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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 13

Jan 26, 2024

Experimental Gene Therapy Enables Hearing in Five Children Born Deaf

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Study co-led by HMS scientist corrects gene mutation involved in inner ear function.

Jan 26, 2024

New tool improves the search for genes that cause diseases

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A new statistical tool developed by researchers at the University of Chicago improves the ability to find genetic variants that cause disease. The tool, described in a new paper published January 26, 2024, in Nature Genetics, combines data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and predictions of genetic expression to limit the number of false positives and more accurately identify causal genes and variants for a disease.

GWAS is a commonly used approach to identify genes associated with a range of human traits, including most . Researchers compare genome sequences of a large group of people with a specific disease, for example, with another set of sequences from healthy individuals. The differences identified in the disease group could point to genetic variants that increase risk for that disease and warrant further study.

Most human diseases are not caused by a single genetic variation, however. Instead, they are the result of a complex interaction of multiple genes, environmental factors, and host of other variables. As a result, GWAS often identifies many variants across many regions in the genome that are associated with a disease.

Jan 26, 2024

Chinese Lab Created New Coronavirus, 100% Mortality Rate in Human Transgenetic Mice

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience

According to a paper submitted for peer review on January 4th, 2024, Lethal Infection of Human ACE2-Transgenic Mice Caused by SARS-CoV-2-related Pangolin Coronavirus GX_P2V(short_3UTR), a new lab-created coronavirus has the potential to kill 100% of those infected with the virus within 8 days of infection.

The mice were genetically modified to express the human ACE2 receptor. This is the receptor responsible for allowing coronavirus to gain cellular entry. The lab infected mice with a coronavirus engineered from a strain found in pangolins. Pangolins are medium-sized animals growing to 12 — 30 inches in length and have the appearance of a scale-plated anteater.

Researchers monitored the mice for signs of infection by recording body weight, taking tissue samples, and monitoring for other symptoms. By the third day post-infection, tissue samples from the infected mice had a significant amount of viral RNA in the brain, eye, lung, and nasal tissue.

Jan 25, 2024

The fountain of youth is … a T cell?

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

“If we give it to aged mice, they rejuvenate. If we give it to young mice, they age slower. No other therapy right now can do this.”


The fountain of youth has eluded explorers for ages. It turns out the magic anti-aging elixir might have been inside us all along.

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Assistant Professor Corina Amor Vegas and colleagues have discovered that T cells can be reprogrammed to fight aging, so to speak. Given the right set of genetic modifications, these white blood cells can attack another group of cells known as senescent cells. These cells are thought to be responsible for many of the diseases we grapple with later in life.

Continue reading “The fountain of youth is … a T cell?” »

Jan 25, 2024

Breakthrough: Deaf Boy Can Hear After First Gene Treatment in US

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

His father’s voice, the sounds of passing cars and scissors clipping his hair: An 11-year-old boy is hearing for the first time in his life after receiving a breakthrough gene therapy.

The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) which carried out the treatment – a first in the United States – said in a statement Tuesday the milestone represents hope for patients around the world with hearing loss caused by genetic mutations.

Aissam Dam was born “profoundly deaf” because of a highly rare abnormality in a single gene.

Jan 25, 2024

T Cells May Be The Living Anti-Aging Elixir

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics, life extension

The fountain of youth has eluded explorers for ages.


Summary: Researchers found that T cells can be genetically reprogrammed to target and eliminate senescent cells, which contribute to aging-related diseases. By using CAR (chimeric antigen receptor) T cells in mice, they achieved significant health improvements including lower body weight, enhanced metabolism, and increased physical activity.

This groundbreaking approach, offering long-term effects from a single treatment, could revolutionize treatments for age-related conditions like obesity and diabetes, transcending the potential of CAR T cells beyond their current use in cancer therapy.

Jan 24, 2024

CRISPR technology: A decade of genome editing is only the beginning

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

A review discusses the current state of CRISPR-mediated genetic manipulation in human cells, animals, and plants and considers its future potential.

Jan 24, 2024

Did High-Dose NMN Mess Up The Epigenetic Pace Of Aging?

Posted by in categories: genetics, life extension

Join us on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/MichaelLustgartenPhDDiscount Links: Telomere, Epigenetic Testing: https://trudiagnostic.com/?irclickid=U-s3Ii2r7x

Jan 24, 2024

Recent advances in the evolution of aging and lifespan

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, evolution, genetics, life extension

Aging is a common phenomenon among organisms, however, lifespan tends to vary across different species to a significant extent among vertebrates themselves. Aging occurs due to the gradual increase in DNA damage, disruption of cellular organelles, deregulation of protein function, disrupted metabolism and oxidative stress [1].

Longevity. Technology: The differences in lifespan are driven by trade-offs and evolutionary trajectories in the genomes of organisms. Age-specific selection also impacts allele (variations of a gene) frequencies in a population. This in turn impacts environment-specific mortality risk and disease susceptibility. Moreover, mutational processes are influenced by life history and age in both somatic and germline cells.

Now, a new review published in Trends in Genetics discusses recent advances in the evolution of aging at population, organismal and cellular scales.

Jan 24, 2024

Harnessing skin cancer genes to heal hearts

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that one of the most dangerous mutations found in skin cancers might moonlight as a pathway to mending a broken heart.

The genetic mutation in the protein BRAF, a part of the MAPK signaling pathway that can promote cell division, is one of the most common and most aggressive found in melanoma patients. In a new study, researchers show that introducing this mutation to rat heart tissue grown in a laboratory can induce growth.

Repairing after a is the “holy grail” of heart research, complicated by the fact that heart tissue does not regenerate on its own. One potential strategy would be to persuade to divide by safely delivering a therapeutic gene to patients and fully controlling its activity in the heart.

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