Surprising findings: Many genes influence alcohol and tobacco consumption

Genetic risk factor scores could someday help identify people at high risk for substance misuse

12-Dec-2022 - Penn State researchers co-led a large genetic study that identified more than 2,300 genes predicting alcohol and tobacco use after analyzing data from more than 3.4 million people. They said a majority of these genes were similar among people with European, African, American and Asian ...

Next-generation gene drive arrives

CRISPR-based 'allelic drive' allows genetic editing with selective precision and broad implications

11-Apr-2019 - New CRISPR-based gene drives and broader active genetics technologies are revolutionizing the way scientists engineer the transfer of specific traits from one generation to another. Scientists at the University of California San Diego have now developed a new version of a gene drive that opens ...

Utilizing CRISPR for better antibiotics

Drug screening with Mobile-CRISPRi

15-Jan-2019 - A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher and his collaborators at the University of California, San Francisco have repurposed the gene-editing tool CRISPR to study which genes are targeted by particular antibiotics, providing clues on how to improve existing antibiotics or develop new ...

Faulty immune receptor could be reason why many face HIV complications

10-Jan-2019 - For HIV patients, treatments that control the infection have come a long way. But many still struggle with a host of other disease-related complications such as neurocognitive disorders, cardiovascular issues, diabetes and chronic inflammation. Why these complications occur isn't exactly known, ...

Elevated hormone flags liver problems in mice with methylmalonic acidemia

Study findings can immediately be applied to human patients with the disease

11-Dec-2018 - Researchers have discovered that a hormone, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21), is extremely elevated in mice with liver disease that mimics the same condition in patients with methylmalonic acidemia (MMA), a serious genomic disorder. Based on this finding, medical teams treating patients with ...

Amgen Invests $66 Million In Oxford Nanopore Technologies

24-Oct-2018 - Amgen and Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. announced Amgen's equity investment of £50 million ($66 million) in Oxford Nanopore, a privately-owned, UK-based company advancing a new generation of portable, real-time genetic sequencing technology. Oxford Nanopore has developed and brought to market ...

An ATM that dispenses antioxidants

Dual role of protein that watches for cellular threats and repairs damage

12-Jul-2018 - One reason we're supposed to eat a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables is because they contain nutritious compounds called antioxidants. These molecules counteract the damage to our bodies from harmful products of normal cells called reactive oxygen species (ROS). Now, research led by a ...

Flu virus is protected by mucus when airborne, regardless of humidity

08-Jun-2018 - Mucus and other airway secretions that are expelled when a person with the flu coughs or exhales appear to protect the virus when it becomes airborne, regardless of humidity levels, a creative experiment conducted by the University of Pittsburgh and Virginia Tech discovered. The results refute ...

Malaria-causing parasite manipulates liver cells to survive

24-May-2018 - When the malaria-causing Plasmodium parasite first slips into the human bloodstream, injected by the bite of an infected mosquito, it does not immediately target red blood cells. Instead, it seeks refuge inside the liver and rapidly reproduces, copying itself as many as 30,000 times in the span ...

Discovery of how HIV hedges its bets opens the door to new therapies

14-May-2018 - A stem cell is one with infinite possibilities. So, for decades, scientists have puzzled over how the cell chooses to keep being a stem cell and continue dividing, or specialize into a specific cell type, like a heart or brain cell. The same type of decision is made by HIV. When the virus infects ...