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Archive for the ‘genetics’ category: Page 352

Nov 2, 2019

Discovery may help derail Parkinson’s ‘runaway train’

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

Researchers at the University of Dundee have made a discovery they believe has the potential to put the brakes on the ‘runaway train’ that is Parkinson’s disease.

The team, based at the Medical Research Council Protein Phosphorylation and Ubiquitylation Unit (MRC-PPU) in the School of Life Sciences, have discovered a new enzyme that inhibits the LRRK2 . Mutations of the LRRK2 gene are the most common cause of genetic Parkinson’s.

Enzymes are molecular machines that regulate the required to maintain healthy functioning life. They can also be targeted by drugs to increase or decrease the level of certain activity –in this instance the LRRK2 pathway.

Nov 2, 2019

Science author digs into the story about a revolutionary cancer treatment used in immunotherapy

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

Unlike chemotherapy or radiation, which attack cancer directly, CAR-T engineers patients’ immune cells so they can do it themselves. T-cells are removed from the blood and given new genes that produce receptors that let the T-cells recognize and bind to leukemia cells with a specific protein, CD19.

The genetically modified T-cells are then multiplied in the lab and infused back into the patient, where they ideally multiply even further and begin to target and kill cancer cells with CD19.

Nov 2, 2019

David Pearce –The Anatomy of Happiness

Posted by in categories: bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, genetics, neuroscience

David Pearce — The Anatomy of Happiness

“While researching epilepsy, neuroscientist Itzhak Fried stumbled on a ‘mirth’ center in the brain — given this, what ought we be doing to combat extreme suffering and promote wellbeing?”

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Nov 1, 2019

Michio Kaku: AI Will Help Us Discover Genetic Immortality | AI Podcast Clips

Posted by in categories: genetics, life extension, robotics/AI

This is a clip from a conversation with Michio Kaku from Oct 2019. New full episodes once or twice a week and 1–2 new clips or a new non-podcast video on all other days. You can watch the full conversation here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kD5yc1LQrpQ
(more links below)

Podcast full episodes playlist:

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Nov 1, 2019

Studies Yield ‘Impressive’ Results in Fight Against Cystic Fibrosis

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

A pair of new studies report “impressive” benefits from a drug therapy for cystic fibrosis, a deadly and devastating disease that affects tens of thousands of people worldwide, the director of the National Institutes of Health wrote in an editorial published in The New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday.

“These findings indicate that it may soon be possible to offer safe and effective molecularly targeted therapies to 90 percent of persons with cystic fibrosis,” wrote the director, Dr. Francis S. Collins, who led the team that in 1989 identified the gene that causes the genetic disease affecting the lungs and digestive system.

“This should be a cause for major celebration,” he wrote in the Thursday editorial.

Oct 30, 2019

To survive in the human gut, bacteria need genetic ‘passcode’

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

Humans’ guts are a dangerous place.

Bacteria living in people’s intestines pump out toxins to deter microbial intruders. But each person’s gut comes with its own set of toxins—an individualized “passcode” microbes must solve to survive, scientists report October 30, 2019, in the journal Nature.

The findings suggest that there’s not a one-size-fits-all approach to probiotics or live biotherapeutics, the microbial supplements that promote the growth of healthy bacteria, says study coauthor Joseph Mougous, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator at the University of Washington (UW). His team’s work is an early step toward figuring out how scientists might instead tailor beneficial microbes to different people.

Oct 30, 2019

‘Protein-Scaffolding’ for Repairing DNA Damage

Posted by in categories: biotech/medical, genetics

At the University of Copenhagen, researchers have discovered how some types of proteins stabilize damaged DNA and thereby preserve DNA function and integrity. This new finding also explains why people with inborn or acquired defects in certain proteins cannot keep their DNA stable and develop diseases such as cancer.

Every day, the body’s cells divide millions of times, and the maintenance of their identity requires that a mother cell passes complete genetic information to daughter cells without mistakes.

This is not a small task because our DNA is constantly under attack, both from the environment but also from the cell’s own metabolic activities. As a result, DNA strands can be broken at least once during each cell division cycle and this frequency can increase by certain lifestyles, such as smoking, or in individuals who are born with defects in DNA repair.

Oct 30, 2019

CNIO researchers obtain the first mice born with hyper-long telomeres and show that it is possible to extend life without any genetic modification

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

A chance finding ten years ago led to the creation by researchers of the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO) of the first mice born with much longer telomeres than normal in their species. Given the relationship between telomeres and ageing – telomeres shorten throughout life, so older organisms have shorter telomeres -, scientists launched a study generating mice in which 100% of their cells had hyper-long telomeres. The findings are published in Nature Communications and show only positive consequences: the animals with hyper-long live longer in better health, free from cancer and obesity. The most relevant thing for the authors is the fact that longevity has been significantly increased for the first time ever without any genetic modification.

“This finding supports the idea that, when it comes to determining longevity, genes are not the only thing to consider”, indicates Maria Blasco, Head of the CNIO Telomeres and Telomerase Group and intellectual author of the paper. “There is margin for extending life without altering the genes”.

Telomeres form the end of chromosomes, in the nucleus of each cell in the body. Their function is to protect the integrity of the genetic information in DNA. Whenever the cells divide the telomeres, they are shortened a little, so one of the main characteristics of ageing is the accumulation of short telomeres in cells. “Telomere shortening is considered to be one of the primary causes of ageing, given that short telomeres cause ageing of the organism and reduce longevity”, as the paper published in Nature Communications explains.

Oct 29, 2019

Curing biological Aging & Gene Therapy with Liz Parrish and Dr. Nick Delgado at RaadFest, Las Vegas

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

Dr. Nick interviews Liz Parrish, the Founder, and CEO of BioViva Sciences USA Inc at RaadFest in Las Vegas. Nick Delgado, ABAAHP is one of the leading experts in the field of bio-identical hormones, herbs, nutrition, exercise, partner intimacy, mindful self-motivation. Our goal is to help you restore your cellular health to radically improve the quality of life and world health.
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Liz Parrish is the Founder and CEO of BioViva Sciences USA Inc. BioViva is committed to extending healthy lifespans using gene therapy. Liz is known as “the woman who wants to genetically engineer you,” she is a humanitarian, entrepreneur and innovator and a leading voice for genetic cures.
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Oct 28, 2019

Genetic correlations between pain phenotypes and depression and neuroticism

Posted by in categories: genetics, neuroscience

Correlations between pain phenotypes and psychiatric traits such as depression and the personality trait of neuroticism are not fully understood. In this study, we estimated the genetic correlations of eight pain phenotypes (defined by the UK Biobank, n = 151,922–226,683) with depressive symptoms, major depressive disorders and neuroticism using the cross-trait linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) method integrated in the LD Hub. We also used the LDSC software to calculate the genetic correlations among pain phenotypes. All pain phenotypes, except hip pain and knee pain, had significant and positive genetic correlations with depressive symptoms, major depressive disorders and neuroticism. All pain phenotypes were heritable, with pain all over the body showing the highest heritability (h2 = 0.31, standard error = 0.072). Many pain phenotypes had positive and significant genetic correlations with each other indicating shared genetic mechanisms. Our results suggest that pain, neuroticism and depression share partially overlapping genetic risk factors.