Latest Genes Stories

In the United States, a baby is born with a facial cleft every hour, of every day of the year! Such birth defects result from both gene mutations and environmental insults. PRDM16 is a transcription factor originally described as being aberrantly activated in specific types of leukemia's, and more recently as a master regulator of brown adipose tissue differentiation. In a study published in the April 2012 issue of Experimental Biology and Medicine, investigators have now shown that this...

A team led by scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) publishes research today indicating a striking association between genes found disrupted in children with autism and genes that are targets of FMRP, the protein generated by the gene FMR1, whose dysfunction causes Fragile-X syndrome. The new study appears online April 25 in the journal Neuron. Fragile-X syndrome is the most common cause of inherited intellectual disability. It is also counted among the autism spectrum...

Yale researchers show in detail how three genes within human embryonic stem cells regulate development, a finding that increases understanding of how to grow these cells for therapeutic purposes. This process, described in the April 6 issue of the journal Cell Stem Cell, is different in humans than in mice, highlighting the importance of research using human embryonic stem cells. "It is difficult to deduce from the mouse how these cells work in humans," said Natalia Ivanova, assistant...

CARLSBAD, Calif., April 4, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Life Technologies Corporation (NASDAQ: LIFE) today announced that it is working with several partners to develop applications for its Ion Personal Genome Machine (PGM(TM)) system in HLA (human leukocyte antigen) analysis. HLAs are found on the surfaces of all cells in the body, and individuals vary widely in the combination of HLA sub-types found in their tissues. Tissue typing by HLA analysis is an essential component of...

Team discovers mechanism for destroying particular cancer cells An international team of scientists has announced a new advance in the ability to target and destroy certain cancer cells. A group led by the University of Leicester has shown that particular cancer cells are especially sensitive to a protein called p21. This protein usually forces normal and cancer cells to stop dividing but it was recently shown that in some cases it can also kill cancer cells. However, scientists have...

Patient biopsies reveal potential new target for therapy A genetic pathway previously known for its role in embryonic development and cancer has been identified as a target for systemic sclerosis, or scleroderma, therapy. The finding, discovered by a cross-disciplinary team led by John Varga, MD, John and Nancy Hughes Distinguished Professor of Rheumatology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, was recently published in the journal Arthritis & Rheumatism. "We...

Researchers presenting talks at the Genetics Society of America's 53rd Annual Drosophila Research Conference in Chicago present new information on topics from neural diseases to kidney stones More than two-thirds of human genes have counterparts in the well-studied fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster, so although it may seem that humans don't have much in common with flies, the correspondence of our genetic instructions is astonishing. In fact, there are hundreds of inherited diseases in...

Authors explore the role of the SRY gene in male fight-or-flight response The pulse quickens, the heart pounds and adrenalin courses through the veins, but in stressful situations is our reaction controlled by our genes, and does it differ between the sexes? Australian scientists, writing in BioEssays, believe the SRY gene, which directs male development, may promote aggression and other traditionally male behavioral traits resulting in the fight-or-flight reaction to stress. Research...

UCLA scientists identify 2,000 important genes Can the song of a small bird provide valuable insights into human stuttering and speech-related disorders and conditions, including autism and stroke? New research by UCLA life scientists and colleagues provides reason for optimism. The scientists discovered that some 2,000 genes in a region of the male zebra finch's brain known as "Area X" are significantly linked to singing. More than 1,500 genes in this region, a critical part of the...