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Archive for the ‘Gene Therapy Research’ Category

Minecraft Mod: Advanced Genetics – Video


Minecraft Mod: Advanced Genetics
Sean takes a look at a mod that allows you to get the the powers and abilities from minecraft mobs. Anything from Ender Dragons, Endermen, Wither Skeletons, ...

By: Blurb Gaming

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Minecraft Mod: Advanced Genetics - Video

Genetics With a Smile – Tutorial – Video


Genetics With a Smile - Tutorial
Video tutorial for the Smiley Face Genetics Lab.

By: Ingle Larkin

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Genetics With a Smile - Tutorial - Video

Genetics and the Punnett Square – Video


Genetics and the Punnett Square
Video to introduce how to use a Punnett square for mono hybrid crosses as prep for class work. My first attempt at flipping my middle school science classroom.

By: Bucky #39;s Science Channel

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Genetics and the Punnett Square - Video

Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based Therapies Market Worth $2.2 Billion by 2017

(PRWEB) February 11, 2014

The report Autologous Cell Therapy (ACT) Market (2012 - 2017), would be the first global and exclusive report on ACT market. It also gives clear information about the complete industry, approved products and potential market size; it also identifies driving and restraining factors for the global ACT market with analysis of trends, opportunities and challenges. The market is segmented and revenue is forecasted on the basis of major regions such as USA, Europe and Rest of the World (ROW). Further, market is segmented and revenues are forecasted on the basis of potential application areas of ACT.

Browse ACT market research data tables/figures spread through 111 slides and in-depth TOC on Autologous Cell Therapy Market". http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/autologous-cell-therapy-market-837.html

Early buyers will receive 10% customization on this report @ http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/requestCustomization.asp?id=837.

The global market for ACT is valued around $650 million by 2011 with a CAGR of 21%. Several products and technologies of ACT are in pipeline which is expected to hit the market during the forecast period, which will result in increased growth rate.

There is a wide market potential and favorable landscape for adoption across many geographical locations of the world. During the forecast period, these technologies are expected to revolutionize the area of bio-pharma and personalized medicine. High incidence and lack of effective treatment for several diseases will drive the ACT technology in developed and developing nations.

Investment activities, for the past five years are actively held in research and developments, attracting interests of cell therapy industry firms, medical centers and academic institutions. ACT potential can be demonstrated by mergers, collaborations, acquisitions and partnerships that happened actively between the ACT technology developing companies in past three years. Development of sophisticated automation devices for cell expansion and culture process for use in the treatment is one of the emerging trends of ACT market.

Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based treatments in North America are rapidly emerging as a major treatment for various incurable diseases such as Myocardial infarction, ischemic heart failure and diabetes.

Browse Related Reports: Global Transfection Technologies Market (Lipofection, Calcium Phosphate, Electroporation, Nucleofection, Magnetofection, Gene Gun, Viral) And Types (Gene Delivery, DNA Delivery, Protein Delivery, SiRNA Delivery) (2012 2017) http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/transfection-technologies-market-895.html

High Throughput Screening (HTS) Market by Technology (Cell Based, Ultra High Throughput Screening (uHTS), Label Free, Bioinformatics), by Apllications (Target Identification, Primary Screening, Toxicology, Stem Cell) & by End Users (Pharmaceutical Industry, Biotechnology Industry, CRO) - Forecast to 2018 http://www.marketsandmarkets.com/Market-Reports/high-throughput-screening-market-134981950.html

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Autologous Stem Cell and Non-Stem Cell Based Therapies Market Worth $2.2 Billion by 2017

Global Stem Cells, Inc., Bioheart, Inc., and Paul Perito Urology Announce Plans to Launch Stem Cell Clinical Trials …

Miami, FL (PRWEB) February 11, 2014

Global Stem Cells Group, Bioheart, Inc., and Paul Perito Urology announce plans to launch stem cell clinical trials for treatment of Erectile Dysfunction (ED).

Paul Perito, M.D. of Perito Urology in Coral Gables, Florida and the principal investigator of the trial study, titled, "An Open-label, Non-randomized, Single-center Study to Assess the Safety and Effects of Autologous Adipose-derived Stromal Cells Delivered into the Corpus Cavernosum in Patients with Erectile Dysfunction," aims to assess the safety and efficacy of stem cell implantation therapy in patients with ED.

The cell therapy in this study will be composed of stem cells derived from a patients own adipose (fat) tissue, harvested by syringe liposuction. The adipose stem cells will then be delivered into the corpus cavernosum of the penis.

Clinical trials will be held at Perito Urology, in cooperation with Global Stem Cells Group and Bioheart. Up to 20 patients will be enrolled.

Fort Myers Florida-based Emcyte Corporation, a leading provider of biotechnology products for platelet rich plasma and bone marrow concentrate grafting procedures, will be providing systems and kits to be used in the trial.

To learn more about Global Stem Cells Group's clinical trials, and for investor information, visit the Global Stem Cell Group website, email bnovas(at)regenestem(dot)com, or call 305-224-1858.

About the Global Stem Cell Group:

Global Stem Cells Group, Inc. is the parent company of six wholly owned operating companies dedicated entirely to stem cell research, training, products and solutions. Founded in 2012, the company combines dedicated researchers, physician and patient educators and solution providers with the shared goal of meeting the growing worldwide need for leading edge stem cell treatments and solutions. With a singular focus on this exciting new area of medical research, Global Stem Cells Group and its subsidiaries are uniquely positioned to become global leaders in cellular medicine.

Global Stem Cells Groups corporate mission is to make the promise of stem cell medicine a reality for patients around the world. With each of GSCGs six operating companies focused on a separate research-based mission, the result is a global network of state-of-the-art stem cell treatments.

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Global Stem Cells, Inc., Bioheart, Inc., and Paul Perito Urology Announce Plans to Launch Stem Cell Clinical Trials ...

Genome Surgery

Over the last decade, as DNA-sequencing technology has grown ever faster and cheaper, our understanding of the human genome has increased accordingly. Yet scientists have until recently remained largely ham-fisted when theyve tried to directly modify genes in a living cell. Take sickle-cell anemia, for example. A debilitating and often deadly disease, it is caused by a mutation in just one of a patients three billion DNA base pairs. Even though this genetic error is simple and well studied, researchers are helpless to correct it and halt its devastating effects.

Now there is hope in the form of new genome-engineering tools, particularly one called CRISPR. This technology could allow researchers to perform microsurgery on genes, precisely and easily changing a DNA sequence at exact locations on a chromosome. Along with a technique called TALENs, invented several years ago, and a slightly older predecessor based on molecules called zinc finger nucleases, CRISPR could make gene therapies more broadly applicable, providing remedies for simple genetic disorders like sickle-cell anemia and eventually even leading to cures for more complex diseases involving multiple genes. Most conventional gene therapies crudely place new genetic material at a random location in the cell and can only add a gene. In contrast, CRISPR and the other new tools also give scientists a precise way to delete and edit specific bits of DNAeven by changing a single base pair. This means they can rewrite the human genome at will.

It is likely to be at least several years before such efforts can be developed into human therapeutics, but a growing number of academic researchers have seen some preliminary success with experiments involving sickle-cell anemia, HIV, and cystic fibrosis (see table below). One is Gang Bao, a bioengineering researcher at the Georgia Institute of Technology, who has already used CRISPR to correct the sickle-cell mutation in human cells grown in a dish. Bao and his team started the work in 2008 using zinc finger nucleases. When TALENs came out, his group switched quickly, says Bao, and then it began using CRISPR when that tool became available. While he has ambitions to eventually work on a variety of diseases, Bao says it makes sense to start with sickle-cell anemia. If we pick a disease to treat using genome editing, we should start with something relatively simple, he says. A disease caused by a single mutation, in a single gene, that involves only a single cell type.

In little more than a year, CRISPR has begun reinventing genetic research.

Bao has an idea of how such a treatment would work. Currently, physicians are able to cure a small percentage of sickle-cell patients by finding a human donor whose bone marrow is an immunological match; surgeons can then replace some of the patients bone marrow stem cells with donated ones. But such donors must be precisely matched with the patient, and even then, immune rejectiona potentially deadly problemis a serious risk. Baos cure would avoid all this. After harvesting blood cell precursors called hematopoietic stem cells from the bone marrow of a sickle-cell patient, scientists would use CRISPR to correct the defective gene. Then the gene-corrected stem cells would be returned to the patient, producing healthy red blood cells to replace the sickle cells. Even if we can replace 50 percent, a patient will feel much better, says Bao. If we replace 70 percent, the patient will be cured.

Though genome editing with CRISPR is just a little over a year old, it is already reinventing genetic research. In particular, it gives scientists the ability to quickly and simultaneously make multiple genetic changes to a cell. Many human illnesses, including heart disease, diabetes, and assorted neurological conditions, are affected by numerous variants in both disease genes and normal genes. Teasing out this complexity with animal models has been a slow and tedious process. For many questions in biology, we want to know how different genes interact, and for this we need to introduce mutations into multiple genes, says Rudolf Jaenisch, a biologist at the Whitehead Institute in Cambridge Massachusetts. But, says Jaenisch, using conventional tools to create a mouse with a single mutation can take up to a year. If a scientist wants an animal with multiple mutations, the genetic changes must be made sequentially, and the timeline for one experiment can extend into years. In contrast, Jaenisch and his colleagues, including MIT researcher Feng Zhang (a 2013 member of our list of 35 innovators under 35), reported last spring that CRISPR had allowed them to create a strain of mice with multiple mutations in three weeks.

Because a CRISPR system can easily be designed to target any specific gene, the technology is allowing researchers to do experiments that probe a large number of them. In December, teams led by Zhang and MIT researcher Eric Lander created libraries of CRISPRs, each of which targets a different human gene. These vast collections, which account for nearly all the human genes, have been made available to other researchers. The libraries promise to speed genome-wide studies on the genetics of cancer and many other human diseases.

Genome GPS

The biotechnology industry was born in 1973, when Herbert Boyer and Stanley Cohen inserted foreign DNA that they had manipulated in the lab into bacteria. Within a few years, Boyer had cofounded Genentech, and the company had begun using E. coli modified with a human gene to manufacture insulin for diabetics. In 1974, Jaenisch, then at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in San Diego, created the first transgenic mouse by using viruses to spike the animals genome with a bit of DNA from another species. In these and other early examples of genetic engineering, however, researchers were limited to techniques that inserted the foreign DNA into the cell at random. All they could do was hope for the best.

It took more than two decades before molecular biologists became adept at efficiently changing specific genes in animal genomes. Dana Carroll of the University of Utah recognized that zinc finger nucleases, engineered proteins reported by colleagues at Johns Hopkins University in 1996, could be used as a programmable gene-targeting tool. One end of the protein can be designed to recognize a particular DNA sequence; the other end cuts DNA. When a cell then naturally repairs those cuts, it can patch its genome by copying from supplied foreign DNA. While the technology finally enabled scientists to confidently make changes where they want to on a chromosome, its difficult to use. Every modification requires the researcher to engineer a new protein tailored to the targeted sequencea difficult, time-consuming task that, because the proteins are finicky, doesnt always work.

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Genome Surgery

Marsden Medal for Barry Scott

From protecting New Zealand from the mad cow disease to guiding legislation around genetic engineering, Professor Barry Scott has been at the forefront of some of the most important scientific discussions over the past 30 years.

Now his lifes work has been recognised with the New Zealands Association of Scientists top honour, the Marsden Medal.

"Sometimes I think scientists are maniacs with the hours we work, so its nice to be recognised," Professor Scott says. "Im really delighted."

His work has taken him far from the laboratory. He has sat on world-leading boards, spoken at international conferences and helped guide government policy-makers dealing with international dilemmas.

In 1996, he was a member of a committee that advised the New Zealand Government on how to protect agriculture and human health after the outbreak of mad cow disease in Britain. As part of an expert panel, he looked at the implications for New Zealand, its agricultural sector and New Zealanders living in Britain at the time.

As a founding member of Environmental Risk Management Authority, Professor Scott was also been heavily involved in shaping New Zealands policy and decision-making around the introduction of genetically-modified organisms in the 1990s. He was regularly called upon to front public debates on the issue and to help educate people about the underlying science.

Much his work has helped the advancement of New Zealands agricultural sector, including his world-leading research into how an endophyte fungus protects ryegrass from drought, disease and insects.

He is particularly proud of the successes of students he taught and supervised, including more than 20 PhD students now employed in major organisations throughout the world.

"Its been a diverse and richly rewarding research career. I continue to be energised by the research being carried out by the young people in my laboratory and the stimulating collaborations and interactions I have with many colleagues within New Zealand and overseas."

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Marsden Medal for Barry Scott

Penn News | Penn Medicine and CHOP Study: New Genetic …

New research is adding to a growing body of evidence showing the effects that genetics, cholesterol and other lipids in the blood have on coronary heart disease (CHD). Previous research has shown elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc, commonly known as bad cholesterol) are known to cause heart disease, but the effects of other lipids such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc, or good cholesterol) and triglycerides (TG) have been less clear. In a new study, published online in the European Heart Journal, an international team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, used a novel genetics approach integrated with cardiovascular outcomes and lipid data taken fromblood samples from study participants to target specific lipids in the blood. The approach allowed the team to rule out other behavioral or environmental factors that may contribute to heart disease. The results are lending support to existing evidence showing that levels of TG are likely associated with risk of heart disease, while elevated levels of HDLc alone do not provide protection against CHD.

These results contribute to our current understanding of which blood lipids cause heart disease and which ones dont, said Michael Holmes, MD, PhD, research assistant professor of Surgery in the division of Transplant at Penn Medicine. Knowing that LDLc and TG contribute to an increased CHD risk allows health care providers to better offer individualized treatment plans with drugs that specifically target those lipids.

Results of the new study were gathered using a recently developed tool called Mendelian randomization (MR), which identifies genes responsible for particular diseases and analyzes genetic variations, while ruling out other behavioral or environmental variables that can be difficult to adjust for in study design. Using genetic risk scores, researchers analyzed genetic data from 62,199 participants in 12 previous studies. More than 12,000 of the participants were found to have experienced an event related to coronary heart disease (CHD).

After analyzing the genetic data, the results of the new study not only confirm that higher levels of LDLc are more likely to cause heart disease, but also show that high levels of TG also cause a higher risk of heart disease, a finding that has previously only been speculated upon. At the same time, there was little evidence to suggest that higher levels of HDLc provided protective effects against heart disease.

While the findings provide an important contribution to existing knowledge on blood lipid traits and risk of CHD, the authors suggest further studies using emerging technologies in the genomics arena are needed to precisely understand the role specific lipids and genetic predispositions play in a patients risk of CHD.

Its still not clear exactly what role HDLc plays in a patients risk of heart disease, or to what extent said senior author Brendan Keating, PhD, research assistant professor of Pediatrics and Surgery at Penn Medicine and lead clinical data analyst in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. This requires further testing with new methods like Mendelian randomizing that can account for behavioral or environmental factors and focus specifically on the effects of those cholesterol subtypes.

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Penn News | Penn Medicine and CHOP Study: New Genetic ...

Genetic Subtypes of Bladder Cancer Reflect Breast Cancer Biology

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Newswise A comprehensive genetic analysis of invasive bladder cancer tumors has found that the disease shares genetic similarities with two forms of breast cancer, according to researchers at the University of North Carolina Lineberger Cancer Center. Bladder cancer, which is the fourth most common malignancy in men and ninth most common in women in the United States, claimed more than 15,000 patients last year.

The analysis of 262 bladder cancer tumors, published online by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, reveals that the invasive form of the disease can be classified into two distinct genetic subtypes basal-like and luminal which were shown to be highly similar to the basal and luminal subtypes of breast cancer first described by Charles Perou, PhD, May Goldman Shaw Distinguished Professor of Molecular Oncology at UNC Lineberger. A greater understanding of the genetic basis of cancers such as breast cancer has led to the development of new therapies and diagnostic aids.

It will be particularly interesting to see whether the bladder subtypes, like the breast subtypes, are useful in stratification for therapy, said lead author William Kim, MD, associate professor with the UNC School of Medicine.

The mapping of the genetic signaling pathways of the breast cancer subtypes has led to development of drugs and diagnostic aids that aid physicians in determining the best course of therapy for patients with that disease. As the identified bladder cancer subtypes share many of the same genetic signaling pathways of breast cancer, researchers hope that the identification of the genetic subtypes can lead to similar advances.

Currently there are no approved targeted therapies for bladder cancer. Our hope is that the identification of these subtypes will aid in the discovery of targetable pathways that will advance bladder cancer treatment, said lead author Jeffrey Damrauer, graduate student in the Curriculum of Genetics and Molecular Biology.

The study also revealed a possible answer to why women diagnosed with bladder cancer have overall poorer outcomes compared to males. Analysis from female patients showed a significantly higher incidence of the deadlier, basal-like tumors, but researchers said that more research is needed before a definite link between the subtype and survival can be confirmed.

Dr. Kims lab has developed a gene map, BASE47, that proved successful as a prognostic aid when applied to the tumor samples in the study. The PAM50 genetic test, a similar genetic map developed in the Perou lab, was recently approved as a clinical diagnostic tool by the FDA.

Additional LCCC members contributing to this work are Katherine Hoadley, PhD; David Chism, MD; Cheng Fan; Christopher Tiganelli, MD; Sara Wobker, MD; Jen Jen Yeh, MD; Matthew Milowsky, MD; and Joel Parker, PhD. This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant R01 CA142794 and Integrative Vascular Biology Training Grant T32-HL069768. Dr. Kim is a Damon Runyon Merck Clinical Investigator. Dr. Kim and Damrauer are inventors on the patent for the BASE47.

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Genetic Subtypes of Bladder Cancer Reflect Breast Cancer Biology

Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory Launches More Accurate Carrier Screening Test for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

New York, NY (PRWEB) February 11, 2014

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai today announced the launch of a more accurate carrier screening test for spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), one of the most common and severe autosomal recessive disorders. This new test will help prospective parents more effectively identify whether they carry the mutation that will affect their offspring. The test screens for genetic variation discovered by Mount Sinai researchers, which has been demonstrated to identify silent carriers of SMA in certain populations with higher accuracy and offers more accurate risk estimates than existing tests in all ethnic groups tested. Mount Sinai will be licensing the new test to other clinical laboratories to facilitate access to more accurate SMA carrier screening for as many people as possible.

SMA is an autosomal recessive disease that affects about 1 in 10,000 people and is one of the most deadly genetic diseases among infants and toddlers. It is transmitted by carrier parents who have no symptoms themselves; as many as 1 in 35 people may carry an SMN1 gene mutation, which is the gene that is defective in SMA. The disease kills nerve cells in the spinal cord, causing progressive degeneration among patients and diminishing capacity for walking, breathing, and swallowing. Severe forms of SMA are fatal, and there is currently no cure for the disease.

Scientists at the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory recently used next-generation DNA sequencing to discover a new SMN1 genetic pattern that more accurately predicts the risk of having children with this disease. Current SMA carrier screening tests may result in false negative results due to their inability to detect silent carriers with two copies of the SMN1 gene on one chromosome and no copies on the other. The Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratorys patent-pending enhanced SMA test identifies a novel haplotype that successfully distinguishes those duplicated genes. This work, which was conducted by Mount Sinai scientists and published in Genetics in Medicine in June 2013, significantly improves detection rates in the Ashkenazi Jewish population and improves risk estimates after a negative carrier screen for SMA in all ethnic groups.

People who choose to undergo carrier screening for spinal muscular atrophy do so to ensure that their future children will not suffer from this debilitating disease. It is important to provide patients with the most accurate risk estimates possible, said Lisa Edelmann, PhD, Director of the Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory. Launching this enhanced test based on our recent scientific findings on SMN1 will provide more meaningful answers to these prospective parents, and it can also provide new information to people who have previously been screened with existing SMA carrier tests.

The new test will be performed by the Genetic Testing Laboratory for all patients undergoing carrier screening for SMA. In addition, Mount Sinai will actively license the test to as many third-party clinical laboratories as possible.

This enhanced SMA carrier screening test shows the tremendous value in Mount Sinais approach to translational research, said Robert Desnick, MD, PhD, Dean for Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Professor and Chairman Emeritus of Genetics and Genomic Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. What began as a basic research project to identify founder alleles for Ashkenazi Jewish SMA carriers has resulted in a test that outperforms existing screening methods and offers real clinical benefit to the hundreds of thousands of people who will be screened by Mount Sinai or any of our licensees around the world.

About the Mount Sinai Health System The Mount Sinai Health System is an integrated health system committed to providing distinguished care, conducting transformative research, and advancing biomedical education. Structured around seven member hospital campuses and a single medical school, the Health System has an extensive ambulatory network and a range of inpatient and outpatient servicesfrom community-based facilities to tertiary and quaternary care.

The System includes approximately 6,600 primary and specialty care physicians, 12-minority-owned free-standing ambulatory surgery centers, over 45 ambulatory practices throughout the five boroughs of New York City, Westchester, and Long Island, as well as 31 affiliated community health centers. Physicians are affiliated with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, which is ranked among the top 20 medical schools both in National Institutes of Health funding and by U.S. News & World Report.

For more information, visit http://www.mountsinai.org, or find Mount Sinai on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

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Mount Sinai Genetic Testing Laboratory Launches More Accurate Carrier Screening Test for Spinal Muscular Atrophy

Penn Medicine and CHOP Study: New Genetic Analysis Confirms Connection Between Cholesterol and Heart Disease

PHILADELPHIA New research is adding to a growing body of evidence showing the effects that genetics, cholesterol and other lipids in the blood have on coronary heart disease (CHD). Previous research has shown elevated levels of low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc, commonly known as bad cholesterol) are known to cause heart disease, but the effects of other lipids such as high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLc, or good cholesterol) and triglycerides (TG) have been less clear. In a new study, published online in the European Heart Journal, an international team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, used a novel genetics approach integrated with cardiovascular outcomes and lipid data taken fromblood samples from study participants to target specific lipids in the blood. The approach allowed the team to rule out other behavioral or environmental factors that may contribute to heart disease. The results are lending support to existing evidence showing that levels of TG are likely associated with risk of heart disease, while elevated levels of HDLc alone do not provide protection against CHD.

These results contribute to our current understanding of which blood lipids cause heart disease and which ones dont, said Michael Holmes, MD, PhD, research assistant professor of Surgery in the division of Transplant at Penn Medicine. Knowing that LDLc and TG contribute to an increased CHD risk allows health care providers to better offer individualized treatment plans with drugs that specifically target those lipids.

Results of the new study were gathered using a recently developed tool called Mendelian randomization (MR), which identifies genes responsible for particular diseases and analyzes genetic variations, while ruling out other behavioral or environmental variables that can be difficult to adjust for in study design. Using genetic risk scores, researchers analyzed genetic data from 62,199 participants in 12 previous studies. More than 12,000 of the participants were found to have experienced an event related to coronary heart disease (CHD).

After analyzing the genetic data, the results of the new study not only confirm that higher levels of LDLc are more likely to cause heart disease, but also show that high levels of TG also cause a higher risk of heart disease, a finding that has previously only been speculated upon. At the same time, there was little evidence to suggest that higher levels of HDLc provided protective effects against heart disease.

While the findings provide an important contribution to existing knowledge on blood lipid traits and risk of CHD, the authors suggest further studies using emerging technologies in the genomics arena are needed to precisely understand the role specific lipids and genetic predispositions play in a patients risk of CHD.

Its still not clear exactly what role HDLc plays in a patients risk of heart disease, or to what extent said senior author Brendan Keating, PhD, research assistant professor of Pediatrics and Surgery at Penn Medicine and lead clinical data analyst in the Center for Applied Genomics at The Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia. This requires further testing with new methods like Mendelian randomizing that can account for behavioral or environmental factors and focus specifically on the effects of those cholesterol subtypes.

Funding for the study came was provided by multiple sources, including the National Institutes of Health (grants N01-HC-65226, HL36310 and NHLBI33014), the UK Medical Research Council and the British Heart Foundation.

For more information on the study design and results, please see the full press release.

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Penn Medicine and CHOP Study: New Genetic Analysis Confirms Connection Between Cholesterol and Heart Disease

Perception and Genetics: The Role Our Surroundings Can Play in Cell (and Brain) Health – Video


Perception and Genetics: The Role Our Surroundings Can Play in Cell (and Brain) Health
http://www.nicabm.com/brain2014/info/?del=LiptonYT Sometimes it seems like you can tell when someone #39;s in love just by looking at them - ever wonder why that...

By: Ruth Buczynski

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Perception and Genetics: The Role Our Surroundings Can Play in Cell (and Brain) Health - Video

Stem cell therapy – Age reversal1 – Cristal Jan 2014 – Video


Stem cell therapy - Age reversal1 - Cristal Jan 2014
http://a1stemcells.com/ Cristal, 70 years old. 1 Year after our 1st Age reversal study with stem cells (12 ESC injections in 12 months) For more info: http:/...

By: A1 Stem Cells

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Stem cell therapy - Age reversal1 - Cristal Jan 2014 - Video

Research and Markets: The Global Gene Therapy Industry Has …

Dear Australia 1/8 ~ The Will Of The People | How To Vote For A GM Free Australia

December 2013, Australian Government, Tony Abbott, News, qanda, Town, Go To http://www.pokeapoli.com/GMO for the GM Objection letter. Australia Determined To Forcibly Vaccinate By Intentional and Controlled Release of Aerosolized GMO Vaccine The Office of the Gene Technology Regulator (OGTR) is on its way to approve a licence application from PaxVax Australia (PaxVax) for the intentional release of a GMO vaccine consisting of live bacteria into the environment in Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria. According to the regulator, it qualifies as a limited and controlled release under section 50A of the Gene Technology Act 2000 (the Act). PaxVax is seeking approval to conduct the clinical trial of a genetically modified live bacterial vaccine against cholera. Once underway the trial is expected to be completed within one year, with trial sites selected from local government areas (LGAs) in Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia. PaxVax has proposed a number of control measures they say will restrict the spread and persistence of the GM vaccine and its introduced genetic material, however there is always a possiblity of these restrictions failing and infecting wildlife and ecosystems. Aerial vaccines have used in the United States directed towards animals by the use of plastic packets dropped by planes or helicopters. Sanofi (who is one of the largest vaccine manufacturers in the world) has subsidiary companies such as Merial Limited who manufacture Raboral, an oral live-virus poisonous to humans yet distributed wildlife in the masses. WEST NILE VIRUS SPRAYING In 2006 Michael Greenwood wrote an article for the Yale School of Public Health entitled, "Aerial Spraying Effectively Reduces Incidence of West Nile Virus (WNV) in Humans." The article stated that the incidence of human West Nile virus cases can be significantly reduced through large scale aerial spraying that targets adult mosquitoes, according to research by the Yale School of Public Health and the California Department of Public Health. Under the mandate for aerial spraying for specific vectors that pose a threat to human health, aerial vaccines known as DNA Vaccine Enhancements and Recombinant Vaccine against WNV may be tested or used to "protect" the people from vector infection exposures. DNA vaccine enhancements specifically use Epstein-Barr viral capside's with multi human complement class II activators to neutralize antibodies. The recombinant vaccines against WNV use Rabbit Beta-globulin or the poly (A) signal of the SV40 virus. In early studies of DNA vaccines it was found that the negative result studies would go into the category of future developmental research projects in gene therapy. During the studies of poly (A) signaling of the SV40 for WNV vaccines, it was observed that WNV will lie dormant in individuals who were exposed to chicken pox, thus upon exposure to WNV aerial vaccines the potential for the release of chicken pox virus would cause a greater risk to having adult onset Shingles. CALIFORNIA AERIAL SPRAYING for WNV and SV40 In February 2009 to present date, aerial spraying for the WNV occurred in major cities within the State of California. During spraying of Anaheim, CA a Caucasian female (age 50) was exposed to heavy spraying, while doing her daily exercise of walking several miles. Heavy helicopter activity occurred for several days in this area. After spraying, she experienced light headedness, nausea, muscle aches and increased low back pain. She was evaluated for toxicological mechanisms that were associated with pesticide exposure due to aerial spraying utilizing advanced biological monitoring testing. The test results which included protein band testing utilizing Protein Coupled Response (PCR) methods were positive for KD-45. KD-45 is the protein band for SV-40 Simian Green Monkey virus. Additional tests were performed for Epstein-Barr virus capside and Cytomeglia virus which are used in bioengineering for gene delivery systems through viral protein envelope and adenoviral protein envelope technology. The individual was positive for both; indicating a highly probable exposure to a DNA vaccination delivery system through nasal inhalation. Pentagon Document Revealed Aerial Vaccination Plans In the Quarterly FunVax Review in June, 2007, the report lists the objective of a project listed as ID: 149AZ2 as a preparation of a viral vector that will inhibit/decrease the expression of a specific disruption gene (VMAT2) within a human population. It further indicates in the abstract that six method of virus dispersal were tested including high altitude release, water supply release, insect transmission, and various methods of diffusion. Technology, November 2013, December 2013, politics, how your community is implementing agenda 21, Australian Government, Ann Bressington exposes agenda 21, Christmas movie, side effects, Australian government, federal parliament compilation, a

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Research and Markets: The Global Gene Therapy Industry Has ...

Cell death research provides insights into cancer

Research from South Australias Centre for Cancer Biology (CCB) may provide new insights into the understanding and treatment of cancer.

Published in Nature Communications, the research from CCB co-director Professor Sharad Kumar and his team, including lead author research fellow Dr Donna Denton, looks at how a gene called UTX plays an important role in controlling cell death.

This is significant because the spread of cancer from one organ to other parts of the body relies on cancer cells ability to evade the cell death process.

The CCB is an alliance between the University of South Australia and SA Pathology and boasts the largest concentration of fundamental cancer research in the state.

The research specifically looked at how UTX plays a role in controlling cell death by regulating the expression of a number of other genes.

For more than 20 years Prof Kumar has been investigating the processes by which cells undergo death and the molecular machinery that determines whether a cell lives or dies.

Prof Kumar says cell death is essential to maintain the correct number of cells in the body and to get rid of cells that have been damaged and become potentially harmful. His laboratory uses animal models including the vinegar fly Drosophila to study how various genes control the process of cell death and how they determine which cells are specifically deleted during development.

Cell death and survival are controlled by many genes, and defects in these genes are often linked to diseases. For example, the inability of cells to evade cell death is a well-known hallmark of cancer, Prof Kumar says.

The vinegar fly has proved to be an excellent model to study cell death during development given its genetics are well understood; it is experimentally highly amenable and more than 60 per cent of human disease genes are conserved in the fly, Dr Denton says.

In the current study they identified that UTX, an epigenetic modifier, is necessary to maintain high levels of expression of a number of genes that are required for deleting a specific tissue at a precise time during the development of the fly.

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Cell death research provides insights into cancer

Engineering The Human Genome One Letter At A Time

Image Caption: Beating-heart cells derived from iPS cells are shown. A single DNA base-pair of the PRKAG2 gene was edited using the method developed by Drs. Miyaoka and Conklin. Credit: Luke Judge/Gladstone Institutes

Anne D. Holden, PhD Gladstone Institutes

Gladstones innovative technique in stem cells to boost scientists ability to study and potentially cure genetic disease

Sometimes biology is cruel. Sometimes simply a one-letter change in the human genetic code is the difference between health and a deadly disease. But even though doctors and scientists have long studied disorders caused by these tiny changes, replicating them to study in human stem cells has proven challenging. But now, scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have found a way to efficiently edit the human genome one letter at a time not only boosting researchers ability to model human disease, but also paving the way for therapies that cure disease by fixing these so-called bugs in a patients genetic code.

Led by Gladstone Investigator Bruce Conklin, MD, the research team describes in the latest issue of Nature Methods how they have solved one of science and medicines most pressing problems: how to efficiently and accurately capture rare genetic mutations that cause disease as well as how to fix them. This pioneering technique highlights the type of out-of-the-box thinking that is often critical for scientific success.

Advances in human genetics have led to the discovery of hundreds of genetic changes linked to disease, but until now weve lacked an efficient means of studying them, explained Dr. Conklin. To meet this challenge, we must have the capability to engineer the human genome, one letter at a time, with tools that are efficient, robust and accurate. And the method that we outline in our study does just that.

One of the major challenges preventing researchers from efficiently generating and studying these genetic diseases is that they can exist at frequencies as low as 1%, making the task of finding and studying them labor-intensive.

For our method to work, we needed to find a way to efficiently identify a single mutation among hundreds of normal, healthy cells, explained Gladstone Research Scientist Yuichiro Miyaoka, PhD, the papers lead author. So we designed a special fluorescent probe that would distinguish the mutated sequence from the original sequences. We were then able to sort through both sets of sequences and detect mutant cellseven when they made up as little one in every thousand cells. This is a level of sensitivity more than one hundred times greater than traditional methods.

The team then applied these new methods to induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells. These cells, derived from the skin cells of human patients, have the same genetic makeup including any potential disease-causing mutations as the patient. In this case, the research team first used a highly advanced gene-editing technique called TALENs to introduce a specific mutation into the genome. Some gene-editing techniques, while effective at modifying the genetic code, involve the use of genetic markers that then leave a scar on the newly edited genome. These scars can then affect subsequent generations of cells, complicating future analysis. Although TALENs, and other similarly advanced tools, are able to make a clean, scarless single letter edits, these edits are very rare, so that new technique from the Conklin lab is needed.

Our method provides a novel way to capture and amplify specific mutations that are normally exceedingly rare, said Dr. Conklin. Our high-efficiency, high-fidelity method could very well be the basis for the next phase of human genetics research.

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Engineering The Human Genome One Letter At A Time

Rose scent in poplar trees? WSU turns to genetic engineering

Sniff the air around Norman Lewis experimental poplars, and you wont pick up the scent of roses.

But inside the saplings leaves and stems, cells are hard at work producing the chemical called 2-phenylethanol which by any other name would smell as sweet.

Sweeter still is the fact that perfume and cosmetics companies will pay as much as $30 an ounce for the compound that gives roses their characteristic aroma. Because what Lewis and his colleagues at Washington State University are really chasing is the smell of money.

Born out of the frustrating quest to wring biofuels from woody plants, the WSU project takes a different tack. Instead of grinding up trees to produce commercial quantities of so-called cellulosic ethanol, their goal is to turn poplars into living factories that churn out modest levels of chemicals with premium price tags.

The potential market for specialty chemicals many of which are now synthesized from petroleum is big, said Lewis, director of WSUs Institute of Biological Chemistry. Hes already patented some of the technology, which relies on genetic engineering, and created a spinoff company called Elasid.

In the longer term, the profits from high-end products could boost the struggling biofuel industry by helping companies survive whats called the valley of death the point where firms need to scale up production, but money is hard to come by.

The ideal operation would combine the two product lines, extracting valuable chemicals and using the waste for biofuel. But thats a long way off, Lewis said.

Biofuels dont provide a compelling economic case at this point in time, he said. Weve been trying for many decades to understand how plants make these special chemicals that can be used in flavorings, fuels and medicinals, and that seemed like the obvious first place to target.

But failures outnumber successes in the world of green technology, and it remains to be seen whether Lewis and his group will buck the trend.

Costs and controversy

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Rose scent in poplar trees? WSU turns to genetic engineering

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Cancer Genetics And Roche To Expand Molecular Diagnostic Cancer Testing

By RTT News, February 10, 2014, 07:15:00 AM EDT

(RTTNews.com) - Cancer Genetics Inc. ( CGIX ) and Roche Servicios S.A., an affiliate of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Roche Holding AG (RHHBY.PK), have reached an exclusive multi-year agreement to expand molecular diagnostic cancer testing in Central America and the Caribbean, Cancer Genetics said.

As per the terms of the three-year contract agreement, Cancer Genetics will leverage the power of Roche'sFDA-approved cobas platform as the Company seeks to become a center of excellence for oncology-focused testing in the region. Roche's cobas technology allows for the amplification and sequencing of targeted genomic regions of interest, using mutational status to guide appropriate treatment selection.

In addition, under the agreement, Cancer Genetics will be the exclusive provider of molecular diagnostic cancer testing for Roche Servicios in Central America and the Caribbean. This expanded relationship covers multiple disease categories, including testing for lung cancer, breast cancer, and lymphoma. Cancer Genetics first began offering such testing for Roche Servicios in late 2012.

Cancer Genetics stated that it will initially focus on cobas-based testing starting with the FDA-approved epidermal growth factor receptor or EGRF mutation test, intended to help select non-small cell lung cancer patients for treatment with EGFR inhibitors. The partnership allows for expansion into other cancer categories and regions as mutually decided by Cancer Genetics and Roche.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

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Cancer Genetics And Roche To Expand Molecular Diagnostic Cancer Testing

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Seven new genetic regions linked to type 2 diabetes

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

9-Feb-2014

Contact: News & Information Office press.office@admin.ox.ac.uk 44-018-652-80530 University of Oxford

Seven new genetic regions associated with type 2 diabetes have been identified in the largest study to date of the genetic basis of the disease.

DNA data was brought together from more than 48,000 patients and 139,000 healthy controls from four different ethnic groups. The research was conducted by an international consortium of investigators from 20 countries on four continents, co-led by investigators from Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics.

The majority of such 'genome-wide association studies' have been done in populations with European backgrounds. This research is notable for including DNA data from populations of Asian and Hispanic origin as well.

The researchers believe that, as more genetic data increasingly become available from populations of South Asian ancestry and, particularly, African descent, it will be possible to map genes implicated in type 2 diabetes ever more closely.

'One of the striking features of these data is how much of the genetic variation that influences diabetes is shared between major ethnic groups,' says Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Professor Mark McCarthy from the University of Oxford. 'This has allowed us to combine data from more than 50 studies from across the globe to discover new genetic regions affecting risk of diabetes.'

He adds: 'The overlap in signals between populations of European, Asian and Hispanic origin argues that the risk regions we have found to date do not explain the clear differences in the patterns of diabetes between those groups.'

Among the regions identified by the international research team are two, near the genes ARL15 and RREB1, that also show strong links to elevated levels of insulin and glucose in the body two key characteristics of type 2 diabetes. This finding provides insights into the ways basic biochemical processes are involved in the risk of type 2 diabetes, the scientists say.

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