Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Agena releases MassARRAY 24-Well System for mass spectrometry-based genetic testing

Agena Bioscience today released the MassARRAY 24-Well System for mass spectrometry-based genetic analysis, adding to its existing MassARRAY portfolio. The new 24-well format is tailored to smaller clinical testing laboratories requiring modest sample throughput, reduced initial hardware costs, and reduced time to result.

24 Feb 2015

Johns Hopkins scientists identify genetic pathway that may spur cancer cell growth in children

Working with cells taken from children with a very rare but ferocious form of brain cancer, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have identified a genetic pathway that acts as a master regulator of thousands of other genes and may spur cancer cell growth and resistance to anticancer treatment.

24 Feb 2015

Epigenome plays significant part in embryonic development

The early stages of embryonic development shape our cells and tissues for life. It is during this time that our newly formed cells are transformed into heart, skin, nerve or other cell types. Scientists are finding that this process is largely controlled not by the genome, but by the epigenome, chemical markers on DNA that tell cells when to turn genes on and off.

24 Feb 2015

Researchers find key protein critical to the success of common anti-platelet drug Plavix

Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have found that the blood platelet protein Rasa3 is critical to the success of the common anti-platelet drug Plavix, which breaks up blood clots during heart attacks and other arterial diseases.

24 Feb 2015

MD Anderson researchers find way to predict patients who may respond to BRAF inhibitors

Powerful drugs known as BRAF-inhibitors have been crucial for melanoma patients, saving lives through their ability to turn off the BRAF protein's power to spur cancer cell growth.

24 Feb 2015

Virginia Tech biochemists identify potential drug target against sleeping sickness

Virginia Tech biochemists are trying to deliver a stern wake-up call to the parasite that causes sleeping sickness.

24 Feb 2015

Finding opens avenues of research toward precision treatments to boost life expectancy for CF patients

Mutation of one gene is all it takes to get cystic fibrosis (CF), but disease severity depends on many other genes and proteins. For the first time, researchers at the UNC School of Medicine have identified genetic pathways - or clusters of genes - that play major roles in why one person with CF might never experience the worse kinds of symptoms while another person will battle severe airway infection for a lifetime.

23 Feb 2015

‘Most’ cirrhotic HBV patients benefit from adding adefovir to lamivudine

Response-guided addition of adefovir to lamivudine-based therapy not only maintains long-term viral suppression in Chinese chronic hepatitis B patients with compensated liver cirrhosis, research suggests, but also improves liver function.

23 Feb 2015

Researchers develop targeted approach that allows muscle to burn more energy

What started as an evolutionary protection against starvation has become a biological "bad joke" for people who need to lose weight. The human body doesn't distinguish between dieting and possible starvation, so when there is a decrease in calories consumed, human metabolism increases its energy efficiency and weight loss is resisted.

23 Feb 2015

Mayo Clinic researchers identify molecule that lays groundwork for development of pancreatic cancer

A research team led by investigators from Mayo Clinic's campus in Jacksonville, Florida, and the University of Oslo, Norway, have identified a molecule that pushes normal pancreatic cells to transform their shape, laying the groundwork for development of pancreatic cancer -- one of the most difficult tumors to treat.

21 Feb 2015

23andMe granted FDA approval to market direct-to-consumer genetic test under novel device classification

23andMe, Inc., the leading personal genetics company, today announced that it has been granted authority by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market the first direct-to-consumer genetic test under a regulatory classification for novel devices.

20 Feb 2015

Study: Growth hormone can improve social impairment in patients with Phelan-McDermid syndrome

A growth hormone can significantly improve the social impairment associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in patients with a related genetic syndrome, according to a pilot study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published yesterday on Pub Med, a public database of biomedical topics maintained by the National Institutes of Health (study originally published in the December 12 issue of the journal Molecular Autism).

20 Feb 2015

Study helps solve mystery about how genetic variations can increase cancer risk

Single-letter genetic variations within parts of the genome once dismissed as 'junk DNA' can increase cancer risk through wormhole-like effects on far-off genes, new research shows.

19 Feb 2015

Research findings could someday lead to new treatments for patients with autism and cancer

In recent years, scientists have found a surprising a connection between some people with autism and certain cancer patients: They have mutations in the same gene, one that codes for a protein critical for normal cellular health. Now scientists have reported in the ACS journal Biochemistry that the defects reduce the activity and stability of the protein.

19 Feb 2015

UT Dallas study reports new gene therapy approach

Bioengineers at The University of Texas at Dallas have created a novel gene-delivery system that shuttles a gene into a cell, but only for a temporary stay, providing a potential new gene-therapy strategy for treating disease.

19 Feb 2015

Duke researchers demonstrate genetic therapeutic technique to treat DMD patients

Duke researchers have demonstrated a genetic therapeutic technique that has the potential to treat more than half of the patients suffering from Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy (DMD).

19 Feb 2015

Weill Cornell receives NIH grant to study TB-causing bacteria

In an effort to stop tuberculosis (TB) from becoming progressively less treatable worldwide, the National Institutes of Health has awarded Weill Cornell Medical College more than $6.2 million in first-year funding to support a research collaboration among six institutions in close alliance with voluntary pharmaceutical partners.

19 Feb 2015

New molecule shows promise in controlling HIV without using daily antiretroviral drugs

Scientists have created a new molecule that shows promise for controlling HIV without daily antiretroviral drugs. The molecule foils a wider range of HIV strains in the laboratory than any known broadly neutralizing HIV antibody and is more powerful than some of the most potent of these antibodies.

19 Feb 2015

Researchers assemble comprehensive map of human epigenome

Virtually every cell in the body carries an identical genome. But how is it possible that each of the body's 200 different types of specialized cells - in the heart, brain, bone, skin and elsewhere - develops from the same DNA instruction book?

19 Feb 2015

Scientists map autism genetic pathway that regulates brain development

Scientists at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found that mutations that cause autism in children are connected to a pathway that regulates brain development. The research, led by Lilia Iakoucheva, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry, is published in the February 18 issue of Neuron.

19 Feb 2015

Gene News and Research

Latest Gene News and Research

Agena releases MassARRAY 24-Well System for mass spectrometry-based genetic testing

Johns Hopkins scientists identify genetic pathway that may spur cancer cell growth in children

Epigenome plays significant part in embryonic development

Researchers find key protein critical to the success of common anti-platelet drug Plavix

MD Anderson researchers find way to predict patients who may respond to BRAF inhibitors

Virginia Tech biochemists identify potential drug target against sleeping sickness

Finding opens avenues of research toward precision treatments to boost life expectancy for CF patients

‘Most’ cirrhotic HBV patients benefit from adding adefovir to lamivudine

Researchers develop targeted approach that allows muscle to burn more energy

Mayo Clinic researchers identify molecule that lays groundwork for development of pancreatic cancer

23andMe granted FDA approval to market direct-to-consumer genetic test under novel device classification

Study: Growth hormone can improve social impairment in patients with Phelan-McDermid syndrome

Study helps solve mystery about how genetic variations can increase cancer risk

Research findings could someday lead to new treatments for patients with autism and cancer

UT Dallas study reports new gene therapy approach

Duke researchers demonstrate genetic therapeutic technique to treat DMD patients

Weill Cornell receives NIH grant to study TB-causing bacteria

New molecule shows promise in controlling HIV without using daily antiretroviral drugs

Researchers assemble comprehensive map of human epigenome

Scientists map autism genetic pathway that regulates brain development

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