Genetics Unzipped, a new fortnightly podcast from the UK Genetics Society, has launched ahead of the society’s centenary celebrations throughout 2019. Presented by award-winning science writer and former Naked Genetics/Naked Scientists podcast host Kat Arney and produced by First Create The Media, Genetics Unzipped will bring you a wide range of stories from the world of genetics, genomics and DNA.
A Boston biotechnology company has built a neural network which examines the overall elements of the human face and compiles a list of the ten genetic syndromes that person potentially has, possibly helping medical professionals narrow down the diagnosis for that individual.
The first results of the BabySeq Project, a study to determine whether deep dives into infant DNA could uncover more diseases, and whether making this procedure routine after childbirth would be worth it, have been published.
A new AI program can predict the symptoms of a patient’s cancer and their severity of the course of treatment.
A CRISPR study has determined how DNA times its own replication, something which until now has been unknown to scientists.
A new high-throughput sequencing technique created by scientists at the University of Chicago will uncover how naturally occurring microbiomes respond to real-world conditions and diets. The technique, outlined in Nature Communications, directly analyses transfer RNA (tRNA) to give a clear picture of microbial communities’ reactions to environment changes including temperature variations and nutrient availability.
Data has shown the success of a new therapy to combat Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), one of the leading causes of blindness in children, in LCA patients with CEP290 mutations. CEP290 acts as a barrier between two compartments of photoreceptor cells in the eye which convert light into signals, creating vision. Blindnesses caused by CEP290 […]
Researchers have announced that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), an active ingredient in marijuana, affects epigenetics, triggering structural and regulatory changes in the DNA of users’ sperm.
Telbivudine, a drug currently in use for treating patients with hepatitis, could be of use in significantly slowing the progression of Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), scientists from the University of Alberta have announced.
A new compound which blocks the most common genetic cause of familial ALS has been announced by scientists from the University of Alberta.
The latest annual report from Trinity Partners has found that orphan disease drugs often perform poorly at launch and continue to underachieve after three years of sales. At the other end of the spectrum, the most successful drugs on the market were for non-orphan diseases such as cancer and HIV.
A modified version of CRISPR has been used to reverse genetic obesity in two different mouse models without editing any genes. The technique uses the guidance system in CRISPR to target certain genetic sequences and amplifies existing gene activity to ramp up protein production.
The first findings from a comprehensive genomic analysis of the human brain have been unveiled, potentially uncovering a good deal about the inherited component of diseases such as schizophrenia and autism.
Eleven new genes associated with epilepsy have been discovered by an international team of scientists, advancing knowledge of the underlying causes of the condition and potentially helping in the development of new treatments.
Personalised tumour-detecting cells from adult skin cells have been used to shrink brain tumours in mice by up to 5%, scientists have revealed. While the strategy has not yet been fully tested in people, it could in the future give doctors the ability to develop a custom treatment for certain cancer types.
