Millions of amateur genealogists assembling family trees on Ancestry.com probably figure they’re just finding lost relatives and assessing their genetic proximity to Prince Harry, but in fact they have unintentionally made a significant contribution to science. An analysis of 54 million of the website’s public family trees finds that the heritability of life span, a...
Category: <span>Genetics</span>
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Yale-led team finds missing-in-action MS genes
New Haven, Conn. — An international collaboration led by scientists at Yale has cracked a tough nut in multiple sclerosis: Where are all the genes? Previous work by the International Multiple Sclerosis Genetics Consortium (IMSGC) has identified 233 genetic risk variants. However, these only account for about 20% of overall disease risk, with the remaining genetic culprits proving elusive. To...
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ATR inhibitors: destroying DNA
Analysis of an anti-cancer drug in clinical trials reveals a previously unknown effect on DNA that could contribute to its potency. Recent research aiming to establish biomarkers that could indicate the most effective course of therapy for a variety of cancers, which was conducted at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (PA, USA)...
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Making gene therapy delivery safer and more efficient
Viral vectors used to deliver gene therapies undergo spontaneous changes during manufacturing which affects their structure and function, found researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in a study published in Molecular Therapy. As gene therapy approaches become more common for treating disease, managing consistency of the molecular makeup of the virus particles...
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Genetic variants reveal new targets for chronic kidney disease treatment
The kidney does more than double or even triple duty compared to other organs—it extracts waste, balances body fluids, forms urine, regulates blood pressure, and secretes hormones. Given this complexity, when things go wrong, havoc can ensue, causing a suite of symptoms called chronic kidney disease (CKD), which includes toxin accumulation, fatigue, and high blood...
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Genetic mutation may increase risk of pancreatic cancer in females
LONDON, ON – In a new study from Lawson Health Research Institute and Western University’s Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, researchers have found that mutation of a gene called ATRX may lead to increased risk of developing pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in females. The study marks the first time a sex-specific genetic risk factor...
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The genomic crash: researchers could reclassify over 4000 genes as non
A new study suggests that 20% of the previously accepted human genome has been misinterpreted and actually consists of non-coding DNA. Recent research led by Michael Tress of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (Madrid, Spain), has discovered that up to 4234 genes previously characterized as exons, could actually consist of non-coding DNA. The research,...
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Genomic study brings us closer to precision medicine for type 2 diabetes
Most patients diagnosed with type 2 diabetes are treated with a “one-size-fits-all” protocol that is not tailored to each person’s physiology and may leave many cases inadequately managed. A new study by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) indicates that inherited genetic changes may underlie the variability...
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Researchers identify new genetic disorder
Researchers from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine and physicians from Spectrum Health have identified for the first time in a human patient a genetic disorder only previously described in animal models. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The disorder is caused by mutations in a gene known as ornithine decarboxylase 1 (ODC1) and is defined...
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New Tourette disorder genes come to light
In the largest DNA sequencing study of Tourette Disorder (TD) to date, UC San Francisco researchers and their collaborators have unearthed new data suggesting a potential role for disruptions in cell polarity in the development of this condition. Credit: CC0 Public Domain The researchers focused on “de novo” mutations, or rare mutations that arise anew...