Genetic variants associated with enjoying the effects of d-amphetamine—the active ingredient in Adderall—are also associated with a reduced risk for developing schizophrenia and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), report scientists from the University of Chicago .
From time to time, living cells will accidentally make an extra copy of a gene during the normal replication process. Throughout the history of life, evolution has molded some of these seemingly superfluous genes into a source of genetic novelty, adaptation and diversity. A new study shows one way that some duplicate genes could have long-ago escaped elimination from the genome, leading to the genetic innovation seen in modern life.
A team of City of Hope researchers, lead by Yani Lu, Ph.D., found that a parent’s age at birth, particularly a father’s age, may affect the adult-onset cancer risk for daughters — especially for breast cancer.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital-Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project has identified new mutations in pediatric brain tumors known as high-grade gliomas (HGGs), which most often occur in the youngest patients. The research appears today as an advance online publication in the scientific journal Nature Genetics.
Research from Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey shows that the RUNX2 protein, which regulates the transcription of genetic messages responsible for the different functions of cells, may play a role in melanoma cell growth and spread and could serve as a therapeutic target for the disease.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital—Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project found mutations in the tumor suppressor gene TP53 in 90 percent of osteosarcomas, suggesting the alteration plays a key role early in development of the bone cancer. The research was published today online ahead of print in the journal Cell Reports.
Comparing biochemicals from genetically modified foods to non-GM foods helps lead decisions
Overreliance on genetic-centered approaches in predicting, diagnosing and treating disease will lead to few future scientific breakthroughs, cautioned a researcher who co-authored an article advocating for a greater emphasis on the body’s metabolites in understanding illnesses.
Right now, options are limited for preventing heart attacks. However, the day may come when treatments target the heart attack gene, myeloid related protein-14 (MRP-14, also known as S100A9) and defang its ability to produce heart attack-inducing blood clots, a process referred to as thrombosis.
Duke Medicine researchers studying tiny, antennae-like structures called cilia have found a potential way to ease some of the physical damage of numerous genetic disorders that result when these essential cellular components are defective.
A meta-data analysis has uncovered more than 1,000 genes in rice that may be key targets for developing new strains of super rice.
/PRNewswire/ -- Machaon Diagnostics today announced the availability of its "aHUS Genetic Panelâ„¢" (patent pending) to genetically confirm atypical Hemolytic Uremic Syndrome (aHUS) with a turnaround time of 48 hours. The 48 hour timeframe is a dramatic advancement over other approaches which offer results in 4-13 weeks. The speed of the aHUS Genetic Panelâ„¢ allows the test to impact patient care in acute settings, enabling doctors to better serve those suffering with this life-threatening disease when it matters most.
MIT team reverses a liver disorder in mice by correcting a mutated gene
UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers are developing a new predictive tool that could help patients with breast cancer and certain lung cancers decide whether follow-up treatments are likely to help.
An international team of scientists led by Jef Boeke, PhD, director of NYU Langone Medical Center’s Institute for Systems Genetics, has synthesized the first functional chromosome in yeast, an important step in the emerging field of synthetic biology, designing microorganisms to produce novel medicines, raw materials for food, and biofuels.
A group of scientists from Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute and UC Berkeley report the first mapping of genome methylation in the fruit-fly Drosophila melanogaster in their paper “Genome methylation in D. melanogaster is found at specific short motifs and is independent of DNMT2 activity,” published this month in Genome Research.
The possibility of making whole-genome sequencing part of routine screening programs for newborns raises ethical, legal and social issues that should be weighed carefully, according to researchers at McGill University.
A large international consortium of researchers has produced the first comprehensive, detailed map of the way genes work across the major cells and tissues of the human body.
A single gene appears to play a crucial role in coordinating the immune system and metabolism, and deleting the gene in mice reduces body fat and extends lifespan, according to new research by scientists at the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University and Yale University School of Medicine.
People who have an inherited mutation of a certain gene have a high chance of getting lung cancer — higher, even, than heavy smokers with or without the inherited mutation, according to new findings by cancer researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center.
Dartmouth researchers at its Norris Cotton Cancer Center have compiled a review of the role that information gathered through genetic testing plays in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer. The paper entitled “Personalized Therapy for Breast Cancer” was accepted on March 17, 2014, for publication in Clinical Genetics. The paper discusses targeted therapies, new biomarkers, and the quality of commercially available testing methods.
A recent whole-genome sequencing (WGS) analysis project supported by the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) at the University of California, San Diego has demonstrated the effectiveness of innovative applications of “flash” memory technology to rapidly process large data sets that are pervasive throughout human genomics research.
A gene linked by genome-wide association studies to risk of cardiac arrhythmia is found to play only a minimal role in the heart. The mutations within the gene in actuality regulate a different gene, which appears to be the primary gene responsible for cardiac arrhythmia risk, according to a study published March 18 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.
Is irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) caused by genetics, diet, past trauma, anxiety? All are thought to play a role, but now, for the first time, researchers have reported a defined genetic defect that causes a subset of IBS. The research was published in the journal Gastroenterology.
Scientists at Indiana University have unlocked one of the mysteries of modern genetics: how acquired traits can be passed between generations in a process called epigenetic inheritance.
A Perspective published with his postdocs, Hans-Martin Herz, Ph.D. and Deqing Hu, Ph.D., in the March 20th issue of Molecular Cell, will serve as the basis for Shilatifard’s AACR talk. In it, they summarize how aberrant enhancer activity—due either to mutations in enhancer DNA or in genes that encode proteins that interact with enhancers—may promote oncogenesis.
Many diseases have their origins in either the genome or in reversible chemical changes to DNA known as the epigenome. Now, results of a new study from Johns Hopkins scientists show a connection between these two “maps.” The findings could help disease trackers find patterns in those overlays that could offer clues to the causes of and possible treatments for complex genetic conditions, including many cancers and metabolic disorders.
Loblolly Pine genome is seven times larger than a human's.
The massive genome of the loblolly pine—around seven times bigger than the human genome—is the largest genome sequenced to date and the most complete conifer genome sequence ever published. This achievement marks the first big test of a new analysis method that can speed up genome assembly by compressing the raw sequence data 100-fold.
New work from a former Indiana University Bloomington graduate student and his IU Ph.D. advisor offers for the first time a characterization of the developmental genetic basis of this spectacular morphological novelty -- the firefly’s photic organ -- and the means by which this beetle successfully uses ancient and highly conserved regulatory genes to form its lantern.
Scientists from Indiana University are part of a consortium that has described the transcriptome of the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster in unprecedented detail, identifying thousands of new genes, transcripts and proteins.
Yehuda Ben-Shahar and his team at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that some mRNAs have a side job unrelated to making the protein they encode. They act as regulatory molecules as well, preventing other genes from making protein by marking their mRNA molecules for destruction.
Scientists have discovered a previously unrecognized gene variation that makes humans have healthier blood lipid levels and reduced risk of heart attacks. But even more significant is how they found the gene, which had been hiding in plain sight.
A new study of math anxiety shows how some people may be at greater risk to fear math not only because of negative experiences, but also because of genetic risks related to both general anxiety and math skills.
A new study in Physiological Genomics examines the ACE I/D gene and how its variations—the ID, DD, and II genotypes—cause some seniors’ to lose out on the benefits of exercise.
Capitalizing on the ability of an organism to evolve in response to punishment from a hostile environment, scientists have coaxed the model bacterium Escherichia coli to dramatically resist ionizing radiation and, in the process, reveal the genetic mechanisms that make the feat possible.
Research from the University of Adelaide has confirmed that a gene linked to intellectual disability is critical to the earliest stages of the development of human brains.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Virginia Tech have used a computer-aided design tool to create genetic languages to guide the design of biological systems.
Scientists have discovered a mechanism underlying sensory feedback that guides balance and limb movements. If the findings can be fully replicated in humans, they could lead to a better understanding of and treatments for disorders arising from faulty proprioception, the detection of body position.
In a series of experiments sparked by fruit flies that couldn’t sleep, Johns Hopkins researchers say they have identified a mutant gene — dubbed “Wide Awake” — that sabotages how the biological clock sets the timing for sleep. The finding also led them to the protein made by a normal copy of the gene that promotes sleep early in the night and properly regulates sleep cycles.
An international team of scientists has discovered that the obesity-associated elements within FTO interact with IRX3, a distant gene on the genome that appears to be the functional obesity gene. The FTO gene itself appears to have only a peripheral effect on obesity. The study appears online March 12 in Nature.
The Genetics Society of America Drosophila Research Conference, March 26 to 30, 2014, San Diego, CA, will spotlight research advances in cell biology and the cytoskeleton, RNA biology, screening of experimental therapeutics in fly models as well as fly models of such human diseases as cancer, epilepsy, heart disease and diabetes.
A PhD student at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology has created free software that makes detection of genetic components of disease faster and easier; could help speed up genetic discoveries.
A new study in Cell Reports identifies a gene important to breast development and breast cancer, providing a potential new target for drug therapies to treat aggressive types of breast cancer.
A visit to the dentist could one day require a detailed look at how genes in a patient's body are being switched on or off, as well as examining their pearly whites, according to researchers at the University of Adelaide.
Johns Hopkins researchers say they have found one way that a recently discovered genetic mutation might cause two nasty nervous system diseases. While the affected gene may build up toxic RNA and not make enough protein, the researchers report, the root of the problem seems to be snarls of defective genetic material created at the mutation site.
Leftover cigarette smoke that clings to walls and furniture is a smelly nuisance, but now research suggests that it could pose a far more serious threat, especially to young children who put toys and other smoke-affected items into their mouths. Scientists reported today at the 247th National Meeting & Exposition of the American Chemical Society that one of the tobacco-specific nitrosamines newly formed in “third-hand smoke” damages DNA and could potentially cause cancer.
University of Adelaide researchers have developed a new web-based tool to help unlock the complex genetics and biological processes behind grapevine development.
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