Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

A model of melanoma generates hope for the use of targeted therapies

Researchers have developed a new mouse model that allows them to replicate normal pigment cells at the earliest stages of conversion to malignant skin cancer in humans.

12 Mar 2009

Researchers look at genetic dynamics of inbreeding depression

Researchers have taken a first look at the broad genetic changes that accompany reproductive declines in inbred populations.

12 Mar 2009

Parkinson's-linked mutation makes neurons vulnerable to calcium-induced death

A new study reveals the mechanism by which a genetic mutation linked with Parkinson's disease (PD) renders dopamine neurons particularly vulnerable to cell injury and death.

12 Mar 2009

Certain gene variations protect against cervical cancer

Women with certain gene variations appear to be protected against cervical cancer, according to a study led by scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and reported in Clinical Cancer Research.

12 Mar 2009

Oncolytics Biotech (TSX:ONC, NASDAQ:ONCY) starts U.S. enrolment in trial for non-small cell lung cancer patients

Oncolytics Biotech Inc. has announced that it has started patient enrolment in a Phase 2 clinical trial using intravenous administration of Reolysin in combination with paclitaxel and carboplatin in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with K-RAS or EGFR-activated tumours.

12 Mar 2009

New project to develop blood tests for heart disease and stroke

The landmark Framingham Heart Study (FHS) is launching a major initiative to discover risk factors and markers that could lead to new blood tests to identify individuals at high risk of heart disease and stroke.

12 Mar 2009

Roche (SWX: ROG.VX; RO.S) and Genentech (NYSE:DNA) agree to combine

Roche and Genentech announced today that they signed a merger agreement under which Roche will acquire the outstanding publicly held interest in Genentech for US$95.00 per share in cash, or a total payment of approximately US$46.8 billion to equity holders of Genentech other than Roche.

12 Mar 2009

Testosterone doping tests in sport ignore ethnic differences in hormone activity

Current steroid (testosterone) doping tests should be scrapped for international sport, because they ignore vital ethnic differences in hormone activity, suggests research published ahead of print in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

11 Mar 2009

Smokers' chronic obstructive pulmonary disease risk is genetic

It's well known that puffing on cigarettes can eventually leave you out of puff.

11 Mar 2009

Discovery of new pathway that regulates inflammation

Inflammation, the body's earliest response to damage or infection, can aid the healing process and trigger an immune response against invading pathogens.

11 Mar 2009

Discovery of cellular pathway that prevents cancer response to diet restriction

Whitehead Institute researchers have pinpointed a cellular pathway that determines whether cancerous tumors respond to dietary restriction during their development.

11 Mar 2009

Bioinformatics sheds light on evolutionary origin of Rickettsia virulence genes

Scientists from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech, the University of Maryland School of Medicine, and the University of Louisville have revealed that genes for a specific type of molecular secretion system in Rickettsia, a structure that is linked in many cases to virulence, have been conserved over many years of evolution.

11 Mar 2009

University at Buffalo to receive $4.9 million in stem cell research funds from New York State

The University at Buffalo will receive $4.9 million in funding to conduct research on stem cells, part of a new investment in stem cell research announced yesterday by New York State Governor David A. Paterson.

11 Mar 2009

Cell pathway on overdrive prevents cancer response to dietary restriction

Whitehead Institute researchers have pinpointed a cellular pathway that determines whether cancerous tumors respond to dietary restriction during their development.

11 Mar 2009

Researchers create gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell

Researchers have crafted a gene circuit that permits precise tuning of a gene's expression in a cell, an advance that should allow for more accurate analysis of the gene's role in normal and abnormal cellular function.

11 Mar 2009

Small molecules block cancer gene

Finding molecules that block the activity of the oncogene Stat 3 (signal transducer and activator of transcription) required screening literally millions of compounds, using computers that compared the structure of the cancer-causing gene to those of the small molecules, said a Baylor College of Medicine researcher in a report that appears in the current online issue of the journal PLoS One (Public Library of Science ONE).

11 Mar 2009