Last update:

Genetics news

Genetics

Scientists discover how mutations affect calcium release channel and impact muscle disorders

The type 1 ryanodine receptor (RyR1) is an important calcium release channel in skeletal muscles essential for muscle contraction. It mediates calcium release from the sarcoplasmic reticulum, a calcium-storing organelle in ...

Genetics

Why some organs age faster than others: Scientists discover hidden mutations in non-coding DNA

The accumulation of mutations in DNA is often mentioned as an explanation for the aging process, but it remains just one hypothesis among many. A team from the University of Geneva (UNIGE), in collaboration with the Inselspital, ...

Genetics

Gene variant protects newborns against jaundice, study finds

Researchers have found a gene variant that almost completely protects 1 in 8 newborn babies from jaundice. The research, conducted at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, provides the opportunity to develop a treatment ...

Oncology & Cancer

New tumor models provide insights into deadly sarcomas

Sarcomas are highly metastatic soft tissue and bone cancers and are often difficult to treat. Scientists have had trouble studying these cancers because they have lacked good research models. But that may be changing, thanks ...

Genetics

Researchers discover new blood group system

The discovery of a new blood group, MAL, has solved a 50-year-old mystery. Researchers from NHS Blood and Transplant (Bristol), NHSBT's International Blood Group Reference Laboratory (IBGRL) and the University of Bristol ...

Genetics

How genes shape personality traits: New links discovered

Your DNA has long been known to play a role in shaping your personality. Now, researchers at Yale School of Medicine (YSM) have taken another step in determining exactly how by identifying a number of new genetic sites associated ...

Genetics

Study reveals how key protein affects neuron structure

A protein called torsinA plays a key role in the early development of neurons, determining where nuclear pores are placed in the membrane that encloses the nucleus of nerve cells, a study led by UT Southwestern Medical Center ...

Genetics

New insight into the protein mutations that cause Rett syndrome

One particular protein lies at the heart of brain development. A master regulator of gene expression, it's abundantly present in neurons, and its dysfunction underlies Rett syndrome, a neurological disorder that could lead ...

Genetics

Faulty gene makes the brain too big—or too small

A gene called ZNRF3, known to be involved in cancer, also messes with the mind. The human brain relies on two copies of this gene to build a correctly sized brain. If one of the copies is defective, the brain will be either ...

Genetics

Synergistic mutations found in omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

Certain changes in the genetic material of pathogens can alter their ability to infect human cells or protect them better from defense by the immune system. Researchers were able to observe this effect particularly impressively ...

Oncology & Cancer

Finding new treatments for genetic tumor-predisposition syndrome

A new report describes a promising approach to studying neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), a genetic condition with limited treatment options. The condition causes a number of different cancerous and non-cancerous tumors to ...

Oncology & Cancer

12-year genetic study identifies unique types of multiple myeloma

An unprecedented effort to sequence the genome, exome and RNA in tumors from patients with multiple myeloma defines distinct subtypes of the disease, according to an international team of scientists led by researchers from ...