Science Controversies
Genes and drugs: Would sports be better off legalizing doping?
Poor Lance Armstrong. The seven-time Tour de France winner has been stripped of his famous victories by the United States ...
Gene to gene interactions important to trait variance
Gaining more insight into predicting how genes affect physical or behavioral traits by charting the genotype-phenotype map holds promise to ...
Shortness: Environmental factors can alter genetics
Pamela Surkin, an associate professor at the university, led a team of researchers in analyzing data of over 6,000 mothers ...
Myriad Genetics patent dispute: Genes are patentable, and that’s OK, says author
The recent Association for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Geneticspatent dispute involving two genes for breast and ovarian cancer, BRCA 1 ...
Will personalized medicine challenge or reify categories of race and ethnicity?
In the last 5 years, medical geneticists have been conducting studies to examine possible links between DNA and disease on ...
Fumbled DNA tests mean peril for breast-cancer patients
Debbie McCarron was prepared to get both of her breasts taken off if a blood test in December 2006 revealed ...
Could internet addiction be genetic?
Not only is Internet addiction a legitimate compulsion, it may have the same genetic component as nicotine addiction, a new ...
The genetics behind Venus, the mysterious two-faced cat
A cat named Venus is one of the most famous felines on the planet. The three-year-old torty has her own ...
Genetic blueprint of unborn baby in sight
Sequencing the whole genome of a fetus could provide a medical early warning on a previously unknown scale - but ...
New DNA encyclopedia attempts to map function of entire human genome
Hundreds of thousands of new genomic pieces, catalogued for the very first time, are contained in the data, which is ...
Genetic study stirs hope for lung cancer patients
The first large and comprehensive study of the genetics of a common lung cancer finds that more than half the ...
Genetic clues to causes of liver disease
Researchers have newly identified three genetic regions associated with primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC), the most common autoimmune liver disease, increasing ...
Personal genomics: New drugs target common cancers
Tens of thousands of Americans with tumors from certain types of lung cancer have mutations that might be treated by ...
Researchers identify stem cells responsible for tissue repair
The skin, which is an essential barrier that protects our body against the external environment, undergoes constant turnover throughout life ...
Stem cell breakthrough helped two paralyzed people feel again
New hope was raised yesterday for people left paralyzed by injury, after doctors said they had succeeded in using stem ...
Gene sequencing project builds the foundation for next generation of childhood cancer care
As St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital celebrates its 50th anniversary and marks September as Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, investigators are ...
Animal genetics help scientists understand diseases
Not only have great strides been made in human genetics but also in animal genetics. This is important because such ...
Gene ‘switch’ may explain heart defect syndrome severity
The discovery of a 'switch' that modifies a gene known to be essential for normal heart development could explain variations ...
Medical ethicist examines ‘how to build a better human’
Science moves fast these days, and remarkable tools for human enhancement seem to emerge frenetically. Society often questions the way ...
Human genome far more active than thought
The GENCODE Consortium expects the human genome has twice as many genes than previously thought, many of which might have ...
New approach for efficient analysis of emerging genetic data
With the ability to sequence human genes comes an onslaught of raw material about the genetic characteristics that distinguish us, ...
Unraveling the human genome: 6 molecular milestones
In a milestone for the understanding of human genetics, scientists just announced the results of five years of work in ...
‘Gene switches’ in ‘junk DNA’ control human health
The human genome is packed with at least four million gene switches that reside in bits of DNA that once ...
Evidence matters in genomic medicine: Cancer genomic tests
In a previous blog, CDC’s Office of Public Health Genomics announced a list of health-related genomic tests and applications, stratified ...
What does cheap genome sequencing mean for the future of medicine?
The human genome has been heralded as the key to personalized medicine, but for the longest time complete sequencing of ...
Gene therapy restores sense of smell in mice, may aid research into other diseases
Scientists have restored the sense of smell in mice through gene therapy for the first time—a hopeful sign for people ...
First GM camels to be engineered for drug production
The project aims to slash the prices of life-saving drugs — including insulin, and clotting factors for treating haemophilia — ...
