Topic description and stories

Human embryo cultured in vitro

Study suggests embryos could be susceptible to coronavirus as early as second week of pregnancy

05 Aug 2020

Genes that are thought to play a role in how the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects our cells have been found to be active in embryos as early as during the...

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Man standing in front of window

Genetic variants for autism linked to higher rates of self-harm and childhood maltreatment

29 Oct 2019

People with a higher genetic likelihood of autism are more likely to report higher childhood maltreatment, self-harm and suicidal thoughts according...

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DNA

Family history and location of genetic fault affect risk for carriers of key breast and ovarian cancer genes

20 Jun 2017

A large scale study of women carrying faults in important cancer genes should enable doctors to provide better advice and counselling for treatments...

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Genes influence ability to read a person’s mind from their eyes

07 Jun 2017

Our DNA influences our ability to read a person’s thoughts and emotions from looking at their eyes, suggests a new study published in the journal...

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Study identifies hundreds of genes that influence timing of puberty and alter risk of several cancers

24 Apr 2017

The largest genomic analysis of puberty timing in men and women conducted to date has identified 389 genetic signals associated with puberty timing...

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A Painted Turtle

‘Red gene’ in birds and turtles suggests dinosaurs had bird-like colour vision

03 Aug 2016

A gene for red colour vision that originated in the reptile lineage around 250m years ago has resulted in the bright red bird feathers and ‘painted’...

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Opinion: Can genes really predict how well you’ll do academically?

26 Jul 2016

Daphne Martschenko (Faculty of Education) discusses whether DNA can predict our educational achievement.

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Heliconius Melpomene.

Genetic switch that turned moths black also colours butterflies

02 Jun 2016

Heliconius butterflies have evolved bright yellow colours to deter predators, while peppered moths famously turned black to hide from birds. A new...

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Zebra Finch

Genes discovered that enable birds to produce the colour red

20 May 2016

Latest research suggests a new mechanism for how sexual displays of red beaks and plumage might be ‘honest signals’ of mate quality, as genes that...

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A human embryo at the blastocyst stage, about six days after fertilization, viewed under a light microscope.

Opinion: How close are we to successfully editing genes in human embryos?

17 Dec 2015

Azim Surani (Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute) discusses gene editing of the human germline.

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Multiple copies of the TRIM44 gene in an oesophageal cancer cell line

Oesophageal cancer gene identified

08 May 2014

A newly-discovered gene linked to oesophageal cancer holds the promise of new treatments for this notoriously difficult-to-fight disease.

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Electron microscopic image of a single human lymphocyte.

Enterprising Cambridge students win major breast cancer start-up competition

07 Mar 2014

Two teams of University of Cambridge students have won a prestigious international competition to commercialise innovative breast cancer research.

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