December 1, 1994 |
In a major step toward understanding and treating the weight problems that afflict nearly one-third of all Americans, researchers at Rockefeller University in New York announced Wednesday that they have identified and cloned a gene responsible for obesity.
March 24, 1993 |
After the longest and most frustrating search in the annals of molecular biology, an international team of researchers has located the defective gene that causes Huntington's disease, a crippling disorder that afflicts about 30,000 Americans. The discovery will immediately make possible cheaper and more accurate tests to identify people who will develop Huntington's.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 4, 1989 |
A team of U.S. and Italian researchers reported last week the discovery of a gene that appears to cause some cancers of the pituitary gland and may also trigger tumor growth in the thyroid, ovary and similar glands. Reporting in the British journal Nature, the researchers said they identified mutations on the "gasp" gene that causes uncontrolled production within a cell of a growth-promoting molecule called cyclic AMP.
September 30, 2010
It should surprise no one that height is genetic. For instance, consider that 7-foot-6 NBA star Yao Ming’s parents are 6-foot-7 and 6-foot-3. But for anyone hoping to find the “tall gene” that might give them a few extra inches, researchers have some disheartening news: A comprehensive search for places in the genome that could be associated with height yielded only 180 spots that appear to be associated with height. That might sound like a lot, but the researchers estimate they account for only about 11% of the variability in adult height.
June 27, 1997 |
Federal researchers have discovered the gene that causes an early-onset form of Parkinson's disease that runs in families, a finding that should provide the first real insight into how the disease develops biochemically. That understanding, in turn, may eventually lead to new treatments for--and perhaps even to ways to delay or prevent the onset of--the devastating disorder, which affects more than 1 million Americans. A team from the National Human Genome Research Institute in Bethesda, Md.
June 14, 1996 |
Capping an intensive four-year search, researchers reported today that in studies of the common fruit fly and humans, they have discovered a gene responsible for skin cancer--the most common form of cancer. The discovery could lead to new ways to treat, and maybe even to prevent, skin tumors, researchers said.
January 25, 1999 |
Scientists have identified another gene that might affect how vulnerable a person is to cigarette addiction. Having a certain form of the gene makes it easier to kick the habit, or perhaps to avoid getting hooked in the first place, two studies suggest. But that apparent influence is modest. "This is just one small piece of the puzzle" of what influences smoking behavior, said psychologist Caryn Lerman, an author of one of the studies. Her work and a follow-up study by Dr.
December 29, 2007 |
A gene known to give many Jewish women a high risk of cancer also puts many U.S. Latino women at high risk, U.S. researchers reported this week in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. They found that 3.5% of Latinas entered in a Northern California breast cancer registry had the BRCA1 genetic mutation, compared with 8.3% of Ashkenazic Jews and 2.2% of non-Ashkenazic white women.
June 14, 2003 |
A gene that triggers flowering in wheat plants has been isolated for the first time, making it possible for scientists to one day develop more productive crops. A team of scientists at UC Davis located the wheat gene that controls vernalization, the process by which cold temperatures prompt some plants to flower.
February 19, 1991 |
The first patient to be treated with gene therapy, a child suffering from an immune deficiency, is responding and growing more healthy, a researcher said Monday. The patient, identified only as a 4-year-old girl, was injected last September with genetically altered cells designed to correct a deficiency of an enzyme essential to the immune system. Dr. R. Michael Blaese, a National Institutes of Health scientist and a co-researcher in the experiment, said at an American Assn.