Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Six new experts join National Biodefense Science Board

Six experts from outside the federal government will join the National Biodefense Science Board (NBSB), a federal advisory committee which provides expert advice and guidance on preventing, preparing for, and responding to adverse health effects of public health emergencies to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR). The new members replace members whose 3-year terms expire Dec. 31.

4 Jan 2011

Cold Spring Harbor Protocols features organ culture methods and transcriptome analysis

New technologies and methods are spurring a renaissance in the study of organogenesis. Organogenesis, essentially the process through which a group of cells becomes a functioning organ, has important connections to biological processes at the cellular and developmental levels, and its study offers great potential for medical treatments through tissue engineering approaches.

4 Jan 2011

MGH, Veridex establish research center of excellence on circulating tumor cell technologies

Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has entered into a collaborative agreement with Veridex LLC to establish a center of excellence in research on circulating tumor cell (CTC) technologies. The overall goal of the agreement is to develop and commercialize novel technologies for capturing and characterizing CTCs, solid tumor cells found at extremely low levels in the bloodstream, which may offer a key to noninvasive characterization of cancer and potentially to early detection.

4 Jan 2011

Fondation Leducq awards Penn Medicine researcher $6M grant for cardiovascular disease study

An international team of researchers led by Daniel J. Rader, MD, associate director of Penn Medicine's Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, has received a $6 million grant from the Paris-based Fondation Leducq to study the molecular genetics of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The team's proposal, "Molecular Mechanisms of Novel Genes Associated with Plasma Lipids and Cardiovascular Disease," was selected to receive the award through the Fondation's Transatlantic Networks of Excellence Program.

4 Jan 2011

Study: Multitude of genes are linked to adult height

As much as 90 percent of variation in adult height may be caused by genetic inheritance, but a multitude of genes are involved. Most of these have yet to be discovered.

4 Jan 2011

EpiCept regains compliance with continued listing requirement of Nasdaq Capital Market

EpiCept Corporation today announced that it has received notification from the Nasdaq Listing Qualifications Department that it has regained compliance with the continued listing requirement of the Nasdaq Capital Market that it maintain a minimum market value of its listed securities of at least $35 million pursuant to Listing Rule 5550(b)(2).

3 Jan 2011

General anesthesia's similarities with and differences from sleep and coma

The use of general anesthesia is a routine part of surgical operations at hospitals and medical facilities around the world, but the precise biological mechanisms that underlie anesthetic drugs' effects on the brain and the body are only beginning to be understood. A review article in the December 30 New England Journal of Medicine brings together for the first time information from a range of disciplines, including neuroscience and sleep medicine, to lay the groundwork for more comprehensive investigations of processes underlying general anesthesia.

30 Dec 2010

Researchers to identify gene variants that cause ischemic stroke

Researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine are coordinating an international team of scientists working to identify genes or gene variants that may make a person more likely to have a particular type of stroke called an ischemic stroke.

30 Dec 2010

Controlling the amount of adipose tissue is key to combat obesity

Obesity is seen as the great pandemia of the XXI century. Recent data point to more than a billion adults in the world suffering from overweight, of which 300 million are clinically obese. What is more, the rates of child obesity show a worrying increase, with more than 155 million children and adolescents being overweight, of which 40 million are clearly obese.

29 Dec 2010

BIOMICs oversees SGIker DNA Bank to know genetic heritage of Basque lineage

The BIOMICs Group, based at the Lucio Lascaray building in the álava/Araba campus of the University of the Basque Country, is specially known for overseeing the SGIker DNA Bank, not only undertaking this task, but also feeding data into the gene research bank and making good use of it for their own lines of research.

28 Dec 2010

Vitamin D levels of newborns appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections

The vitamin D levels of newborn babies appear to predict their risk of respiratory infections during infancy and the occurrence of wheezing during early childhood, but not the risk of developing asthma. Results of a study in the January 2011 issue of Pediatrics support the theory that widespread vitamin D deficiency contributes to risk of infections.

27 Dec 2010

Amygdala may contribute to rich, varied social life among humans: Scientists

Scientists have discovered that the amygdala, a small almond shaped structure deep within the temporal lobe, is important to a rich and varied social life among humans. The finding was published this week in a new study in Nature Neuroscience and is similar to previous findings in other primate species, which compared the size and complexity of social groups across those species.

27 Dec 2010

AMPK activates autophagy by activating ATG1 enzyme

Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have discovered how AMPK, a metabolic master switch that springs into gear when cells run low on energy, revs up a cellular recycling program to free up essential molecular building blocks in times of need.

24 Dec 2010

Researchers study relationship between MITF, ATF2 in melanoma development

Melanoma is one of the least common types of skin cancer, but it is also the most deadly. Melanocytes (pigment-producing skin cells) lose the genetic regulatory mechanisms that normally limit their number, allowing them to divide and proliferate out of control. One such regulator, called MITF, controls an array of genes that influence melanocyte development, function and survival.

24 Dec 2010

Past experiences subconsciously influence behavior: Researchers

Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report for the first time how animals' knowledge obtained through past experiences can subconsciously influence their behavior in new situations.

23 Dec 2010

Myrexis commences Azixa controlled two-arm Phase 2b clinical study in GBM

Myrexis, Inc., a biotechnology company focused on discovering, developing, and commercializing novel treatments for cancer, today announced it has initiated a controlled two-arm Phase 2b clinical study of Azixa (verubulin) as a front-line treatment for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM).

23 Dec 2010

Sequenom CMM authorizes SensiGene T21 LDT clinical validation study

Sequenom, Inc. today announced that the company's wholly-owned reference laboratory, the Sequenom Center for Molecular Medicine (Sequenom CMM), has authorized commencement of a pivotal clinical validation study. This validation study is designed to evaluate the clinical performance of the SensiGene T21 Laboratory Developed Test (LDT) for the detection of an overabundance in maternal blood of chromosome 21, which is associated with fetal chromosome 21 aneuploidy.

23 Dec 2010

Genetic variant of brain receptor molecule may contribute to impulsive behavior

A multinational research team led by scientists at the National Institutes of Health has found that a genetic variant of a brain receptor molecule may contribute to violently impulsive behavior when people who carry it are under the influence of alcohol.

23 Dec 2010

Researchers discover protein that suppresses melanoma progression

In a breakthrough that could lead to new treatments for patients with malignant melanoma, researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have discovered that a particular protein suppresses the progression of melanoma through regulation of an oncogene, or gene responsible for cancer growth. The study is published in the December 23 issue of Nature.

23 Dec 2010

TMEM106B gene appears to protect against frontotemporal lobar degeneration

Neuroscientists had assumed that a mutation in the progranulin gene, which makes the progranulin protein and supports brain neurons, was sufficient to produce a kind of dementia known as frontotemporal lobar degeneration. But now an international team of scientists led by researchers at Mayo Clinic's campus in Florida have found another genetic factor they say appears to protect against the disorder in progranulin mutation carriers.

23 Dec 2010