Medical research

Gene therapy for blood disorders

Gene therapy holds a lot of promise in medicine. If we could safely alter our own DNA, we might eliminate diseases our ancestors passed down to us.

Oncology & Cancer

Hacking the programs of cancer stem cells

All of the cells in a tumor are the offspring of a single, aberrant cell, but they are not all alike. Only a few retain the capacity of the original cell to create an entire tumor. Such cancer stem cells can migrate to other ...

Genetics

Defect in A20 gene expression causes rheumatoid arthritis

Researchers from VIB (Flanders Institute for Biotechnology) and Ghent University have shown that a defective gene can contribute to the onset of rheumatoid arthritis, an often-crippling inflammation of the joints that afflicts ...

Genetics

Researchers discover a new form of hereditary osteoporosis

A research group headed by Professor Outi Mäkitie, University of Helsinki, identified in families with childhood-onset osteoporosis disease-causing mutations in a gene that had previously not been connected with the skeletal ...

Autism spectrum disorders

Study shows gene defect's role in autism-like behavior

Scientists affiliated with the UC Davis MIND Institute have discovered how a defective gene causes brain changes that lead to the atypical social behavior characteristic of autism. The research offers a potential target for ...

Genetics

Biologists use flies, mice to study Down syndrome

A novel study involving fruit flies and mice has allowed biologists to identify two critical genes responsible for congenital heart defects in individuals with Down syndrome, a major cause of infant mortality and death in ...

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