Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Study sheds light on how Zika virus causes microcephaly in newborns

A new study led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine revealed how in utero Zika virus infection can lead to microcephaly in newborns. The team discovered that the Zika virus protein NS4A disrupts brain growth by hijacking a pathway that regulates the generation of new neurons.

14 Nov 2019

Promising method to identify aggressive breast cancers that will respond to immunotherapy

University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers have discovered a promising method to identify aggressive breast cancer tumors that will respond to drugs that unleash the immune system against cancer.

14 Nov 2019

Alzheimer's Association's funding enables expansion of aging study in longest running birth cohort

The Alzheimer's Association and University College London are partnering to study brain aging and dementia in 500 individuals whose health and health-related behaviors have been documented since birth.

14 Nov 2019

Fight for Sight funds new project to create UK’s first large-scale glaucoma biobank

Fight for Sight is funding a project to create the UK’s first large-scale glaucoma biobank, a new tool that will help personalize glaucoma treatment and identify patients most at risk of sight loss.

14 Nov 2019

Regular co-use of pain and sleep medications may increase risk of frailty in older adults

Researchers from the Oregon Research Institute and Florida Atlantic University are the first to demonstrate statistically significant links between self-reported regular use of prescription drugs for pain and/or sleep, and longitudinal risk of frailty in adults ages 65 and older.

13 Nov 2019

Tall people more likely to develop atrial fibrillation

Size may matter when it comes to having a safe and steady heart. A new study shows tall people are more likely to develop from an irregular heartbeat, known as atrial fibrillation (AFib).

13 Nov 2019

Height may be a causal risk factor for atrial fibrillation

Taller people have an increased risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AFib), an irregular and often rapid heartbeat that can lead to stroke, heart failure and other complications, according to a new Penn Medicine study.

13 Nov 2019

Stress affects circadian rhythm, increases metabolic disease risk

Stress is a normal part of life, but too much of everything isn’t healthy. Every day, people from all walks of life experience stress of various degrees. A new study found that when stress has disrupted the circadian rhythm, the body’s internal clock, it can increase the risk of developing metabolic diseases.

12 Nov 2019

Virginia Tech professor wins $1.85 million NIH grant for sepsis research

One drop of blood contains 5,000 neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cell that is deployed by the human immune system. Throughout the entire body, a human has 25 billion of these foot soldiers that are relentlessly patrolling to fight invading pathogens.

12 Nov 2019

Rutgers researcher receives $600,000 grant to study chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey researcher Hossein Khiabanian, PhD, has received a $600,000 Translational Award from the V Foundation for Cancer Research to study chronic lymphocytic leukemia with the aim of developing research models that may help investigators better understand how CLL cells are influenced by new therapies.

11 Nov 2019

Women with gestational hypertension have elevated cardiovascular risk later in life

Research published online today in Journal of the American College of Cardiology, confirms that women who have gestational hypertension or preeclampsia in at least one pregnancy will have higher cardiovascular risk than women without such a history, and that this elevated risk persists at least into their 60s.

11 Nov 2019

New point-of-care medical device rapidly and accurately detects viruses

The gene-editing tool CRISPR has been heralded as a scientific miracle destined to eradicate diseases from sickle-cell anemia to cancer, or decried as "the genetic scissors that tailor the human gene pool," an ethically risky technology driving us toward a designer babies.

11 Nov 2019

PERL study: Reducing uric acid levels does not benefit type 1 diabetes patients with kidney disease

Diabetic kidney disease remains one of the most intractable complications of diabetes. Progress has been made using glycemic and blood pressure control, but the search continues for improved treatments for the estimated one in four adults with diabetes who has some level of nephropathy and continues at risk for eventual kidney failure.

10 Nov 2019

Heavy smoking causes rapid facial aging

“Smoker’s Face,” a condition where smokers look older than they are, is just one of many negative effects caused by heavy tobacco usage. Louise Millard of the University of Bristol and colleagues report these findings in a new study published 31st October in PLOS Genetics.

8 Nov 2019

Researchers join forces to adapt novel genetic tool for zoonotic Chlamydia

The human pathogenic bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial pathogen worldwide.

7 Nov 2019

UVA scientists develop a better way to determine what our genes do

Scientists at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have developed a better way to determine what our genes do – allowing scientists to better probe the genetic causes of diseases and more efficiently determine whether new drugs will act on the intended target exactly as needed.

7 Nov 2019

Researchers use transplanted stem cells to grow fully functional lungs in mouse embryos

Researchers at Columbia University were able to grow fully functional lungs in mouse embryos using transplanted stem cells. The findings suggest that it may be ultimately possible to use the technique to grow human lungs in animals for patients who need transplants and to study new lung treatments.

7 Nov 2019

Smoking causes… schizophrenia?

Yes, we all know smoking is the cause of lung cancer, throat cancer and many other deadly conditions, but it turns out that smoking also puts a person at risk of depression and schizophrenia as well, according to a new study published in the journal Psychological Medicine on November 6, 2019.

7 Nov 2019

New molecule can reduce aggressiveness of embryonal central nervous system tumors

In Brazil, scientists affiliated with the Human Genome and Stem Cell Research Center (HUG-CELL) at the University of São Paulo (USP) have identified a molecule capable of reducing the aggressiveness of embryonal central nervous system tumors.

7 Nov 2019

Researchers reveal mechanisms that lead to onset of Type 1 diabetes

Researchers Lorenzo Pasquali and Mireia Ramos-Rodríguez have published recently in Nature Genetics the results of a study on the mechanisms that cause an inflammatory response to trigger pancreatic beta-cell death, leading to the onset of Type 1 Diabetes (T1D).

6 Nov 2019

Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Study sheds light on how Zika virus causes microcephaly in newborns

Promising method to identify aggressive breast cancers that will respond to immunotherapy

Alzheimer's Association's funding enables expansion of aging study in longest running birth cohort

Fight for Sight funds new project to create UK’s first large-scale glaucoma biobank

Regular co-use of pain and sleep medications may increase risk of frailty in older adults

Tall people more likely to develop atrial fibrillation

Height may be a causal risk factor for atrial fibrillation

Stress affects circadian rhythm, increases metabolic disease risk

Virginia Tech professor wins $1.85 million NIH grant for sepsis research

Rutgers researcher receives $600,000 grant to study chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Women with gestational hypertension have elevated cardiovascular risk later in life

New point-of-care medical device rapidly and accurately detects viruses

PERL study: Reducing uric acid levels does not benefit type 1 diabetes patients with kidney disease

Heavy smoking causes rapid facial aging

Researchers join forces to adapt novel genetic tool for zoonotic Chlamydia

UVA scientists develop a better way to determine what our genes do

Researchers use transplanted stem cells to grow fully functional lungs in mouse embryos

Smoking causes… schizophrenia?

New molecule can reduce aggressiveness of embryonal central nervous system tumors

Researchers reveal mechanisms that lead to onset of Type 1 diabetes

eBook: Using iPSCs models for human disease research and drug discovery eBook

Small solutions for big problems in drug discovery and delivery

Professor Nancy Ip: Pioneering New Paths in Neurodegenerative Therapy

Utilizing process Raman in optimizing cultivated meat production