Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Statistical analysis could yield new drug target for multiple sclerosis

An elaborate statistical analysis of genes from more than 7,000 individuals has identified an amino acid that appears to be a major risk factor for multiple sclerosis, a devastating autoimmune disorder that afflicts 2.5 million people worldwide.

15 Feb 2009

From the works of Shakespeare to the genomes of viruses

What does uncovering the true authorship of plays attributed to Shakespeare have to do with identifying our genetic ancestors or classifying new life forms?

11 Feb 2009

Researchers give mutants another chance

Researchers at Fox Chase Cancer Center have demonstrated that it might be possible to treat genetic diseases, including some forms of cancer, by "rescuing" the misshapen, useless proteins produced by some mutant genes.

11 Feb 2009

Volcanoes in the genome, blowing out pieces of DNA

Roughly 10 million years ago, a major genetic change occurred in a common ancestor of gorillas, chimpanzees, and humans.

11 Feb 2009

2 genes influence social behavior, visual-spatial performance in people with Williams syndrome

Unraveling the genetics of social behavior and cognitive abilities, researchers at the University of Utah and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have traced the role of two genes,GTF2I and GTF2IRD, in a rare genetic disorder known as Williams Syndrome.

11 Feb 2009

Genetic risk for substance use can be neutralized by good parenting

A genetic risk factor that increases the likelihood that youth will engage in substance use can be neutralized by high levels of involved and supportive parenting, according to a new University of Georgia study.

10 Feb 2009

Researchers identify mutation that causes inflammatory bowel disease

A team of scientists at The Scripps Research Institute has linked a mouse mutation to an increased susceptibility for developing inflammatory bowel disease -- represented in humans as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, which together are estimated to affect more than a million people in the United States.

10 Feb 2009

Targeted immune cells shrink tumors in mice

Researchers have generated altered immune cells that are able to shrink, and in some cases eradicate, large tumors in mice.

10 Feb 2009

Long-sought protein structure may help reveal how ‘gene switch’ works

The bacterium behind one of mankind's deadliest scourges, tuberculosis, is helping researchers at the Commerce Department's National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Department of Energy's Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) move closer to answering the decades-old question of what controls the switching on and off of genes that carry out all of life's functions.

10 Feb 2009

Gene controllers crucial for cancer spread

Cancer Research UK scientists have pinpointed two proteins that work together to help cancer cells spread around the body, reveals a study published in Nature Cell Biology.

10 Feb 2009

Discovery of gene network that gave rise to first tooth

A paper in this week's PLoS Biology reports that a common gene regulatory circuit controls the development of all dentitions, from the first teeth in the throats of jawless fishes that lived half a billion years ago, to the incisors and molars of modern vertebrates, including you and me.

10 Feb 2009

Could a hereditary illness ever spread by contamination?

Researchers at the CNRS Laboratoire d'enzymologie et biochimie structurales, studying Huntington's disease in collaboration with Professor Ron Kopito's team at Stanford University, have shown that the normal form of huntingtin protein can acquire an abnormal form without any modification of its genetic code.

10 Feb 2009

Micro RNA plays a key role in melanoma metastasis

Scientists have long wondered how melanoma cells travel from primary tumors on the surface of the skin to the brain, liver and lungs, where they become more aggressive, resistant to therapy, and deadly.

9 Feb 2009

New genomic test can personalize breast cancer treatment

A set of 50 genes can be used to reliably identify the four known types of breast cancer, according to research conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and collaborating institutions.

9 Feb 2009

Discovery of potential treatment for Rett syndrome

A molecule that promotes brain development could serve as a possible treatment for Rett syndrome, the most common form of autism in girls, according to researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.

9 Feb 2009

Lack of specific gene plays role in autism

It is estimated that three to six out of every 1,000 children in the United States have autism - and the number of diagnosed cases is rising.

9 Feb 2009

Vitamin B and folic acid - a new and safe treatment for migraine

A new Australian study has revealed that the occurrence and intensity of migraine may be lessened by taking vitamin B and folic acid.

9 Feb 2009

New understanding of blinding degenerative eye conditions

Though based on mouse studies, the research bolsters the idea that humans suffering from these and other eye conditions may be able to help preserve function by adding antioxidants to their diet, and explains why this would work.

8 Feb 2009

Kidney damage causes high blood pressure

Doctors have long believed that high blood pressure directly caused kidney damage.

8 Feb 2009

New genes involved in acute lymphoblastic leukemia play fundamental role in prognosis of the disease

The inactivity or "silence" of certain genes plays a fundamental role in the prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia as well as in response to treatment, according to the results of research involving a team made up of specialists from the University Hospital of Navarra and the Center for Applied Medical Research at the same University of Navarra, as well as the Reina Sofía Hospital in Cordoba, Andalusia.

8 Feb 2009