Genome News and Research

RSS

Crucial questions should be answered before the era of personal genomics comes of age

Giving Nobel Laureate James Watson his personal genome was just the beginning.

21 Sep 2007

Scientists solve genetic code of parasitic worm that causes elephantiasis

More than 150 million people worldwide are infected with filarial parasites -- long, thread-like worms that can live for years inside the human body and cause severe, debilitating diseases such as elephantiasis.

21 Sep 2007

Genes for osteoporosis

Researchers at Hebrew SeniorLife's Institute for Aging Research (IFAR) have examined close to 100,000 genetic markers for low bone mass and aging to help determine which genes are responsible for the development of osteoporosis and longevity.

21 Sep 2007

Heat shock proteins are co-opted for cancer

A Jekyll-Hyde mechanism that both protects healthy cells and enables cancer cells could be the basis for new cancer-fighting drugs.

21 Sep 2007

Computer algorithm traces ancestry using anonymous DNA samples

A group of computer scientists, mathematicians, and biologists from around the world have developed a computer algorithm that can help trace the genetic ancestry of thousands of individuals in minutes, without any prior knowledge of their background.

21 Sep 2007

Cautioned urged on use of personal

Imagine this: you visit your clinician, undergo genetic testing, and then you are handed a miniature hard drive containing your personal genome sequence, which is subsequently uploaded onto publicly accessible databases.

21 Sep 2007

Heat shock proteins are co-opted for cancer

A Jekyll-Hyde mechanism that both protects healthy cells and enables cancer cells could be the basis for new cancer-fighting drugs.

20 Sep 2007

Study looks at mitochondrial variation in sperm traits and sperm competitive ability

University of Nevada, Reno researchers Jeanne and David Zeh of the Department of Biology have received a five-year, $650,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to investigate the effects of natural mitochondrial variation on sperm traits and sperm competitive ability.

20 Sep 2007

Researchers provide genetic associations from a genome-wide scan for cardiovascular disease traits

Researchers from Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM), Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH), and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI), have completed analyses of a genome-wide scan on a group of two generations of participants from the landmark Framingham Heart Study (FHS).

20 Sep 2007

Oxford Genome Sciences partners with Medarex

Oxford Genome Sciences (UK) Ltd (OGeS) has announced a second partnering agreement with Medarex, Inc.

18 Sep 2007

New cell death pathway involved in sperm development

Heavy and bulky sperm would not be good swimmers. To trim down, sperm rely on cell death proteins called caspases, which facilitate the removal of unwanted cellular material and radically remodel these cells into their sleek, light shape.

18 Sep 2007

Rheumatoid arthritis genes

A paper published this week in the open access journal PLoS Medicine provides strong evidence that one specific part of the genome is associated with rheumatoid arthritis.

18 Sep 2007

Gene profiling can single out the worst cases of multiple myeloma and guide therapy

Multiple myeloma patients vary widely in how they respond to treatment, but now researchers at the Myeloma Institute for Research and Therapy at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences have identified a small subset of genes whose activity could predict high-risk cases and potentially guide therapy in the future.

18 Sep 2007

Scientists learn three-dimensional structure of enzyme in unusual virus

Biologists have determined the three-dimensional structure of an unusual viral enzyme that is required in the assembly of new viruses.

18 Sep 2007

The importance of gene regulation for common human disease

A new study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday 16 September 2007 show that common, complex diseases are more likely to be due to genetic variation in regions that control activity of genes, rather than in the regions that specify the protein code.

17 Sep 2007

Powerful new discovery method speeds up gene discovery

Scientists will be able to pinpoint genetic causes of human diseases faster than ever thanks to a powerful new discovery method unveiled by the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research (SFBR) and an international team of researchers.

17 Sep 2007

Loneliness can damage your health

A team of researchers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) may have found a genetic reason why lonely people have poorer health.

14 Sep 2007

New Rensselaer tools speed stem cell research

Engineers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed tools to help solve two of the main problems slowing the progress of stem cell research - how to quickly test stem cell response to different drugs or genes, and how to create a large supply of healthy, viable stem cells to study from only a few available cells.

13 Sep 2007

New understanding of how proteins function in the cell - breakthrough for early cancer diagnosis

Early detection of disease is often critical to how successful treatment can be. Therefore, the development of new methods of diagnosis is a hot research field, where every small step is of great importance.

13 Sep 2007

RecA family recombinases repair DNA damages

A biochemistry research team led by Dr. Andrew H.-J. Wang and Dr. Ting-Fang Wang at the Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica(IBCAS), has discovered that the RecA family recombinases function as a new type of rotary motor proteins to repair DNA damages.

13 Sep 2007