Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Specialized skin cells use GPS like mapping system to identify where they belong in the body

Until now it's been a mystery as to how adult skin, which consists of basically the same components all over the body, knows to grow hair in some areas like the scalp, while manufacturing sweat glands, calluses and fingerprint whorls in others

2 Aug 2006

Variation in the CHEK2 gene may triple a woman's risk of developing breast cancer

Study shows that women in the general population who carry a specific CHEK2 mutation are three times as likely as women without the mutation to develop breast cancer.

2 Aug 2006

Different genes may be responsible for causing autism in boys than in girls

Like detectives trying to solve a murder case, researchers searching for the biological cause of autism have come up with some surprising suspects.

2 Aug 2006

Genetic mutations may be responsible for schizophrenia

The higher risk of schizophrenia among offspring of expectant mothers living through famine could help us understand the genetic basis for that debilitating mental disorder.

2 Aug 2006

Uterine cancer may be clue to Lynch syndrome

A new study suggests that women with endometrial cancer should be screened for inherited mutations that could lead to a high risk of several other cancers.

2 Aug 2006

Protein CD86 raises antibody output

Cancer immunologists here have discovered how a protein on the surface of antibody-making immune cells boosts the amount of antibody the cells make.

2 Aug 2006

Genetics researchers identify second gene that gives rise to Alagille syndrome

In a finding that may have broader implications for understanding kidney disorders, genetics researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia have identified a second gene that gives rise to Alagille syndrome.

2 Aug 2006

Molecular switch that regulates fat and cholesterol production identified

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have identified how a molecular switch regulates fat and cholesterol production

2 Aug 2006

How kidneys retain proteins, discard waste

New research may finally settle a decades-old debate about how the kidney keeps valuable blood proteins from harmfully slipping into the urine, a serious health symptom that often precedes kidney failure.

2 Aug 2006

Researchers determine why gene therapy treatment caused leukemia in some X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency patients

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have developed a mouse model of a severe disease of the immune system that helps explain why gene therapy used to treat children with this disease at an institution in Europe caused some of them to develop leukemia.

2 Aug 2006

Mice more complicated than humans when it comes to telomeres

In terms of their telomeres, mice are more complicated than humans. That's the finding from a recent Rockefeller University study.

2 Aug 2006

Oral cancers - smoke and drink and up goes the risk!

Scientists in the UK have discovered that mouth cancer develops in two distinct ways which decides just how the serious the disease will be.

2 Aug 2006

Innovative approach for creating a cytomegalovirus vaccine

Each year, about 40,000 children are born infected with human cytomegalovirus, or CMV, and about 8,000 of these children suffer permanent disabilities due to the virus - almost one an hour.

2 Aug 2006

Strong link between specific genetic variations and an increased risk of stroke in younger women

University of Maryland researchers have shown a strong association between specific genetic variations and an increased risk of stroke in younger women, adding to the growing evidence of possible genetic influences in stroke.

2 Aug 2006

New genetic model for Parkinson's disease

Researchers at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden are homing in on mechanisms that may explain one set of causes for Parkinson's disease.

1 Aug 2006

New way to assess pandemic potential of influenza viruses

Study provides first assessment of the risk of an H5N1 pandemic strain emerging from the combining of avian and human influenza viruses.

1 Aug 2006

Knee bone marrow lesions may be hereditary

Bone marrow lesions in the knee, a cause of pain in patients with knee osteoarthritis, may be hereditary.

1 Aug 2006

Creating your own pandemic virus is not so easy

A team of scientists at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have developed a new research method that may help identify the types of genetic changes that would be necessary for the avian influenza virus (H5N1) to be more easily transmitted among people.

1 Aug 2006

Vegan diet best for diabetes

Researchers have found that people who followed a low-fat vegan diet, cutting out all meat and dairy, lowered their blood sugar more and lost more weight than people on an American Diabetes Association diet.

30 Jul 2006

Promising therapy for Lou Gehrig's disease delivers antisense drug directly to nervous system

Researchers have designed and tested a molecular therapy in animals that they hope will be a major development in the fight to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), or Lou Gehrig's disease.

27 Jul 2006