In a study presented at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s (SMFM) annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting™ in Chicago, researchers unveiled findings that show that it is not cost effective to screen for spinal muscular atrophy. Spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) is the most common genetic cause of infant mortality and the second most common inherited autosomal recessive disorder…
Children who were exposed to acetaminophen prenatally were more likely to have asthma symptoms at age five in a study of 300 African-American and Dominican Republic children living in New York City…
This week a US federal court heard a case that may decide whether it is legal to patent human genes…
Nuclear pore complexes are best known as the communication channels that regulate the passage of all molecules to and from a cell’s nucleus. Researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, however, have shown that some of the pores’ constituent proteins, called nucleoporins, pull double duty as transcription factors regulating the activity of genes active during early development…
A novel finding, described Feb. 4 on the Science Express Web site by teams from the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Toronto, offers a clue as to how genes can have what you might call multiple personalities…
The Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen) has announced the completion of a strategic alliance and affiliation agreement with the Van Andel Research Institute (VARI) that will maximize the research capabilities of both non-profit institutes…
A new virology textbook published by ASM Press educates the reader by focusing on the families. Based on the author’s experiences teaching virology for more than 35 years, Virology: Molecular Biology and Pathogenesis enables readers to develop a deep understanding of fundamental virology by emphasizing principles and discussing viruses in the context of virus families…
Stuart Lindsay, Arizona State University Regents’ professor and director of the Biodesign Institute’s Center for Single Molecule Biophysics, has just released the first comprehensive guide to a tiny world a million times smaller than a single grain of sand…
The complex chain of metabolic events in bacteria that lead to fatal diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) may be better understood using mathematical models, according to an article published in the February issue of Microbiology Today…
The fatal brain disease Creutzfeldt-Jakob in humans, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in cattle and scrapie in sheep are so-called prion diseases, whereby one of the body’s normal proteins, the prion protein PrPc misfolds into a pathogenic form: PrPSc. In spite of several years of extensive research, little is still known about what actually happens in this process…
Groundbreaking research done at Nanyang Technological University’s (NTU) School of Biological Sciences (SBS) could lead to the development of more potent drugs or a vaccine for malaria, which is transmitted to humans by infected mosquitoes and kills up to three million people each year…
GSK announces the formation of a new standalone unit specialising in the development and commercialisation of medicines for rare diseases. Over 5,500 rare diseases have been identified(1) of which less than 10% are currently being treated(2), presenting a significant unmet medical need…
Gene variants in a woman and her fetus can make them more susceptible to an inflammatory response to infections inside the uterus, which can increase the risk for a preterm birth, according to a study presented at a meeting of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Reuters reports. Preterm delivery is a leading cause of infant mortality and disability, according to Reuters…
Within a virus’s tiny exterior is a store of energy waiting to be unleashed. When the virus encounters a host cell, this pent-up energy is released, propelling the viral DNA into the cell and turning it into a virus factory…
Monash University biochemists have found a critical piece in the evolutionary puzzle that explains how life on Earth evolved millions of centuries ago. The team, from the School of Biomedical Sciences, has described the process by which bacteria developed into more complex cells and found this crucial step happened much earlier in the evolutionary timeline than previously thought…
Scientists from the UK and The Netherlands have identified for the first time a variant of a gene that is linked to biological ageing in humans and suggest the discovery will help us better understand cancer and diseases of ageing…
These tubes or capillaries, formed by a single cell, connect the main tubes of the respiratory system with organs and tissues, thereby providing oxygen. The study has been published in the journal Current Biology, part of the Cell group…
Scientists have identified a gene they say is a strong candidate for involvement in premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) and other maladies associated with the natural flux in hormones during the menstrual cycle…
Deafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child’s ability to learn speech and language…
Endometrial cancer is the most common cancer of the female reproductive tract, representing 6% of all cancers. There is currently no screening method or biomarker to indicate early presence of disease. “It is a very common malignancy that affects women of all ages” comments paper author Dr. Diego Castrillon…
A team of scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) has determined a hierarchical set of criteria that explain how the molecular precursors of gene-regulating small RNAs are sorted by the cellular machinery…
The master regulator of muscle differentiation, MyoD, functions early in myogenesis to help stem cells proliferate in response to muscle injury, according to researchers at Case Western Reserve University. The study appears online Jan. 4 in the Journal of Cell Biology…
Cancer Research UK funded scientists have found that a group of rogue genetic messengers, produced by DNA sequences commonly known as ‘junk DNA’, could help diagnose breast and bowel cancer. Their research is published in the journal Genomics…
Listening in on bacterial conversations could be the solution for improving chronic wound care, says a team of researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York. Their findings have been published in the Journal of Applied Microbiology…
A team of Israeli scientists at the Sheba Medical Center’s Research Center for Leukemia and Childhood Malignancies has discovered a method for developing a more effective and less perilous treatment for those suffering from childhood leukemia, the most common cancer in children…
