The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project advances understanding of genetic defects underlying childhood low-grade gliomas and identifies promising new drug therapies.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida participated in a nationwide study that found minor differences between genes that contribute to late-onset Alzheimer’s disease in African-Americans and in Caucasians.
On April 15, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, a case that could answer the question, “Under what conditions, if any, are isolated human genes patentable?” Kevin Emerson Collins, JD, patent law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, believes that layered uncertainties make this case an unusually difficult case in which to predict the outcome.
In a surprising finding that helps explain fundamental behaviors of normal and diseased cells, Whitehead Institute scientists have discovered a set of powerful gene regulators dubbed “super-enhancers” that control cell state and identity.
Researchers at the University of Michigan have identified a new potential therapeutic target for lowering cholesterol that could be an alternative or complementary therapy to statins.
African-Americans with a variant of the ABCA7 gene have almost double the risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease compared with African-Americans who lack the variant. The largest genome-wide search for Alzheimer’s genes in African-Americans, the study was led by Columbia University Medical Center. It will be published in JAMA (4/10/13 issue).
The break neck pace of genomic discoveries has ushered in a new problem in the delivery of personalized medicine: comprehensive and consistent data reporting that will improve health information technologies for better patient care.
In a first-of-its-kind study, researchers from the United States and Europe discovered genetic mutations associated with long QT syndrome (LQTS), a genetic abnormality in the heart’s electrical system, in a small number of intrauterine fetal deaths, according to a study in the April 10 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
A genetic mutation causes a breakdown in a cellular pump that clears uric acid from the blood. By comparing this protein pump to a related protein involved in cystic fibrosis, the researchers also identified a compound that partially repairs the pump.
Research presented on April 6, 2013 at the Genetics Society of America’s 54th Annual Drosophila Conference in Washington, D.C., April 3-7, 2013 identifies an important role zinc plays in the disease process.
Physician-researchers at UT Southwestern have identified a vulnerability of certain lung-cancer cells – a specific genetic weakness that can be exploited for new therapies.
Scientists have decoded the genome of the western painted turtle, one of the most abundant turtles on Earth, finding clues to their longevity and ability to survive without oxygen during long winters spent hibernating in ice-covered ponds.
Research published in the Genetics Society of America’s journal GENETICS documents how the genetic structure of African malaria mosquitoes is evolving, which could lead to implications for controlling malaria
The selected highlights for the April 2013 issue of GENETICS cover a wide array of topics including methods, technology and resources; gene expression; genetics of complex traits; genome integrity and transmission; population and evolutionary genetics; cellular genetics; and, genome system biology.
A presentation on April 5 at the Genetics Society of America’s 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington D.C., April 3-7, describes a new way to study wound healing in flies that suggests new targets for wound-healing drugs for humans.
Researchers from Tel Aviv University describe experiments that could lead to a new approach for treating Parkinson’s disease using a common sweetener, mannitol. This research is presented April 6 at the Genetics Society of America’s 54th Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Washington D.C., April 3-7, 2013.
Researchers at Mayo Clinic Cancer Center have identified new DNA sequences associated with breast cancer -- the most common cancer among women, with an average risk of developing the disease of 10 percent -- and ovarian cancer, the most common cause of death from gynecological cancers in the U.S. The findings, which appear in three studies in the journals Plos Genetics and Nature Genetics, will help reveal the underlying causes of these diseases and help researchers build better risk models to support new prevention strategies.
A University of Washington-led study shows potential therapeutic treatment for restoring heart function following a heart attack.
New research explains how certain traits can pass down from one generation to the next – at least in plants – without following the accepted rules of genetics.
New research led by scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Broad Institute, and other research centers, may offer clues to why rates of esophageal adenocarcinomas (EAC) have risen so sharply. The findings point to abnormal genes and proteins that may be lynchpins of EAC cell growth and therefore serve as targets for new therapies.
With a technique called TALENS, Virginia Tech scientists used a pair of engineered proteins to disrupt a targeted gene in the mosquito genome, changing the eye color of ensuing generations of the insect. The method might help scientists find ways control disease transmission.
NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) and Mayo Clinic researchers have partnered on a study that shows genetic and clinical evidence that therapies targeting the expression of alpha-synuclein -- a gene whose function is involved in the development and progression of Parkinson’s disease -- may accelerate disease progression and increase the risk of physical incapacitation and dementia. If replicated, the findings will have profound implications for therapies under development for Parkinson’s disease.
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital-led study links inherited variations in a few genes to a substantially increased risk of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and helps to explain ethnic differences in the cancer’s incidence.
Microbes from the human mouth are telling Oak Ridge National Laboratory scientists something about periodontitis and more after they cracked the genetic code of bacteria linked to the condition.
A new online database combining symptoms, family history and genetic sequencing information is speeding the search for diseases caused by a single rogue gene. As described in an article in the May issue of Human Mutation, the database, known as PhenoDB, enables any clinician to document cases of unusual genetic diseases for analysis by researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine or the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. If a review committee agrees that the patient may indeed have a previously unknown genetic disease, the patient and some of his or her family members may be offered free comprehensive genetic testing in an effort to identify the disease culprit.
Collaborators from Mayo-Illinois Alliance for Technology Based Healthcare have developed a new, single molecule test for detecting methylated DNA.
A new genetic study of polar bears and brown bears upends prevailing ideas about the evolutionary history of the two species.
Researchers from the University of Toronto and SickKids Research Institute announced today that they have successfully mapped the genes in the fungus that causes Dutch Elm Disease. The researchers believe this is the first time the 30 million DNA letters for the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi have been mapped. The findings, published in this week’s online journal BMC Genomics, could help scientists figure out how to prevent the fungus from destroying elm trees in the future.
Researchers are developing a genetic hearing screening for newborns at the Medical College of Wisconsin. They hope their work will lead to standard genetic hearing screenings for newborns at other hospitals.
Autism results from abnormal cell communication. Testing a new theory, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used a newly discovered function of an old drug to restore cell communications in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the devastating disorder.
A Primer in the March 2013 journal GENETICS pairs undergraduate teaching concepts in population genetics with current research on speciation and sequencing in crickets, resulting in critical thinking in the classroom.
A better “mousetrap” discovered in fruit flies might stop a human cancer-driving kinase in its tracks.
The University of Washington and Seattle Cancer Care Alliance (SCCA) partnered to launch UW-OncoPlex – an advanced gene sequencing test to help clinicians treat cancer.
Researchers at the University of Montreal’s Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) have discovered a new mechanism that allows some cells in our body to move together, in some ways like the tortoise formation used by Roman soldiers depicted in the Asterix series.
Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (IMBA) in Vienna have identified a completely new mechanism in the onset of motor neuron diseases. Their findings could be the basis for future treatments for these presently incurable diseases.
In evolutionary biology, there is a deeply rooted supposition that you can't go home again: Once an organism has evolved specialized traits, it can't return to the lifestyle of its ancestors.
Scientists at UC San Francisco have found a more precise way to turn off genes, a finding that will speed research discoveries and biotech advances and may eventually prove useful in reprogramming cells to regenerate organs and tissues.
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified patterns of epigenomic diversity that not only allow plants to adapt to various environments, but could also benefit crop production and the study of human diseases.
UCLA scientists have discovered a new genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's disease by screening people's DNA and then using an advanced type of scan to visualize their brains' connections.
A pair of studies tells the tale of how a neuroscientist at Mayo Clinic in Florida helped to discover the first African-American family to have inherited the rare movement disorder dystonia, which causes repetitive muscle contractions and twisting, resulting in abnormal posture.
Millions of people unknowingly carry rare gene mutations that put them at high risk of developing preventable diseases such as colorectal cancer, breast cancer, and several catastrophic blood vessel disorders. University of North Carolina experts from the School of Medicine and from the Gillings School of Global Public Health propose that screening healthy adults for these and other specific, rare genetic disorders could potentially prevent these diseases.
Research published in the March 2013 journal GENETICS explains a novel interaction between aging and how neurons dispose of unwanted proteins and why this impacts the rising prevalence of dementia with advancing age.
In what may be a first, University at Buffalo research uncovers a virus that infects a host with a non-standard nuclear genetic code.
University of Adelaide researchers have found the answer to one of natural history’s most intriguing puzzles – the origins of the now extinct Falkland Islands wolf and how it came to be the only land-based mammal on the isolated islands – 460km from the nearest land, Argentina.
UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists report the first successful blocking of tumor development in a genetic mouse model of an incurable human cancer.
A professor from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine is one of the lead authors of a study identifying seven new regions of the human genome that are associated with increased risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness among older adults.
NCI scientists have developed a new paradigm to assess hereditary risk prediction in common diseases, such as prostate cancer.
For the first time, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics spoke with one voice and released a set of recommendations and guidelines on best practices for genetic testing and screening of children.
Scientists have a new view of the cellular machinery that assembles directly on DNA and readies it for transcription into RNA, the first step in protein production.
Novel discovery brings a close to a 17-year-old scientific debate about the impact of mechanical stretching on the structure of DNA.
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