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.
Cells often multi-task when synthesizing and splicing RNA. But when unconventional splicing is required, they synthesize first and splice later, according to a study led by researchers at the Public Health Research Institute at UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School and published in Cell .
A University of Utah biologist and an international research team decoded the genetic blueprint of the two-spotted spider mite, raising hope for new ways to attack the major pest, which resists pesticides and destroys crops and ornamental plants worldwide.
Research at Iowa State University has led to discovery of a genetic method that can increase biomass in algae by 50 to 80 percent. The breakthrough comes from turning on certain genes in algae that increase the amount of photosynthesis in the plant, which leads to more biomass.
An international team of scientists has created super-strong, high-endurance mice and worms by suppressing a natural muscle-growth inhibitor, suggesting treatments for age-related or genetics-related muscle degeneration are within reach.
Each time a cell divides—and it takes millions of cell divisions to create a fully grown human body from a single fertilized cell—its chromosomes have to be accurately divvied up between both daughter cells. Researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research used, ironically enough, the single-celled organism Saccharomyces cerevisiae—commonly known as baker’s yeast—to gain new insight into the process by which chromosomes are physically segregated during cell division.
Kennedy Krieger researcher finds unexpected familial relationships in data widely used by biomedical research community.
Research published in Science today reveals that the first individuals settling on new land are more successful at passing on their genes than those who did not migrate.
Summary of a study being published online October 31, 2011, in the Journal of Clinical Oncology finding that close relatives of women who carry mutations in a BRCA gene – but who themselves do not have such genetic mutations ¬– do not have an increased risk of developing breast cancer compared to relatives of women with breast cancer who do not have such mutations. These results run counter to a previous study showing a higher risk for these women, and suggest they may not need extra cancer screening and other preventive measures
Scientists at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute and Yale University have identified a new target area in the human genome that appears to harbor genes with a major role in the onset of depression.
Researchers are exploring a novel therapeutic approach intended to modify the genetic make-up of radioiodine-refractory forms of thyroid cancer to make them more susceptible to the anti-cancer effects of radioiodine therapy.
The Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP) submitted comments to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in which the Association voiced concerns about the proposed Genetic Testing Registry (GTR) as currently designed, and requested that NIH take clarity and cost into consideration when designing a test registry.
– Individuals with advanced papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) that are associated with the BRAFV600E gene mutation have a higher risk of recurrent disease and progression to more advanced, poorly differentiated thyroid cancer, according to data presented today at the 81st Annual Meeting of the American Thyroid Association (ATA).
Whitehead Institute scientists have determined that master transcription factors determine the genes regulated by key signaling pathways. By manipulating these pathways, scientists may find new ways to treat cancer and other diseases.
Michael Kanost, distinguished professor and head of the department of biochemistry at Kansas State University, heads one of the premier laboratories conducting research on insect immunity.
Nir Barzilai, M.D., director of the Institute for Aging Research at Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, will help lead a newly formed centenarian consortium for the Archon Genomics X PRIZE presented by Medco. The $10 million dollar incentivized prize competition, which was announced today, challenges teams of scientists and entrepreneurs to sequence the complete genomes of 100 healthy centenarians in 30 days. Intended to help usher in an era of personalized medicine and learn from the genetic advantages of the exceptionally long-lived, the competition tasks teams with delivering medical quality genome sequencing results for $1,000 per centenarian.
In what is so far the largest investigation of its kind, researchers uncovered a wide range of new insights about common diseases and how they are affected by differences between two persons' genes. The results from this study could lead to highly targeted, individualized therapies.
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