Genetic information provided by a large group of specially-designed mice could pave the way to faster human health discoveries and transform the ways people battle and prevent disease.
A team of scientists from Whitehead Institute and other institutions has shown for the first time how two long intergenic noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in brewer’s yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) contribute to a location-dependent switch for the yeast FLO11 gene to toggle between active and inactive states. The mechanism of the FLO11 switch is one of only a handful that have been characterized in detail, and will serve as a model for how other ncRNAs operate.
Researchers at the Salk Institute have discovered a startling feature of early brain development that helps to explain how complex neuron wiring patterns are programmed using just a handful of critical genes. The findings, published February 3 in Cell, may help scientists develop new therapies for neurological disorders, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and provide insight into certain cancers.
The Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology is pleased to welcome J. Craig Venter as the keynote speaker at the opening session of ARVO 2012 on Sunday, May 6 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Venter’s presentation is entitled “From Reading to Writing the Genetic Code.”
Gene therapy for congenital blindness took another step forward, as researchers further improved vision in three adult patients previously treated in one eye. The patients were better able to see in dim light, with no adverse effects.
Scientists searching for the genomics version of the holy grail – more insight into predicting how an animal’s genes affect physical or behavioral traits – now have a reference manual that should speed gene discoveries in everything from pest control to personalized medicine.
University of Utah biologists found new evidence why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs – even though some of those genes make us sick.
Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences evaluate some current methods to sequence individual genomes—a study that serves as a “stress test” of the efficacy of these practices.
Hormones shape our bodies, make us fertile, excite our most basic urges, and as scientists have known for years, they govern the behaviors that separate men from women. But how?
A team of scientists from the University of Utah and the University of California at San Francisco has discovered that the mutation of a gene encoding a ketone body transporter triggers accumulation of fat and other lipids in the livers of zebrafish.
Results from a St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Children’s Oncology Group study pinpoint genetic basis for increased leukemia risk facing Hispanic children and provide new hope for closing survival gap.
Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast.
UCLA researchers discovered that the leprosy pathogen Mycobacterium leprae was able to evade immune activity that is dependent on vitamin D, a natural hormone that plays an essential role in the body's fight against infections. A better understanding of how these pathogens can escape the immune system may be helpful in designing more effective therapies.
Researchers studying a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem discovered that nearly 80 percent of the tumors have mutations in genes not previously tied to cancer.
Using a combination of evolutionary biology and virology, scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have traced the birth of the ability of some HIV-related viruses to defeat a newly discovered cellular-defense system in primates.
Paper in The Lancet Neurology states intrapartum, postnatal conditions less of a factor than genetics.
Pigeons display spectacular variations in their feathers, feet, beaks and other physical traits, but a new University of Utah study shows that visible traits don’t always coincide with genetics: A bird from one breed may have huge foot feathers, while a closely related breed does not; yet two unrelated pigeon breeds both may have large foot feathers.
A Kansas State University biology professor has two major research projects that involve evolutionary change in sunflowers, the state flower of Kansas. He studies naturally occurring species to try and understand the genetic basis of natural variation.
Scientists at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have identified a gene that tells cells to develop multiple cilia, tiny hair-like structures that move fluids through the lungs and brain. The finding may help scientists generate new therapies that use stem cells to replace damaged tissues in the lung and other organs.
After a 20-year quest to find a genetic driver for prostate cancer that strikes men at younger ages and runs in families, researchers have identified a rare, inherited mutation linked to a significantly higher risk of the disease.
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists have isolated a natural hormone that triggers some of the key health benefits of exercise. Irisin, which switches on genes that convert white fat into "good" brown fat, may hold promise as a treatment for diabetes, obesity and perhaps other disorders, including cancer.
Researchers have discovered that a subtype of leukemia characterized by a poor prognosis is fueled by mutations in pathways distinctly different from a seemingly similar leukemia associated with a much better outcome.
A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Zacharon Pharmaceuticals, have developed a simple, reliable test for identifying biomarkers for mucopolysaccharidoses (MPS), a group of inherited metabolic disorders that are currently diagnosed in patients only after symptoms have become serious and the damage possibly irreversible.
In the two and a half years since Adam Bogdanove of ISU and colleagues discovered how a class of proteins find and bind specific sequences in plant genomes, researchers worldwide have moved fast to use this discovery. Now, the next step has been taken by determining the 3-D structure of a TAL effector bound to DNA. The research is now in the journals Science and Nature.
Researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have solved the three-dimensional structure of a newly discovered type of gene-targeting protein that has shown to be useful as a DNA-targeting molecule for gene correction, gene therapy and gene modification. The findings are published online in Science Express on Jan. 5.
1) Mutations in the ATM gene increase hereditary pancreatic cancer risk. 2) Information could help with risk counseling. 3) Screening methods are undergoing clinical trials.
People with diabetes may one day have a less expensive resource for monitoring their blood glucose levels, if research by a group of Missouri University of Science and Technology students becomes reality.
The biologic and genetic mechanisms controlling the formation and function of the CCS are not well understood, but new research with mice shows that altered function of a gene called Tbx3 interferes with the development of the CCS and causes lethal arrhythmias.
Transcriptional elongation control takes on new dimensions as Stowers researchers find gene class-specific elongation factors.
An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, reports that abnormal sequences of DNA known as rare copy number variants, or CNVs, appear to play a significant role in the risk for early onset bipolar disorder.
A large, international team of researchers led by scientists at the University of California, San Francisco has identified the gene that causes a rare childhood neurological disorder called PKD/IC, or “paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia with infantile convulsions,” a cause of epilepsy in babies and movement disorders in older children.
Scientists at NYU’s Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, the American Museum of Natural History, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and the New York Botanical Garden have created the largest genome-based tree of life for seed plants to date. Their findings plot the evolutionary relationships of 150 different species of plants based on advanced genome-wide analysis of gene structure and function. This new approach, called “functional phylogenomics,” allows scientists to reconstruct the pattern of events that led to the vast number of plant species and could help identify genes used to improve seed quality for agriculture.
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Public Patent Foundation have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Association for Molecular Pathology v. U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, a case that challenges the validity of patents on two human genes associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.
Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered a critical genetic mutation in some patients with myelodysplastic syndromes — a group of blood cancers that can progress to a fatal form of leukemia.
Scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have identified a gene mutation that underlies the vast majority of cases of Waldenstrom’s macroglobulinemia, a rare form of lymphoma that has eluded all previous efforts to find a genetic cause.
Symptoms improved significantly in adults with the bleeding disorder hemophilia B following a single treatment with gene therapy developed by researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and demonstrated to be safe in a clinical trial conducted at the University College London (UCL) in the U.K.
Researchers have revealed how a molecule called telomerase contributes to the control of the integrity of our genetic code, and when it is involved in the deregulation of the code, its important role in the development of cancer. The University of Montreal scientists involved explain how they were able to achieve their discovery by using cutting edge microscopy techniques to visualize telomerase molecules in real time in living cells in Molecular Cell on December 9, 2011.
Users of game designed by McGill researchers contributing to analysis of DNA sequences.
Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists report that sharp rises in levels of reactive oxygen molecules, and the inflammation that results, trigger biochemical changes that silence genes in a pattern often seen in cancer cells. The researchers confirmed this gene-silencing effect in mice that develop inflammation-induced colon cancer.
Two UNC experts write in JAMA that whole genome and whole exome sequencing technology “will routinely uncover both trivial and important medical results, both welcome and unwelcome … and presents the medical community with new challenges.”
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine who recently reported the design and creation of a man-made yeast chromosome have now signed on some international collaborators at BGI, a genomics company headquartered in Beijing, China. The newly formed relationship brings together the Johns Hopkins project with some of the world’s experts in so-called next generation genome sequencing in an effort to speed the understanding of how genomes are built and organized and how they function.
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have found the first direct evidence that an acquired trait can be inherited without any DNA involvement. The findings suggest that Lamarck, whose theory of evolution was eclipsed by Darwin’s, may not have been entirely wrong. The study is slated to appear in the December 9 issue of Cell.
Pediatric researchers analyzing ADHD have found alterations in specific genes involved in important brain signaling pathways. The study raises the possibility of a new treatment for patients with ADHD having those gene variants.
When RNA component units called ribonucleotides become embedded in genomic DNA, they can cause problems for cells, but not much is known about the fate of these ribonucleotides. A new study identifies two mechanisms cells use to recognize and remove ribonucleotides embedded in genomic DNA.
Established human embryonic cell lines, including those approved for federal research funding under former President George W. Bush, are different than newly derived human embryonic stem cell lines, according to a study by UCLA stem cell researchers.
U.S. scientists published data presenting the genomic blueprints and outbreak dynamics of the human pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 in previously unprecedented detail.
Pilot study shows genetic sequencing could help match patients with biomarker-driven cancer trials.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown that it is safe to cut and paste together different viruses in an effort to create the ultimate vehicle for gene therapy.
A team of researchers from the University of Utah and the University of Massachusetts has identified the first gene associated with frequent herpes-related cold sores.
More than 450 world experts from 60 countries will converge on Adelaide, Australia this week to discuss the importance of DNA "barcoding" - a rapidly growing international initiative to develop a genetic identity tool for all plants and animals on Earth.
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