Myriad Genetics acquires patent on another breast cancer-linked gene

Myriad Genetics, a leading US molecular diagnostic company, has been granted exclusive rights to an analysis of the RAD51C gene. Mutations of the gene have been associated with an increased risk for hereditary breast and ovarian cancer and the company now hopes to develop a commercial test for RAD51C....[Read More]

Pioneering clinical trial using cardiac stem cells shows early promise

The world's first clinical trial using patients' own cardiac stem cells to repair heart damage has produced surprising results. The preliminary trial was designed simply to test the safety of the procedure, but doctors observed an unexpected improvement in heart function in patients receiving the treatment...[Read More]

UK Supreme Court upholds gene patent

In what appears to be the end of a long running legal saga, a ruling by the UK's Supreme Court has found in favour of a patent for a gene and the protein sequence it encodes. Lawyers say that the ruling will make it easier to patent discoveries which do not have a clear demonstrated application, a result that will largely please the private bioscience industry but may alarm many who believe that human genes should not be patentable....[Read More]

Genetic regions linked to schizophrenia by two Chinese studies

Two Chinese genome wide association studies (GWAS) have identified genomic regions linked to the incidence of schizophrenia. The papers, published in Nature, are some of the first GWAS to look at Chinese as opposed to Western populations....[Read More]

Chronic pain gene discovery may improve treatment

A single gene may play a major role in how we perceive pain, UK scientists have discovered. Research published in the journal Science, by a team from the University of Cambridge, shows that the HCN2 gene may be a vital target for future pharmacological research into pain relief...[Read More]

Scientists discover how the egg catches the sperm

Researchers have discovered a molecule present on the outer surface of a human egg that binds sperm and eggs together before fertilisation. Understanding this mechanism may help people with previously unexplained fertility problems...[Read More]

Radio Review: The First 1,000 Days - A Legacy for Life (Future Generations)

The immediate impact of environmental factors like diet, smoking and stress on health are well understood. But less is known about how your lifestyle can directly effect the health of your unborn children and grandchildren...[Read More]

Stress response spans generations

Scientists have shown that the effects of stress can be passed from one generation to the next via chemical changes to the DNA which turn genes on or off without altering the code itself....[Read More]

Scientists discover new way to reverse genetic defects

Scientists have discovered a way to bypass the type of mutation that causes about a third of human genetic diseases. Experiments in yeast have shown how chemical modifications can allow a cell's machinery to ignore mistakes in DNA known as nonsense mutations...[Read More]

Genes and depression, researchers find new region of interest

Scientists believe they have identified a new genetic link to severe depression....[Read More]

Caffeine may help with IVF treatment side effects

Researchers have found a molecule that they believe plays a key role in ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) - a potentially life-threatening condition that can arise from IVF treatment....[Read More]

Epigenetic link to autism

US scientists have identified a genetic trait that is strongly associated with autism. The genetic change does not involve a mutation within the DNA sequence of a gene but instead involves an alteration in the physical structure of the DNA which affects the way a gene is turned on and off. The researchers hope that the new findings will lead to novel ways to diagnose and treat autism....[Read More]

Human genome sequenced for $50,000 with third generation technology

Third-generation 'single-molecule' technology has been used for the first time to read a human genome sequence. Professor Stephen Quake, from Stanford University, California, US, is only the eighth person whose genome has been published since the first breakthroughs were made in 2000. When this latest generation of technology is perfected the hope is that it will bring us one step closer to ‘the $1000 genome' that will open the door to personalised medical treatme...[Read More]

New 'barcode' technique to study gene activity

Researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia, have developed a technique to digitally barcode gene activity, handing scientists a uniquely powerful tool for the prediction and prevention of disease. The fluorescent 'nano-string' is simply added to blood where it binds to a molecule of the researchers' choice...[Read More]

Epilepsy gene pair may be 'seizure-protective'

Two defective genes, which normally cause epilepsy when inherited individually, have been found to protect against seizures when inherited as a pair, according to a report published in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The researchers, based at Baylor Medical Centre in Texas, found that mice genetically engineered to...[Read More]

Research links cannabis smoking to problems in early pregnancy

New research has suggested a link between cannabis smoking and increased risk of miscarriage or ectopic pregnancy. Cannabis smoking around the time of conception may disrupt a delicate balance of enzymes which allow the early embryo to progress along the fallopian tubes into the uterus and then...[Read More]

New embryo stem cells are step towards therapies

US researchers have reported a new method for growing human embryonic stem (ES) cells, which does not rely on the use of 'feeder' cells. The new system, developed by scientists based at Massachusetts biotech firm Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), brings ES cell therapies a step closer. Many previously-isolated human ES...[Read More]

Scotland to launch embryo gene test service

Scottish couples at risk of having a child affected by a life-threatening inherited condition are set to benefit from a new preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) service. PGD involves testing IVF embryos, to ensure that only embryos unaffected by a particular genetic condition are returned to a woman's womb. Until now...[Read More]

Genes shed light on body's response to HIV

An international team of researchers has identified immune system genes that seem to play a key role in the body's defence against human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS. The scientists, who published their results in the journal Nature, say their findings should help efforts to develop an...[Read More]

Bush's approved stem cell lines show little potential

Two new studies suggest that at least 25 per cent of the embryonic stem (ES) cell lines available for use by federally-funded US researchers have 'little potential even as research tools'. This is because they are too difficult to keep alive and were initially grown using mouse 'feeder' cells, which...[Read More]