Chromosome News and Research

Latest Chromosome News and Research

Researchers discover new mutational phenomenon chromothripsis in cancer

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and EMBL-EBI have carried out the largest analysis across cancer types of the newly discovered mutational phenomenon chromothripsis.

6 Feb 2020

Cancer mutations may arise decades before diagnosis

Researchers at EMBL's European Bioinformatics Institute and the Francis Crick Institute have analyzed the whole genomes of over 2600 tumors from 38 different cancer types to determine the chronology of genomic changes during cancer development.

5 Feb 2020

Developing tests for genetic signs could lead to earlier cancer detection

Early signs of cancer can appear years before diagnosis and developing tests for these genetic signs could provide new ways to spot cancer early, according to new research led by the Crick and EMBL-EBI, and supported by an international cancer genomics consortium, the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Project.

4 Feb 2020

Coronavirus could spread explosively, tight control needed

The coronavirus may be taking a higher toll of life than we thought, say scientists, in a new study published on January 30, 2020, in The Lancet. But another startling new study based on mathematical modeling, published in the same journal, predicts that almost 76,000 people may have acquired the infection in Wuhan city, and that multiple epidemics in major connected cities inside and outside China may already be brewing. Yet the death rate is markedly low, in this case.

3 Feb 2020

Daily alcohol consumption ages brain

There are several studies looking at the effects of alcohol intake on the brain. Anew study adds to the existing knowledge. The large study with around 11,651 participants from United Kingdom shows that each gram of alcohol consumed could lead to around a week of aging of the brain.

2 Feb 2020

Research opens the door to healthier white bread

Group identifies the parts of the wheat genome that control fiber content of white flour – raises hope that products will be in supermarkets within five years.

31 Jan 2020

Successful gene therapy trial in patients with X-linked Chronic Septic Granulomatosis

American and British teams led by Drs Kohn (University of California, Los Angeles), Malech (NIH), Williams (Boston Children's) and Trasher (Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health) published yesterday in Nature Medicine the conclusive results of a gene therapy trial conducted in the United States and Great Britain in 9 patients with X-linked Chronic Septic Granulomatosis (X-CGD), a rare and severe immune dysfunction. Six of them are free of treatment for complications generated by the disease.

28 Jan 2020

New gene correction therapy for hereditary muscular disease among children

Duchenne type muscular dystrophy is the most common hereditary muscular disease among children, leaving them wheelchair-bound before the age of twelve and reducing life expectancy.

27 Jan 2020

Healing and hope for families affected by fragile X in Eastern Europe

Mothers and fathers and their young children crowded into an old, government-run children's hospital in Belgrade, Serbia, colorful, cartoonish drawings covering its hallway walls. Parents struggled to soothe their anxious, wriggly boys and girls. But they were patient, polite. It was, after all, a day unlike any other. A day for hope.

23 Jan 2020

New discovery changes the understanding of gene expression

A group of University of Chicago scientists has uncovered a previously unknown way that our genes are made into reality.

22 Jan 2020

Oldest African DNA on record shines light on the deep human past

A team of international researchers, which includes a Saint Louis University Madrid anthropologist, dug deep to find some of the oldest African DNA on record, in a new study published in Nature.

22 Jan 2020

First randomized clinical trial compares targeted therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the Chinese Children's Cancer Group led the first randomized, Phase III clinical trial comparing targeted therapies for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) driven by the Philadelphia chromosome.

17 Jan 2020

3D structure of DNA is 'rewired' in hormone-resistant ER+ breast cancers

Epigenetic changes occur in the DNA of breast cancer cells that have developed a resistance to hormone therapy, an effective treatment for ER+ breast cancer, which accounts for 70% of all diagnoses.

16 Jan 2020

Princeton researchers uncover vital role played by a protein elevated in many cancers

Researchers at Princeton University have successfully recreated a key process involved in cell division in a test tube, uncovering the vital role played by a protein that is elevated in over 25% of all cancers.

14 Jan 2020

Study sheds new light on impact of common plasticizer on human reproductive health

Researchers at Harvard Medical School and the New York State Department of Health have discovered how a common plasticizer associated with human reproductive abnormalities likely does its damage at the molecular level.

10 Jan 2020

Common genetic defect in prostate cancer associated with worse prognosis

Like security screening to make sure nothing harmful makes its way into a crowded area, cells in the human body use checkpoints to control their growth and prevent harmful mutations from making their way into new cell populations and causing trouble.

9 Jan 2020

Dog study suggests that AAV in gene therapy could induce cancer

A gene therapy study in dogs has stirred up old fears that by using AAV in gene therapy, it may be increasing cancer chances.

8 Jan 2020

Drug trial seeking treatment option for hyperphagia in patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome

One in every 15,000 children is affected by Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS), a complex, genetic endocrine condition caused by a disorder of chromosome 15. It's non-inheritable, meaning the condition isn't passed down from a family member.

3 Jan 2020

Inserting end-modified DNA fragments with CRISPR-Cas9 yields highest efficiency

University of Illinois researchers achieved the highest reported rates of inserting genes into human cells with the CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing system, a necessary step for harnessing CRISPR for clinical gene-therapy applications.

23 Dec 2019

New, faster and cheaper method to uncover genetic variants in single cells

Researchers led by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and the Center for Bioinformatics at Saarland University in Saarbrücken, Germany, have developed a cheaper and faster method to check for genetic differences in individual cells, which outperforms existing techniques with respect to the information received.

23 Dec 2019