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New study reveals genetic alteration can lead to severe childhood obesity

Scientists in Cambridge have discovered that the loss of a key segment of DNA can lead to severe childhood obesity. This is the first study to show that this kind of genetic alteration can cause obesity. The results are published today in Nature.

6 Dec 2009

NIH director to speak on new horizons for human health in biomedical research

Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and recipient of the nation’s highest scientific honors, will address the National Press Club Dec. 21 on “Biomedical research: New horizons for human health.”

5 Dec 2009

New study helps understand the positive effect of dietary restriction on healthy ageing

A new study of the Max Planck Institute for Biology of Ageing could help to understand the positive effect of dietary restriction on healthy ageing.

5 Dec 2009

Findings suggest severity of atherosclerosis depends on the rate of white blood cell migration

By measuring the total gene activity in organs relevant for coronary artery disease (CAD), scientists at the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet have identified a module of genes that is important for the recruitment of white blood cells into the atherosclerotic plaque.

4 Dec 2009

Ambry Genetics and SoftGenetics sign agreement for next-generation sequencing projects at Ambry

Ambry Genetics and SoftGenetics today announced the signing of an agreement to provide extended bioinformatics genomics services using SoftGenetics' NextGENe software for next-generation sequencing projects performed at Ambry.

4 Dec 2009

Study on Helicos BioSciences' single molecule sequencing technology published

Helicos BioSciences Corporation today announced the publication of a landmark study by Dr. Bradley Bernstein of the Massachusetts General Hospital describing the use of Helicos’ single molecule sequencing technology for the performance of genome-wide, epigenomic experiments using minute amounts of nucleic acid.

4 Dec 2009

Sperm from men with NOA and OA capable of producing embryos

It has been thought that men with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA), a lack of sperm in the semen not caused by an obstruction within the reproductive system, are poor candidates for IVF. Now, researchers writing in the open access journal Reproductive Biology and Endocrinology have shown that sperm from men with NOA and obstructive azoospermia (OA) are equally capable of producing embryos.

3 Dec 2009

Cancer Genomic Microarray Facility selects febit's Geniom RT Analyzer to advance its biomedical research

The Cancer Genomic Microarray Facility at the Kimmel Cancer Center of the Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, selected febit's Geniom® RT Analyzer to advance its biomedical research by proceeding targeted Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS), genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and microRNA (miRNA) analysis.

2 Dec 2009

Sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on longevity, says new study

Researchers in Japan have found that female mice produced by using genetic material from two mothers but no father live significantly longer than mice with the normal mix of maternal and paternal genes. Their findings provide the first evidence that sperm genes may have a detrimental effect on lifespan in mammals.

1 Dec 2009

New form of pathogen becomes a healthcare challenge in Africa

Research shows how a new, more deadly strain of Salmonella emerged over an 18-month period. Becoming resistant to antibiotics, acquiring the ability to spread from person to person and losing genes along the way, the new strain has become a healthcare challenge in Africa, killing up to one in four patients.

1 Dec 2009

$2.6M NIH grant for survey of in situ protein-protein interaction networks

Our brain is composed of over one trillion cells called neurons. Each neuron contains millions of proteins. Exactly how individual proteins interact with one another and together form complex signaling networks within neurons has never been examined directly in live animals.

1 Dec 2009

Scientists provide the first comprehensive picture of minimal cell

What are the bare essentials of life, the indispensable ingredients required to produce a cell that can survive on its own? Can we describe the molecular anatomy of a cell, and understand how an entire organism functions as a system? These are just some of the questions that scientists in a partnership between the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, and the Centre de Regulacio Genòmica (CRG) in Barcelona, Spain, set out to address.

28 Nov 2009

Researchers devise new tools for typing cells from children with acute lymphatic leukemia

Researchers at Uppsala University and University Children's Hospital in Uppsala have devised powerful new tools for typing cells from children with acute lymphatic leukemia and for prediction of how children with leukemia will respond to chemotherapy.

28 Nov 2009

Study examines fundamental aspects of fertility in yeast

Research at the University of Leicester analyzing common Baking and Brewers yeast is providing new insights into aspects of human health and fertility.

27 Nov 2009

GIS scientists publish the first genetic historical map of Han Chinese

The first genetic historical map of the Han Chinese, the largest ethnic population in the world, as they migrated from south to north over evolutionary time was published online today by the American Journal of Human Genetics by scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS).

26 Nov 2009

Protein mutation can cause a new form of heart failure

Over the course of a lifetime, the heart pumps some 250 million liters of blood through the body. In the order to do this, the muscle fibers of the heart have to be extremely durable. The research group headed by Dr. Wolfgang Rottbauer, vice chair of the Department of Medicine III at Heidelberg University Hospital (Chairman: Prof. Dr. H. A. Katus), has discovered a protein that is responsible for the stability of the smallest muscular unit, the sarcomere.

25 Nov 2009

Human Genome Sciences submits BLA for ZALBIN

Human Genome Sciences, Inc. today announced that it has submitted a Biologics License Application (BLA) to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for ZALBIN™ (albinterferon alfa-2b) for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C. The BLA submission includes the results of two pivotal Phase 3 clinical trials showing that 900-mcg albinterferon alfa-2b dosed every two weeks met its primary endpoint of non-inferiority to peginterferon alfa-2a (Pegasys) dosed once each week.

25 Nov 2009

Researchers uncover atomic-level action of ring-shaped protein motors

The atomic-level action of a remarkable class of ring-shaped protein motors has been uncovered by researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) using a state-of-the-art protein crystallography beamline at the Advanced Light Source (ALS).

25 Nov 2009

Health watch: When you eat just as vital to what you eat

When you eat may be just as vital to your health as what you eat, found researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. Their experiments in mice revealed that the daily waxing and waning of thousands of genes in the liver—the body's metabolic clearinghouse—is mostly controlled by food intake and not by the body's circadian clock as conventional wisdom had it.

25 Nov 2009

Roche, Spanish Department of Health to collaborate in Medical Genome Project

Roche and the Department of Health of Junta de Andalucía, Spain have signed an agreement for a cooperation in the Medical Genome Project (MGP), a research project created to analyse the genomes of people with rare diseases and identify the defective gene or genes causing the disease and its behaviour.

From Roche Sequencing and Life Science 24 Nov 2009