Word: gened
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...wanted to challenge a culture that he said allowed students to shrug off “the difference between a gene and a chromosome.” Accordingly, he envisioned new science facilities and established cross-University programs such as the Broad Institute and the Harvard Stem Cell Institute...
...inspiration for the series came after Seton, a social studies concentrator, worked with Executive Director of PBHA Gene Corbin in the Missippi Delta last spring and spent this past summer at the Paulo Freire Institute of South Africa, a center whose namesake stressed that education happens through dialogue between teacher and student, according to Seton...
...basement of deCODE's gleaming, modern Reykjavk headquarters now holds blood samples from about 100,000 individuals, roughly half of Iceland's adult population. Using those samples, scientists at the company were able to zero in on their new anti-heart-attack compound. It's based on a gene known as LTA4H, first seen in mice, which governs the production of an enzyme called leukotriene A4 hydrolase. The enzyme plays a role in inflammation, a key factor in heart disease, and also encourages the buildup of cholesterol on blood-vessel walls...
...sure enough, Icelanders with a particular variant of the LTA4H gene turn out to be 40% more likely than average to have heart attacks. Looking outside the country, deCODE scientists found the variant gene in other populations--and discovered that in African Americans the increased risk is not 40% but a whopping 250%. That suggests the company's prospective drug--invented by Bayer and licensed by deCODE--could have a correspondingly large lifesaving effect, although even if it works, it could be several years before it reaches the U.S. market. Some critics are worried that insurers and employers might avoid...
...idea of combing through populations for disease genes isn't unique to deCODE. Britain's UK Biobank, for example, will follow 500,000 volunteers for decades, trying to correlate genes, lifestyle and disease. And two initiatives being put together by the U.S. National Institutes of Health will look for nearly 20 diseases in up to 40,000 people. But with its long head start and Iceland's genetic advantages, deCODE could be hard to catch. So far the company has isolated 15 gene variants for 12 diseases, including stroke, schizophrenia, osteoarthritis and, most recently, diabetes. In addition to the heart...