News tagged with dna testing

Final chapter to 60-year-old blood group mystery

Researchers have solved a 60-year-old mystery by identifying a gene that can cause rejection, kidney failure and even death in some blood transfusion patients. In this study, published in Nature Genetics online ...

Genetics created Apr 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (9) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover enzyme behind breast cancer mutations

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a human enzyme responsible for causing DNA mutations found in the majority of breast cancers. The discovery of this enzyme – called APOBEC3B – may change the way ...

Cancer created Feb 06, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Genetic error linked to rare disease that causes chronic respiratory infections

(Medical Xpress)—Scanning the DNA of two people with a rare disease has led scientists to identify the precise genetic error responsible for their disorder, primary ciliary dyskinesia. 

Genetics created Oct 16, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Geneticists find causes for severe childhood epilepsies

(Medical Xpress)—Using a state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technique, UA researchers have discovered genetic mutations underlying seizure disorders in previously undiagnosed children.

Neuroscience created May 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New insights into how genes turn on and off

Researchers at UC Davis and the University of British Columbia have shed new light on methylation, a critical process that helps control how genes are expressed. Working with placentas, the team discovered that 37 percent ...

Genetics created Mar 27, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA test shows promise in guiding advanced breast cancer care

(HealthDay)—An experimental blood test could help show whether women with advanced breast cancer are responding to treatment, a preliminary study suggests.

Cancer created Mar 13, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA testing helps with family histories

As she swabbed the inside of his cheek, Patt Heise assured her 84-year-old father that she wasn't crazy, just curious. She mailed off the saliva sample and waited for results. Her dad died a month later, too early to find ...

Genetics created Feb 22, 2013 | popularity not rated yet | comments 1

New genetic test can predict man's risk of developing prostate cancer

Researchers in Japan have created a genetic test that will help doctors diagnose prostate cancer. When given together with testing for prostate specific antigen (PSA), a widely used diagnostic biomarker for ...

Cancer created Feb 08, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study points to a safer, better test for chromosomal defects in the fetus

A noninvasive, sequencing-based approach for detecting chromosomal abnormalities in the developing fetus is safer and more informative in some cases than traditional methods, according to a study published ...

Genetics created Jan 10, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists use Pap test fluid to detect ovarian, endometrial cancers

Using cervical fluid obtained during routine Pap tests, scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center have developed a test to detect ovarian and endometrial cancers. In a pilot study, the "PapGene" test, which relies ...

Cancer created Jan 09, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

One cell is all you need: Innovative technique can sequence entire genome from single cell

The notion that police can identify a suspect based on the tiniest drop of blood or trace of tissue has long been a staple of TV dramas, but scientists at Harvard have taken the idea a step further. Using ...

Genetics created Jan 07, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists discover gene linked to breast and ovarian cancer

(Medical Xpress)—A team of researchers led by the Institute of Cancer Research, London, have found that rare mutations in a gene called PPM1D are linked to an increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. The mutations are ...

Cancer created Dec 17, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

New test for tuberculosis could improve treatment, prevent deaths in Southern Africa

A new rapid test for tuberculosis (TB) could substantially and cost-effectively reduce TB deaths and improve treatment in southern Africa—a region where both HIV and tuberculosis are common—according to a new study by ...

Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes created Nov 20, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Informatics approach helps doctors, patients make sense of genome data

The cost of sequencing the entire human genome, or exome – the regions of the genome that are translated into proteins that affect cell behavior – has decreased significantly, to the point where the cost of looking at ...

Genetics created Sep 20, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA sequencing confirms HIV transmission through surrogate breastfeeding

(Medical Xpress)—DNA sequencing has provided evidence of HIV-1 transmission from an infected woman breastfeeding her niece in South Africa, drawing attention to infant feeding practices and the need for ...

HIV & AIDS created Aug 23, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

DNA profiling

DNA profiling (also called DNA testing, DNA typing, or genetic fingerprinting) is a technique employed by forensic scientists to assist in the identification of individuals on the basis of their respective DNA profiles. DNA profiles are encrypted sets of numbers that reflect a person's DNA makeup, which can also be used as the person's identifier. DNA profiling should not be confused with full genome sequencing.

Although 99.9% of human DNA sequences are the same in every person, enough of the DNA is different to distinguish one individual from another. DNA profiling uses repetitive ("repeat") sequences that are highly variable, called variable number tandem repeats (VNTR). VNTRs loci are very similar between closely related humans, but so variable that unrelated individuals are extremely unlikely to have the same VNTRs.

The DNA profiling technique was first reported in 1985 by Sir Alec Jeffreys at the University of Leicester in England, and is now the basis of several national DNA databases.

For more information about DNA profiling, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

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