Anne Roberts of Moorhead

Anne Roberts of Moorhead talks about her decision to have her breasts removed after being diagnosed with the gene that made her a high risk for developing breast cancer. David Samson / The Forum

Sanford medical lab scientist Tylise Graff looks at tumor tissue from a breast cancer sample which helps determine the course of treatment. David Samson / The Forum

Would you consider genetic testing?

FARGO Anne Roberts considers herself a breast cancer previvor.

After learning that she inherited a gene that placed her at very high risk and knowing her family history was riddled with cancer she opted for preventive surgery, a double mastectomy.

My surgeon explained to me it wasnt a matter of if, she said. I was going to get cancer. It was a question of when.

Roberts was 55 when she had the surgery four years ago the same age her older sister first developed breast cancer, and the age of her paternal grandmother when she died of cancer.

Genetic testing revealed the Moorhead woman had an 87 percent chance of developing breast cancer. Preemptive surgery reduced her risk by 90 percent.

Now, the kind of genetic screening and counseling that has long been common in treating cancer and assessing prenatal or childhood risk of inheriting disease is spreading to primary care at Sanford Health clinics under a new $125 million initiative in genetic medicine.

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Genetic screening spreads to primary care at Sanford clinics

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FARGO Medical science has developed genetic tests for 2,000 diseases that are available for clinical use.

Some, such as prenatal screens to test for Down syndrome and other congenital disorders, have been in use for years.

But in many cases, experts said, limited scientific information is available to evaluate tests, and medical providers and payers are struggling with how to navigate an expanding field of medicine.

Health insurers often are the gatekeepers in deciding whether to pay for genetic tests. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve patients outcomes and be more cost-effective, but payers want scientific guidance.

Theyre struggling with this too, is my belief, said Dr. Claire Neely, medical director of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement, a Minnesota group that advises member health systems and insurers.

They want to do the right thing for their patients, she said.

Sanford Healths recently announced initiative to bring genetic medicine and counseling into the primary care setting, in combination with research and education, should generate useful information, Neely said.

I would call it increasing genetic literacy in primary care, she said. I think that is an important piece.

Experts, including those with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, say valid and useful tests are available for certain hereditary breast and ovarian cancer, as well as a hereditary form of colon cancer, two well-established examples.

But those tests are not widely used, partly because of limited research on how to get useful tests in the clinic, and others have only limited scientific information to evaluate their effectiveness, a CDC report concluded.

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Health insurers struggle with whether to pay for genetic tests

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Boris Shraiman - Statistical genetics and evolution I
PROGRAM: ICTP-ICTS WINTER SCHOOL ON QUANTITATIVE SYSTEMS BIOLOGY DATES: Monday 09 Dec, 2013 - Friday 20 Dec, 2013 VENUE: Biological Sciences auditorium, IISc...

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Boris Shraiman - Statistical genetics and evolution II
PROGRAM: ICTP-ICTS WINTER SCHOOL ON QUANTITATIVE SYSTEMS BIOLOGY DATES: Monday 09 Dec, 2013 - Friday 20 Dec, 2013 VENUE: Biological Sciences auditorium, IISc...

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We Play: Dyfe123 Modpack S1E2 - Genetics
We heavily altar our DNA with some crazy genes! CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/user/ghruirsetghu STEVEN #39;S CHANNEL: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC13d7rEXH...

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Acid Elf: Illegal Genetics Lab
Acid Elf: Illegal Genetics Lab.

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RussoBioClass Advanced Genetics

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29-Jan-2014

Contact: Adam P. Fagen afagen@genetics-gsa.org 301-634-7300 Genetics Society of America

BETHESDA, MD January 29, 2014 The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce its 2014 Award Recipients. The five individuals honored are recognized by their peers for outstanding achievements and contributions to the genetics community.

"The 2014 GSA award winners are impressive scientists who collectively have positively influenced the field of genetics in research, in education, and in fostering the genetics community," said GSA President Vicki Chandler, PhD. "These awards provide an annual opportunity for the genetics community to recognize those individuals whose superb achievements have advanced the science of genetics. On behalf of GSA, I thank each of the award winners for a lasting contribution to the field."

The award recipients, who will receive their awards at GSA conferences during 2014, are:

Frederick M. Ausubel, PhD (Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital) has been awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for lifetime contributions to the field of genetics.

Angelika B. Amon, PhD (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute) has been awarded the Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of genetics during the past 15 years.

Hugo J. Bellen, DVM, PhD (Baylor College of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute) has been awarded the George W. Beadle Award for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers.

Charles Boone, PhD (University of Toronto) has been awarded the Edward Novitski Prize, which recognizes an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in solving significant problems in genetics research.

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Newswise BETHESDA, MD January 29, 2014 The Genetics Society of America (GSA) is pleased to announce its 2014 Award Recipients. The five individuals honored are recognized by their peers for outstanding achievements and contributions to the genetics community.

The 2014 GSA award winners are impressive scientists who collectively have positively influenced the field of genetics in research, in education, and in fostering the genetics community, said GSA President Vicki Chandler, PhD. These awards provide an annual opportunity for the genetics community to recognize those individuals whose superb achievements have advanced the science of genetics. On behalf of GSA, I thank each of the award winners for a lasting contribution to the field.

The award recipients, who will receive their awards at GSA conferences during 2014, are:

Frederick M. Ausubel, PhD (Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital) has been awarded the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal for lifetime contributions to the field of genetics.

Angelika B. Amon, PhD (Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Howard Hughes Medical Institute) has been awarded the Genetics Society of America Medal for outstanding contributions to the field of genetics during the past 15 years.

Hugo J. Bellen, DVM, PhD (Baylor College of Medicine and Howard Hughes Medical Institute) has been awarded the George W. Beadle Award for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers.

Charles Boone, PhD (University of Toronto) has been awarded the Edward Novitski Prize, which recognizes an extraordinary level of creativity and intellectual ingenuity in solving significant problems in genetics research.

Robin Wright, PhD (University of Minnesota) has been awarded the Elizabeth W. Jones Award for Excellence in Education, which recognizes significant and sustained impact in genetics education.

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Could the cure for baldness be found within our own skin?

For the first time, researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania were successfully able to take human skin cells and transform them into hair-follicle-generating stem cells. These cells were then transplanted onto mice, and turned into human-like skin and hair follicles. The mice eventually grew tiny hair shafts.

The study was published Jan. 28 in Nature Communications.

The researchers began by using a type of skin cell known as dermal fibroblasts. They added three genes in order to transform them into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These stem cells have the ability to transform into other cells found throughout the body.

Specifically, the iPSCs in this study were made into epithelial cells, which make up connective, muscle and nerve tissue. These cells are normally found at the bulb-like ends of hair follicles. The team was able to accomplish this by controlling the cells' growth time, and were able to turn 25 percent of the iPSCs into epithelial stem cells in about 18 days.

The epithelial stem cells were then mixed with mice hair follicle skin cells. They were then transplanted onto mice who had their immune systems suppressed. The cells produced human outer skin layer cells and follicles that were close to actual human hair follicles, which then grew the beginning of the hair shafts.

Dr. Xiaowei George Xu, associate professor of pathology, laboratory medicine and dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine, said in a press release that these cells may be able to do more than generate hair. They could also be used in wound care and in cosmetics.

This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles, Xu explained.

But, the research is still far from practical use. The next step is to create the other type of cell found in hair, dermal papillae, which are small bumps of cells found in the second layer of skin that poke into the top layer of skin. These dermal papillae create our fingerprints, among other things. For the experiments, the researchers used mice cells to make up for the lack of human ones.

When a person loses hair, they lose both types of cells, Xu said. We have solved one major problem, the epithelial component of the hair follicle. We need to figure out a way to also make new dermal papillae cells, and no one has figured that part out yet.

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Bye bye baldness? Researchers regrow hair using skin cells

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PHILADELPHIA If the content of many a situation comedy, not to mention late-night TV advertisements, is to be believed, theres an epidemic of balding men, and an intense desire to fix their follicular deficiencies.

One potential approach to reversing hair loss uses stem cells to regenerate the missing or dying hair follicles. But it hasnt been possible to generate sufficient number of hair-follicle-generating stem cells until now.

Xiaowei George Xu, MD, PhD, associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues published in Nature Communications a method for converting adult cells into epithelial stem cells (EpSCs), the first time anyone has achieved this in either humans or mice.

The epithelial stem cells, when implanted into immunocompromised mice, regenerated the different cell types of human skin and hair follicles, and even produced structurally recognizable hair shaft, raising the possibility that they may eventually enable hair regeneration in people.

Xu and his team, which includes researchers from Penns departments of Dermatology and Biology, as well as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, started with human skin cells called dermal fibroblasts. By adding three genes, they converted those cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the capability to differentiate into any cell types in the body. They then converted the iPS cells into epithelial stem cells, normally found at the bulge of hair follicles.

Starting with procedures other research teams had previously worked out to convert iPSCs into keratinocytes, Xus team demonstrated that by carefully controlling the timing of the growth factors the cells received, they could force the iPSCs to generate large numbers of epithelial stem cells. In the Xu study, the teams protocol succeeded in turning over 25% of the iPSCs into epithelial stem cells in 18 days. Those cells were then purified using the proteins they expressed on their surfaces.

Comparison of the gene expression patterns of the human iPSC-derived epithelial stem cells with epithelial stem cells obtained from human hair follicles showed that the team had succeeded in producing the cells they set out to make in the first place. When they mixed those cells with mouse follicular inductive dermal cells and grafted them onto the skin of immunodeficient mice, they produced functional human epidermis (the outermost layers of skin cells) and follicles structurally similar to human hair follicles.

This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles, Xu says. And those cells have many potential applications, he adds, including wound healing, cosmetics, and hair regeneration.

That said, iPSC-derived epithelial stem cells are not yet ready for use in human subjects, Xu adds. First, a hair follicle contains epithelial cells -- a cell type that lines the bodys vessels and cavities as well as a specific kind of adult stem cell called dermal papillae. Xu and his team mixed iPSC-derived EpSCs and mouse dermal cells to generate hair follicles to achieve the growth of the follicles.

When a person loses hair, they lose both types of cells. Xu explains. We have solved one major problem, the epithelial component of the hair follicle. We need to figure out a way to also make new dermal papillae cells, and no one has figured that part out yet.

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First Study to Convert Adult Human Cells to Hair-Follicle-Generating Stem Cells has Implications for Hair Regeneration

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Newswise PHILADELPHIA - If the content of many a situation comedy, not to mention late-night TV advertisements, is to be believed, theres an epidemic of balding men, and an intense desire to fix their follicular deficiencies.

One potential approach to reversing hair loss uses stem cells to regenerate the missing or dying hair follicles. But it hasnt been possible to generate sufficient number of hair-follicle-generating stem cells until now.

Xiaowei George Xu, MD, PhD, associate professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Dermatology at the Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, and colleagues published in Nature Communications a method for converting adult cells into epithelial stem cells (EpSCs), the first time anyone has achieved this in either humans or mice.

The epithelial stem cells, when implanted into immunocompromised mice, regenerated the different cell types of human skin and hair follicles, and even produced structurally recognizable hair shaft, raising the possibility that they may eventually enable hair regeneration in people.

Xu and his team, which includes researchers from Penns departments of Dermatology and Biology, as well as the New Jersey Institute of Technology, started with human skin cells called dermal fibroblasts. By adding three genes, they converted those cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the capability to differentiate into any cell types in the body. They then converted the iPS cells into epithelial stem cells, normally found at the bulge of hair follicles.

Starting with procedures other research teams had previously worked out to convert iPSCs into keratinocytes, Xus team demonstrated that by carefully controlling the timing of the growth factors the cells received, they could force the iPSCs to generate large numbers of epithelial stem cells. In the Xu study, the teams protocol succeeded in turning over 25% of the iPSCs into epithelial stem cells in 18 days. Those cells were then purified using the proteins they expressed on their surfaces.

Comparison of the gene expression patterns of the human iPSC-derived epithelial stem cells with epithelial stem cells obtained from human hair follicles showed that the team had succeeded in producing the cells they set out to make in the first place. When they mixed those cells with mouse follicular inductive dermal cells and grafted them onto the skin of immunodeficient mice, they produced functional human epidermis (the outermost layers of skin cells) and follicles structurally similar to human hair follicles.

This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles, Xu says. And those cells have many potential applications, he adds, including wound healing, cosmetics, and hair regeneration.

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Converting Adult Human Cells to Hair-Follicle-Generating Stem Cells

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January 28, 2014

Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online

While a Chinese cream may not have cured George Costanzas baldness in a classic Seinfeld episode, stem cell research from scientists at the University of Pennsylvania has shown the potential for regenerating hair follicles which could lead to relief for hair-challenged men everywhere.

According to a new report published in the journal Nature Communications, the Pennsylvania researchers have developed a groundbreaking method for converting adult cells into epithelial stem cells (EpSCs). Similar previous efforts have failed to generate an adequate number of hair-follicle-generating stem cells.

In the study, epithelial stem cells were inserted into immunocompromised mice. The stem cells regenerated the various cell types for human skin and hair follicles, and provided structurally identifiable hair shafts, raising the possibility of hair regeneration in humans.

The study team began with human skin cells referred to as dermal fibroblasts. By incorporating three genes, they modified those cells into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which have the capacity to differentiate into any cell types in the human body. Next, they modified the iPS cells into epithelial stem cells, commonly located at the base of hair follicles.

Starting with procedures other research groups had worked out to transfer iPSCs into skin cells, Xus team figured out that by carefully manipulating the timing of the cell growth factors, they could drive the iPSCs to produce large quantities of epithelial stem cells. This method was able to turn more than 25 percent of the iPSCs into epithelial stem cells within 18 days. Those cells were then purified based on the proteins they showed on their surfaces.

Comparison of the engineered cells with epithelial stem tissue obtained from hair follicles revealed the team succeeded in making the cells they set out to produce. After mixing all those cells with mouse follicular inductive dermal cells and attaching them onto the pores and skin of immunodeficient mice, the team was able to produce efficient outer layers of human skin tissue and follicles structurally similar to those generated by human hair.

This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles, said study author Dr. Xiaowei George Xu, associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine and dermatology at the university. He added that these cells could be used for healing, cosmetics and hair regeneration.

Xu cautioned that iPSC-derived epithelial stem cells are not yet ready for human subjects.

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Are Stem Cells The Cure To Baldness?

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Posted: Tuesday, January 28, 2014, 9:00 AM

TUESDAY, Jan. 28, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Scientists might be able to offer "hair-challenged" males a new glimmer of hope when it comes to reversing baldness.

Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania say they've gotten closer to being able to use stem cells to treat thinning hair -- at least in mice.

The researchers said that although using stem cells to regenerate missing or dying hair follicles is considered a potential way to reverse hair loss, it hasn't been possible to create adequate numbers of hair-follicle-generating stem cells -- specifically cells of the epithelium, the name for tissues covering the surface of the body.

But new findings indicate that this may now be achievable.

"This is the first time anyone has made scalable amounts of epithelial stem cells that are capable of generating the epithelial component of hair follicles," Dr. Xiaowei Xu, an associate professor of dermatology at Penn's Perelman School of Medicine, said in a university news release.

Those cells have many potential applications that extend to wound healing, cosmetics and hair regeneration, Xu said.

In the new study, Xu's team converted induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) -- reprogrammed adult stem cells with many of the characteristics of embryonic stem cells -- into epithelial stem cells. This is the first time this has been done in either mice or people, the researchers said.

The epithelial stem cells were mixed with certain other cells and implanted into mice. They produced the outermost layers of skin cells and follicles that are similar to human hair follicles, according to the study, which was published Jan. 28 in the journal Nature Communications. This suggests that these cells might eventually help regenerate hair in people, the researchers said.

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Baldness Cure May Have Inched a Bit Closer

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Jan-2014

Contact: Garth Sundem garth.sundem@ucdenver.edu University of Colorado Denver

A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published today in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics shows that patients taking crizotinib for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer may safely and durably use up to three courses of targeted radiation therapy to eradicate pockets of drug-resistant disease. Eliminating these pockets of resistant disease allows patients to continue treating the overall condition with crizotinib, leading to improved 2-year survival rates compared with patients forced to discontinue the drug sooner.

ALK+ lung cancers are caused by the aberrant reactivation of the ALK gene, and comprise about 3-5 percent of all cases of non-small cell lung cancer. In these cases, clinical studies have shown that the drug crizotinib is highly effective and the drug was rapidly approved by the FDA in 2011. Unfortunately, at around 8 10 months after the initiation of treatment, the cancer tends to acquire resistance to crizotinib. Earlier work at CU Cancer Center and elsewhere showed that resistance occurs through a change in the biology of the cancer. At this point, patients have generally been switched to another drug.

However, it may not be the entire cancer that develops resistance to the drug. Instead, as the change in biology is an evolutionary event only pockets of the cancer may become immune. Previous work from the CU Cancer Center described the use of a single course of radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy to eliminate these isolated pockets of resistant disease.

"The traditional paradigm for cancer patients has been to switch your systemic therapy to another agent if you progress, even though a majority of your cancer may still be controlled by the original drug. But what if we could use targeted radiation therapy to eliminate those sites of errant disease so a person could stay on a specific drug longer?" says Gregory Gan, MD, PhD, a chief resident in the University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology and the paper's first author. "Using stereotactic body radiotherapy, we can ablate these limited sites of progressive disease so patients can continue on the drug they are on a technique we refer to as 'weeding the garden'."

The current study reports median two-year follow-up results of up to three courses of local ablative therapy to control resistant, progressive disease in ALK+ lung cancer patients.

Specifically, the group followed the experience of 38 ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer patients. Of these 38 patients, 33 progressed during the study, meaning the disease gained resistance to crizotinib. Fourteen of those patients progressed in a way that allowed for local ablative therapy. These eligible patients received 1-3 rounds of radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy to "weed the garden" of resistant pockets of disease. Examples of sites that were treated included metastases to the lung, liver, abdominal lymph nodes, and adrenal glands.

"With this long follow up, we can now see that on average it took 5.5 months from the first use of local ablative therapy until further evidence of progression on crizotinib occurred a duration of disease control that is highly competitive with what any new drug-based therapy might be expected to achieve in the acquired resistance setting. In addition, we found that you can use radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy in the same patient multiple times with excellent control of these sites of resistant cancer and minimal to no side-effects. By keeping these patients on crizotinib for longer periods of time and/or because of the direct effect of the local ablative therapy, there was a suggestion that patients may also being enjoying a significant survival benefit," says Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical Program at the CU Cancer Center and the senior author of the study. However, Camidge cautions that this apparent overall survival benefit will need to be studied formally in a prospective clinical trial currently being established at the University of Colorado.

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'Weeding the garden' lets ALK+ lung cancer patients continue crizotinib

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Newswise A University of Colorado Cancer Center study published today in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology Biology and Physics shows that patients taking crizotinib for ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer may safely and durably use up to three courses of targeted radiation therapy to eradicate pockets of drug-resistant disease. Eliminating these pockets of resistant disease allows patients to continue treating the overall condition with crizotinib, leading to improved 2-year survival rates compared with patients forced to discontinue the drug sooner.

ALK+ lung cancers are caused by the aberrant reactivation of the ALK gene, and comprise about 3-5 percent of all cases of non-small cell lung cancer. In these cases, clinical studies have shown that the drug crizotinib is highly effective and the drug was rapidly approved by the FDA in 2011. Unfortunately, at around 8 10 months after the initiation of treatment, the cancer tends to acquire resistance to crizotinib. Earlier work at CU Cancer Center and elsewhere showed that resistance occurs through a change in the biology of the cancer. At this point, patients have generally been switched to another drug.

However, it may not be the entire cancer that develops resistance to the drug. Instead, as the change in biology is an evolutionary event only pockets of the cancer may become immune. Previous work from the CU Cancer Center described the use of a single course of radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy to eliminate these isolated pockets of resistant disease.

The traditional paradigm for cancer patients has been to switch your systemic therapy to another agent if you progress, even though a majority of your cancer may still be controlled by the original drug. But what if we could use targeted radiation therapy to eliminate those sites of errant disease so a person could stay on a specific drug longer? says Gregory Gan, MD, PhD, a chief resident in the University of Colorado School of Medicine Department of Radiation Oncology and the papers first author. Using stereotactic body radiotherapy, we can ablate these limited sites of progressive disease so patients can continue on the drug they are on a technique we refer to as weeding the garden.

The current study reports median two-year follow-up results of up to three courses of local ablative therapy to control resistant, progressive disease in ALK+ lung cancer patients.

Specifically, the group followed the experience of 38 ALK+ non-small cell lung cancer patients. Of these 38 patients, 33 progressed during the study, meaning the disease gained resistance to crizotinib. Fourteen of those patients progressed in a way that allowed for local ablative therapy. These eligible patients received 1-3 rounds of radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy to weed the garden of resistant pockets of disease. Examples of sites that were treated included metastases to the lung, liver, abdominal lymph nodes, and adrenal glands.

With this long follow up, we can now see that on average it took 5.5 months from the first use of local ablative therapy until further evidence of progression on crizotinib occurred a duration of disease control that is highly competitive with what any new drug-based therapy might be expected to achieve in the acquired resistance setting. In addition, we found that you can use radiotherapeutic local ablative therapy in the same patient multiple times with excellent control of these sites of resistant cancer and minimal to no side-effects. By keeping these patients on crizotinib for longer periods of time and/or because of the direct effect of the local ablative therapy, there was a suggestion that patients may also being enjoying a significant survival benefit, says Ross Camidge, MD, PhD, director of the Thoracic Oncology Clinical Program at the CU Cancer Center and the senior author of the study. However, Camidge cautions that this apparent overall survival benefit will need to be studied formally in a prospective clinical trial currently being established at the University of Colorado.

Among the 38 ALK+ patients, the overall survival at 2 years was 57 percent, but among those who stayed on crizotinib for more than a year it was 72 percent compared to 12 percent in those who discontinued crizotinib earlier.

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Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Researchers Awarded $240K to Explore Breast Cancer Treatment Implications in Gene Fusion Study

Newswise New Brunswick, N.J., January 28, 2014 The Breast Cancer Research Foundation has awarded a pair of investigators at Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey a one-year, $240,000 grant to examine treatment implications for a genetic variation found in a quarter of Caucasians and in a small percentage of Caucasian breast cancer patients.

Arnold J. Levine, PhD, a resident member at the Cancer Institute of New Jersey and professor of pediatrics and biochemistry at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School; and Kim M. Hirshfield, MD, PhD, a medical oncologist at the Cancer Institute and assistant professor of medicine at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, are building on previous research that led to the identification of a new gene product as a result of two cancer-causing genes being fused together.

Drs. Levine and Hirshfield are examining the pairing of the KANSL1 and ARL17A genes. KANSL1 is part of a protein complex that regulates tumor suppression function and DNA repair proteins involved in cancer formation and cancer cell behavior. ARL17A is involved in movement of proteins within a cell and in turn, affects cell function.

When the two genes are combined, the resulting fusion gene presents itself as a genetic variation in the human genome in one quarter of Caucasian populations. In particular, the gene product was detected in 12 percent of breast cancers in this group. The new fusion genes impact on protein activity further sheds light on why some cancers including breast have difficulty maintaining the integrity of their DNA. As a result, two sets of drugs were identified that could be useful in the treatment of cancers with the fusion variation. The grant will support laboratory study of these agents and their impact on targeted therapy.

The award period runs through October 1.

About Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey (www.cinj.org) is the states first and only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center. As part of Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, the Cancer Institute of New Jersey is dedicated to improving the detection, treatment and care of patients with cancer, and to serving as an education resource for cancer prevention. Physician-scientists at the Cancer Institute engage in translational research, transforming their laboratory discoveries into clinical practice, quite literally bringing research to life. To make a tax-deductible gift to support the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, call 732-235-8614 or visit http://www.cinj.org/giving. Follow us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TheCINJ.

The Cancer Institute of New Jersey Network is comprised of hospitals throughout the state and provides the highest quality cancer care and rapid dissemination of important discoveries into the community. Flagship Hospital: Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. System Partner: Meridian Health (Jersey Shore University Medical Center, Ocean Medical Center, Riverview Medical Center, Southern Ocean Medical Center, and Bayshore Community Hospital). Major Clinical Research

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28-Jan-2014

Contact: Snia Armengou armengou@irbbarcelona.org 34-934-037-255 Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona)

Barcelona, Tuesday 28 January 2014.- The gene therapy-based research project to tackle Friedreich's ataxia launched in November in labs at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), in Barcelona, and the "Centro de Biologa Molecular Severo Ochoa" (CBMSO), in Madrid, has received 100,000 US$ per year for two years from the Friedreich's Ataxia Research Alliance (FARA). FARA is one of the main patients' organisations in the United States and since 1998 it has provided a rigorous and solid funding programme for research projects all over the world that aim to tackle Friedreich's ataxia, a rare and serious hereditary neurodegenerative disease for which only palliative treatments are currently available.

The peculiarity is that the idea of the project came from those affected by the disease, patients and relatives, who, in their endeavours to find a cure got in touch with basic research groups in order to start a long-term project. The GENEFA Platform, in close collaboration with FEDAES and the BabelFAmily, started fund-raising efforts in May 2013, and in November signed an agreement with IRB and CMBSO, headed by Joan Guinovart, director of the IRB, and Margarita Salas, president of the "Fundacin Severo Ochoa".

"The monthly subscriptions of members of the GENEFA Platform form the basis of the funding; however, the organisation has also held a wide range of fund-raising events and activities and has been supported by donations from companies, associations, and relatives and friends of those affected by Friedreich's ataxia. We are all working hard towards finding a cure and now the collaboration of FARA guarantees the funding required for this purpose," explains Juan Carlos Baiges, on behalf of the members of the Platform.

The project involves the research groups headed by Javier Daz-Nido at the CBMSO, an international expert in gene therapy and Friedreich's ataxia, and Ernest Giralt at IRB, an international authority on the design of transporters, such as nanoparticles, that can carry drugs into the brain and thus overcome the blood-brain barrier. Patients with this ataxia inherit a mutated version of the frataxin gene, which causes neurodegeneration. The project seeks to rescue this defect in cells of the central nervous system.

Jennifer Farmer, executive director of FARA, explains "when you are working on a rare disease, critical resources, such as funding, are quite small so it is imperative that FARA and other global groups with an interest in supporting and advancing research in Friedreich's ataxia work together". "We can't afford to duplicate effort or compete." She goes on to add that "we are proud to give our support to the solid scientific project led by doctors Daz-Nido and Giralt to identify new therapies and at the same time to strike up an alliance with patients in Spain."

###

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International patient alliance to fund Spanish Friedreich's ataxia gene-therapy project

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6 hours ago by Marcia Malory Copepod. Credit: Uwe Kils/Wikipedia

(Phys.org) Copepods are tiny crustaceans, only millimeters long. Distributed sparsely in sea and fresh water, hundreds of body lengths may separate them. Oceanographer Laurent Seuront and biological physicist H. Eugene Stanley wanted to know how these small creatures find mates, as it would be unlikely for them to bump into each other accidently. In a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, they determined that copepods change their movement patterns in response to pheromones produced by the opposite sex.

One cubic meter of water may contain only a few copepods. As distances between individuals are very great, they cannot wait for chance encounters and must actively pursue potential mates in order for their species to survive. Because the strategy for locating mates must work over long distances, relative to the animals' size, hydromechanical signals would not be effective, as such signals decay quickly. Therefore, it is likely that copepods use pheromones to find each other.

Biologists already know that female copepods leave chemical trails, which males follow. However, previous experiments examining male trail-following behavior studied copepods in still water, in a laboratory environment. Copepods often live in turbulent environments, at the ocean's surface and in estuaries, and Seuront and Stanley wanted to see how turbulence would affect the crustaceans' responses to chemical signals.

The researchers studied two copepod species found in the northern hemisphere: Temora longicornis, which lives in coastal waters, and Eurytemora affinis, which lives in estuaries. They placed male and females of both species in coastal or estuarial water that simulated their natural environments. Before placing the subjects in the water, Seuront and Stanley conditioned the water by placing various concentrations of copepods of the opposite sex in it and allowing them to remain there for 24 hours.

Seuront and Stanley found that conditioning the water affected how the subjects moved. As the concentration of opposite sex copepods used to condition the water increased, movements became less random.

Eventually, when the density was high enough, subjects began displaying movements associated with intense search strategies that depend on focusing on cues. These movements suggested that the copepods were reacting to pheromones released in the water during conditioning.

Females and non-virgin males of both species displayed this change in movement pattern. However, virgin T. longicornis and E. affinis males did not show any response to female-conditioned water. This suggests that females have an innate response to male pheromones, while the male response to female pheromones is learned. The researchers think that as males gain mating experience, they learn how the pheromone field created by females can help them locate mates.

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More information: Anomalous diffusion and multifractality enhance mating encounters in the ocean, Laurent Seuront, PNAS, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1322363111

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Research shows copepods use pheromones to find mates

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Ban Genetic Engineering For Unborns
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(Image: Kotryna Zukauskaite)

A simple, very powerful method is making genome editing much easier and faster prepare for a revolution in biology and medicine

SEQUENCING genomes has become easy. Understanding them remains incredibly hard. While the trickle of sequence information has turned into a raging torrent, our knowledge isn't keeping up. We still have very little understanding of what, if anything, all our DNA does.

This is not a problem that can be solved by computers. Ultimately, there is only one way to be sure what a particular bit of DNA does you have to alter it in real, living cells to see what happens. But genetic engineering is very difficult and expensive.

At least, it used to be. Last month, two groups announced that they had performed a mind-boggling feat. They targeted and disabled nearly every one of our genes in cells growing in a dish. They didn't knock out all the genes in each cell at once, of course, but one gene at a time. That is, they individually modified a staggering 20,000 genes. "It's truly remarkable," says Eric Lander, director of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, who led one of the studies. "This is transformative."

To put it into perspective, in 2007 an international project was launched to target and "knock out" each of the 20,000 genes a mouse possesses. It took the collective effort of numerous labs around the world more than five years to complete, and it cost $100 million. Now two small teams have each done something similar in a fraction of the time and cost. The secret: a simple and powerful new way of editing genomes. The term breakthrough is overused, but this undoubtedly is one. "It's a game-changer," says Feng Zhang, also at the Broad Institute, who led the other study.

The technique, unveiled just a year ago, is generating tremendous excitement as its potential becomes clear. It is already starting to accelerate the pace of research Lander and Zhang used it to find out which genes help cancer cells resist a drug, for instance. In years to come, it is likely to be used in gene therapy, and to create a new generation of genetically engineered organisms with extensive but precise changes to their genomes. And if we ever do decide to genetically modify people, this is the tool to do it with.

While genetic engineers have done some amazing things, their first tools were very crude. They bombarded cells with extra DNA sometimes literally in the hope that it might occasionally get added to a cell's genome. But there was no way to control where in the genome it went, and if added DNA ends up in the wrong place it can cause havoc. Also, this approach does not allow for any tinkering with existing genes, which is the key to finding out what they and their variants do.

So in the past couple of decades the focus has switched to genome editing. To visualise how it works, imagine the genome as a collection of cookbooks written on long scrolls of paper and cared for by blind librarians. The librarians try to repair any damage but because they can't read they are easily tricked.

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Right on target: New era of fast genetic engineering

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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:

28-Jan-2014

Contact: Vicki Cohn vcohn@liebertpub.com 914-740-2100 Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News

New Rochelle, NY, January 28, 2014Modern combat and the global war on terror, with increased use of improvised explosive devices, have led to a nearly 350% increased rate of genitourinary injuries. The often debilitating long-term sexual, psychological, fertility, and hormonal effects of these traumatic wounds and the need for new coordinated approaches to care are the focus of a Review article and Guest Editorial in Journal of Men's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The articles are available free on the Journal of Men's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jmh.

The Review "Genitourinary Trauma in the Modern Era of Warfare" discusses why battlefield genitourinary injuries have increased so dramatically in recent years and how they have changed. The article is coauthored by Justin Han, MD and Chris Gonzalez, MD, MBA, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Chicago, IL), and Mark Edney, MD, Peninsula Urology Associates (Salisbury, MD) and Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve, 48th Combat Support Hospital (Ft. Meade, MD).

Janice Bray, MD, MBA, Chief, Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (Temple, TX), describes the potentially devastating physical, psychological, and social impact of these combat woundsand in particular their effects on future relationships, intimacy, parenting, self-worth, and suicide riskin the guest editorial "Genitourinary Trauma: A Battle Cry for Integrated Collaborative Veteran-Centric Care."

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About the Journal

Journal of Men's Health is the premier peer-reviewed journal published quarterly in print and online that covers all aspects of men's health across the lifespan. The Journal publishes cutting-edge advances in a wide range of diseases and conditions, including diagnostic procedures, therapeutic management strategies, and innovative clinical research in gender-based biology to ensure optimal patient care. The Journal addresses disparities in health and life expectancy between men and women; increased risk factors such as smoking, alcohol abuse, and obesity; higher prevalence of diseases such as heart disease and cancer; and health care in underserved and minority populations. Journal of Men's Health meets the critical imperative for improving the health of men around the globe and ensuring better patient outcomes. Tables of content and a sample issue can be viewed on the Journal of Men's Health website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jmh.

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Impact of battlefield-related genitourinary injuries described in Journal of Men's Health

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Although the new bill only addresses labeling and not the production of these fish, the industry opposes it.

Rep. Cary Condotta, R-East Wenatchee, originally filed House Bill 2143, which would prohibit the production of genetically modified finfish and would require them to be labeled when sent to supermarket shelves to be purchased as food by consumers.

Condotta has since filed House Bill 2630, which has similar language but one big difference: It doesnt prohibit production of transgenic fish.

Condotta said that because the production of transgenic fish is already banned in Washington's marine waters, including a ban in the bill was unnecessary. But people in Washington support the labeling of transgenic fish, he said, so its an issue that legislators should address.

The simplified bill also will be better for the state's aquaculture industry, because they should be concerned about their products getting mistaken for transgenic products, he said.

After listening to fish farmers criticize his original bill at a Jan. 17 hearing before the House Agriculture and Natural Resources committee, Condotta had said he was surprised by their opposition.

"We thought that the farmed fishermen would be on our side," he said, considering that several aquaculture companies have said they have no plans to rear transgenic fish in the future.

However, support for the bill was not coming from Troutlodge, an aquaculture company based in Bonney Lake, southeast of Tacoma.

Company representative John Dentler testified at the Jan. 17 hearing that the bill's definition of genetically engineered was too vague. The way it was originally written, he said, the bill could encompass some of his company's most important products as well.

Troutlodge produces triploid trout eggs, which require a form of genetic engineering. These fish eggs have three chromosomes instead of two, making them sterile. The process to do this varies but a common practice is to apply pressure to the eggs and put them in a warm-water bath, which is not a transgenic process.

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Rep. Condotta hopes to appease concerned fisheries with redone GMO bill

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Genetics Edmodo

By: Linda Battle

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Genetics Edmodo - Video

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Economic Value of Managing Genetics
How producers can capture some of the genetic value that they develop using different protocols and management, are a few of the main points of managing gene...

By: SDSUiGrow

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Economic Value of Managing Genetics - Video

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