Feature Channels: Genetics

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UT Southwestern Medical Center is helping the Duff family organize a gene therapy clinical trial to treat Talia’s condition, called Charcot Marie Tooth disease, type 4J (CMT4J).

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Here's a science enigma: Try to explain where the neat, even DNA/RNA helix came from. Ha! Easy one! It probably spun around itself long before first life evolved like it did in this lab. In fact, the twist could have helped select the components of RNA, not the other way around.

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Using active genetics technology, UC San Diego biologists have developed the world’s first CRISPR/Cas9-based approach to control genetic inheritance in a mammal. The achievement in mice lays the groundwork for further advances based on this technology, including biomedical research on human disease.

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Two UBC Okanagan biologists, who have publicly solicited images of wild cats for their research, have answered that question.

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Researchers in the Hannes Lohi research group in the University of Helsinki focused on two forms of canine fearfulness: noise sensitivity and general fearfulness. The latter encompasses the fear of unfamiliar humans and new situations. Among Finnish dogs, noise sensitivity has been observed in as much as 40% of the population, while, according to estimates, one in four dogs suffers from fearfulness.

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Researchers from Yale School of Public Health find that genetic profiling for cancer tumors is cost-effective for high- and medium-risk patients with breast cancer, but is unlikely to make a meaningful impact on treatment for low-risk patients, in study published in January 2019 issue of JNCCN-Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network

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Many organisms including insects, amphibians and yeasts use sex pheromones for attracting individuals of the opposite sex, but what happens to sex pheromones as new species emerge? New research publishing January 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology from Taisuke Seike and Hironori Niki at the National Institute of Genetics, Japan and Chikashi Shimoda at Osaka City University, Japan studies sex pheromones in the fission yeast Schizosaccharomyces pombe, revealing an “asymmetric” pheromone recognition system in which one pheromone operates extremely stringently whereas the other pheromone is free to undergo a certain degree of diversification, perhaps leading to a first step towards speciation.

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Heart disease is the greatest killer in the world today, and it is widely accepted that our genes interact with traditional lifestyle risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and/or a sedentary life to promote an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. However, a new study in sheep, publishing January 22 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, by a team from Cambridge University, finds that offspring whose mothers had a complicated pregnancy may be at greater risk of heart disease in later life, suggesting that our cards may be marked even before we are born.

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An approved drug that blocks an integrated stress response shows promise in preliminary tests against ALS and frontotemporal dementia.

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A recent study from Uppsala University has found that whether you store your fat around the trunk or in other parts of your body is highly influenced by genetic factors and that this effect is present predominantly in women and to a much lower extent in men. In the study, which is published in Nature Communications, the researchers measured how fat was distributed in nearly 360,000 voluntary participants.

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Skin colour is one of the most visible and variable traits among humans and scientists have always been curious about how this variation evolved. Now, a study of diverse Latin American populations led by UCL geneticists has identified new genetic variations associated with skin colour.

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The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai has entered into two exclusive licenses to develop the drug pentosan polysulfate sodium for the treatment of mucopolysaccharidosis (MPS).

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Researchers at Rush University Medical Center and the MIND Institute at UC Davis have found that mavoglurant, an experimental drug known as an mGluR5 negative modulator, can positively modify a key characteristic behavior in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS).

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Researchers at MIND Institute at UC Davis and Rush University Medical Center have found that mavoglurant, an experimental drug known as an mGluR5 negative modulator, can positively modify a key characteristic behavior in individuals with fragile X syndrome (FXS).

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A newly discovered regulatory mechanism helps the body control the rate of fat metabolism, according to a new study publishing on January 17 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Ligong Chen of Tsinghua University in Beijing and colleagues. The finding may lead to new drugs to help burn stored fat and reduce weight.

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Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have developed a gene therapy that blocks axonal degeneration, preventing axon destruction in mice and suggesting a therapeutic strategy that could help prevent the loss of peripheral nerves in multiple conditions.

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Results, published in Nature Communications, have shown that the nature of the evolutionary forces which act on male fruit flies depend on how many mates a females has.

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ONEVoice, a landmark survey funded by the Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and conducted by Edge Research, has identified key areas of concern among more than 3,000 respondents – 2,430 adults with neuromuscular disease and 932 caregivers/family members – as well as ways in which many of these concerns can be addressed.

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A recent study has found that a specific gene in cancerous prostate tumors indicates when patients are at high-risk for the cancer to spread, suggesting that targeting this gene can help patients live longer.

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New study uses live imaging to understand a critical step in early embryonic development—how genes and molecules control forces to orchestrate the emergence of form in the developing embryo. The study findings could have important implications for how stem cells are used to create functional organs in the lab, and lead to a better understanding of the underlying causes of gastrointestinal birth defects.