By Barbara Bronson Gray HealthDay Reporter WEDNESDAY, March 27 (HealthDay News) -- Critical clues to understanding who is at the greatest risk for particular types of cancer may be found in "spelling mistakes" contained in a person's DNA. In a step toward personalized medicine and the ability to better understand individual risk factors for three common hormone-related cancers, a large team of international researchers have unveiled what might be the clearest picture to date of the genetic alterations associated with some forms of the disease. Although more research is needed, the study authors predict that genetic testing to help determine a person's risk for some of the most potentially deadly cancers may be available within five to 10 years. "We think the most immediately practical application will be in people already at risk for the disease and going through the genetic counseling process," said Douglas Easton, a professor of genetic epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, in England. A combination of five studies that include work from 160 different research groups has identified more than 80 genetic errors that are linked to increased risk of breast, prostate and ovarian cancers. The research was published March 27 in the journal Nature … Continue reading →

March 31, 2013 Brett Smith for redOrbit.com Your Universe Online Researchers at Stanford University have developed a basic computer using genetic material, according to a report in the journal Science. The team said that the tiny biological transistors they have developed could potentially revolutionize medicine in the future. Were going to be able to put computers into any living cell you want, lead author Drew Endy explained to the San Jose Mercury News. Were not going to replace the silicon computers. Were not going to replace your phone or your laptop. But were going to get computing working in places where silicon would never work. Endy, who came to Stanford from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, co-founded the BioBricks Foundation, which supports free-to-use standards and technologies for engineering biology. Any place you want a little bit of logic, a little bit of computation, a little bit of memory were going to be able to do that, said Endy. For example, gene-based biological computers could determine if a certain toxin is present inside a cell or react to treatment within an individual cell. Traditional transistors that are found in conventional computers control the flow of electrons in the form of the … Continue reading →

MANILA, Philippines --- House Speaker Feliciano ''Sonny'' Belmonte Jr. expressed the readiness of the incoming 16th Congress to pass a measure that would regulate the practice of stem cell and cell-based therapy in the country to ensure public safety and to ward off any potential medical malpractice. He made the statement after the Department of Health (DOH) is bent to launch a crackdown on spas and salons offering such therapy. Under its new guidelines, healthcare facilities need to get DOH accreditation before it continues to practice stem cell therapy. ''The DOH can regulate it. If a law is needed, we can enact one,'' Belmonte said. You Against Corruption and Poverty (YACAP) Party-list Representative Carol Jayne Lopez cited the need for Congress to enact a ''law that will regulate matters or issues relating to stem cell therapy, especially as it should carry penal causes, just like what we proposed on living organ donation-which institutions, who can perform, procedure to be undertaken and protection to patients can be addressed in the law.'' Quezon City Representative Winston ''Winnie'' Castelo said the new law would give the DoH more ''active regulatory role'' in regulating the practice of stem cell therapy. See original here: Public … Continue reading →