Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Antipsychotic drugs for dementia

Antipsychotic drugs are approved mainly for treating schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but they are also used for many other purposes.

27 Jul 2007

Tonsil epithelial factors may influence oropharyngeal HIV transmission

Current research demonstrates that the tonsils may possess the necessary factors to act as a transmission site for the spread of HIV.

27 Jul 2007

Scientits devise dimmer swith to regulate gene expression in mammal cells

Three Boston University biomedical engineers have created a genetic dimmer switch that can be used to turn on, shut off, or partially activate a gene's function. Professor James Collins, Professor Charles Cantor and doctoral candidate Tara Deans invented the switch, which can be tuned to produce large or small quantities of protein, or none at all.

27 Jul 2007

New findings on gene-transcription machinery

For some time, scientists have been tracking down the sequence of biochemical steps required to attract and assemble at the head end of a gene the molecular machinery needed to transcribe that gene to put to work the information it encodes.

26 Jul 2007

Call for EU to launch major project to map out all our proteins

Biologists still have no clear idea how many active genes there are coding for proteins in humans and other organisms, even though for some species the genomes have been completely sequenced.

26 Jul 2007

Air pollution has a role to play in atherosclerosis

Should we be watching our exposure to airborne pollution as well as our cholesterol levels?

26 Jul 2007

The future of Alzheimer's disease research

Imagine the day when a routine visit to the family doctor includes a simple blood test to predict the risk for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD).

26 Jul 2007

New gene therapy for 200 inherited forms of blindness

An improved approach to gene therapy may one day treat some of the nearly 200 inherited forms of blindness, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggest.

26 Jul 2007

Itchy and scratchy gene discovered

Itching for a better anti-itch remedy? Your wish may soon be granted now that scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified the first gene for the itch sensation in the central nervous system.

26 Jul 2007

Link between breast cancer and hormone therapy confirmed

A sharp drop in breast cancer rates from 2003 to 2004 is linked to an even larger drop in women's use of hormone therapy that began around 2000, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the August 1, 2007, issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute that confirms the connection between breast cancer, hormone therapy and mammography screening over the past 25 years.

25 Jul 2007

Tetrabenazine protects brain cells in Huntington's disease model

A drug used in some countries to treat the symptoms of Huntington's disease prevents death of brain cells in mice genetically engineered to mimic the hereditary condition, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers have found.

25 Jul 2007

Effects of aging hematopoietic stem cells

There is little disagreement that the body's maintenance and repair systems deteriorate with age, even as there is plenty of disagreement as to why.

24 Jul 2007

Discovery of novel 'molecular dictator with a conscience'

University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have uncovered an important naturally occurring mechanism in the body where "bad" cells that cause blockages in our blood vessels are kept under strict growth control, while "good" cells that keep our blood vessels free of clots and growths are left unaffected.

23 Jul 2007

Good diet + exercise = less insulin in the brain and a longer life!

Scientists in the U.S. say reducing the action of insulin in the brain could well be the secret to longevity.

22 Jul 2007

Bipolar disorder shrinks the brain

British researchers have found that people who suffer from manic depression or bipolar disorder as it is more often called, also experience a loss of brain tissue and an accelerated shrinking of their brain.

21 Jul 2007

New genetic risk factors for restless leg syndrome

In Germany alone 8 million patients are affected by RLS, which makes it one of the most common neurological diseases.

20 Jul 2007

Protein IKKa protects checkpoint gene from chemical shutdown

A protein that is largely absent in one type of skin cancer protects an important gene in a cell's defense against harmful mutations from being silenced, researchers at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the July 20 edition of Molecular Cell.

20 Jul 2007

Xenotransplantation from pigs getting closer

Experiments using pigs genetically engineered for compatibility with the human immune system have raised hopes that cross-species transplantation could soon become an option for patients with diabetes and other currently incurable diseases.

20 Jul 2007

Powerful proteomics research promises to revolutionize biomedical discovery

Human cells function through the concerted action of thousands of proteins that control their growth and differentiation.

20 Jul 2007

Eat a good diet and exercise to live longer

The traditional prescriptions for a healthy life sensible diet, exercise and weight control extend life by reducing signaling through a specific pathway in the brain, according to Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers who discovered the connection while studying long-lived mice.

20 Jul 2007