Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

UH scientists recommend new drug strategies for chronic diseases

Researchers at the University of Houston (UH) are recommending a new strategy for developing drugs to treat cancer, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer's and cardiovascular diseases.

21 Oct 2011

New 'law of biology' can predict patient-specific health events

Bioengineers from Rice University and physicians from Emory University are going to test whether a new "law of biology" can predict when a critically ill patient is about to worsen, and more importantly, which treatment is likely to prevent it.

21 Oct 2011

CERT gene silencing makes breast cancer cells more sensitive to drugs

CANCER RESEARCH UK scientists have discovered that switching off a gene called CERT makes breast cancer cells more sensitive to a range of drugs. The research is published in the Journal of Pathology.

21 Oct 2011

Agilent announces winners of 2011 eMerging Insights grant program

Agilent Technologies Inc. today announced the winners of the 2011 eMerging Insights grant program: Dr. Michael J. MacCoss of the University of Washington and Dr. Peter J. Park of Harvard University. Each will be awarded $75,000 toward their ongoing research on open source data-integration tools.

21 Oct 2011

A more accurate blood test to detect fetal Downs syndrome launched

Pregnant mothers in the U.S. who wish to know whether they're carrying a fetus with Down syndrome now have access to a commercial genetic blood test that has a 99 per cent accuracy rate.

20 Oct 2011

Women with MET genetic variant and autoantibodies more likely to have autistic children

A study by researchers at UC Davis has found that pregnant women with a particular gene variation are more likely to produce autoantibodies to the brains of their developing fetuses and that the children of these mothers are at greater risk of later being diagnosed with autism.

20 Oct 2011

RCSI study: Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency more prevalent in Ireland

Researchers from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI), Beaumont Hospital, and Trinity College Dublin have conducted a study which has found that Ireland has one of the highest incidences in the world of a genetic condition that causes severe hereditary emphysema.

20 Oct 2011

New sequencing method can identify genetic variants linked to ASD

Geneticists at Emory University School of Medicine have demonstrated a method that enables the routine amplification of all the genes on the X chromosome. The technology allows the rapid and highly accurate sequencing and identification of novel genetic variants affecting X chromosome genes.

19 Oct 2011

RetroSense, WSU sign license agreement for channelrhodopsin-based approaches

RetroSense Therapeutics, LLC, a Michigan-based company, announced that it has executed its exclusive, worldwide option and signed a license agreement for novel gene-therapy approaches for treating blindness developed at Wayne State University's School of Medicine.

19 Oct 2011

AR gene has opposite effects on prostate and breast cancers

Researchers at Cleveland Clinic have discovered that a gene - known as an androgen receptor (AR) - is found in both prostate and breast cancers yet has opposite effects on these diseases.

18 Oct 2011

Potential new protein target for pulmonary hypertension

A protein critical to development appears to have a grave impact on lungs exposed to smoking and air pollution, researchers report.

18 Oct 2011

Accera identifies genetic profile of AD patients with heightened response to Axona

Accera, Inc., a biotech company specializing in cognitive health, announced today that it has identified the genetic profile of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) patients who have a high probability of responding to Axona (AC-1202), a prescription medical food product available at pharmacies nationwide.

18 Oct 2011

FDA approves Oxford BioMedica's UshStat IND to treat Usher syndrome type 1B

Oxford BioMedica plc, the leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company, today announces that the US Food and Drug Administration has approved its Investigational New Drug application for the Phase I/IIa clinical development of UshStat, a novel gene-based treatment for Usher syndrome type 1B.

18 Oct 2011

Genomatix is among the 41 partners of BLUEPRINT epigenome consortium

Genomatix is among the 41 partners of the BLUEPRINT epigenome consortium funded by the European Commission as a high impact project within its seventh framework program.

18 Oct 2011

Patients with AB blood type 20% less likely to die after CABG surgery

A new study presented at ANESTHESIOLOGY 2011 focused on whether blood type affects survival after heart surgery. Researchers from Duke University Medical Center studied more than 15,000 patients to determine if a specific blood type puts patients at a higher risk for death or complications after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

18 Oct 2011

High glucose and oxidative stress stimulate AMPK in embryo

In a paper published today in Diabetologia, a team at Joslin Diabetes Center, headed by Mary R. Loeken, PhD, has identified the enzyme AMP kinase (AMPK) as key to the molecular mechanism that significantly increases the risk of neural tube defects such as spina bifida and some heart defects among babies born to women with diabetes.

18 Oct 2011

Scientists identify genes that act in muscles to modulate aging and resistance to stress

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have identified a set of genes that act in muscles to modulate aging and resistance to stress in fruit flies.

18 Oct 2011

NEP successfully inserts specific doses of anti-cancer gene into leukemia cells

For the first time, researchers have found a way to inject a precise dose of a gene therapy agent directly into a single living cell without a needle.

18 Oct 2011

Viewpoints: Class Act's effect on health law; new prescriptions for Medicare; food marketing to kids

Now that one of ObamaCare's major new benefit programs has been scrapped, liberals are trying to make stone soup by claiming that the Obama Administration merely committed an act of "good government." They claim that when this long-term care insurance program proved to be unworkable, the Administration conceded as much, and now it's gone. So let's review the evidence, not least because it so perfectly illustrates the recklessness that produced the Affordable Care Act.

18 Oct 2011

Scientists discover enzyme that acts as a 'fertility switch'

Scientists have discovered an enzyme that acts as a 'fertility switch', in a study published in Nature Medicine today. High levels of the protein are associated with infertility, while low levels make a woman more likely to have a miscarriage, the research has shown.

18 Oct 2011