Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Five USF faculty members named AAAS Fellow

Five faculty members from the University of South Florida in Tampa have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Election as an AAAS Fellow is an honor bestowed upon AAAS members by their peers.

24 Nov 2014

Merck, NewLink Genetics sign exclusive worldwide license agreement for Ebola vaccine candidate

Merck, known as MSD outside the United States and Canada, and NewLink Genetics Corporation, announced today that they have entered into an exclusive worldwide license agreement to research, develop, manufacture, and distribute NewLink's investigational rVSV-EBOV (Ebola) vaccine candidate.

24 Nov 2014

NOS1AP gene may help explain biological process of schizophrenia

A gene associated with schizophrenia plays a role in brain development and may help to explain the biological process of the disease, according to new Rutgers research.

24 Nov 2014

Unique ability helps prolific bacterium to afflict humans, animals and even plants

New research has found that one of the world's most prolific bacteria manages to afflict humans, animals and even plants by way of a mechanism not before seen in any infectious microorganism -- a sense of touch. This unique ability helps make the bacteria Pseudomonas aeruginosa ubiquitous, but it also might leave these antibiotic-resistant organisms vulnerable to a new form of treatment.

23 Nov 2014

Month-long residential program helps young adults stay drug-free

Residential treatment may be an appropriate first-line option for young adults who are dependent on opioid drugs - including prescription painkillers and heroin - and may result in higher levels of abstinence than does the outpatient treatment that is currently the standard of care.

21 Nov 2014

Researchers discover new method to deliver drugs into aggressive tumors

A multi-disciplinary team of Yale Cancer Center researchers has discovered a promising new method for delivering drugs into aggressive tumors by exploiting a unique feature of tumors themselves.

21 Nov 2014

MD Anderson study sheds light on little-known protein complex

A study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center led by Mong-Hong Lee, Ph.D., a professor of molecular and cellular oncology, has demonstrated the significance of CSN6 in regulating Myc which may very well open up a new pathway for treating and killing tumors.

21 Nov 2014

MGH investigators develop system to accurately track the process of falling asleep

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have developed a system to accurately track the dynamic process of falling asleep, something has not been possible with existing techniques. In their report in the October issue of the open-access journal PLOS Computational Biology, the research team describes how combining key physiologic measurements with a behavioral task that does not interfere with sleep onset gives a better picture of the gradual process of falling asleep.

21 Nov 2014

New treatment for Marfan syndrome works as well as beta blockers

A new treatment for Marfan syndrome, a rare genetic disease that can lead to heart problems, works as well as the currently recommended medical therapy, beta blockers, according to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine.

21 Nov 2014

University of Texas student receives Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship

Veronica Garcia, a student at The University of Texas Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Houston, has been awarded a Robert D. Watkins Graduate Research Fellowship from the American Society for Microbiology.

21 Nov 2014

New course underlines the importance of early detection of lung cancer

In Japan, 40 percent of lung cancer cases are detected on early stages and treated with a high probability of remission; in the US 20 percent of cases have that possibility, while in Mexico, in the National Cancer Institute (INCan), only 1.2 percent of patients are diagnosed at an early stage.

21 Nov 2014

Scientists unravel molecular mechanisms that drive ferroptosis signaling

Ferroptosis is a recently recognized form of regulated necrosis. Up until now, this form of cell death has only been thought to be a possible therapeutic approach to treat tumour cells. Yet, ferroptosis also occurs in non-transformed tissues as demonstrated by this study, thus implicating this cell death pathway in the development of a wide range of pathological conditions. More specifically, the deletion of the ferroptosis-regulating enzyme Gpx4 in a pre-clinical model results in high ferroptosis rates in kidney tubular epithelial cells causing acute renal failure.

19 Nov 2014

'Spillover' of henipaviruses into humans underway, study finds

Another family of viruses, deadly in some cases, may have already jumped from fruit bats into humans in Africa, according to a study published today in the journal Nature Communications. The study provides the first, preliminary scientific evidence that "spillover" of henipaviruses into human populations is underway.

19 Nov 2014

New study identifies crizotinib drug as possible new coating for drug-eluting stents

A new study has identified an FDA approved cancer drug, crizotinib, as a possible new coating for drug-eluting stents. Researchers found that crizotinib in mice helped prevent the narrowing of blood vessels after stenting without affecting the blood vessel lining.

19 Nov 2014

Type 3 interferons and T helper 2 cells: an interview with Grant Gallagher, Managing Director, HUMIGEN

The type 3 interferons - usually called the “lambda” interferons, or “IFNL” - are the most recently identified IFNs. We (myself and Sergei Kotenko) originally identified the receptor and then the three ligands (IFNL1,2,3; very recently a fourth, IFNL4, was discovered); the key paper was published in 2003.

18 Nov 2014

Scientists identify how ADAR1 gene mutation can lead to diseases

Scientists have discovered how a gene mutation can lead to diseases that occur when the immune system attacks the body by mistake.

18 Nov 2014

Study identifies new gene for progressive form of epilepsy

A study led by researchers at University of Helsinki, Finland and Universities of Melbourne and South Australia has identified a new gene for a progressive form of epilepsy. The findings of this international collaborative effort have been published today, 17 November 2014, in Nature Genetics.

18 Nov 2014