Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

New search method could aid in the discovery of biomarkers for breast cancer

Using a super-efficient method they invented to search for a type of cancer-related change in all genes of a cell, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute researchers have discovered new evidence about how the "microenvironment" of breast cancers helps drive the cancers' growth and migration.

13 Jul 2005

Researchers gain better understanding of how nerves need to be reconnected after spinal cord injury

Nerve cells relay messages at blink-of-the-eye speeds by squirting chemicals called neurotransmitters across tiny gaps called synapses to awaiting message receptors. But lots of different receptors and neurotransmitters work simultaneously. Which goes where to send the proper message?

13 Jul 2005

White blood cell called a neutrophil appears to be crucial to abdominal aortic aneurysm formation

Each year, 200,000 Americans find out that the largest blood vessel in their body, the aorta, may burst open at any time. About 20,000 die suddenly from such a rupture. And another 36,000 have surgery to repair or replace the swelling section of aorta before time runs out.

13 Jul 2005

New method may accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found

Researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) have discovered a new method that could accelerate the way cancer-causing genes are found and could lead to a more accurate identification of the genes, according to two studies in the July 14, 2005, issue of Nature.

13 Jul 2005

Researchers identify six genes associated with lymphocytic bronchitis - could mean new test, treatments

Researchers at the San Francisco VA Medical Center (SFVAMC) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) have identified six genes associated with lymphocytic bronchitis, which is thought to lead to obliterative bronchitis (OB), the most common cause of long-term failure of transplanted lungs.

13 Jul 2005

Researchers modify software to predict gene transcription

A modification to an "ace" gene prediction program by computer scientists at Washington University in St. Louis now enables scientists to predict the very beginnings of gene transcription start sites and where the first splice occurs thereby defining the first exon of the gene.

13 Jul 2005

Study proves Lorenzo's Oil prevents rare disease in boys

U.S. researchers have confirmed that a treatment called Lorenzo's Oil can prevent the onset of a rare but devastating neurological disease in young boys, X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy or X-ALD.

12 Jul 2005

Researchers have pinpointed specific gene and protein over-production in metastatic melanoma

Gene amplification is a process that often happens in cancer cells when the normal DNA replication process is altered, causing many copies of the gene to be produced instead of a single copy of a region of a chromosome.

12 Jul 2005

Possible cure for Huntington's disease

Boosting levels of two critical proteins that normally shut down during Huntington's disease, researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory have cured fruit flies of the genetic, neurodegenerative condition.

12 Jul 2005

Every baby born in the United States should receive screening for a uniform panel of 29 disorders

Expanded newborn screening is now required by law in dozens of states, but most infants still are not covered by the full panel of 29 tests recommended by experts, according to the March of Dimes 2005 state-by-state report card on newborn screening.

12 Jul 2005

Sirna Therapeutics granted new UK patents

Sirna Therapeutics has announced that the United Kingdom (UK) Patent Office has granted the Company two additional short interfering RNA (siRNA) target patents. The first patent covers any siRNA with one or more chemical modifications targeting Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor (VEGF).

12 Jul 2005

Congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS) offers clues to SIDS, sleep apnea

Imagine raising a child who stops breathing when falling asleep - and has to be reminded to visit the bathroom after drinking a Big Gulp. That's the dilemma faced by parents of children born with congenital central hypoventilation syndrome (CCHS).

11 Jul 2005

Discovery of protein deficit that causes drug toxicity

Mayo Clinic researchers have discovered an inherited structural mechanism that can make drugs for some diseases toxic for some patients.

11 Jul 2005

Lorenzo's oil prevents onset of pediatric neurological disorder

Use of Lorenzo's Oil in young boys who have been diagnosed with but are not yet showing signs of a pediatric neurological disorder known as X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy (X-ALD) may prevent the disease from developing in the body. According to a study of male children published today in the Archives of Neurology, use of the oil prevented onset of the disease in a majority of cases.

11 Jul 2005

Researchers have discovered how p16 gene works

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a gene that suppresses the development of melanoma and other human cancers works. The study points the way to treatments based on the function of the gene.

11 Jul 2005

Newly discovered gene mutation may account for many cases of immune deficiency

...in particular two syndromes known as immunoglobulin A (IgA) deficiency and Common Variable Immunodeficiency (CVID), report researchers in the July issue of Nature Genetics. The discovery may lead to a new diagnostic test for these conditions, which make people highly susceptible to infections and often go unrecognized because of a lack of good tests.

11 Jul 2005

Research explains one of the fundamental mysteries of multiple sclerosis

Scientists have pinpointed a chemical messenger that frees some white blood cells from the body's normal constraints, allowing the cells to act like renegades that could damage nerves in the central nervous system. The work, to be published in the July 15 issue of the Journal of Immunology and just published on-line, helps explain one of the fundamental mysteries of multiple sclerosis (MS).

11 Jul 2005

Identical twins lose some fundamental similarities as they grow older

...a new study reports. They may start to look and act less alike. The changes could leave one twin susceptible to diseases like cancer, while the other twin remains healthy.

11 Jul 2005

New approach to preventing or reversing heart failure

Duke University Medical Center researchers have identified a new protein that plays a critical role in enabling the heart to respond to such external stimuli as exercise or stress, as well as in the progressive loss of heart function that is heart failure, the researchers said.

11 Jul 2005

Genes decide the shape you're in!

According to a study by researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory of identical twins, the reason why some people can eat all the chocolate and chips they want and not increase their cholesterol levels, is all down to their genes.

11 Jul 2005