March 25, 2013--------News Archive

Mom's diabetes affects development of her eggs
For the first time, researchers have shown that poorly controlled maternal diabetes has an adverse effect on methylation of the maternal imprinting gene Peg3, which contributes to impaired development in her offspring.

Translational Medicine
Baffling blood type explained
A 60-year-old blood mystery is solved by the University of Vermont (UVM) and a French research team. Together, they have found a missing molecule—a tiny protein called SMIM1—which has eluded detection in the blood, yet affects over 400,000 people in Europe and North America. Another success in the quest for "personalized medicine."

Did evolution give us inflammatory disease?
Researchers demonstrate that some variants in our genes that could put a person at risk for inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease or rheumatoid arthritis, might have been the result of natural selection over the course of human history.

March 22, 2013--------News Archive

Translational Medicine
Immune Therapy 'Cures' 5 Leukemia Patients
Memorial Sloan-Kettering investigators report that genetically modified immune cells have shown great promise in killing the cancer cells of patients with relapsed B cell ALL. In fact, all five of the patients who have received the new therapy – known as targeted immunotherapy – have gone into complete remission, with no detectable cancer cells.

'Evolutionary glitch' possible cause of childhood ear infections
Researchers at King's College London have uncovered how the human ear is formed, giving clues as to why children are susceptible to infections such as 'glue ear' or build-up of fluid in the middle ear chamber.

Older fathers pass on autism risk to grandchildren
Men who have children at older ages are more likely to have grandchildren with autism compared to younger grandfathers, according to new research. This is the first time that research has shown that risk factors for autism may accumulate over generations.

March 21, 2013--------News Archive

Constructing an immune response from one T cell
By charting the differing fates of individual T cells, research is showing that previously unpredictable aspects of an immune response could be effectively modeled to enable a specific response.

Molecular control switch for preterm lung disorders
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have made major discoveries that could lead to new treatments for lung disorders in premature babies. In a mouse study, the team located key molecules that switch on stress pathways in preterm lung disorders, and also found that when parts of these pathways were blocked with a pain drug, lung damage was prevented or reversed.

Women abused as children more likely to have children with autism
Women who experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children are more likely to have a child with autism than women who were not abused, according to a new study from Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH).

March 20, 2013--------News Archive

Divide enzyme to conquer genetic puzzle
Scientists find split, mutant protein serves as building block for synthetic biological circuits. Rice University researchers have found a way to divide and modify enzymes to create what amounts to a genetic logic gate.

Immortality gene mutation identifies brain tumors
Newly identified mutations in a gene that makes cells immortal appear to play a pivotal role in three of the most common types of brain tumors, as well as cancers of the liver, tongue and urinary tract, according to research led by Duke Cancer Institute.

How proteins read meta DNA code
Scientists have accurately calculated how to decipher the second genetic code written within the DNA base pair sequence.

March 19, 2013--------News Archive

A map of 'shortcuts' between all human genes
Some diseases are caused by single gene mutations. However, current techniques for identifying disease-causing genes in a patient produces hundreds of potential gene candidates, making it difficult to pinpoint the single causative gene.

Face recognition in autism linked to specific group of neurons
Scientists have discovered a brain anomaly that explains why some people diagnosed with autism cannot easily recognize faces — a deficit linked to the impairments in social interactions considered to be the hallmark of the disorder.

Programmed destruction
Weizmann Institute results show the same signaling enzymes can trigger two different processes in the cell sound a warning to biomedical researchers.

March 18, 2013--------News Archive

White blood cells key in controlling red blood cell levels
Researchers have found that macrophages – white blood cells that play a key role in the immune response – also help to both produce and eliminate the body’s red blood cells (RBCs).

Vitamin E can help prevent cancer
Researchers have identified an elusive anti-cancer property of vitamin E that has long been presumed to exist, but difficult to find. Many animal studies have suggested that vitamin E could prevent cancer, but human clinical trials following up on those findings have not shown the same benefits.

National study of benefit/risk in whole genome sequencing
Improving technologies are rapidly cutting the cost of whole genome sequencing, a process that reveals the complete library of a patient’s genetic information. Indeed, the era of the $1,000 genome—a catchphrase for the test’s relative affordability—appears imminent.