Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

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

How genetic abnormalities transform normal cells into leukemic cells

Cancer scientists led by Dr. John Dick at the Ontario Cancer Institute (OCI) and collaborators at St Jude Children's Research Hospital (Memphis) have found that defective genes and the individual leukemia cells that carry them are organized in a more complex way than previously thought.

21 Jan 2011

MGH Bipolar CHOICE trial to evaluate effectiveness of new medications compared to lithium

The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Bipolar Clinic and Research Program with the Bipolar Trials Network is launching Bipolar CHOICE, a 10-site nationwide trial evaluating the real-world advantages and disadvantages of quetiapine, a widely prescribed second generation antipsychotic mood stabilizing medication, compared to lithium, the gold standard mood stabilizer, for the treatment of outpatients with bipolar disorder.

21 Jan 2011

IMDx enters multi-year agreement with Abbott Molecular for m2000 instrument system

IMDx today announced that they have signed a multi-year agreement with Abbott whereby IMDx will design, develop, regulatory clear, and manufacture assays for the Abbott Molecular FDA cleared, m2000 instrument system to be distributed worldwide. Financial terms have not been disclosed.

21 Jan 2011

Researchers believe driver mutations promote development, growth of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is known to occur typically in older men. Yet some patients are younger than 50 years at the time of diagnosis. Scientists assume that these cases might be the key to understanding the biology of this disease. Early prostate cancer might be a subtype which is characterized by a relatively small number of genetic modifications.

21 Jan 2011

Scientists decipher genetic code for a pancreatic cancer type

Scientists at Johns Hopkins have deciphered the genetic code for a type of pancreatic cancer, called neuroendocrine or islet cell tumors. The work, described online in the Jan. 20 issue of Science Express, shows that patients whose tumors have certain coding "mistakes" live twice as long as those without them.

21 Jan 2011

Message of health benefits of moderate drinking are hazardous and extremely dangerous

A Letter to the Editor entitled "What should we advise about alcohol consumption?" was recently published by Maurizio Ponz de Leon in Intern Emerg Med.1 Dr. de Leon argues that the message of health benefits of moderate drinking "seems to me hazardous and extremely dangerous to diffuse in the general population."

20 Jan 2011

OSC and RINCH offer support to speed discovery techniques of childhood diseases

Worried about her high fever and severe abdominal pain, a young couple rushed their baby daughter to the emergency department of Nationwide Children's Hospital. Physicians there found a lump in her belly, and, after examining X-rays and blood work, confirmed the parents' worst fear: their 18-month-old little girl had neuroblastoma, a rare pediatric cancer that involves the adrenal glands.

20 Jan 2011

Swiss HIV Cohort Study identifies simple method to determine time of infection

Identifying the time of HIV infection. Researchers of the Swiss HIV Cohort Study have identified a simple method to establish when a patient contracted the virus causing . The time of infection can be of importance for the treatment of the illness and it contributes to the understanding of the course of the epidemic.

20 Jan 2011

Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network adds 17 sites in Canada and the U.S

Autism Speaks and Autism Speaks Canada who together form North America's largest autism science and advocacy organization, is pleased to announce the expansion of its Autism Treatment Network to include 17 leading children's hospitals and academic medical centers in the Canada and the U.S.

20 Jan 2011

Researchers identify PBRM1 gene mutation in one in three patients with common form of renal cancer

In a collaborative project involving scientists from three continents, researchers have identified a gene that is mutated in one in three patients with the most common form of renal cancer.

20 Jan 2011

Small molecules may inhibit entry of Ebola into human cells

Ebola, a virus that causes deadly hemorrhagic fever in humans, has no known cure or vaccine. But a new study by University of Illinois at Chicago scientists has uncovered a family of small molecules which appear to bind to the virus's outer protein coat and may inhibit its entry into human cells.

20 Jan 2011

Salk Institute uncovers presenilin's productive side

Mutant presenilin is infamous for its role in the most aggressive form of Alzheimer's disease-early-onset familial Alzheimer's-which can strike people as early as their 30s. In their latest study, researchers at the Salk Institute uncovered presenilin's productive side: It helps embryonic motor neurons navigate the maze of chemical cues that pull, push and hem them in on their way to their proper targets.

19 Jan 2011

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

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

How genetic abnormalities transform normal cells into leukemic cells

MGH Bipolar CHOICE trial to evaluate effectiveness of new medications compared to lithium

IMDx enters multi-year agreement with Abbott Molecular for m2000 instrument system

Researchers believe driver mutations promote development, growth of prostate cancer

Scientists decipher genetic code for a pancreatic cancer type

Message of health benefits of moderate drinking are hazardous and extremely dangerous

OSC and RINCH offer support to speed discovery techniques of childhood diseases

Swiss HIV Cohort Study identifies simple method to determine time of infection

Autism Speaks Autism Treatment Network adds 17 sites in Canada and the U.S

Researchers identify PBRM1 gene mutation in one in three patients with common form of renal cancer

Small molecules may inhibit entry of Ebola into human cells

Salk Institute uncovers presenilin's productive side

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