Publication Announcement: Policies Must Keep Pace With Genetic Progress
Washington, DC - June 19, 2008 - Enactment of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) of 2008 is a boon to individual patients and for genetic research, write Kathy Hudson, M.K. Holohan, and Francis Collins in the June 19 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Pan-European Research Infrastructure Will Manage Biological Samples Across Continent
The University of Manchester has been successful in gaining major European Union funding to begin joint planning of how millions of biological samples, such as DNA, can be managed and made available to research scientists across Europe.
Desert Plant May Hold Key To Surviving Food Shortage
The plant, Kalanchoe fedtschenkoi, is unique because, unlike normal plants, it captures most of its carbon dioxide at night when the air is cooler and more humid, making it 10 times more water-efficient than major crops such as wheat. Scientists will use the latest next-generation DNA sequencing to analyse the plant's genetic code and understand how these plants function at night.
CHFR Gene Is Key In Avoiding Road To Breast Cancer
A University of Michigan study reveals in detail how breast cells produce new cells that are predisposed to become cancerous, unless they receive the protective action of the CHFR gene.CHFR expression is missing in more than a third of breast cancers.
Gene-expression Profiling Of The Effects Of Liver Toxins
Gene-expression data from liver tissue or whole blood can be used to classify histopathologic differences in the effects of hepatotoxins. It is hoped that these findings, published in BioMed Central's open access journal, Genome Biology, will lead to a more precise way of defining the potential hepatotoxicity of new compounds.
Researchers Find An Evolutionarily Preserved Signature In The Primate Brain
Researchers have determined that there are hundreds of biological differences between the sexes when it comes to gene expression in the cerebral cortex of humans and other primates. These findings, published June 20th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics, indicate that some of these differences arose a very long time ago and have been preserved through evolution.
Male And Female Brains Have Evolutionarily Conserved Sexual Signatures
An article published in the open-access journal PLoS Geneticsreports that male and female primates and humans have hundreds ofbiological differences that are evident in gene expressions in thecerebral cortex. The Uppsala University, Karolinska Institute, andUniversity of Chicago researchers maintain that some of thesedifferences first appeared a very long time ago.
Genome Sequence Shows How Genes Quadrupled During Vertebrate Evolution
The newly sequenced genome of a dainty, quill-like sea creature called a lancelet provides the best evidence yet that vertebrates evolved over the past 550 million years through a four-fold duplication of the genes of more primitive ancestors.
People Who Carry The Obesity Gene Eat More
People with a variant of the first common gene linked to obesity on average eat more, according to new research. Scientists in Aberdeen have found that people who carry a variant of the FTO gene that is linked to increased obesity - called the 'at risk' variant - eat more food than those who do not have the 'at risk' variant.
Genetics Behind Male Homosexuality Could Be Explained By Sexually Antagonistic Selection
Anew model has been proposed to explain the evolutionary origin andmaintenance of male homosexuality in human populations in the contextof Darwinian Evolution by invoking the idea of sexually antagonisticselection. This was proposed in an article released on June 17, 2008 inthe open access journal PLoS ONE.