New study discovers unusual structural features implicated in disease

A detailed analysis of the reference sequence of chromosome 7 has uncovered structural features that appear to promote genetic changes that can cause disease, researchers from the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium said today.

In a study published in the July 10 issue of the journal Nature, a multi-institution team, led by the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, reported it

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, in collaboration with investigators at five other centers, have finished sequencing human chromosome 7. The findings are published in the July 10 issue of the journal Nature.

Chromosome 7 is the largest human chromosome to be sequenced so far. The analysis revealed that the chromosome has about 1,150 genes and 940 so-called pseudogenes, stretches of DNA that closely resemble genes but contain some genetic change that prev

Scientists have long thought gene exchange between individuals of unrelated species to be an extremely rare event among eukaryotes — the massive group of organisms that counts among its members humans, oak trees, kelp and mushrooms — throughout the group’s 2 billion year history.

But a new Indiana University Bloomington study in this week’s Nature suggests that such genetic events, called horizontal gene transfers, have happened more often than previously thought during the evol

A tree grows in Brooklyn — despite big-city air pollutants. Meanwhile, identical trees planted downwind of city pollution grow only half as well — a surprising finding that ecologists at Cornell University and the Institute of Ecosystem Studies (IES) reported in the current issue of Nature (July 10, 2003). They attribute the effect to an atmospheric-chemistry “footprint” that favors city trees.

“I know this sounds counterintuitive but it’s true. City-grown pollution — and ozone in parti

Researchers from Cornell University have developed a miniaturized DNA-based biological testing system that fits on a silicon chip and can be customized to detect a wide variety of microorganisms. They present their research today at the American Society for Microbiology’s (ASM) Conference on Bio- Micro- Nano-systems.

The chip consists of two areas. The first area captures the DNA from the sample and purifies it. The second is a reaction chamber where a process called polymerase chain react

Agenix Limited [ASX:AGX, NASDAQ: AGXLY] today announced it had made a significant breakthrough in the detection of blood clots at Royal Brisbane Hospital.

Agenix’s blood clot imaging agent ThromboView® successfully detected a Deep Vein Thrombosis (blood clot in the leg) of a patient as part of a Phase 1b clinical trial.

“This is a very pleasing result,” said Dr David Macfarlane, co-investigator of the ThromboView® trial. “The medical world has been eagerly seeking a better meth