PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 19-Dec-2013 Contact: Scott LaFee slafee@ucsd.edu 619-543-6163 University of California - San Diego Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in The Netherlands and United Kingdom, have produced the first map detailing the network of genetic interactions underlying the cellular response to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The researchers say their study establishes a new method and resource for exploring in greater detail how cells are damaged by UV radiation and how they repair themselves. UV damage is one route to malignancy, especially in skin cancer, and understanding the underlying repair pathways will better help scientists to understand what goes wrong in such cancers. The findings will be published in the December 26, 2013 issue of Cell Reports. Principal investigator Trey Ideker, PhD, division chief of genetics in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a professor in the UC San Diego Departments of Medicine and Bioengineering, and colleagues mapped 89 UV-induced functional interactions among 62 protein complexes. The interactions were culled from a larger measurement of more than 45,000 double mutants, the deletion of two separate genes, before and after different doses of UV radiation. Specifically, they identified interactive links to the … Continue reading →

PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 20-Dec-2013 Contact: Jessica Studeny jessica.studeny@case.edu 216-368-4692 Case Western Reserve University Many rare disorders are caused by gene mutation, like sickle cell anemia. Yet until now the underlying genetic cause of more common conditions for example, rheumatoid arthritis has evaded scientists for years. New research from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine to appear in the journal Genome Research finds that six common diseases arise from DNA changes located outside genes. The study from the laboratory of Peter Scacheri, PhD, shows that multiple DNA changes, or variants, work in concert to affect genes, leading to autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, celiac disease, multiple sclerosis, lupus and colitis. Further, for each disease, multiple different genes are manipulated by several small differences in DNA. "We've known that rare diseases are due to one change within one gene with major effects. The key take away is that common diseases are due to many changes with small effects on a handful of genes," said Scacheri, associate professor of genetics and genome sciences. The research is in advanced online publication and can be found at http://tinyurl.com/okml3ag. The human genome includes 3 billion letters of DNA. Only 1 to 2 percent … Continue reading →

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, with colleagues in The Netherlands and United Kingdom, have produced the first map detailing the network of genetic interactions underlying the cellular response to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. The researchers say their study establishes a new method and resource for exploring in greater detail how cells are damaged by UV radiation and how they repair themselves. UV damage is one route to malignancy, especially in skin cancer, and understanding the underlying repair pathways will better help scientists to understand what goes wrong in such cancers. The findings will be published in the December 26, 2013 issue of Cell Reports. Principal investigator Trey Ideker, PhD, division chief of genetics in the UC San Diego School of Medicine and a professor in the UC San Diego Departments of Medicine and Bioengineering, and colleagues mapped 89 UV-induced functional interactions among 62 protein complexes. The interactions were culled from a larger measurement of more than 45,000 double mutants, the deletion of two separate genes, before and after different doses of UV radiation. Specifically, they identified interactive links to the cell's chromatin structure remodeling (RSC) complex, a grouping of protein subunits that remodel chromatin the … Continue reading →

Rebekah Eliason for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online A new study from Duke reveals that the genetic trait responsible for predisposing some people to strong stress reactions may also cause the risk of heart attack or death to rise by 38 percent. This discovery provides a new biological explanation for why some people are inclined towards cardiovascular disease. Since in these cases the disease is linked to stress, the findings suggest that behavior modification and drug therapies targeting stress reduction may lower heart attack related disability and deaths. Redford B. Williams Jr., M.D., director of the Behavioral Medicine Research Center at Duke University School of Medicine and senior author of the paper, said, Weve heard a lot about personalized medicine in cancer, but in cardiovascular disease we are not nearly as far along in finding the genetic variants that identify people at higher risk. Here we have a paradigm for the move toward personalized medicine in cardiovascular disease. Building on previous work at Duke and elsewhere, Williams and his colleagues were able to identify a variation in a DNA sequence known as single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). In this sequence variation, one letter from the genetic code is swapped with another causing … Continue reading →

Abba Zubair, medical and scientific director of the Cell Therapy Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, wants to test the feasibility of growing stem cells in outer space, cells that could be used to generate new tissue and even new organs in human beings. There are reasons to believe that stem cells, which are hard to grow in the great quantity they are needed on Earth, will grow much more rapidly in the microgravity environment in space, Zubair thinks. Now the Center for the Advancement in Science in Space has given Zubair a $300,000 grant to test that by placing stem cells in a specialized cell bioreactor in the International Space Station. It now takes a month to generate enough cells for a few patients, Zubair said. A clinical laboratory in space could provide the answer we all have been seeking for regenerative medicine. ... If you have a ready supply of these cells, you can treat almost any condition and can theoretically regenerate entire organs using a scaffold. Additionally, they dont need to come from individual patients. Anyone can use them without rejection. The stem cells he plans to grow in space will be stem cells that can … Continue reading →

A drawback for the use of stem cells in medical treatment is their limited supply due to slow rate of growth in conventional laboratories. Dr Abba Zubair of the Cell Therapy Laboratory at Mayo Clinic in Florida believes this problem could be overcome and stem cell generation sped up by conducting the process in space. He will now have the opportunity to put his hypothesis to the test, courtesy of a US$30,000 grant that will see Zubair send human stem cells to the International Space Station (ISS) to observe whether they do in fact grow at a greater rate than on terra firma. According to the Mayo Clinic, experiments conducted on Earth using microgravity (replication of gravitational field about 250 miles (402.3 km) from Earths surface) have shown that these conditions are more conducive to stem cell growth than conventional laboratories. On Earth, we face many challenges in trying to grow enough stem cells to treat patients, says Zubair. It now takes a month to generate enough cells for a few patients. A clinical grade laboratory in space could provide the answer we have all been seeking for regenerative medicine. In his laboratory in Florida, Zubair currently grows cells that … Continue reading →