news archive genetic news - March 20, 2008

March 20, 2008

your information resource in human molecular genetics

-	Gene Therapy Alleviates Neurodegenerative Disease In Mice Mice with neurodegenerative diseases have been successfully treated with gene therapy.
-	Adapting Brain And Behaviour To Match The Environment Zones in a specific brain area change size depending on whether rats experience a calm or stressful environment.
-	Finding Allele-Specific Gene Expression Scientists have developed a genome-wide technique to identify whether a person is expressing genetic information from their mother or father.
-	Oncogenic microRNA Scientists have discovered how a particular cluster of short strings of genetic material called microRNAs promotes lymphoma development.
-	Damage Limitation A key regulator of the DNA damage response is directly activated by the transcription factor FOXO3a - a protein known to regulate the cell cycle and cell death.
-	'Lifeline' For Tumour Cells Can Be Cut Researchers studying cancers in mice have identified a protein that is crucial for tumour survival, raising the prospect that new cancer therapies might halt tumours in their tracks by targeting this molecule.
-	Fresh Detective Approach Finds New Obesity Genes By turning the conventional method of hunting for disease genes on its head, a team of geneticists has discovered three new genes linked to obesity.
-	Missing Cells To Blame In Job's Syndrome New research by immunologists on the rare immune disease called Job's syndrome shows that sufferers lack a specific type of white blood cell, leaving them open to repeated attack by certain bacterial and fungal pathogens.
-	Subverting A Metabolic Pathway For Tumour Growth Two research papers shed further light on the mechanisms underlying the switch in the way glucose is metabolized by tumour cells.
-	'Crime Boss' Gene Controls Aggressive Breast Tumours Geneticists have identified a gene that promotes aggressive breast cancer by altering the behaviour of more than 1,000 other genes within tumour cells.