Genetics News and Research

Latest Genetics News and Research

Paternal relatives and family history of breast cancer

Taking a family history is one of the most accessible genomic screens for breast cancer. However, a history of cancer on the paternal side may not be as well reported.

25 Jul 2006

Genetic link to community makeup and ecosystem evolution

Genes of one organism not only control the characteristics of that individual but also dictate the behavior of thousands of other organisms in a community.

25 Jul 2006

Belfer Foundation funds new translational cancer institute

The Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Foundation has pledged $8 million to create the Arthur and Rochelle Belfer Institute of Hematology and Medical Oncology at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.

25 Jul 2006

Basal tumours may originate from breast stem cells that have undergone genetic mishaps

Findings support previous speculation that breast stem cells, or very early descendents, are the cells from which basal tumours arise.

24 Jul 2006

Usefulness of BMI is suspect

For years doctors have used the body mass index (BMI), a ratio of height and weight, to characterize the clinical weight status of their patients.

24 Jul 2006

Genetic key to treating deadly fungal infections

University of Minnesota researchers have discovered how a prevalent fungal pathogen that causes 10,000 deaths per year in the United States overcomes the effects of antifungal drugs by duplicating a section of one of its chromosomes.

24 Jul 2006

Researchers identify earliest neuron in the embryonic human cerebral cortex

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes humans human.

24 Jul 2006

Research simplifies diagnosis of Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease

Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease is the most common hereditary disorder of the peripheral nervous system, leading to a weakening of the muscles in the lower legs, feet and hands as the nerves that run from the spinal cord to the muscles die off.

24 Jul 2006

Loss of Matrilin-3 gene leads to osteoarthritis

A gene that is associated with osteoarthritis and skeletal deformities in people has been shown to be responsible for preventing the onset of osteoarthritis in adult mice, according to a recent study led by Rhode Island Hospital.

24 Jul 2006

Active mind and body slows Alzheimer's progression

Researchers have uncovered the pathways behind the protection offered by environmental stimulation in Alzheimer's disease, further confirming that enhanced mental and physical activity slows neurological decline.

24 Jul 2006

Link between cell's energy use and genome health discovered

While studying how a cell keeps its genetic material intact, scientists at Johns Hopkins got busy alternately knocking out two catalysts vital to managing a yeast cell's energy.

21 Jul 2006

Gene variant increases risk of type 2 diabetes - but healthy lifestyle changes reduce genetic risk

Researchers have confirmed that a gene variant confers susceptibility to type 2 diabetes in participants of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a large clinical trial in adults at increased risk for developing type 2 diabetes.

21 Jul 2006

Latest sequencing targets for NHGRI

The National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) has announced several new sequencing targets including the Northern white-cheeked gibbon (Nomascus leucogenys).

19 Jul 2006

Leukemia gene normally has mammary gland function

A gene critical for normal mammary gland function during nursing helps trigger highly lethal leukemias when it undergoes a mutation that fuses it to another gene, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

19 Jul 2006

Certain genetic variations increase risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration

The combination of a certain genetic variation, along with inflammatory factors and smoking, significantly increases the risk of the vision disorder age-related macular degeneration.

19 Jul 2006

New role discovered for breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1

A recently discovered facet of the breast cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 reveals a mechanism linking mutation of BRCA1 to formation of large blood vessels needed to support cancer progression.

18 Jul 2006

Researchers isolate rare cancer stem cells that cause leukemia

Researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children's Hospital Boston and their colleagues have isolated rare cancer stem cells that cause leukemia in a mouse model of the human disease.

18 Jul 2006

An accurate model of p53 tumor suppressor protein bound to DNA for anti-cancer activity

More than half of human cancers involve mutations in the p53 tumor-suppressor gene, suggesting the critical role played by the normal p53 protein in defending against cancer.

18 Jul 2006

Scientists identify signals that regulate the formation of spinal marrow

A team of researchers at Umea University in Sweden under the leadership of Thomas Edlund, Umea Center for Molecular Medicine, is now publishing their discovery of the signal molecules that regulate the formation of spinal marrow during the fetal period.

17 Jul 2006

Crohn's disease - possible genetic cause found

Patients with Crohn's disease of the colon have one copy less than healthy persons of the beta-defensin 2 gene, a gene coding for an important defense molecule of the body.

17 Jul 2006