Topic description and stories

Weighing scales and tape measure

Many of us could carry up to 17kg of fat due to a change in a single gene

27 May 2021

New research has found that one in every 340 people might carry a mutation in a single gene that makes them more likely to have a greater weight from...

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Tape measure

Discovery of genetic variants that protect against obesity and type 2 diabetes could lead to new weight loss medicines

18 Apr 2019

Around four million people in the UK carry genetic variants that protect them from obesity, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, suggests new research...

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Mitochondria

Mitochondrial diseases could be treated with gene therapy, study suggests

24 Sep 2018

Researchers have developed a genome-editing tool for the potential treatment of mitochondrial diseases: serious and often fatal conditions which...

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Major study of genetics of breast cancer provides clues to mechanisms behind the disease

23 Oct 2017

Seventy-two new genetic variants that contribute to the risk of developing breast cancer have been identified by a major international collaboration...

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Pulmonary hypertension-associated vasculitis

Major global study reveals new hypertension and blood pressure genes

12 Sep 2016

Thirty-one new gene regions linked with blood pressure have been identified in one of the largest genetic studies of blood pressure to date...

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Crystal structure of parallel quadruplexes from human telomeric DNA.

Quadruple helix form of DNA may aid in the development of targeted cancer therapies

12 Sep 2016

Researchers have identified the role that a four-stranded version of DNA may play in the role of cancer progression, and suggest that it may be used...

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In healthy tissues, a gene expression signature associated with amyloid-beta and tau aggregation echoes the progression of AD well before the onset of the disease.

Gene signature in healthy brains pinpoints the origins of Alzheimer’s disease

10 Aug 2016

A specific gene expression pattern maps out which parts of the brain are most vulnerable to Alzheimer’s disease, decades before symptoms appear, and...

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solidarity against cancer

Study provides clues to why some breast cancers are hard to beat

10 May 2016

Scientists have unearthed crucial new genetic information about how breast cancer develops and the genetic changes which can be linked to survival...

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Sonic hedgehog gene provides evidence that our limbs may have evolved from sharks’ gills

19 Apr 2016

Latest analysis shows that human limbs share a genetic programme with the gills of cartilaginous fishes such as sharks and skates, providing evidence...

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Study identifies gene changes that influence timing of sexual behaviour

18 Apr 2016

A study of over 380,000 people, published today in the journal Nature Genetics , has identified gene differences that influence the age of puberty...

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Lung model

Hope for first treatment targeting cause of debilitating heart and lung disease

17 Jun 2015

A protein that targets the effects of a faulty gene could offer the first treatment targeting the major genetic cause of pulmonary arterial...

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Changing of the seasons

Seasonal immunity: Activity of thousands of genes differs from winter to summer

12 May 2015

Our immune systems vary with the seasons, according to a study led by the University of Cambridge that could help explain why certain conditions such...

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