One of the most elusive challenges oncologists encounter is why some patients respond to a particular therapy while others do not. Thus, optimizing a personalized treatment regimen that gives a patient the best odds of success has become a cornerstone of cancer research. The desire to implement more individualized therapies has brought about an increasing the focus on personalized medicine. This promising approach uses specific patient characteristics, including genetic makeup, environment, and lifestyle, to develop an individualized treatment plan.

Working towards improving the speed and accuracy of genetic screening to inform personalized medicine, a team of researchers conducted a comprehensive study. The journal NPJ Precision Oncol recently published the results. The researchers meticulously investigated the gene expression of almost 800 cancer cell lines and their response to treatment. With this thorough process, the researchers identified specific genetic patterns that correlated with drug resistance.

The study identified 36 genes correlating to resistance to multiple anti-cancer drugs. The researchers calculated a score, called UAB36, based on the correlation coefficient of the 36 genes identified. This UAB36 score, a novel predictive tool, accurately forecasted resistance to tamoxifen, an anti-cancer drug used to treat some types of breast cancer and prevent cancer progression in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS).

Surviving Neanderthal genes in the modern genome tell a story of thousands of years of interactions.

Recent DNA studies have refined the period when Neanderthals and modern humans interbred to a span of about 7,000 years, leaving Eurasians with significant Neanderthal genetic contributions. These findings also help clarify the timeline and routes of ancient human migrations from Africa.

Genetic Insights into Ancient Human-Neanderthal Interactions.

In this study, the authors present magnetoelectric nanodiscs that enable minimally invasive, remote magnetic neuromodulation with subsecond precision to drive reward and motor behaviours in genetically intact mice.

Microorganisms produce a wide variety of natural products that can be used as active ingredients to treat diseases such as infections or cancer. The blueprints for these molecules can be found in the microbes’ genes, but often remain inactive under laboratory conditions.

A team of researchers at the Helmholtz Institute for Pharmaceutical Research Saarland (HIPS) has now developed a genetic method that leverages a natural bacterial mechanism for the transfer of genetic material and uses it for the production of new active ingredients. The team has published its results in the journal Science.

In contrast to humans, bacteria have the remarkable ability to exchange genetic material with one another. A well-known example with far-reaching consequences is the transfer of antibiotic resistance genes between bacterial pathogens. This gene transfer allows them to adapt quickly to different environmental conditions and is a major driver of the spread of antibiotic resistance.

The study offers new genetic insights into dietary preferences and suggests the potential to target SI as a means to selectively decrease sucrose consumption on a population scale.

The study was led by Dr. Peter Aldiss, now a group leader in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, alongside Assistant Professor Mette K Andersen, at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Centre for Basic Metabolic Research in Copenhagen and Professor Mauro D’Amato at CIC bioGUNE in Spain and LUM University in Italy. It also involves scientists internationally from Copenhagen, Greenland, Italy, and Spain as part of the ‘Sucrase-isomaltase working group’