Screening a tiny section of DNA could help East Asian patients avoid severe reactions to some medications TOHOKU UNIVERSITY Researchers from Japan’s Tohoku University and colleagues have found that a simple DNA test can predict if East Asian patients are likely to have bad reactions to thiopurine medications. IMAGE: EXPERIMENTING WITH THE DNA KIT AT THE...
Tag: <span>DNA</span>
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Through the use of self-stopping enzymes, DNA synthesis has become faster, cheaper and better
Scientists at the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) based at the University of California, Berkeley (CA, USA) have developed a new way to synthesize DNA through the creative use of enzymes. The discovery, published in Nature Biotechnology, has the potential to revolutionize the fields of DNA synthesis and biological engineering. Until now, the...
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Rise in Population Genomics: Local Government in India Will Use Blockchain to Secure Genetic Data
Blockchain will secure the DNA database for 50 million citizens in the eighth-largest state in India. The government of Andhra Pradesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding with a German genomics and precision medicine start-up, Shivom, which announced to start the pilot project soon. The move falls in line with a trend for governments turning to...
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Artificial gene defect reveals target to fight genetic disease
(Vienna, June 11, 2018) DNA Repair is essential for a healthy organism. In every day of our lives, tens of thousands of damages occur in the genetic material of our cells. Hence, it is not surprising that a broad variety of repair mechanisms developed in the course of evolution that enables cells to quickly react...
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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....
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Lab Chat: A new protein atlas holds clues about disease
Scientists have created a genetic atlas of proteins found in the blood that could be used to dig into disease biology and scour for information about drugs. Here’s what Adam Butterworth of the University of Cambridge told me about the work, which was supported by Merck and published in Nature. How did you create this atlas?...
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Condensin Folds DNA Through Loop Extrusion
By observing the activity of a protein complex in real time, researchers have uncovered new evidence for a long-standing theory. EDITOR’S CHOICE IN CELL & MOLECULAR BIOLOGY The paper M. Ganji et al., “Real-time imaging of DNA loop extrusion by condensin,” Science, doi:10.1126/science.aar7831, 2018. How does a human cell neatly pack more than 2 meters’ worth...
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Nucleic Acids Research
Researchers from China and the US introduce an online tool for taking a look at transcription factor-DNA binding intensities in different cell types, along with the variants that affect them. The approach — known as “deep learning-based functional impact of non-coding variants evaluator,” or DeFine — uses deep learning models to tease out transcription factor binding intensities...
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Home Genetic Tests May Be Riddled With Errors, And Companies Aren’t Keeping Track
Before you sign up for a home DNA test, learn more from this couple’s story. COURTESY OF JULIE KENNERLY-SHAH AND SUMMIT SHAH. Julie Kennerly-Shah and Summit Shah. Julie Kennerly-Shah and Summit Shah were dating back in 2016 when they decided to buy kits from 23andMe, the popular consumer DNA health and ancestry company. Like many...
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New method identifies type 2 diabetics at risk of early death
Type 2 diabetes has consequences for the entire body. A new method uses a urine sample, and not a blood test, to identify the consequences of disease. When you hear the phrase ‘adult-onset diabetes’, your first thought might be of excessive blood sugar levels and obesity. Picturing an adult carrying extra weight around his or...