DNA news from FierceBioResearcher

Several teams of scientists have been working away at creating new life forms from artificial DNA. In Maryland, for example, one group has stitched together a chromosome and expects to transplant it Read more...

In the interest of making more and better human stem cells for research, U.K. regulators have approved the creation of short-lived human/animal hybrid embryos. Only tiny fragments of animal DNA will Read more...

The full human genome containing both sets of chromosomes is considerably more complex than the half-measure of DNA decoded by a consortium of academic groups in 2003. That's the conclusion of a Read more...

New work at the Translational Genomics Research Institute in Phoenix has revealed that a copy of the APOE4 gene variant quadruples a person's chances of developing late-onset Alzheimer's. Couple that with the GAB2 variant and the chance of developing the disease rises to 16 times the average risk factor. The scientists believe that the combination of the two spurs the development of one of the proteins that afflicts the brains of people with Alzheimer's. In their work, the scientists …

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In another example of the effectiveness of stem cells in crafting new tissue, an Italian doctor has successfully used the approach to create healthy vaginal tissue in two women suffering from a rare congenital condition. Dr. Cinzia Marchese said that the first woman was operated on a year ago and now has healthy vaginal tissue where there was none before. The second operation occurred just days ago, with the physician saying that it appeared that the stem cells were growing into new …

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Some of the country's top biomedical researchers have been beating a path to Congress in an attempt to fend off deep cuts in research funds. Nobel Prize winner Roger D. Kornberg, for example, has been making the point that it was doubtful he could have done his groundbreaking work on the way DNA is copied in the current budgetary environment. "In the present climate especially, the funding decisions are ultraconservative," he told The Washington Post. "If the work that you …

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A study to appear in the June 2007 issue of The FASEB Journal describes a new agent, called "Zorro-LNA," which has the potential to stop genetic disorders in their tracks. In the study, researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, describe how they developed Zorro-LNA to bind with both strands of a gene's DNA simultaneously, effectively disabling that gene. This development has clinical implications for virtually every human condition caused by or worsened by …

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Stem Cells

Acclaimed scientist Ian Wilmut told an audience in Connecticut that efforts on embryo cloning--often thwarted by government regulators--may be overtaken by research on reprogramming DNA so that adult stem cells can be used to create new stem cells. Report

NPR reports on state funding for stem cell research, and the …

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Once cells become cancerous they are 100 times more likely to genetically mutate than normal cells, according to researchers. And that conclusion could spell serious trouble for research programs that seek to control a single gene involved in malignancy. "This is very bad news, because it means that cancer cells in a tumor will have mutations that protect them from therapeutics," said lead investigator Lawrence Loeb of the University of Washington School of Medicine. The research also …

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More Research

Lawmakers in Australia have lifted a four-year ban on cloning embryonic stem cells for research purposes. Report

Roche and the National Center of Competence in Research at the new Swiss Nanoscience Institute have unveiled new research into a nanotech sensor that can be used to monitor a …

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