A team including researchers at the HudsonAlpha Institute and Stanford university, together with colleagues from a number of other organizations, has published a comprehensive analysis of genomic variation in the brain cancer glioblastoma. These results are the first from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) research network, a collaborative effort funded by the National cancer institute and the National Human Genome Research Institute of the National Institutes of Health.

An array of broken, missing, and overactive genes -- some implicated for the first time -- have been identified in a genetic survey of glioblastoma, the most common and deadly form of adult brain cancer, report scientists from Dana-Farber cancer institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, together with their collaborating investigators at 18 institutions and organizations.

HHMI investigators have detected a multitude of broken, missing, and overactive genes in pancreatic and brain tumors, in the most detailed genetic survey yet of any human tumor. Some of these genetic changes were previously unknown and could provide new leads for improved diagnosis and therapy for these devastating cancers.

Scientists investigating the mechanisms of Down Syndrome (DS) have revealed the earliest developmental changes in embryonic stem cells caused by an extra copy of human chromosome 21 - the aberrant inheritance of which results in the condition. Their study is published online in the American Journal of Human Genetics.

Scientists have uncovered new evidence that strengthens the link between a host-cell gene called Apobec3 and the production of neutralizing antibodies to retroviruses. Published in the Sept. 5 issue of science, the finding adds a new dimension to the set of possible explanations for why most people who are infected with HIV do not make neutralizing antibodies that effectively fight the virus.

Even scientists define 'a gene' in different ways, so it comes as little surprise that the media also have various ways of framing the concept of a gene, according to a new study appearing in the October 2008 issue of EMBO reports. The study, Frame that gene, is based on the analysis of 300 articles in British and Norwegian newspapers: The Guardian, The Sun and The Daily Mail from the UK; and Aftenposten, Dagbladet, and VG from Norway.

Variations of two new genes appear to increase the risk of developing inflammatory bowel disease in childhood, researchers say.

Scientists investigating the mechanisms of Down Syndrome have revealed the earliest developmental changes in embryonic stem cells caused by an extra copy of human chromosome 21 - " the aberrant inheritance of ...