Feature Channels: Genetics

• share
• favorite_border

Fisetin, a naturally occurring compound found in strawberries and other fruits and vegetables, slows the onset of motor problems and delays death in three models of Huntington's disease, according to researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies. The study, published in the online edition of Human Molecular Genetics, sets the stage for further investigations into fisetin's neuroprotective properties in Huntington's and other neurodegenerative conditions.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists studying genetic data from nearly 50,000 people have uncovered several DNA sequence variations associated with the electrical impulses that make the heart beat. The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, may pave the way for a greater understanding of the mechanisms for abnormal heart rhythms and sudden cardiac death.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Medicine have demonstrated that the gene mutated in cystic fibrosis not only controls traffic on the chloride highway, but also keeps the sodium highway from being overused.

• share
• favorite_border

A newly discovered gene which helps to control the sense of pain is linked to synaesthesia, when sensations such as touch also affect other senses like hearing or sight. The rare condition causes some people to see sounds or written words as colours, or experience tastes, smells and shapes in linked combinations. Famous synaesthetes include composers Franz Liszt or Olivier Messiaens, and this condition has been linked to creativity and intelligence.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists have observed, for the first time, an intermediate stage in the chemical process that repairs DNA methylation damage and regulates many important biological functions that impact health conditions such as obesity, cancer and diabetes.

• share
• favorite_border

AMP invites the media to attend its upcoming 2010 Annual Meeting and Exhibits and learn about the latest advances in clinical molecular diagnostics. The four-day event will feature more than 100 corporate exhibits, as well as many cutting-edge lectures, workshops and plenary sessions.

• share
• favorite_border

Depression appears to be associated with a molecular-level disturbance in the body's 24-hour clock, new research suggests.

• share
• favorite_border

Using a blend of brain imaging and genetic detective work, scientists at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine and Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior are the first to illustrate how genetic variants rewire the brain. Published in the Nov. 3 online edition of Science Translational Medicine, their discovery offers the crucial missing physical evidence that links altered genes to modified brain function and learning.

• share
• favorite_border

An international team of scientists have traced the plague back to its roots in China and paved the way for future bacteria research.

• share
• favorite_border

International team of scientists have used DNA fingerprinting analyses to understand multiple global plague disease events.

• share
• favorite_border

Ken-ichi Noma, Ph.D., and Wistar researchers determined the three-dimensional structure of the fission yeast genome, S. pombe. The study is the first to combine microscopy with advanced genomic sequencing techniques, enabling researchers to literally see gene interactions. Applying this technique to the human genome may provide both scientists and physicians a whole new framework from which to better understand genes and disease. The study was published online as a featured article in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

• share
• favorite_border

An international study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center has identified genetic variants in women with BRCA2 mutations that may increase or decrease their risk of developing breast cancer.

• share
• favorite_border

An international team of researchers led by an investigator from Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has made a second critical advance in determining the cause of a common form of muscular dystrophy known as facioscapulohumeral dystrophy, or FSHD.

• share
• favorite_border

Liberals may owe their political outlook partly to their genetic make-up, according to new research from the University of California, San Diego, and Harvard University. Ideology is affected not just by social factors, but also by a dopamine receptor gene called DRD4. The study’s authors say this is the first research to identify a specific gene that predisposes people to certain political views.

• share
• favorite_border

Just seven months after University of Utah geneticists took part in a landmark study that sequenced for the first time the genome of an entire Utah family, U of U researchers have taken part in another historic study that is the first large-scale genome sequencing project – 179 people representing three continents – and 60 Utahns played a major role in this study, too.

• share
• favorite_border

If you were dying from cancer, would you consider genetic testing? A recent study conducted by researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University Massey Cancer Center showed that most terminally ill cancer patients who were eligible for genetic testing never received it despite that it could potentially save a relative’s life.

• share
• favorite_border

Ever wonder why some people breeze along on four hours of sleep when others can barely function? It may be in our genes, according to new research and an accompanying editorial published in the October 26, 2010, print issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

• share
• favorite_border

Four newly discovered DNA “hotspots” may one day help guide new treatments for psoriasis, one of the most common autoimmune diseases in the country, U-M geneticists say.

• share
• favorite_border

When cells make the proteins that carry out virtually every function of life, it’s vital that the right things happen at the right times, and — maybe more importantly — that wrong things are stopped from happening at the wrong times.

• share
• favorite_border

A new study by pediatric researchers has added to the evidence that genes have a strong influence on childhood obesity. The study team searched the whole genomes of thousands of obese children for copy number variations.