Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

NIH awards CCTSI $2.2 million grant to advance personalized medicine

A federal grant totaling $2.2 million shows how the University of Colorado School of Medicine and Anschutz Medical Campus are using technology to advance the cutting-edge field of personalized medicine -- tailoring treatments to the individual based on their genetic make-up.

28 Jan 2011

Tarceva Phase III EURTAC study in NSCLC patients with EGFR activating mutations meets primary endpoint

Genentech, a member of the Roche Group and OSI Pharmaceuticals, a wholly owned subsidiary of Astellas U.S. Holding Inc., a holding company owned by Astellas Pharma Inc., today announced that an independent data monitoring committee has recommended that the Phase III EURTAC study be stopped early because the study met its primary endpoint.

28 Jan 2011

Study suggests newborn diagnosis can improve survival in SCID patients

Severe Combined Immunodeficiency occurs in just one out of every 50,000 to 100,000 births in the United States, yet it is the most serious primary immunodeficiency disorder. A study published today in Blood, the Journal of the American Society of Hematology, demonstrates that babies with SCID who are diagnosed at birth and receive a hematopoietic stem cell transplant, which is the transplantation of blood-forming stem cells, have significantly improved survival.

28 Jan 2011

Single DNA variation linked to decreased risk of coronary disease in African-Americans

A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere has discovered that a single alteration in the genetic code of about a fourth of African-Americans helps protect them from coronary artery disease, the leading cause of death in Americans of all races.

28 Jan 2011

McGill, GSK enter collaborative research agreement on cystic fibrosis

McGill University and GlaxoSmithKline plc have signed a collaboration agreement to develop a potential breakthrough approach to treat cystic fibrosis, a fatal genetic disease. The trans-Atlantic effort between researchers from McGill's Faculty of Medicine and their GSK collaborators in the UK, will focus on developing molecules that could treat the disease by correcting the dysfunction caused by the mutated gene.

28 Jan 2011

HIV causes specific subset of CD4+ T-cells to age rapidly: Study

In the early years of the AIDS epidemic, being infected with the virus that causes the disease was considered a virtual death sentence. But with the development of antiretroviral therapy, many with HIV are now living much longer. In fact, it is estimated that by 2015, about half of all HIV-positive individuals will be older than 50.

28 Jan 2011

H3 Biomedicine introduces cancer research and development operations in Cambridge

H3 Biomedicine today announced that it has launched research and development operations in Cambridge, Massachusetts. H3 Biomedicine will undertake a comprehensive approach to breakthrough oncology treatments based on two primary principles: 1) the genetics of patients' cancers can reveal drug targets tailored to their cancers and 2) the advances in modern chemistry enable the discovery of new classes of safe and effective drugs against these targets.

27 Jan 2011

St. Michael's Hospital to build first automated high-throughput zebrafish screening facility in Canada

Zebrafish are the new fruit flies.

27 Jan 2011

NuGEN expands NGS utility for microbial transcriptome analysis with Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System

NuGEN Technologies, a leader in genomics sample preparation, expands the utility of next-generation sequencing for the analysis of microbial species and microbiome samples with its Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System.

27 Jan 2011

MGH investigators develop novel system to deliver growth factors to chronic wounds

Massachusetts General Hospital investigators have developed a novel system for delivery of growth factors to chronic wounds such as pressure sores and diabetic foot ulcers.

27 Jan 2011

Researchers find food-borne bacteria can cause difficult-to-treat heart infections

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine have found that particular strains of a food-borne bacteria are able to invade the heart, leading to serious and difficult-to-treat heart infections.

27 Jan 2011

Next generation sequencing on the European growth path: Report

Next Generation Sequencers have found their way into service providing labs and the global biomedical research community. 2010 has seen a serious uptake of Next Generation Sequencing technology, and today it is perceived as an indispensable tool.

26 Jan 2011

Realignment with participants' interest important for future of genomic research

Obtaining consent for genetic studies can be an opportunity for researchers to foster respectful engagement with participants, not merely to mitigate legal risk. This shift is proposed in a policy forum appearing tomorrow, Jan. 21, in Science, the journal of the American Academy for the Advancement of Science.

25 Jan 2011

Tufts University calls for strategic approach to teach genomic testing in medical school

Genetics in Medicine, the official journal of the American College of Medical Genetics, published this month a paper by Tufts University faculty calling for a moderate, strategic approach to teaching personalized genomic testing in medical school curricula.

25 Jan 2011

Glioblastoma's molecular flexibility helps resist nearly all treatment efforts

Glioblastoma, the most common and lethal form of brain cancer and the disease that killed Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, resists nearly all treatment efforts, even when attacked simultaneously on several fronts. One explanation can be found in the tumor cells' unexpected flexibility, discovered researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies.

25 Jan 2011

Blocking rogue gene may stop cancer spread: Study

In a new breakthrough British scientists have discovered a “rogue gene” which helps cancer spread around the body and add that this could mean specific therapy, if developed against the gene, could stop cancer spread.

24 Jan 2011

MGH research sheds light on mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.

24 Jan 2011

Functional tests are necessary to understand human disease despite genetic sequencing

Despite what you might have heard, genetic sequencing alone is not enough to understand human disease. Researchers at Duke University Medical Center have shown that functional tests are absolutely necessary to understand the biological relevance of the results of sequencing studies as they relate to disease, using a suite of diseases known as the ciliopathies which can cause patients to have many different traits.

24 Jan 2011

CT scans can help physicians to diagnose abdominal pain, reduce health care costs

The use of CT scanning to evaluate abdominal pain in emergency departments can help physicians arrive at a diagnosis quickly and decisively. A study conducted at Massachusetts General Hospital and appearing in the February issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology also finds that information provided by CT scans changed treatment plans for almost half the patients studied and significantly reduced probable hospital admissions.

24 Jan 2011

Additional data from HyperAcute Pancreas cancer immunotherapy Phase 2 trial to be presented at ASCO 2011

NewLink Genetics Corporation today announced that additional data from its Phase 2 clinical trial of the company's investigational HyperAcute® Pancreas cancer immunotherapy will be presented during a poster session at the American Society of Clinical Oncology 2011 Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium in San Francisco, California.

21 Jan 2011

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

NIH awards CCTSI $2.2 million grant to advance personalized medicine

Tarceva Phase III EURTAC study in NSCLC patients with EGFR activating mutations meets primary endpoint

Study suggests newborn diagnosis can improve survival in SCID patients

Single DNA variation linked to decreased risk of coronary disease in African-Americans

McGill, GSK enter collaborative research agreement on cystic fibrosis

HIV causes specific subset of CD4+ T-cells to age rapidly: Study

H3 Biomedicine introduces cancer research and development operations in Cambridge

St. Michael's Hospital to build first automated high-throughput zebrafish screening facility in Canada

NuGEN expands NGS utility for microbial transcriptome analysis with Ovation Prokaryotic RNA-Seq System

MGH investigators develop novel system to deliver growth factors to chronic wounds

Researchers find food-borne bacteria can cause difficult-to-treat heart infections

Next generation sequencing on the European growth path: Report

Realignment with participants' interest important for future of genomic research

Tufts University calls for strategic approach to teach genomic testing in medical school

Glioblastoma's molecular flexibility helps resist nearly all treatment efforts

Blocking rogue gene may stop cancer spread: Study

MGH research sheds light on mechanisms of action of mindfulness-based training

Functional tests are necessary to understand human disease despite genetic sequencing

CT scans can help physicians to diagnose abdominal pain, reduce health care costs

Additional data from HyperAcute Pancreas cancer immunotherapy Phase 2 trial to be presented at ASCO 2011

Sequencing & Genomics: Elevating Science and Healthcare eBook

Real-time Raman monitoring for pharmaceutical hot melt extrusion

Synthetic Psychedelics: A Growing Public Health Concern

How the Vutara VXL simplifies single-molecule imaging