Chromosome News and Research

Latest Chromosome News and Research

Research sheds new light on role of ATRX mutations in brain and pituitary

Research from Western University and Lawson Health Research Institute sheds new light on a gene called ATRX and its function in the brain and pituitary.

9 Apr 2013

FDA grants Breakthrough Therapy Designation for ibrutinib as monotherapy for CLL patients

Pharmacyclics, Inc. announced today that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted an additional Breakthrough Therapy Designation for the investigational oral agent ibrutinib as monotherapy for the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia or small lymphocytic lymphoma patients with deletion of the short arm of chromosome 17 (deletion 17p).

8 Apr 2013

Gene behind Vel blood group discovered

Researchers have uncovered the gene at the root of a human blood group that has remained a mystery for the past 60 years. They showed that a genetic deletion on this gene is responsible for the lack of this blood group in some people.

8 Apr 2013

Fruit fly study offers clues to wound healing

A person's skin and a fruit fly's exoskeleton, called a "cuticle" may not look alike, but both coverings protect against injury, infection, and dehydration.

6 Apr 2013

Researchers diagnose genetic disease in embryonic DNA without biopsy

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technologies allow identification of genetic disorders in human preimplantation embryos after in vitro fertilization (IVF) and before the embryo is transferred back to the patient.

3 Apr 2013

Researchers focus on understanding mechanistic, physiological aspects of conflicts in living cells

Bacteria appear to speed up their evolution by positioning specific genes along the route of expected traffic jams in DNA encoding. Certain genes are in prime collision paths for the moving molecular machineries that read the DNA code, as University of Washington scientists explain in this week's edition of Nature.

30 Mar 2013

European Commission grants conditional marketing authorization for Pfizer's BOSULIF

Pfizer Inc. announced today that the European Commission has granted conditional marketing authorization for BOSULIF (bosutinib) in the European Union for the treatment of adult patients with chronic phase, accelerated phase and blast phase Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myelogenous leukemia previously treated with one or more tyrosine kinase inhibitor(s) and for whom imatinib, nilotinib and dasatinib are not considered appropriate treatment options.

28 Mar 2013

Study links genetic variation, wheezing illness to childhood asthma risk

About 90 percent of children with two copies of a common genetic variation and who wheezed when they caught a cold early in life went on to develop asthma by age 6, according to a study to be published March 28 by the New England Journal of Medicine.

28 Mar 2013

New research confirms correlation between reproduction and lifespan

New research into ageing processes, based on modern genetic techniques, confirms theoretical expectations about the correlation between reproduction and lifespan.

28 Mar 2013

Study examines specific form of autism caused by duplication on chromosome 15

Identifying and understanding the combination of factors that leads to autism is an ongoing scientific challenge. This developmental disorder appears in the first three years of life, and affects the brain's normal development of social and communication skills.

27 Mar 2013

MIT biology professor named Pew's Biomedical Researcher of the Month

Biologist Mary Gehring, Ph.D. is The Pew Charitable Trusts' featured biomedical researcher of the month for her creative research on epigenetics in plants.

25 Mar 2013

Protein with key job in muscle function moonlights in nucleus to help regulate genes

A key building block of life, actin is one of the most abundant and highly conserved proteins in eukaryotic cells.

25 Mar 2013

Study uncovers new relationship between nuclear architecture, gene activity

Every time a cell divides it makes a carbon copy of crucial ingredients, including the histone proteins that are responsible for spooling yards of DNA into tight little coils.

25 Mar 2013

Study reveals role of SNX27 protein in brain function

What is it about the extra chromosome inherited in Down syndrome-chromosome 21-that alters brain and body development? Researchers at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute have new evidence that points to a protein called sorting nexin 27, or SNX27.

25 Mar 2013

Researchers complete phase II clinical trial of dasatinib for patients with higher-risk MDS

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center have completed a phase II clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of dasatinib for patients with higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, chronic myelomonocytic leukemia, or acute myeloid leukemia resulting from MDS and have failed treatment with azanucleosides.

21 Mar 2013

Novel modification of structural protein implicated

Studying a protein that gives structure to the nucleus of cells, Johns Hopkins researchers stumbled upon mutations associated with familial partial lipodystrophy, a rare disease that disrupts normal patterns of fat distribution throughout the body.

21 Mar 2013

Study explores new mechanism that may contribute to development of cancers

A study published today in the journal Nature Genetics explores a new mechanism that may contribute to the development of several tumours, including Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, a type of cancer that affects more than a thousand new patients in Spain each year.

20 Mar 2013

Research reveals immortality gene mutation plays pivotal role in brain tumors, other cancers

Newly identified mutations in a gene that makes cells immortal appear to play a pivotal role in three of the most common types of brain tumors, as well as cancers of the liver, tongue and urinary tract, according to research led by Duke Cancer Institute.

19 Mar 2013

CHOP expert to receive Pediatric Oncology Award from ASCO

The American Society of Clinical Oncology today announced it will confer one of its highest awards on pediatric oncologist Garrett M. Brodeur, M.D., of the Cancer Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

16 Mar 2013

Non-invasive prenatal genetic screening: an interview with Dr. Charles Strom, Senior Medical Director, Quest Diagnostics

A new category of non-invasive genetic screening tests is gaining a great deal of interest in the medical field – including from Quest Diagnostics -- for its potential to help screen women during pregnancy for genetic abnormalities known as trisomies, the most common of which is Down syndrome.

From Quest Diagnostics 13 Mar 2013