is the most common birth defect and the leading cause of all infant deaths in the United States. Mutations in the gene TBX5 have been shown to cause both rare and more prevalent forms of congenital heart disease, yet the underlying mechanisms have remained unclear.

9 Feb 2016

Study shows association between traffic-related air pollution and dark spots on the skin

A largescale study that included women from Germany and China has demonstrated a link between levels of traffic-related air pollution and air pollution-associated gases with the formation of dark spots on the skin, known as lentigenes. The most pronounced changes were observed on the cheeks of Asian women over the age of 50.

8 Feb 2016

Researchers reveal direct link between Wbp2 gene and progressive hearing loss

Researchers at King's College London and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the United Kingdom have for the first time demonstrated a direct link between the Wbp2 gene and progressive hearing loss. The scientists report that the loss of Wbp2 expression leads to progressive high-frequency hearing loss in mouse as well as in two clinical cases of children with deafness with no other obvious features.

8 Feb 2016

Study reveals association between DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes

Researchers from the Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute have found an epigenetic mechanism implicated in the regulation of blood sugar. The study, published in the journal Molecular Human Genetics, reveals that the methylation of the TXNIP gene is associated with diabetes mellitus type 2 and, in particular, average blood glucose levels.

8 Feb 2016

Aggression influences new nerve cell production in the brain

A group of neurobiologists from Russia and the USA, including Dmitry Smagin, Tatyana Michurina, and Grigori Enikolopov from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, have proven experimentally that aggression has an influence on the production of new nerve cells in the brain.

8 Feb 2016

Duchenne muscular dystrophy: direct effect on muscle stem cells? An interview with Dr Rudnicki

For twenty years, it has been understood that dystrophin is expressed in differentiated muscle fibers where it is part of a protein complex that crosses the membrane and connects the extracellular matrix to the actin network inside the cell to provide structural integrity.

5 Feb 2016

Bowel Cancer UK's new landmark study aims to identify critical gaps in current bowel cancer research

Bowel Cancer UK is announcing on World Cancer Day (Thursday 4 February) a new research project which will bring together 100 clinicians and scientists to identify gaps in current research into bowel cancer which, if addressed, will help save the lives of thousands of people diagnosed with the disease.

5 Feb 2016

New method could help scientists conduct in-depth research on malignant tumors in cancer patients

Scientists at the Children's Medical Center Research Institute at UT Southwestern have pioneered a new method for conducting in-depth research on malignant tumors in patients, in the process discovering new complexities underlying cancer biology and overturning a nearly century-old perception about cancer metabolism.

5 Feb 2016

CMU joins $12 million research project to reverse-engineer the brain's secret algorithms

Carnegie Mellon University is embarking on a five-year, $12 million research effort to reverse-engineer the brain, seeking to unlock the secrets of neural circuitry and the brain's learning methods. Researchers will use these insights to make computers think more like humans.

4 Feb 2016

New research identifies key enzyme linked to age-related increases in cancer and inflammation

For the first time, researchers have shown that an enzyme key to regulating gene expression -- and also an oncogene when mutated -- is critical for the expression of numerous inflammatory compounds that have been implicated in age-related increases in cancer and tissue degeneration, according to new research from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

4 Feb 2016

Genetic variants associated with preference to mornings or nights

23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced the results of a genome-wide association study (GWAS) identifying genetic variants associated with being a morning person.

3 Feb 2016

Study reveals fetal origin for social and repetitive behavior deficits

Fetal development has been known to play an important role in social interaction, a fundamental behavior found in nearly all organisms, and later adult social behaviors. Autism, a highly heritable neurodevelopment disorder that causes difficulties with social interactions, has been postulated to be caused by neuron overgrowth in the prenatal period, although the precise timing and cause of this overgrowth has been unknown.

3 Feb 2016

'Housekeeping' gene may have a link to male infertility

Researchers at Iowa State University have found evidence that a "housekeeping" gene present in every cell of the body may have a link to male infertility.

3 Feb 2016

Prenatal stress affects babies' health in war-torn areas

Children from war-torn areas of the globe are affected by trauma even before they are born, according to a new University of Florida study.

3 Feb 2016

Cistus extracts attack HIV and Ebola viruses

Scientists at the Helmholtz Zentrum München discover that extracts of the medicinal plant Cistus incanus (Ci) prevent human immunodeficiency viruses from infecting cells. Active antiviral ingredients in the extracts inhibit docking of viral proteins to cells. Antiviral activity of Cistus extracts also targets Ebola- and Marburg viruses.

3 Feb 2016

Study finds no evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical brain volumes

Over the last decade, important contributions to our understanding of schizophrenia have come from two different types of studies. Neuroimaging studies have found that certain parts of the brain, such as the hippocampus and amygdala, are smaller in people with schizophrenia - a devastating psychiatric illness with high heritability.

3 Feb 2016

UAB research explores neurofibromatosis type 1

It is easy to tell a medical research story that has a simple and dramatic moment. But disease is often much more complex, and the work to understand it can be painstaking. A vivid example of that is seen in the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Genomics Laboratory, headed by Ludwine Messiaen, Ph.D., professor of genetics. This lab offers clinical genetic testing for a broad array of common and rare genetic disorders.

3 Feb 2016

MYB-QKI fusion gene that drives pediatric low-grade gliomas poses a triple threat

Oncology researchers have discovered that an abnormal fused gene that drives pediatric brain tumors poses a triple threat, operating simultaneously through three distinct biological mechanisms—the first such example in cancer biology.

2 Feb 2016

Researchers publish work on how news articles shape perceptions of obesity

Researchers at Chapman University, UCLA, and Stanford have just published work on how news media coverage shapes perceptions of obesity. They examined how perspectives on obesity portrayed in news articles affect people's support for different obesity-related public policies and their prejudice towards fat men and women.

2 Feb 2016

Mount Sinai researchers report new method to restore microbiome of newborns delivered via C-section

Scientists from the Icahn Institute for Genomics and Multiscale Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, collaborating with NYU Langone Medical Center and a multi-center team of researchers, demonstrated for the first time that the microbiome of newborn babies delivered via cesarean section (C-section) can be partially restored to resemble that of vaginally delivered infants.

2 Feb 2016

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

TBX5 gene expression could play key role in congenital heart disease

Study shows association between traffic-related air pollution and dark spots on the skin

Researchers reveal direct link between Wbp2 gene and progressive hearing loss

Study reveals association between DNA methylation and type 2 diabetes

Aggression influences new nerve cell production in the brain

Duchenne muscular dystrophy: direct effect on muscle stem cells? An interview with Dr Rudnicki

Bowel Cancer UK's new landmark study aims to identify critical gaps in current bowel cancer research

New method could help scientists conduct in-depth research on malignant tumors in cancer patients

CMU joins $12 million research project to reverse-engineer the brain's secret algorithms

New research identifies key enzyme linked to age-related increases in cancer and inflammation

Genetic variants associated with preference to mornings or nights

Study reveals fetal origin for social and repetitive behavior deficits

'Housekeeping' gene may have a link to male infertility

Prenatal stress affects babies' health in war-torn areas

Cistus extracts attack HIV and Ebola viruses

Study finds no evidence of genetic overlap between schizophrenia risk and subcortical brain volumes

UAB research explores neurofibromatosis type 1

MYB-QKI fusion gene that drives pediatric low-grade gliomas poses a triple threat

Researchers publish work on how news articles shape perceptions of obesity

Mount Sinai researchers report new method to restore microbiome of newborns delivered via C-section

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