Chromosome News and Research

Latest Chromosome News and Research

Link between variant in the sequence of the human genome and susceptibility to nicotine dependence

Cigarette smoking is a major public health problem that contributes to millions of deaths around the world each year.

3 Apr 2008

Y chromosome provides new insights into human ancestry

The Y chromosome retains a remarkable record of human ancestry, since it is passed directly from father to son.

2 Apr 2008

Racial differences in response to bowel cancer genetic risk factor

Scientists have for the first time discovered that people with the same cancer susceptibility genes respond differently depending on their race.

1 Apr 2008

Genetic test improves artificial fertilization

Polar body diagnosis can make artificial fertilization more successful, according to Katrin and Hans van der Ven and Markus Montag of Bonn University Clinic, writing in the current edition of Deutsches Arzteblatt International (Dtsch Arztebl Int 2008; 105[11]: 190-6).

31 Mar 2008

Researchers examine human embryonic stem cell genome

Stem cell researchers from UCLA used a high resolution technique to examine the genome, or total DNA content, of a pair of human embryonic stem cell lines and found that while both lines could form neurons, the lines had differences in the numbers of certain genes that could control such things as individual traits and disease susceptibility.

31 Mar 2008

Potential new genetic markers for Crohn's disease

What is believed to be the largest study of its kind for the genetic roots of inflammatory bowel diseases has suggested new links to Crohn's Disease as well as further evidence that some people of Jewish descent are more likely to develop it.

28 Mar 2008

Key factor in brain development revealed, offers insight into lissencephaly

In the earliest days of brain development, the brain's first cells - neuroepithelial stem cells - divide continuously, producing a population of cells that eventually evolves into the various cells of the fully formed brain.

28 Mar 2008

Study examines association between type of genetic characteristics and cancer

Persons with a certain type of homozygosity (having two identical copies of the same gene, one inherited from each parent), may have a greater predisposition to cancer, according to a study in the March 26 issue of JAMA.

26 Mar 2008

Stanford researchers unmask proteins in telomerase

One of the more intriguing workhorses of the cell, a protein conglomerate called telomerase, has in its short history been implicated in some critical areas of medicine including cancer, aging and keeping stem cells healthy.

24 Mar 2008

Toxic organophosphates appear to contribute to motor neuron disease

Motor neuron disease is a rare, devastating illness in which nerve cells that carry brain signals to muscles gradually deteriorate.

24 Mar 2008

Low levels of dietary folate linked to sperm abnormalities

Healthy men who report lower levels of the nutrient folate in their diets have higher rates of chromosomal abnormalities in their sperm, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.

20 Mar 2008

New study confirms that PROGENSA PCA3 can improve accuracy of prostate cancer diagnosis

New clinical data from a study of 570 men published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Urology support the use of PROGENSA PCA3 as a tool for diagnosing prostate cancer. The study confirms that PROGENSA PCA3, the world's first gene-based urine test to help detect prostate cancer, can provide clinicians with valuable information that helps guide diagnosis.

20 Mar 2008