Feature Channels: Genetics

• share
• favorite_border

Canadian-led study will help scientists identify key genomic regions in canola, other food plants.

• share
• favorite_border

New research from Johns Hopkins suggests that bits of genetic material from plants eaten by mice can NOT enter the bloodstream intact as previous research from another institution had indicated.

• share
• favorite_border

A new UC San Francisco study highlights the potential importance of the vast majority of human DNA that lies outside of genes within the cell.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Boston University College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences: Sargent College have identified a combinatorial therapeutic approach that has proven effective in treating muscular dystrophy in a mouse model.

• share
• favorite_border

Resurrecting ancient proteins in the lab, researchers discover just two mutations set the stage for the evolution of modern hormone signaling.

• share
• favorite_border

Gene mutations that cause cell signaling networks to go awry during embryonic development and lead to major birth defects may also cause subtle disruptions in the brain that contribute to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, autism, and bipolar disorder, according to new research by UC San Francisco scientists.

• share
• favorite_border

Eleanor Saffian decided to pursue a career as a genetic counselor when her brother Charlie was diagnosed with Down syndrome shortly after birth. Currently a rising senior, Saffian studies genetics at Wake Forest and is interning at the Massachusetts General Hospital's Down Syndrome Program in Boston this summer.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists led by a UCSF neurology researcher are reporting that they have identified the likely genetic mechanism that causes some patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) to quickly progress to a debilitating stage of the disease while other patients progress much more slowly.

• share
• favorite_border

The cover story in the June issue of Genetics describes a new technique allowing scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism, providing deeper insights into protein function by isolating its function. Until now there was no tool for this.

• share
• favorite_border

In a study published in the June 19 online edition of the journal Nature, a scientific team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine visually monitored the dynamic cellular events that take place when cardiac regeneration occurs in zebrafish after cardiac ventricular injury. Their findings provide evidence that various cell lines in the heart are more plastic, or capable of transformation into new cell types, than previously thought.

• share
• favorite_border

Live expert panel discussion today, June 19, 2013, from 3-4 p.m. EDT on Supreme Court Ruling on gene patents.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Moffitt Cancer Center and colleagues at Louisiana State University have developed a method for identifying aggressive prostate cancers that require immediate therapy. It relies on understanding the genetic interaction between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). The goal is to better predict a prostate cancer’s aggressiveness to avoid unnecessary radical treatment.

• share
• favorite_border

A Cornell University study offers further proof that the divergence of humans from chimpanzees some 4 million to 6 million years ago was profoundly influenced by mutations to DNA sequences that play roles in turning genes on and off.

• share
• favorite_border

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, in partnership with the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health, recently opened “Genome: Unlocking Life’s Code”—a multimedia exhibition that explores how the genomic revolution is influencing people’s lives and the extraordinary impact it is having on science, medicine and nature.

• share
• favorite_border

Similar genetic variations occur in both overweight newborns and obese adults, a large study finds. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society’s 95th Annual Meeting in San Francisco.

• share
• favorite_border

Aspirin is known to lower risk for some cancers, and a new study led by a UC San Francisco scientist points to a possible explanation, with the discovery that aspirin slows the accumulation of DNA mutations in abnormal cells in at least one pre-cancerous condition.

• share
• favorite_border

Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling that human genes cannot be patented is a major victory for patients.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that human genes may not be patented. The University of Michigan has several experts available to comment on the implications of the ruling.

• share
• favorite_border

AMP applauds the U.S. Supreme Court on their ground breaking, unanimous decision.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

In the Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics decision, the Supreme Court unanimously held that naturally occurring DNA sequences are “products of nature” and therefore cannot be patented.

• share
• favorite_border

College of American Pathologists applauds U.S. Supreme Court ruling on gene patents.

• share
• favorite_border

Jeffrey Rosenfeld, Ph.D., at the UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School published research in March on gene patents and an op-ed in the Washington Post arguing against the the patenting of human genes.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Newly discovered genetic variations may help predict breast cancer risk in women who receive preventive breast cancer therapy with the selective estrogen receptor modulator drugs tamoxifen and raloxifene, a Mayo Clinic-led study has found. The study is published in the journal Cancer Discovery.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have found that a single gene poses a double threat to disease: Not only does it inhibit the growth and spread of breast tumors, but it also makes hearts healthier.

• share
• favorite_border

Many plants are self-fertilizing, meaning they act as both mother and father to their own seeds. This strategy – known as selfing – guarantees reproduction but, over time, leads to reduced diversity and the accumulation of harmful mutations. A new study published in the scientific journal Nature Genetics shows that these negative consequences are apparent across a selfing plant’s genome, and can arise more rapidly than previously thought.

• share
• favorite_border

Genetic research published June 12 in Nature by scientists from the University of Delaware and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution reveals active bacteria, fungi and other microbes living in 5 million-year-old ocean sediment.

• share
• favorite_border

First study to describe clinical presentation of Phelan-McDermid Syndrome will help guide future research and clinical care.

• share
• favorite_border

Changes in an epigenetic mechanism that turns expression of genes on and off may be as important as genetic alterations in causing pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), according to a study led by scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and published in the June 10 online edition of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

• share
• favorite_border

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center scientists have, for the first time, mapped a young gene’s short, dramatic evolutionary journey to becoming essential, or indispensable. In a study published online June 6 in Science, the researchers detail one gene’s rapid switch to a new and essential function in the fruit fly, challenging the long-held belief that only ancient genes are important.

• share
• favorite_border

University of Michigan researchers have determined how a gene that is known to be defective in Down syndrome is regulated and how its dysregulation may lead to neurological defects, providing insights into potential therapeutic approaches to an aspect of the syndrome.

• share
• favorite_border

A newfound genetic marker promises to better predict warfarin dose in African-Americans, according to a study published online today in The Lancet.

• share
• favorite_border

In the first GWAS to focus on warfarin dose requirement in African-Americans, researchers have identified a common genetic variation that can help physicians estimate the correct dose of the widely used blood-thinning drug warfarin.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers at the University of Michigan have evidence that a single gene controls both halves of nerve cells, and their research demonstrates the need to consider that design in the development of new treatments for regeneration of nerve cells.

• share
• favorite_border

Research from Thomas Jefferson University is laying the foundation for a genetic test to accurately identify hip dysplasia in newborns so that early intervention can be initiated to promote normal development. Researchers studied four generations of a Utah family affected by developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH) in most generations to determine the genetics of DDH. Their findings are currently available in the Journal of Bone and Mineralizing Research (JBMR) online.

• share
• favorite_border

In the gonads of animals, genome parasites such as transposons pose a serious threat to evolutionary fitness. With their ability to bounce around in the genome, they often cause dangerous mutations. To protect genomic integrity, animals evolved a sophisticated mechanism – the so called piRNA pathway – to silence the deleterious transposons. Not much is known about the molecular processes and the involved factors that constitute the piRNA pathway. Researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) in Vienna have now identified ~50 genes, that play important roles in the piRNA pathway of the fruitfly Drosophila melanogaster.

• share
• favorite_border

In a pair of distinct but complementary papers, researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and colleagues illuminate the functional importance of a relatively new class of RNA molecules. The work, published online this week in the journal Nature, suggests modulation of “enhancer-directed RNAs” or “eRNAs” could provide a new way to alter gene expression in living cells, perhaps affecting the development or pathology of many diseases.

• share
• favorite_border

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health, and their colleagues, have discovered that a gene called BACH2 may play a central role in the development of diverse allergic and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis, asthma, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, and type-1 diabetes.

• share
• favorite_border

A multi-national team of researchers has identified genetic markers that predict educational attainment by pooling data from more than 125,000 individuals in the United States, Australia, and 13 western European countries.

• share
• favorite_border

Researchers have developed a new gene therapy to thwart a potential influenza pandemic. They demonstrated that a single dose of an adeno-associated virus expressing a broadly neutralizing flu antibody into the noses of animal models gives them complete protection and substantial reductions in flu replication when exposed to lethal strains of H5N1 and H1N1 flu virus. These were isolated from samples associated from historic human pandemics – the infamous 1918 flu pandemic and another from 2009.

• share
• favorite_border

In one of the first successful attempts at genetically engineering mosquitoes, HHMI researchers have altered the way the insects respond to odors, including the smell of humans and the insect repellant DEET. The research not only demonstrates that mosquitoes can be genetically altered using the latest research techniques, but paves the way to understanding why the insect is so attracted to humans, and how to block that attraction.

• share
• favorite_border

Experimental genetic techniques may one day provide plastic and reconstructive surgeons with an invaluable tool—the ability to promote growth of the patient's own tissues for reconstructive surgery. A review of recent progress toward developing effective gene therapies for use in "regenerative surgery" appears in the June issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

• share
• favorite_border

Using a novel method of analyzing genetic variations in families, researchers at Johns Hopkins have found that individually harmless genetic variations affecting related biochemical processes may team up to increase the risk of schizophrenia. They say their findings, reported May 28 in Translational Psychiatry, bring some clarity to the murky relationship between genetics and schizophrenia, and may lead to a genetic test that can predict which medications will be effective for individual patients.

• share
• favorite_border

• share
• favorite_border

Two mutations central to the development of infantile myofibromatosis (IM)—a disorder characterized by multiple tumors involving the skin, bone, and soft tissue—may provide new therapeutic targets, according to researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

• share
• favorite_border

Mayo Clinic researchers have used next generation genomic analysis to determine that some of the more aggressive prostate cancer tumors have similar genetic origins, which may help in predicting cancer progression. The findings appear online today in the journal Cancer Research.

• share
• favorite_border

Q&A with Dr. Andrea Farkas Patenaude.

• share
• favorite_border

A pioneering genomics technique developed at Cornell University to improve corn can now be used to improve the quality of milk and meat, according to research published May 17 in the online journal PLOS ONE.