Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Discovery will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension

A University of Alberta research team has discovered important new information they hope will lead to more effective treatments for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)--a deadly form of high blood pressure in the pulmonary arteries caused by uncontrolled cell growth.

5 Jun 2005

Gene research may help explain how adorable children become surly teenagers

University of Utah researchers showed that a fruit fly gene is crucial for determining when juveniles begin to mature into adults, and how the transformation initially proceeds. Understanding this process in humans may help explain how adorable children become surly teenagers.

3 Jun 2005

Introgen wins European patent decision on p53 gene therapeutic

Introgen Therapeutics has announced that it was successful in winning the decision regarding its opposition of European Patent 0 390 323 before the European Patent Office (EPO) in which all claims directed to therapeutic applications of the p53 gene, the active component of Introgen's Advexin molecular therapy, were finally revoked by the EPO's Technical Board of Appeals.

3 Jun 2005

New understanding of jet lag

A new study demonstrates that the brain’s central timekeeper - the biological clock that regulates waking and sleeping cycles - has two parts that fall out of synchrony during light schedule shifts of six hours, the time it takes to fly across the Atlantic.

3 Jun 2005

Genetics may play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs

Today, the most common childhood cancer is cured in about 80 percent of patients; only forty years ago, this number was closer to five percent. In efforts to further increase the survival rate, researchers from St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee, and the University of Chicago studied how an individual's genetics might play a role in the effectiveness of chemotherapy drugs.

3 Jun 2005

Research shows how a virus uses the gene silencing machinery for its own infectious purposes

In the latest version of the hide-and-seek game between pathogens and the hosts they infect, researchers have found that a virus appears to cloak itself with a recently discovered gene silencing device to evade detection and destruction by immune cells.

3 Jun 2005

Role of toxins in inherited disease

A disease you are suffering today could be a result of your great-grandmother being exposed to an environmental toxin during pregnancy.

3 Jun 2005

Long-term exposure to passive smoking (second-hand smoke) may increase premenopausal breast cancer risk

In North America, for example, there are an estimated 233,000 new cases every year and 45,000 deaths. Despite the well-characterized role of genetics and reproductive risk factors, as well as the suggested roles of physical activity and alcohol, more than half of breast cancer risk remains unexplained.

2 Jun 2005

Lactose intolerance linked to ancestral environment

Got milk? Many people couldn't care less because they can't digest it. A new Cornell University study finds that it is primarily people whose ancestors came from places where dairy herds could be raised safely and economically, such as in Europe, who have developed the ability to digest milk.

1 Jun 2005

Genetic variation alters response to anti-clotting drug warfarin

Millions of people take the anticoagulant drug warfarin to prevent harmful clotting after a heart attack, stroke, or major surgery. But the proper dose of warfarin can vary greatly and can be hard to predict.

1 Jun 2005

Harmful chemicals may reprogram gene response to estrogen

New research shows that exposure to harmful chemicals and drugs during critical developmental periods early in life may actually "reprogram" the way certain genes respond to the female hormone estrogen. This genetic reprogramming may determine whether people with a genetic predisposition for a disease actually develop the disease.

1 Jun 2005

Scientists develop a way to block the signals responsible for neuropathic pain

Remember how it felt the last time you burned your finger on a hot stove? Imagine what it's like to have that burning pain in your hands or feet all the time and know there's virtually nothing you can do about it.

1 Jun 2005

Newly discovered gene could provide targets for diabetes therapies

The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF) has announced that JDRF-funded researchers in Australia and the United Kingdom have identified a gene called Roquin that regulates the immune system and keeps harmful T cells in check.

1 Jun 2005

Lafora disease can be caused by mutations in a gene that regulates the concentration of the protein laforin

Researchers at University of California, San Diego (UCSD) have found that Lafora disease, an inherited form of epilepsy that results in death by the age of 30, can be caused by mutations in a gene that regulates the concentration of the protein laforin. These findings are reported in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

1 Jun 2005

Environment factors can interact with genetics to increase disease risk

31 May 2005

New approach to inhibiting blood vessel growth or angiogenesis

A manmade protein with a tail of amino acids delivered to target cells can dramatically reduce blood vessel growth that obstructs vision or feeds a tumor, researchers have found.

31 May 2005

Exposure to pharmaceutical estrogen during fetal development can permanently "reprogram" tissue in a way that determines whether tumors will develop in adulthood

Researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center may have uncovered the reason why some people who are genetically predisposed to hormone-dependent cancers develop the disease as an adult, while others who are similarly susceptible don't.

30 May 2005

New gene shows way for autoimmune disease

A new gene suspected to contribute to autoimmune diseases such as type 1 diabetes and lupus - a condition in which the body’s own immune system attacks organs such as the kidneys and skin - has been discovered by Australian National University (ANU) immunologists.

30 May 2005

New understanding of DNA repair processes may pave way to cancer treatments

A Burnham Institute study has found that a protein known for its role in gene regulation has another important function, that of initiating DNA repair. The study, published in the May 27th edition of Molecular Cell, points to new targets for treatment of cancer.

30 May 2005

New finding in studying dopamine transporter

Confirming findings in a previous study, Yale researchers observed an altered availability of the dopamine transporter in healthy persons with a genetic variation linked to substance abuse and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

30 May 2005