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Genetics
Gene type causes Alzheimer’s, suggest Spanish experts
Scientists are proposing a new way of understanding the genetics of Alzheimer’s that would mean that up to a fifth of patients would be...
World’s first patient starts sickle cell gene therapy
Kendric Cromer, a 12-year-old boy in Washington, last week became the first person in the world with sickle cell disease to begin a commercially...
CRISPR gene-editing improves vision in blind children – US trial
About 79% of clinical trial participants experienced measurable improvement after receiving experimental CRISPR-based gene editing that is designed to fix a rare form of...
Gene therapy restores child’s hearing, stimulates speech
Six months after groundbreaking gene-therapy treatment, a British toddler who was born deaf can now hear unaided, and has started talking.
Opal Sandy, as part...
Researchers find genetic cause of rare disease after 25 years
After a quarter of a century of uncertainty, US scientists have finally uncovered the cause of a rare progressive neurological disease known as spinocerebellar...
Scientist who gene-edited babies back in lab
China’s He Jiankui, the scientist who used CRISPR to create the world’s first genetically-edited babies and then spent three years in prison, said he...
FDA approves ‘world’s costliest drug’ for children with MLD
A new gene therapy for the fatal genetic disorder metachromatic leukodystrophy, or MLD, will carry a wholesale price of a whopping $4.25m, its manufacturer...
Global study finds new genetic risk factors for type 2 diabetes
The risk factors for type 2 diabetes are both environmental and genetic, and while researchers have identified many genetic risk factors thus far, the...
Genetics project recruits SA families with Parkinson’s
South Africans – who may have early symptoms of Parkinson’s disease (PD) in the family – are being recruited for a global genetics programme...
MS origins traced to surprising DNA link to ancient Europeans
A team of scientists has revealed that DNA from the bones and teeth of ancient Europeans – who lived up to 34 000 years...
Genetic risk scores a poor measure to predict disease – UK study
A British study has found that polygenic risk scores, which estimate a person’s disease risk based on thousands or millions of common genetic variants,...
Global study decodes male sex chromosome for first time
The male sex chromosome has finally been decoded in a breakthrough that will help illuminate why some men are afflicted with certain conditions –...
Opening the genetics Pandora box
With the inclusion of genetic screening possibly becoming a routine test in infants in the future, experts warn that the results might not always...
Genetic link between blood sugar levels, headaches – Australian study
Recent research had shed light on the genetic basis of the link between migraine and certain blood sugar-related traits – like fasting insulin and...
Large UK study uncovers 60 new and rare genetic disorders
A massive British study has discovered and diagnosed around 60 new rare genetic disorders – including the little-known Turnpenny Fry syndrome – after more...
Beethoven’s DNA hair tests show genetic ailments, alcohol habits
Beethoven, who had a fondness for alcohol, probably had a genetic predisposition to liver disease, and a hepatitis B infection months before his death,...
Dyslexia link to 42 genetic variants in biggest study of its kind
Scientists have identified 42 genetic variants that might influence a person’s chance of having dyslexia, in the largest genetic study of the condition to...
Doppelgängers: yours is out there and you probably share DNA
That person who looks just like you is not your twin, but if scientists compared your genomes, they might find a lot in common,...
Dutch the worldʼs tallest people for 60 years but now shrinking — CBS data
The Dutch national statistics office (CBS) has confirmed that men and women of the Netherlands are the world’s tallest people, and have been for...
Landmark study of African genomes details human migration and health
A landmark study by University of Witwatersrand geneticists and partners that provides insights into ancient migrations of Bantu language-speaking populations, as well as environmental...
Genetic aspects of stroke in people of African descent
African-Americans have up to three times the risk of dying from strokes as people of European descent, yet there has been little investigation of...
Largest-ever study finds 102 genes responsible for autism
The largest genetic sequencing study of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) ever conducted has found 102 genes associated with autism, a major step towards an...
Home genetic testing kits may deliver 'wrongly reassuring' results
Consumer genetic tests could be giving false reassurance to those at heightened risk of cancers, a study, by clinical genetic testing company Invitae, revealed....
African resistance to genetically modified mosquitoes
A not-for-profit research group has developed a mosquito that can kill off its own species by spreading a faulty gene. In Burkina Faso, the...
Human trial finds first hint that body's ‘biological age’ can be reversed
In a small human trial, drugs seemed to rejuvenate the body’s ‘epigenetic clock’, which tracks a person’s biological age, writes Alison Abbott for Nature....
Massive study concludes that there is no 'gay gene'
The largest study to date on the genetic basis of sexuality has revealed five spots on the human genome that are linked to same-sex...
Now a reference library of DNA mutation 'fingerprints'
Scientists from King College London and Cambridge University have developed a comprehensive catalogue of DNA mutation ‘fingerprints’ that could help doctors pinpoint the environmental...
Early rising linked to greater well-being — large genomic analysis
A large-scale genomic analysis has revealed some of the inner workings of the body clock, shedding new light on how it links to mental...
Genetic variants that increase ADHD risk discovered
A major international collaboration headed by researchers from the Danish iPSYCH project, the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Massachusetts General Hospital, SUNY Upstate...
Cure for cocaine addiction in reach, say scientists
A radical gene therapy for drug addiction has been shown to dampen down cravings for cocaine and protect against overdoses of the substance that...
Higher cognitive function linked to wearing glasses
University of Edinburgh researchers have reported that a higher level of cognitive function is linked with wearing spectacles – the research identified 148 independent...
The genetic links to major depression
A global research project has mapped out the genetic basis of major depression, identifying 44 genetic variants which are risk factors for depression, 30...
Every extra kilo overweight cuts two months of life — UK longevity study
People who are overweight cut life expectancy by two months for every extra kilogram of weight they carry, a large UK genetic analysis of...
Genetic factors may explain most autism risk
Re-analysis of data from a previous study on the familial risk of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) estimates the heritability to be 83%, suggesting that...
Natural selection weeding out unfavourable genomes in Alzheimer's
In a study analysing the genomes of 210,000 people in the US and Britain, researchers at Columbia University find that the genetic variants linked...
Scientists identify protein that causes liver fibrosis
Scientists at Sydney’s Westmead Institute for Medical Research have identified a protein that causes liver fibrosis, paving the way for new treatments for liver...
Mtb diagnosis faster with new technology
The time needed to genetically sequence the bacteria causing mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) from patient samples has been reduced from weeks to days using a new technique.
Seasonal gene changes affect immunity
Immune systems vary with the seasons, according to a University of Cambridge study, which may be why certain conditions such as heart disease and rheumatoid arthritis are aggravated in winter whilst people tend to be healthier in the summer.
Telomeres help with cancer diagnostics
A distinct pattern in the changing length of blood telomeres, the protective end caps on our DNA strands, can predict cancer many years before actual diagnosis, according to a new study from Northwestern Medicine in collaboration with Harvard University.
Glioblastoma brain tumour review
Led by the Translational Genomics Research Institute and University of California, a comprehensive genetic review of treatment strategies for glioblastoma brain tumours has been published.