Personal Genome

Scientists have taken a first step toward understanding how rare genetic differences among people contribute to leading chronic illnesses. One-letter DNA code changes occur frequently in human genomes, but each variant is usually found in only a few individuals. This phenomenon is consistent with the population explosion of the past 5,000 years. Studying the […]

Researchers have created an ultrasensitive biosensor that could open up new opportunities for early detection of cancer and "personalized medicine" tailored to the specific biochemistry of individual patients. […]

Researchers have developed a genetic test that can accurately predict whether the most common form of eye cancer will spread to other parts of the body, particularly the liver. The test successfully classified tumors more than 97 percent of the time. […]

New research uses a novel, computer based strategy to identify potential anti-cancer drugs, including one that targets the third most common p53 mutation in human cancer, p53-R175H. The number of new cancer patients harboring this mutation in the United States who would potentially benefit from this drug is estimated to be 30,000 annually. […]

Scientists have just shown that lung cancer molecular subtypes correlate with distinct genetic alterations and with patient response to therapy. These findings in pre-clinical models and patient tumor samples build on their previous report of three molecular subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer and refines their molecular analysis of tumors. […]

HIV patients treated with genetically modified T cells remain healthy up to 11 years after initial therapy, researchers report. The results provide a framework for the use of this type of gene therapy as a powerful weapon in the treatment of HIV, cancer, and a wide variety of other diseases. […]

Medical researchers have devised a technique for testing the consequence of variant human gene alleles (alternative sequences of a single gene) by moving them into yeast cells. Once swapped into yeast, colony growth can be compared to reveal functional differences. […]

Researchers have identified two distinguishable groups of genes: those that produce very abundant biochemical products in the cell and function properly in the majority of biological processes, and a flexible subset that might have abnormal function in a disease. […]

Scientists have identified new breast cancer genes that could change the way the disease is diagnosed and form the basis of next-generation treatments. […]

Through a groundbreaking new gene sequencing technology, researchers have demonstrated that the gene FLT3 is a valid therapeutic target in Acute Myeloid Leukemia, AML, one of the most common types of leukemia. The discovery may help lead to the development of new drugs to treat AML. […]