by Jane Tiller, The Conversation In the past week, news has spread of a Florida judge’s decision to grant a warrant allowing police to search one of the world’s largest online DNA databases, for leads in a criminal case. The warrant reportedly approved the search of open source genealogy database GEDMatch. An estimated 1.3 million...
Tag: <span>DNA</span>
Advanced cancer drug shrinks and intercalates DNA
Experiments and statistical models reveal that the recently developed cancer drug Pixantrone forces itself inside the double helix structure of DNA molecules, then shrinks their backbones SPRINGER Because of the harmful side-effects of chemotherapy, and the increasing resistance to drugs found in many cancer cells, it is critical for researchers to continually search for new...
Advanced microscopy reveals unusual DNA structure
Sandia scientist pushes technology’s limits to see fundamental feature of stretched S-DNA An advanced imaging technique reveals new structural details of S-DNA, ladder-like DNA that forms when the molecule experiences extreme tension. This work conducted at Sandia National Laboratories and Vrije University in the Netherlands provides the first experimental evidence that S-DNA contains highly tilted...
Competitor accuses 23andMe of ‘false negatives’ in cancer-gene testing
By SHARON BEGLEY when 23andMe received government permission in 2017 to sell health-related genetic testing, it came with several conditions, including that the company tell customers that its brand of testing can miss disease-causing variants. Now, in a study presented on Thursday at the annual meeting of the American Society of Human Genetics, a competitor has analyzed the likelihood of such...
Clues from DNA could predict growth of prostate cancer
by University of California, Los Angeles Researchers from the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and other institutions in the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore, have identified 1,178 biomarkers in men’s genomes—the complete set of genetic material inherited from one’s parents—that predict how an individual person’s prostate cancer will grow. The finding suggests that...
Research discovers inhibitor to reverse toxic DUX4 effects
by University of Minnesota About one in 8,000 people have facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy, according to a 2014 study, which is relatively common in the world of genetic diseases. New University of Minnesota Medical School research identifies an inhibitor that protects cells from toxic effects associated with this disease in cells and mice. Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy...
Cell-free DNA detects pathogens and quantifies damage
This news or article is intended for readers with certain scientific or professional knowledge in the field. A common problem in diagnosing infectious disease is that the presence of a potential pathogen in the body does not necessarily mean the patient is sick. This can be particularly challenging for the treatment of organ transplant recipients,...
Patterns in DNA reveal hundreds of unknown protein pairings
Posted Today Sequencing a genome is getting cheaper, but making sense of the resulting data remains hard. Researchers have now found a new way to extract useful information out of sequenced DNA. By cataloging subtle evolutionary signatures shared between pairs of genes in bacteria, the team was able to discover hundreds of previously unknown protein interactions. This method...
Determined DNA hunt reveals exciting new schizophrenia clue
An 18-year joint Australian-Indian study made possible by the recruitment, diagnosis and DNA screening of thousands of people in India has identified a new clue in the quest for causes of schizophrenia and potential treatments. A collaboration between The University of Queensland and a team of Indian researchers led by Professor Rangaswamy Thara, co- founder and director of the Schizophrenia Research Foundation...
Genetics may help predict the right blood pressure drug for you
Medication can play a huge role in reducing high blood pressure, a leading cause of stroke, heart attack and other serious health problems. Yet given the wide selection of drugs for doctors to choose from, figuring out which drug works best for someone is difficult. But researchers may have found a better way to predict the effectiveness and side...