Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Children exposed to air pollution are at increased risk for brain inflammation, neurodegenerative changes

City smog lowers children's IQ. This is among findings from a recent University of Montana study that found children living in cities with significant air pollution are at an increased risk for detrimental impacts to the brain, including short-term memory loss and lower IQ.

12 Feb 2015

Experts gather at Cardiology 2015 conference to discuss challenges in treating congenital heart disease

Many aspects of pediatric cardiology are relatively new to the discipline. Only recently have physicians been able to accurately diagnose and characterize the myriad congenital cardiovascular conditions that occur and begin to apply successful strategies for care. This week, an international group of more than 800 medical experts gather at the nation's largest pediatric cardiology conference to discuss challenges in treating congenital heart disease in the fetus, neonates, children and young adults.

12 Feb 2015

Experts to discuss challenges in CHD treatments at pediatric cardiology conference

12 Feb 2015

FDA advisory committees to review Amgen's talimogene laherparepvec for metastatic melanoma treatment

Amgen announced today that the Cellular, Tissue and Gene Therapies Advisory Committee and the Oncologic Drugs Advisory Committee of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration will jointly review the Company's Biologics License Application (BLA) for talimogene laherparepvec.

11 Feb 2015

IU School of Medicine launches Industry Collaboration Portal

The Indiana University School of Medicine has launched an initiative and accompanying web site to encourage more collaboration between private industry and researchers at the medical school.

11 Feb 2015

UNC researchers create new research tool to help crack the histone code

University of North Carolina scientists have created a new research tool, based on the fruit fly, to help crack the histone code. This research tool can be used to better understand the function of histone proteins, which play critical roles in the regulation of gene expression in animals and plants.

11 Feb 2015

TAU researchers identify novel genetic mutation as source of specific rare disease

Rare diseases -- those that affect fewer than one in 200,000 people -- are often identified early in life. Some 30 percent of children afflicted by these "orphan diseases" do not live to see their fifth birthday. While the U.S. Orphan Drug Act of 1983 was written into law to promote research on the topic, the cost of identifying the source and progression of these diseases remains prohibitive for many families.

10 Feb 2015

Mercury associated with autoimmunity among women of childbearing age

One of the greatest risk factors for autoimmunity among women of childbearing age may be associated with exposure to mercury such as through seafood, a new University of Michigan study says.

10 Feb 2015

Drug similar to Gleevec may help tame some brain cancers

The drug Gleevec (imatinib mesylate) is well known not only for its effectiveness against chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia, but also for the story behinds its development. The drug was specifically designed to target an abnormal molecule--a fusion of two normal cell proteins--that fueled a tumor's growth.

10 Feb 2015

Quest Diagnostics, Myriad Genetics reach agreement to end BRCA gene-patent litigation

Quest Diagnostics, the world's leading provider of diagnostic information services, today announced that it and Myriad Genetics Inc. have reached an agreement that ends their BRCA gene-patent litigation.

From Quest Diagnostics 10 Feb 2015

Discovery leads to new understanding of cancer metastasis

In a breakthrough in the understanding of how cancer spreads, researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have identified a substance secreted by lung cancer cells that enables them to metastasize, beginning their deadly march to other sites in the body.

10 Feb 2015

IU researchers awarded NIH grant to develop new weapon to fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

The alarming increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria poses health and economic threats worldwide, with more than 2 million Americans infected by the bacteria each year. Now, a team of Indiana University chemists and biologists has been awarded a major grant to develop and use a chemical tagging method to better understand how bacteria build their cell wall, which is still the best target for new antibiotics.

10 Feb 2015

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital investigators have discovered inherited genetic variations that are associated with rapid hearing loss in young cancer patients treated with the drug cisplatin. The research appears in the current online issue of the scientific journal Nature Genetics.

10 Feb 2015

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

The "Jewels in our Genes" study, led by University at Buffalo researcher Heather Ochs-Balcom, has uncovered previously unknown segments of DNA shared by African American family members who have breast cancer. "The discovery of these regions supports our hypothesis that there are still undiscovered breast cancer genes that may be unique to African Americans," says Ochs-Balcom, PhD, a genetic epidemiologist in the UB Department of Epidemiology and Environmental Health.

10 Feb 2015

Cancer researchers find important clues to why tumor cells become 'good' or 'bad'

For the first time, Keck Medicine of the University of Southern California cancer researchers have traced the origins of colorectal cancer cells, finding important clues to why tumor cells become "good" or "bad," with the potential of stopping them before they start.

10 Feb 2015

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

A protein called YAP, which drives the growth of organs during development and regulates their size in adulthood, plays a key role in the emergence of resistance to targeted cancer therapies, according to a new study led by UC San Francisco researchers.

10 Feb 2015

New report raises ethical questions surrounding the use of data

Public participation should be at the heart of big data projects in health care and biomedical research, according to the findings of a new report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.

9 Feb 2015

Leading medical societies jointly release new statement on using carrier screening in reproductive medicine

Carrier screening for inherited genetic disorders is an important part of preconception and prenatal care for the nearly 4 million women who give birth in the US annually. Carrier screening is meant to identify couples at risk for passing on such genetic conditions to their children.

9 Feb 2015

Fungal infections rarely develop resistance to combination drug therapy

Researchers at the University of Toronto have discovered that Candida albicans -- a leading cause of potentially fatal hospital-acquired infections -- rarely develops resistance to combination drug therapy and, when it becomes resistant, it also becomes less dangerous.

9 Feb 2015

Personalized prevention, treatments of cancer now accessible through Stanford University's new genetics course

Instrumental research that aims to enhance how we predict, diagnose and design personalized prevention and treatments of cancer is now accessible through Stanford University's latest professional education course, Understanding Cancer at the Genetic Level.

9 Feb 2015

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Children exposed to air pollution are at increased risk for brain inflammation, neurodegenerative changes

Experts gather at Cardiology 2015 conference to discuss challenges in treating congenital heart disease

Experts to discuss challenges in CHD treatments at pediatric cardiology conference

FDA advisory committees to review Amgen's talimogene laherparepvec for metastatic melanoma treatment

IU School of Medicine launches Industry Collaboration Portal

UNC researchers create new research tool to help crack the histone code

TAU researchers identify novel genetic mutation as source of specific rare disease

Mercury associated with autoimmunity among women of childbearing age

Drug similar to Gleevec may help tame some brain cancers

Quest Diagnostics, Myriad Genetics reach agreement to end BRCA gene-patent litigation

Discovery leads to new understanding of cancer metastasis

IU researchers awarded NIH grant to develop new weapon to fight against antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Researchers discover inherited genetic variations associated with treatment-related hearing loss

Study links previously unknown genetic anomalies to breast cancer in African American family members

Cancer researchers find important clues to why tumor cells become 'good' or 'bad'

Combination therapies may overcome resistance to targeted cancer drugs

New report raises ethical questions surrounding the use of data

Leading medical societies jointly release new statement on using carrier screening in reproductive medicine

Fungal infections rarely develop resistance to combination drug therapy

Personalized prevention, treatments of cancer now accessible through Stanford University's new genetics course

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