Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

GUMC scientists awarded five-year $7.5M grant to perfect treatment of breast cancer

Scientists at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center at Georgetown University Medical Center were awarded a five-year $7.5 million grant to tease apart - in the most comprehensive way ever devised -the role of a single protein receptor in breast cells in cancer development and treatment.

22 Mar 2010

Pevion Biotech commences Phase 1 clinical trial of PEV7 vaccine

Pevion Biotech, the Swiss vaccine company, today announced that PEV7, the first vaccine for chronic recurrent thrush - recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis has entered Phase 1 clinical trial.

22 Mar 2010

NYSE Amex grants Interleukin Genetics extension for regaining compliance

Interleukin Genetics, Inc. announced today that the Corporate Compliance Staff of the NYSE Amex LLC has granted the Company an extension to meet the Exchange's continued listing standards and become compliant. The Company will remain listed up to June 23, 2010, subject to periodic review by the Exchange staff during the extension period of progress towards the Company's plan to regain compliance.

22 Mar 2010

Novel ways of killing TB causing bacteria discovered

Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University have found two novel ways of killing the bacteria that cause tuberculosis (TB), a disease responsible for an estimated two million deaths each year. The findings, published in the March 21 online issue of Nature Chemical Biology, could lead to a potent TB therapy that would also prevent resistant TB strains from developing.

22 Mar 2010

Genetic study may help develop potential treatment strategies for stiff skin syndrome

By studying the genetics of a rare inherited disorder called stiff skin syndrome, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have learned more about scleroderma, a condition affecting about one in 5,000 people that leads to hardening of the skin as well as other debilitating and often life-threatening problems.

20 Mar 2010

EUREKA project develops unique range of antibodies

EUREKA project E! 3424 RECAN has developed a range of unique and highly specific monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies - the proteins produced in the blood which counteract bacteria, viruses or cancerous cells.

20 Mar 2010

ELCA's 49-page draft social statement on genetics

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America released March 18 a 49-page draft social statement on genetics, a framework for discussion on a variety of current topics in the field including certain advances in medicine, reproductive cloning, human embryonic stem cells, and animal and plant genetic engineering.

20 Mar 2010

Research group unveils new computational strategy for GWAS

In the ongoing quest to identify the genetic factors involved in disease, scientists have increasingly turned to genome-wide association studies, or GWAS, which enable the scanning of up to a million genetic markers in thousands of individuals.

19 Mar 2010

JDRF hosts Diabetes Research Symposium to focus on type 1 diabetes

For the second consecutive year in Montreal, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Diabetes Research Symposium will be opening its doors at Fairmont Queen Elizabeth this Sunday, March 21st, from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Free and open to all, this event will focus on type 1 (juvenile) diabetes, and aims to inform the general public about JDRF's groundbreaking research progress.

19 Mar 2010

Stiff skin syndrome cause found

18 Mar 2010

Fungi, like bacteria, can cause severe infections

Fungi have significant potential for "horizontal" gene transfer, a new study has shown, similar to the mechanisms that allow bacteria to evolve so quickly, become resistant to antibiotics and cause other serious problems.

18 Mar 2010

Genes linked to ulcerative colitis identified

A study of the human genome led by Cedars-Sinai researchers has now identified genes linked to ulcerative colitis, offering clues as to what causes the condition and potential avenues for new therapies to treat the disease.

18 Mar 2010

Novel findings point to new therapeutic approaches for common types of cancer

Increased understanding of the Skp2 gene and its relation to cellular senescence may lead to the development of novel agents that can suppress tumor development in common types of cancer, researchers from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center report in the journal Nature.

18 Mar 2010

RainDance Technologies partners with Ambry Genetics to provide sequence enrichment solution for clinical and research studies

Ambry Genetics and RainDance Technologies today jointly announced at the Annual CHI Next Generation Sequencing Conference in San Diego, CA their partnership utilizing the RDT 1000 for sequence enrichment and resequencing validation.

18 Mar 2010

Enzo Biochem announces supply and distribution agreement between Enzo Life Sciences and Cancer Genetics

Enzo Biochem, Inc., a vertically integrated biotechnology company engaged in the research, development, manufacture, licensing and marketing of innovative health care products, platforms and services based on molecular and cellular technologies, announced today a supply and distribution agreement between Enzo Life Sciences and privately-owned Cancer Genetics Inc., a leading producer of nucleic acid products used in genomic research.

18 Mar 2010

Genetic test helps reduce hospitalization rates for heart patients on warfarin

Hospitalization rates for heart patients taking warfarin, the world's most-prescribed blood thinner, dropped by approximately 30 percent when genetic information was available to doctors prescribing the drug, researchers from Medco Health Solutions, Inc.-- in association with the Medco Research Institute™ -- and Mayo Clinic announced today.

17 Mar 2010

Boosting radiation dose for prostate cancer patients does not increase severity of side effects

Boosting the radiation dose given to prostate cancer patients to a level that cut tumor recurrence in half did not increase the severity of side effects reported by patients up to a decade later. The study led by Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center researchers also found that patients characterized the impact of continuing side effects on their quality of life as considerably less bothersome than would be expected, based on earlier studies.

17 Mar 2010

Human amniotic fluid skin cells "reprogrammed" to pluripotency

In a breakthrough that may help fill a critical need in stem cell research and patient care, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have demonstrated that skin cells found in human amniotic fluid can be efficiently "reprogrammed" to pluripotency, where they have characteristics similar to human embryonic stem cells that can develop into almost any type of cell in the human body. The study is online now and will appear in print in the next issue of the journal Cellular Reprogramming, to be published next month.

16 Mar 2010

LUMC purchases Fluidigm Access Array system

Fluidigm Corporation and BIOKÉ, distributor of Fluidigm systems in the Benelux, today announced that Leiden University Medical Center’s (LUMC) Human Genetics Department has purchased a Fluidigm Access Array™ system. The Access Array system enables users to automatically prepare sequencing-ready libraries from up to 48 individual samples at a time, for as little as €7 (EUR) per sample.

16 Mar 2010

Blocking RhoA enzyme increases survival in SMA mouse model

Scientists from the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute (OHRI) and the University of Ottawa have identified a promising new approach for developing drugs to treat Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), the leading inherited cause of death in infants and toddlers. Dr. Rashmi Kothary and his doctoral student Melissa Bowerman have found that an enzyme called RhoA is overly active in a mouse model of the disease and blocking this enzyme can greatly increase survival. The study is published in Human Molecular Genetics.

16 Mar 2010