Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise Microarray analysis - a complex technology commonly used in many applications such as discovering genes, disease diagnosis, drug development and toxicological research - has just become easier and more user-friendly. A new advanced software program called Eureka-DMA provides a cost-free, graphical interface that allows bioinformaticians and bench-biologists alike to initiate analyses, and to investigate the data produced by microarrays. The program was developed by Ph.D. student Sagi Abelson of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. DNA microarray analysis, a high-speed method by which the expression of thousands of genes can be analyzed simultaneously, was invented in the late 1980s and developed in the 1990s. Genetic researchers used a glass slide with tiny dots of copies of DNA to test match genes they were trying to identify. Because the array of dots was so small, it was called a microarray. There is a strong correlation between the field of molecular biology and medical research, and microarray technology is used routinely in the area of cancer research and other epidemiology studies. Many research groups apply it to detect genetic variations between biological samples and information about … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 11-Mar-2014 Contact: Krista Conger kristac@stanford.edu 650-725-5271 The JAMA Network Journals In an exploratory study involving 12 adults, the use of whole-genome sequencing (WGS) was associated with incomplete coverage of inherited-disease genes, low reproducibility of detection of genetic variation with the highest potential clinical effects, and uncertainty about clinically reportable findings, although in certain cases WGS will identify genetic variants warranting early medical intervention, according to a study in the March 12 issue of JAMA. As technical barriers to human DNA sequencing decrease and costs approach $1,000, whole-genome sequencing (WGS) is increasingly being used in clinical medicine. Sequencing can successfully aid clinical diagnosis and reveal the genetic basis of rare familial diseases. Regardless of context, even in apparently healthy individuals, WGS is expected to uncover genetic findings of potential clinical importance. However, comprehensive clinical interpretation and reporting of clinically significant findings are seldom performed, according to background information in the article. The technical sensitivity and reproducibility of clinical genetic findings using sequencing and the clinical opportunities and costs associated with discovery and reporting of these and other clinical findings remain undefined. Frederick E. Dewey, M.D., of the Stanford Center for Inherited Cardiovascular Disease, Stanford, Calif., and colleagues recruited … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise (PHILADELPHIA) Researchers at the Scheie Eye Institute, the department of Ophthalmology of the University of Pennsylvania have been awarded a five-year, $11.2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the genetic risk factors that make African Americans disproportionately more likely to develop primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG). POAG appears almost ten years earlier and progresses more rapidly in African Americans than among Caucasian individuals, making it the leading cause of irreversible blindness in this population. Approximately two million Americans suffer from this form of glaucoma. The goal of our study is to identify the genetic and other risk factors that underlie POAG in order to understand this increased burden of disease in African Americans, says Joan OBrien, MD, chair of the department of Ophthalmology in Penns Perelman School of Medicine, director of the Scheie Eye Institute, and primary investigator on the study. POAG is a group of diseases that cause progressive and irreversible retinal ganglion cell damage, optic nerve degeneration, and corresponding visual field loss. Once a sufficient number of nerve cells are damaged, blind spots begin to form in the patients peripheral field of vision. Even when medical … Continue reading →

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) - A new center at the University of Kansas Medical Center that focuses on stem cell research is conducting clinical trials only eight months after it opened. Officials with the Midwest Stem Cell Therapy Center briefed a Kansas Senate committee on the clinics work since it was established last year. Dr. Buddhadeb Dawn, the centers director, detailed clinical trials for the Senate Ways and Means Committee. He says the trials will help patients and make the state a leader in stem cell treatments. The Lawrence Journal-World reports (http://bit.ly/1enOsv8 ) the center works on adult stem cell, cord blood and related stem cell research. It is prohibited from using embryonic stem cells or cells taken from aborted fetal tissue. ___ Information from: Lawrence (Kan.) Journal-World, http://www.ljworld.com Here is the original post: New stem cell center conducting clinical trials … Continue reading →