Genomics

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New discovery could help understand and treat glaucoma

Researchers have discovered two distinct groups of short molecules that regulate gene expression in the eyes of people with two different forms of glaucoma.

26 Feb 2018

New low-cost microfluidic device brings single-cell technology to bedside

Single-cell analysis holds enormous potential to study how individual cells influence disease and respond to treatment, but the lack of cost-effective and user-friendly instrumentation remains challenging.

23 Feb 2018

Genetic variants make Asians and Europeans more prone to severe dengue

As globalization and climate change spread tropical infectious diseases around the globe, not all populations have the same degree of susceptibility.

23 Feb 2018

Researchers explore how evolutionary processes guide pathways of cells

Evolution describes how all living forms cope with challenges in their environment, as they struggle to persevere against formidable odds. Mutation and selective pressure--cornerstones of Darwin's theory--are the means by which organisms gain an advantageous foothold or pass into oblivion.

23 Feb 2018

New study identifies mechanisms to lengthen egg viability in worms

Women have been told for years that if they don't have children before their mid-30s, they may not be able to. But a new study from Princeton University's Coleen Murphy has identified a drug that extends egg viability in worms, even when taken midway through the fertile window, which could theoretically extend women's fertility by three to six years.

23 Feb 2018

Researchers describe important step toward gene therapy for patients with Sandhoff disease

Babies with the rare, deadly genetic disorder Sandhoff disease begin to miss developmental milestones just months after birth. Lacking muscle tone, they never learn to sit up, develop heads too large to lift and eventually suffer uncontrollable seizures. There is no cure.

22 Feb 2018

Penn study sheds new light on immune cell identity

Almost all cells in the human body have identical DNA sequences, yet there are 200-plus cell types with different sizes, shapes, and chemical compositions. Determining what parts of the genome are read to make protein and which are silenced is orchestrated by proteins called transcription factors.

21 Feb 2018

Researchers discover five new genetic changes that may increase pancreatic cancer risk

In what is believed to be the largest pancreatic cancer genome-wide association study to date, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute, and collaborators from over 80 other institutions worldwide discovered changes to five new regions in the human genome that may increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.

21 Feb 2018

Some genes can drive both metastasis and initial stages of tumor growth

In spite of the difference between the cell functions responsible for giving rise to a tumor and for the metastasis of this same tumor, studies at IRB Barcelona using the fly Drosophila melanogaster reveal that some genes can drive both phenomena.

21 Feb 2018

Benson Hill Biosystems granted patent for novel genome editing system

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has granted Benson Hill Biosystems Patent No. 9,896,696 related to CRISPR 3.0 Cms1 genome editing nucleases, further expanding the company's suite of genomics tools to accelerate crop performance improvements.

20 Feb 2018

Tiny 'brains on chips' reveal mechanisms underlying brain's wrinkling process

Being born with a "tabula rasa" - a clean slate - in the case of the brain is something of a curse. Our brains are already wrinkled like walnuts by the time we are born. Babies born without these wrinkles - smooth brain syndrome - suffer from severe developmental deficiencies and their life expectancy is markedly reduced.

20 Feb 2018

New computational method helps narrow down genetic targets for autism diagnosis

Autism is a spectrum of closely related symptoms involving behavioral, social and cognitive deficits. Early detection of autism in children is key to producing the best outcomes; however, searching for the genetic causes of autism is complicated by various symptoms found within the spectrum.

20 Feb 2018

Researchers identify fifteen genes that determine our facial features

Researchers from KU Leuven and the universities of Pittsburgh, Stanford, and Penn State have identified fifteen genes that determine our facial features. The findings were published in Nature Genetics.

19 Feb 2018

Study sheds light on biology that guides behavior across different stages of life

Put 50 newborn worms in 50 separate containers, and they'll all start looking for food at roughly the same time. Like members of other species, microscopic C. elegans roundworms tend to act like other individuals their own age.

19 Feb 2018

Gene editing tool used to detect cancer

Researchers have developed a DNA detection system that can detect the presence of bacterial and viral DNA, which could be a valuable diagnostic tool for a range of disorders.

16 Feb 2018

Study: Fox domestication linked to changes in gene activity in the pituitary gland

A study of foxes offers new insights into the brain changes that occur in wild canids as they become more tame, researchers report. The study links fox domestication to changes in gene activity in the pituitary gland, a brain center that kicks out hormones to regulate various bodily functions, including the stress response.

14 Feb 2018

Pfizer to use BC Platforms’ technology solutions to analyze data in cardiovascular diseases

BC Platforms, a world leader in genomic data management and analytics, today announces that Pfizer Finland will be using its technology solutions and research platform, including BCRQUEST.COM, to study data in cardiovascular diseases.

14 Feb 2018

Pioneering research could provide novel insight into how genomic information is read

Pioneering new research could offer a fascinating new insight into how genomic information is read. The human genome contains thousands of genes, but to get the information from a gene requires it to be copied.

13 Feb 2018

New findings about fruit fly's body temperature rhythms may help people sleep better

In findings that one day may help people sleep better, scientists have uncovered the first molecular evidence that two anciently conserved proteins in the brains of insects and mammals share a common biological ancestry as regulators of body temperature rhythms crucial to metabolism and sleep.

13 Feb 2018

Hints to aging lurk in fruit flies’ germline stem cells

Little hints of immortality are lurking in the stem cells of fruit flies. Stem cells that produce sperm use a genetic trick to stay perpetually young across generations, researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute have discovered. Certain sections of the fruit fly genome get shorter with age. But remarkably, some reproductive cells can repair the shrinkage, the researchers report in the journal eLife.

13 Feb 2018