The identification of key proteins in a group of heat-loving bacteria by researchers at the Department of Energy’s BioEnergy Science Center could help light a fire under next-generation biofuel production.
Researchers have identified genetic markers that may influence whether a person finishes high school and goes on to college, according to a national longitudinal study of thousands of young Americans. The study is in the July issue of Developmental Psychology, a publication of the American Psychological Association.
People with lung cancer who are treated with the drug Tarceva face a daunting uncertainty: although their tumors may initially shrink, it's not a question of whether their cancer will return—it's a question of when. And for far too many, it happens far too soon.
In a paper published in the July 1, 2012 issue of the journal Nature, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine open the book further, mapping for the first time a significant portion of the functional sequences of the mouse genome, the most widely used mammalian model organism in biomedical research.
An international team including scientists from the University of Saskatchewan-Saskatoon Health Region and University of British Columbia, with the help of Saskatchewan Mennonite families, has identified an abnormal gene which leads to Parkinson’s disease.
A large study in people at risk of diabetes has found a direct association between the presence of a small genetic alteration in a hormone receptor and increased body fat and insulin resistance. The results, to be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting in Houston, suggest an adverse role for a previously described genetic variant, the BclI polymorphism.
Prenatal exposure to bisphenol A, or BPA, a chemical found in many common plastic household items, can cause numerous genes in the uterus to respond differently to estrogen in adulthood, according to a study using a mouse model. The results will be presented Tuesday at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting in Houston.
In a paper published in the June 24, 2012 online issue of Nature Genetics, a team of doctors and scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, say de novo somatic mutations in a trio of genes that help regulate cell size and proliferation are likely culprits for causing hemimegalencephaly, though perhaps not the only ones.
The gene p53 is the most commonly mutated gene in cancer. p53 is dubbed the “guardian of the genome” because it blocks cells with damaged DNA from propagating and eventually becoming cancerous. However, new research led by Ute M. Moll, M.D., Professor of Pathology at Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and colleagues, uncovers a novel role for p53 beyond cancer in the development of ischemic stroke. The research team identified an unexpected critical function of p53 in activating necrosis, an irreversible form of tissue death, triggered during oxidative stress and ischemia. The findings are detailed online in Cell.
Amazingly, the small, black-and-white striped zebrafish has biological similarities to humans, and is increasingly a popular model organism for studying vertebrate development, genetics, physiology, and mechanisms of disease as featured at the ongoing 2012 International Zebrafish Development and Genetics Conference in Madison, Wisconsin
UNC scientists have discovered that a commonly held assumption is wrong and that a separate role of the SMN gene – still not completely elucidated -- is likely responsible for the disease’s manifestations.
UCLA researchers have combined two tools – gene expression and the use of peripheral blood -- to expand scientists’ arsenal of methods for pinpointing genes that play a role in autism. The findings could help scientists zero in on genes that offer future therapeutic targets for the disorder.
Double-cortex syndrome primarily affects females and arises from mutations on a gene located on the X chromosome. Drs. Susanne Bechstedt and Gary Brouhard have used a highly advanced microscope to discover how these mutations cause a malformation of the human brain.
Whitehead Institute researchers have determined and analyzed the crystal structure of a yeast Argonaute protein bound to RNA, which plays a key role in the RNA interference (RNAi) pathway that silences genes.
The St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project lifts lid on the most aggressive subtype of medulloblastoma and finds genes that cooperate in tumor development.
With a single drug treatment, researchers at the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine can silence the mutated gene responsible for Huntington’s disease, slowing and partially reversing progression of the fatal neurodegenerative disorder in animal models.
Fish cannot display symptoms of autism, schizophrenia, or other human brain disorders. However, a team of Whitehead Institute and MIT scientists has shown that zebrafish can be a useful tool for studying the genes that contribute to such disorders.
Scientists are racing to sequence DNA faster and cheaper than ever by passing strands of the genetic material through molecule-sized pores. Now, University of Utah scientists have adapted this “nanopore” method to find DNA damage that can lead to mutations and disease.
Genetics Society of America’s Model Organism to Human Biology: Cancer Genetics meeting, occurring now in Washington, D.C., focuses on cancer research commonalities among species.
Zebrafish, a transparent member of the minnow family, are providing insight into human melanoma – a form of skin cancer – that may lead to new or repurposed drug treatments, for skin and other cancers. This will be reported at the Genetics Society of America’s “Model Organisms to Human Biology: Cancer Genetics” Meeting, June 17-20, 2012, in Washington, D.C.
The first U.S. population prevalence study of mutations in the gene that causes fragile X syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability, suggests the mutation in the gene – and its associated health risks – may be more common than previously believed.
Research published in the Genetics Society of America’s June 2012 issue of the journal GENETICS suggests a gene related to Alzheimer’s disease is also involved in the insulin pathway, which may explain the link between Alzheimer’s and diabetes.
In the June 13 issue of Science Translational Medicine, an international team led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine reports that the new technology of exome sequencing is not only a promising method for identifying disease-causing genes, but may also improve diagnoses and guide individual patient care.
An Indiana University team of researchers has conducted the most in-depth and diverse genetic analysis of the defense systems that trillions of micro-organisms in the human body use to fend off viruses. The work is among a collection of 16 research papers released today by the Human Microbiome Project Consortium, a National Institutes of Health-led effort to map the normal microbial make-up of healthy humans.
Many of the top scientists in the model organism and human cancer fields will be meeting to discuss their research at the Genetics Society of America’s (GSA’s) Model Organisms to Human Biology (MOHB): Cancer Genetics Meeting on June 17-20, 2012 at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C.
Scientists have found new genetic information that shows how harmful bacteria cause the acute diarrheal disease shigellosis, which kills more than a million people worldwide each year.
A study led by Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC) investigators has identified a gene expression pattern that may explain why chemotherapy prior to surgery isn’t effective against some tumors and suggests new therapy options for patients with specific subtypes of breast cancer.
Decoding the DNA of patients with advanced breast cancer has allowed scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to identify distinct cancer “signatures” that could help predict which women are most likely to benefit from estrogen-lowering therapy, while sparing others from unnecessary treatment.
In exploring the genetics of mitochondria – the powerhouse of the cell – researchers at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have stumbled upon a finding that challenges previously held beliefs about the role of mutations in cancer development. For the first time, researchers have found that the number of new mutations are significantly lower in cancers than in normal cells.
Using a new and powerful approach to understand the origins of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at Mayo Clinic in Florida are building the case that these diseases are primarily caused by genes that are too active or not active enough, rather than by harmful gene mutations.
In exploring how proteins interact with crucial DNA sequences to regulate gene activity, researchers have shed light on chromatin looping, key biological events that may eventually be manipulated to provide new disease treatments.
An Indiana University biologist has shown that natural variation in measures of the brain's ability to process steroid hormones predicts functional variation in aggressive behavior.
New research proposes novel therapeutic targets for treating Huntington’s disease. A new study found the toxic effects of the huntingtin protein on cells may not be driven exclusively by the length of the protein’s expansion, but also by which other proteins are present in the cell.
With the 2012 Summer Olympics fast approaching, two Mayo Clinic researchers have penned a timely and thought-provoking editorial in the June issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings that explores genetic variation and how it plays out in professional athletic competition.
Technion researchers have identified a biomarker shown to predict Parkinson's disease with high accuracy. It could ID at-risk individuals before symptoms develop, when prevention treatment efforts might have the greatest impact to slow disease progression.
Researchers studying rare genetic disorders have uncovered insights into those diseases in biological structures that regulate chromosomes when cells divide.
The St. Jude Children's Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project today announced the largest-ever release of comprehensive human cancer genome data for free access by the global scientific community.
UCLA geneticists have identified the mutation responsible for IMAGe syndrome, a rare disorder that stunts infants’ growth. The twist? The mutation occurs on the same gene for a disease that makes cells grow too fast, leading to extra-large children.
Researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Ferkauf Graduate School of Psychology of Yeshiva University have found that personality traits like being extroverted, enjoying laughter and staying engaged may also be part of the longevity genes mix that allows some people to reach age 100 and beyond. The findings published online May 21 in the journal Aging.
Iowa State University researchers are using nanoparticles originally developed by the late Victor Lin to simultaneously deliver proteins and DNA into plant cells. The technology could allow more sophisticated and targeted editing of plant genomes.
Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have, for the first time, identified a single gene that simultaneously controls inflammation, accelerated aging and cancer.
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) today announced that it is close to finalizing a framework proposal for CPT coding of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) assays.
Clinicians and researchers gathered at Ohio State’s Center for Clinical and Translational Science (CCTS) Third Annual Scientific Meeting to showcase how they are deciphering the Human Genome Projects code using genomics, proteomics, metabolomics and other ‘omics’ to make predictive, preventative and precision medicine a reality in the 21st century.
An inexpensive “orphan drug” used to treat sleep disorders appears to be a potent inhibitor of cancer cells, according to a new study led by scientists at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Their novel approach, using groundbreaking technology that allows rapid analysis of the genome, has broad implications for the development of safer, more-effective cancer therapies.