New structural details emerge about one of the body’s biggest protein assemblages, the nuclear pore complex CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Standing guard between a cell’s nucleus and its main chamber, called the cytoplasm, are thousands of behemoth protein structures called nuclear pore complexes, or NPCs. NPCs are like the bouncers of a cell’s nucleus, tightly...
Category: <span>Genetics</span>
Post
Researchers identify new gene changes that point to elevated prostate cancer risk
Findings may help identify men who need early, regular screening CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY As the result of a six-year long research process, Fredrick R. Schumacher, PhD, a cancer epidemiology researcher at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, and an international team of more than 100 colleagues have identified 63 new genetic variations that could indicate...
Post
Key cancer-fighting gene’s secret weapons revealed
The findings revealed that a special group of genes that function within the body’s normal DNA repair process were vital to the effectiveness of p53. This new information could help doctors to better identify patients with an increased risk of developing certain cancers. It could also help to develop safer, more effective treatments for patients....
Post
Killing bacteria by silencing genes may be alternative to antibiotics
A new approach to killing C. difficile that silences key bacterial genes while sparing other bacteria may provide a new way to treat the most common hospital-acquired bacterial infection in the United States, according to researchers. This photograph depicts Clostridium difficile colonies after 48hrs growth on a blood agar plate; Magnified 4.8X. C. difficile, an anaerobic...
Post
Study offers new hope for the fight against genetically determined obesity
UNIVERSITY OF COPENHAGEN THE FACULTY OF HEALTH AND MEDICAL SCIENCES Around two to six per cent of all people with obesity develop obesity already in early childhood; it’s in their genetic cards. Obesity-causal mutations in one of their ‘appetite genes’ gives them a strong genetic predisposition for developing obesity, also called monogenic obesity. Their experience...
Post
New method for finding disease-susceptibility genes
A new study has resulted in a novel statistical algorithm capable of identifying potential disease genes in a more accurate and cost-effective way. This algorithm is a possible approach for the identification of candidate disease genes, as it works effectively with less genomic data and takes only a minute or two to get results. Comparison...
Post
Genome editing method targets AIDS virus
By destroying the regulatory genes of the AIDS virus HIV-1 using the genome editing system CRISPR/Cas9, a Japanese research group has succeeded in blocking the production of HIV-1 by infected cells. Human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) infection is a chronic disease affecting more than 35 million people worldwide. The infection can be controlled by antiretroviral therapy (ART), but...
Post
Hi-C Maps Used to Inexpensively Generate Chromosome-Length Genome Assemblies
COLD SPRING HARBOR, NY (GenomeWeb) – By relying on the Hi-C approach to map interactions between chromatin regions, researchers have been able to assemble de novo mammalian genomes for less than $1,000. Olga Dudchenko, a postdoc in Erez Lieberman Aiden’s lab at the Baylor College of Medicine, said during her talk at the Biology of Genomes meeting here that...
Post
Gene therapy for lipoprotein lipase deficiency yields promising results
New Rochelle, NY, May 1, 2018–During the first 18 months after treatment with ali-pogene tiparvovec, a gene therapy recently approved in Europe to treat lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD), the first patient to receive the treatment had no abdominal pain or episodes of pancreatitis, following a history of 37 pancreatitis attacks. The patient was able to...
Post
Gene therapy for lipoprotein lipase deficiency yields promising results
New Rochelle, NY, May 1, 2018–During the first 18 months after treatment with ali-pogene tiparvovec, a gene therapy recently approved in Europe to treat lipoprotein lipase deficiency (LPLD), the first patient to receive the treatment had no abdominal pain or episodes of pancreatitis, following a history of 37 pancreatitis attacks. The patient was able to...