Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Over-produced PKC-iota oncogene linked to poor pancreatic cancer patient survival

Researchers at the Mayo Clinic campus in Florida have found that PKC-iota (PKC), an oncogene important in colon and lung cancers, is over-produced in pancreatic cancer and is linked to poor patient survival. They also found that genetically inhibiting PKC in laboratory animals led to a significant decrease in pancreatic tumor growth and spread.

24 Feb 2010

AutoGenomics launches expanded test panel to detect 17 B-RAF mutations

AutoGenomics, a leader in providing automated, molecular testing solutions announced today that it has launched an expanded test panel to detect 17 B-RAF mutations for research use to enhance the understanding of B-RAF mutations.

24 Feb 2010

Mouse study provides new way to test novel therapies for liver infections

How do you study-and try to cure in the laboratory-an infection that only humans can get? A team led by Salk Institute researchers does it by generating a mouse with an almost completely human liver.

24 Feb 2010

Gene expression in prostate cancer cell more complex than ever imagined

Scientists from Sydney's Garvan Institute of Medical Research have published a paper, online today in Nature Cell Biology, describing gene expression in a prostate cancer cell: more sweeping, more targeted and more complex than we could ever have imagined, even five years ago.

24 Feb 2010

AMT announces full year 2009 results; reports modest decrease in operating expenses

Amsterdam Molecular Therapeutics, a leader in the field of human gene therapy, today reported its results for the year to December 31, 2009.

24 Feb 2010

Scientists identify key mechanism of drug resistance in breast cancer patients

CANCER RESEARCH UK funded scientists have discovered why some breast cancers are resistant to the commonly used drug tamoxifen, their findings are published in Cancer Research.

24 Feb 2010

Study may help in defining better therapeutic strategies for oral and throat cancer

Mayo Clinic researchers along with collaborators from Life Technologies are reporting on the application of a new approach for sequencing RNA to study cancer tumors. Their findings from a proof-of-principle study on oral carcinomas appear in the current issue of PLoS One, the online science journal.

24 Feb 2010

New genetic data may help predict risk for end-stage kidney disease

Israeli and American researchers have identified new genetic data that could be used in the future to predict who will develop end-stage kidney disease (ESKD). ESKD requires dialysis or transplantation to sustain life, and is fatal in most regions of the world, where these treatments are not available.

24 Feb 2010

Pathogen study could provide new insights on gene regulation

About 50 percent of the world's population carry Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in their gastrointestinal tract - 30 percent of the German population are infected. Besides cancer, these bacteria are linked to other chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease.

24 Feb 2010

New Barts Cancer Research UK Centre launched

A new cancer centre, launched today, puts London at the forefront of cancer research.

23 Feb 2010

Key mechanism that makes brain cells become tumorous identified

Researchers from the Peninsula Medical School in Plymouth (UK), the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, Cornell University in New York, Weil Medical College in New York and the Center for Neural Tumour Research in Los Angeles, have for the first time identified a key mechanism that makes certain cells become tumorous in the brain. The resulting tumours occur most often spontaneously but can also occur in numbers as part of the inherited disease Neurofibromatosis type 2.

23 Feb 2010

Unique resource for families facing hereditary breast and ovarian cancer

When she was forty-two, Joi Morris learned that she has a genetic mutation on a gene known as BRCA2. This meant that her risk of getting breast cancer could be as high as 84 percent by age seventy, and that her risk for ovarian cancer was also high.

23 Feb 2010

Combination of MRI and mammography reduces mortality rate in high-risk women

Annual breast cancer screening with both mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is likely to be a cost-effective way to improve life expectancy in women with an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a new study published in the March issue of Radiology.

23 Feb 2010

Research reveals human Chlamydia pneumoniae has originated from animal source

Animals have been found to have infected humans sometime in the past with the common respiratory disease Chlamydia pneumoniae, according to Queensland University of Technology infectious disease expert Professor Peter Timms.

23 Feb 2010

NIH awards Sanaria Phase II SBIR grant to develop genetically attenuated, whole parasite malaria vaccine

Sanaria Inc. has received additional support from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health in the form of a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Grant. The three-year award totaling approximately $3 million will support collaborative research by investigators at Sanaria and Columbia University.

23 Feb 2010

Gene study provides new clues to fight infections

Investigators at The Methodist Hospital Research Institute in Houston examined for the first time the long-term response to strep throat on a genome-wide level, shedding light on how group A streptococcus interacts with the patient's immune system and attempts to circumvent it.

23 Feb 2010

Medical test for aging adults could be helpful in determining infants’ intestinal conditions

A medical test initially researched for aging adults also could be helpful for premature babies, according to scientists with Texas AgriLife Research.

23 Feb 2010

UCI researchers create new breed of flightless mosquitoes for dengue control

UCI researchers and colleagues from Oxitec Ltd. and the University of Oxford created the new breed. Flightless females are expected to die quickly in the wild, curtailing the number of mosquitoes and reducing - or even eliminating - dengue transmission. Males of the strain can fly but do not bite or convey disease.

23 Feb 2010

New gene locus influencing risk for atrial fibrillation identified

Atrial fibrillation is a cardiac arrhythmia - a chronic irregularity of heartbeat - which affects an estimated 1 million people in Germany. Although the condition is not acutely life-threatening, it does increase the risk of developing more serious illnesses, such as cardiac insufficiency, stroke and dementia. In the third of a series of genomewide asssociation studies, an international team of researchers, led by LMU physician PD Dr. Stefan K--b, now reports the identification of a new gene locus that has a significant influence on risk for atrial fibrillation.

22 Feb 2010

Researchers identify common gene variant associated with atrial fibrillation

An international research team has identified a common gene variant associated with a form of the irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation. In their report in the journal Nature Genetics, being published online, the investigators describe finding that variations affecting a protein that may help control the heart's electrical activity appear to increase the risk of what is called lone atrial fibrillation (AF), a type seen in younger individuals with no other form of heart disease.

22 Feb 2010