Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Multiple sclerosis gene connection from women to offspring: Study

A new study has shown that women pass on the multiple sclerosis (MS) gene more commonly than men to their offspring. The team analyzed DNA of more than 7,000 people and found that women were also more likely to pass on the gene to female relatives. This may explain why women are up to three times more likely to get MS than men. The study was funded by the MS Society and led by George Ebers at Oxford University. It was published in the journal Neurology.

10 Jan 2011

Enlight Biosciences forms new oral drug delivery technology company

Entrega, Inc., a new company developing oral drug delivery technologies, today announced its formation by Enlight Biosciences, a Boston-based company established in partnership with a group of leading global pharmaceutical companies.

10 Jan 2011

Genetics Squared to change corporate name to Everist Genomics

Genetics Squared, a prognostics company focused on developing gene-based molecular assays for the prediction of cancer recurrence, today announced that it will change its corporate name to Everist Genomics and has appointed Prasad Sunkara, Ph.D. as its new President and Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.

10 Jan 2011

Research suggests novel therapeutic approach for Huntington's Disease

Hope for new ways of treating devastating neurodegenerative disorders such as Huntington's disease has been raised by a trans-Atlantic team of researchers thanks to the use of cutting-edge genetic techniques.

10 Jan 2011

Slowing engines of mitochondria could extend life

In making your pro-longevity resolutions, like drinking more red wine and maintaining a vibrant social network, here's one you likely forgot: dialing down your mitochondria. It turns out that slowing the engines of these tiny cellular factories could extend your life-an observation relevant not only to aging research but to our understanding of how cells communicate with each another.

10 Jan 2011

New mechanisms of resistance to chemotherapy among leukemia patients

The interplay between a major tumor-suppressing gene, a truncated chromosome and two sets of microRNAs provides a molecular basis for explaining the less aggressive form of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, an international team of researchers reports today in the Jan. 4 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

10 Jan 2011

Gigantism gene inherited by hundreds: Study

A gene that predicted gigantism in humans was identified in the DNA of the 18th-century man known as the Irish Giant, who was more than 7 feet 7 inches tall. Copies of the same mutation have been found in patients today who suffer from excessive growth, and scientists have concluded they all inherited the gene from a common ancestor.

9 Jan 2011

Scientists identify type of cell at the origin of brain tumors

Scientists have identified the type of cell that is at the origin of brain tumors known as oligodendrogliomas, which are a type of glioma - a category that defines the most common type of malignant brain tumor.

7 Jan 2011

Targeted Genetics acquires Biocontrol

Targeted Genetics Corporation, today announced the completion of the acquisition of Biocontrol Limited.

7 Jan 2011

Single cellular crisis shatters chromosomes in cancer causation

Remarkable new research overthrows the conventional view that cancer always develops in a steady, stepwise progression. It shows that in some cancers, the genome can be shattered into hundreds of fragments in a single cellular catastrophe, wreaking mutation on a massive scale.

7 Jan 2011

HRG protein inhibits tumor growth and metastasis: Study

Most cancer tissues are invaded by inflammatory cells that either stimulate or inhibit the growth of the tumor, depending on what immune cells are involved. Now a Swedish-Belgian research team has shown that a protein that naturally occurs in the body, HRG, inhibits tumor growth and metastasis into secondary organs by activating specific immune cells.

7 Jan 2011

Seattle Genetics enters ADC collaboration agreement with Pfizer

Seattle Genetics, announced today that it has entered into a collaboration agreement with Pfizer under which Pfizer will pay an upfront fee of $8 million for rights to utilize Seattle Genetics' antibody-drug conjugate technology with antibodies to a single oncology target.

7 Jan 2011

Study shows clinical benefits of iniparib in combination with standard chemotherapy for triple-negative breast cancer

A current New England Journal of Medicine study indicates that the use of the PARP inhibitor iniparib in combination with standard chemotherapy to treat metastatic triple-negative breast cancer offers a significant increase in clinical benefit, a measure of durable response or disease stabilization, as well as an increase in progression-free survival.

6 Jan 2011

Signal Genetics, Caris Life Sciences announce new agreement to commercialize MyPRS tool

Signal Genetics, the parent company of Myeloma Health LLC, a privately held predictive genetic testing company focused on oncology, and Caris Life Sciences, Inc., a leading biosciences company focused on enabling precise and personalized healthcare through the highest quality anatomic pathology, molecular profiling and blood-based diagnostic services, today announced a new agreement under which Caris Life Sciences will offer Signal Genetics' new gene expression profile test for Multiple Myeloma to community-based hematologists/medical oncologists nationwide.

6 Jan 2011

JAX, Tufts University unveil new mammalian genetics track for PhD students

The Jackson Laboratory, Sackler School of Graduate Biomedical Sciences at Tufts, and Tufts University School of Medicine have unveiled a new mammalian genetics track for PhD students. The joint track offers students in-depth research and training at both JAX and Tufts.

6 Jan 2011

Bacteria adopt defence strategy to promote antibiotic resistance

Genetic resistance to antibiotics is not the only trick bacteria use to resist eradication- they also have a second defence strategy known as persistence that can kick in.

6 Jan 2011

Researchers say women with multiple sclerosis have more HLA genes than men

Women who have multiple sclerosis (MS) are more likely to have a gene associated with multiple sclerosis than men with the disease and it is this gene region where environment interacts with the genetics, according to a study published in the January 5, 2011, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

6 Jan 2011

New laboratory manual on imaging in developmental biology

Imaging technologies have revolutionized the study of developmental biology and are now essential tools for researchers in the field. A newly released laboratory manual, Imaging in Developmental Biology, presents a comprehensive set of visualization methods specifically for developmental biologists. It is the newest volume in a series of imaging manuals published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

5 Jan 2011

Low-radiocarbon nutrition permanently reduces genetic damage to brain cells

A new method of child and maternal nutrition could prevent a specific type of genetic damage that would otherwise occur in up to 160 million brain cells in each person over their lifetime. Preventing this genetic damage could have significant implications related to aging and cancer.

5 Jan 2011

Removal of ZIP proteins from hippocampus cell protects them from injury

Researchers in the Blue Bird Circle Developmental Neurogenetics Laboratory in the department of neurology at Baylor College of Medicine have discovered that zinc enters cells through specialized protein gates known as ZIP transporters, and removing these ZIP proteins from cells in the hippocampus significantly protects them from injury.

5 Jan 2011