Latest Cytogenetics Stories

A research group lead by scientists at the University of Warwick has discovered the trigger that pulls together X chromosomes in female cells at a crucial stage of embryo development. Their discovery could also provide new insights into how other similar chromosomes spontaneously recognize each other and are bound together at key parts of analogous cell processes. This is an important mechanism as the binding togetgher of too many of too few of a particular chromosome can cause a number of...

Researchers have reported new findings that suggest airline pilots may be exposed to higher than normal levels of radiation, possibly putting them at an added risk for cancer. The report in the online issue of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that increased radiation can result in more chromosomal translocations than normal. These translocations occur when a chromosome fragment breaks off and attaches to another. This can lead to a range of medical problems, such as leukemia,...

Pilots with long-term flying experience may be at risk of DNA damage from cosmic ionizing radiation, U.S. researchers suggest. Lee C. Yong of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health in Cincinnati and colleagues compared the rate of chromosomal -- DNA -- abnormalities in blood samples taken from 83 airline pilots and 50 university faculty members from the same U.S. city, matched for age and smoking habits. Seventy percent of the pilots had served in the military and had...

Scientists are hoping to develop a treatment for mothers who are aware their unborn child has Down's syndrome.In a study with mice, scientists used gave nerve-protecting chemicals to unborn mice who had a syndrome similar to Down's. They found that some of the noticeable developmental problems were removed among those who received the chemicals. These mice were engineered to have an extra copy of a segment of chromosome 16, because children with Down's suffer from having an extra copy of...

A "chip" or array that can quickly detect disorders such as Down syndrome or other diseases associated with chromosomal abnormalities proved an effective tool in prenatal diagnosis in a series of 300 cases at Baylor College of Medicine, said researchers in a report that appears in the current issue of the journal Prenatal Diagnosis.In the report, a team led by Dr. Arthur Beaudet and Dr. Sau Wai Cheung at BCM, described use of array comparative genomic hybridization to analyze...

A gene essential to growth and development of most organ systems is also vital to female, but not male, embryonic sexual development, U.S. researchers say. Researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Texas say the findings lend support to a controversial hypothesis about mammalian sexual development. In terms of their sexual organs, all embryos look alike, study leader Humphrey Yao, of the University of Illinois said. "They have a common primordium, the foundation for...

China Medical Technologies, a medical device company, has received approval for its breast cancer HER-2 FISH probe from the State Food and Drug Administration in China. According to the company, the HER-2 fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) probe is designed to detect amplification of the Her-2 gene in human breast cancer tissue. HER-2, also known as HER-2/neu, is a gene that is notable for its prognostic role as well as the target of herceptin, a drug for breast cancer treatment....

Signature Genomic Laboratories, a provider of microarray-based cytogenetic diagnostics, has launched a new enhanced microarray for the prenatal detection of chromosome abnormalities that result in missing or extra pieces of DNA. The first tier of Signature's prenatal service, the enhanced PrenatalChip targets over 100 discrete chromosomal regions, the gain or loss of which results in a genetic disorder, while minimizing coverage of regions of unknown clinical significance. Signature's...

Signature Genomic Laboratories announced the release of an enhanced microarray for the prenatal detection of chromosome abnormalities that result in missing or extra pieces of DNA. The first tier of Signature's Prenatal Service, the enhanced PrenatalChip(R) targets over 100 discrete chromosomal regions, the gain or loss of which results in a genetic disorder, while minimizing coverage of regions of unknown clinical significance. Signature's whole-genome microarray, the SignatureChipWG,...

Researchers at Signature Genomic Laboratories recently reported two individuals with microscopic losses of DNA from the long arm of chromosome 16 and suggested this deletion represents a previously unappreciated syndrome. In the study, published in the journal Clinical Genetics, the two individuals with deletions of the long arm of chromosome 16 were identified among more than 22,000 patients with unexplained mental retardation and birth defects referred to Signature for testing. Both...