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Approximately half the patients have received all the 12 doses of gene therapy or placebo given at monthly intervals. The remaining will be completing their dosing over the next few months, with the final dose in the final patient due around June.

Genes for memory- swimming mice knock out lesson

1:40 video with transcript It might take practice to get to Carnegie Hall but scientists found that it takes a set of dozens of genes in the brain working together to make that practice pay off.

In 2007, researchers discovered that people with a common variant of FTO tend to be heavier than those without it. Since then, studies have repeatedly confirmed the link. On average, one copy of the risky variant adds up to 3.5 extra pounds of weight. Two copies of the gene bring 7 extra pounds - and increase a person's risk of becoming obese by 50 percent.

Written for middle school/high school audiences, "The Gene Scene" ushers the viewer into the micro-biological universe of human DNA. I co-wrote the script for this short animation, which was created for an educational CD-ROM marketed to junior high and high schools around the English- and Spanish-speaking world. The colorful cartoon explains some of the basic scientific concepts of human genetics.

Why did you get the flu this winter, but your co-workers didn't? The answer, according to a new study of twins, may have less to do with your genes and more to do with your environment-including your past exposure to pathogens and vaccines. Our immune system is incredibly complex, with diverse armies of white blood cells and signal-sending proteins coursing through our veins, ready to mount an attack on would-be invaders. Everyone's immune system is slightly different-a unique mixture of hundreds of these cells and proteins. But the main driver of this variation is unclear. Although scientists know that our immune system can adapt to our environment-that's why vaccines work, for instance-it is also built by our genes.

What if sideline rage could be nipped in the bud with a quick genetic test that told Mom and Dad what sports - if any - Junior could master? The Boulder, Colo., company Atlas Sports Genetics today began selling just that sort of product: for $149, it says it will screen for variants of the gene ACTN3

Because we want to understand what genes are required for blood vessel development, Courtney Griffin studies certain enzymes that help turn genes on and off. These enzymes are specifically involved in relaxing DNA that is normally tightly coiled up in our cells. Dr. Griffin is now an Assistant Member in the Cardiovascular Biology Research Program at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation after receiving her B.A. from Harvard University and her Ph. D. from the University of California San Francisco School of Medicine

Technical details aside, Crispr-Cas9 makes it easy, cheap, and fast to move genes around-any genes, in any living thing, from bacteria to people. "These are monumental moments in the history of biomedical research," Baltimore says. "They don't happen every day." Using the three-year-old technique, researchers have already reversed mutations that cause blindness, stopped cancer cells from multiplying, and made cells impervious to the virus that causes AIDS. Agronomists have rendered wheat invulnerable to killer fungi like powdery mildew, hinting at engineered staple crops that can feed a population of 9 billion on an ever-warmer planet. Bioengineers have used Crispr to alter the DNA of yeast so that it consumes plant matter and excretes ethanol, promising an end to reliance on petrochemicals. Startups devoted to Crispr have launched. International pharmaceutical and agricultural companies have spun up Crispr R&D. Two of the most powerful universities in the US are engaged in a vicious war over the basic patent.

Gene flow is the transfer of genetic material between separate populations. Many organisms are divided into separate populations that have restricted contact with each other, possibly leading to reproductive isolation. Many things can fragment a species into a collection of isolated populations. For example, a treacherous mountain pass may cut off one herd of mountain goats from another. In human beings, cultural differences as well as geographic separation maintain unique populations: It is more likely that a person will marry and have children with someone who lives nearby and speaks the same language.

The uproar over the new ease and precision with which scientists can manipulate the DNA of living things has centered largely on the complicated prospect of editing human embryos. But with the federal government's approval last week of a fast-growing salmon as the first genetically altered animal Americans can eat, a menagerie of gene-edited animals is already being raised on farms and in laboratories around the world - some designed for food, some to fight disease, some, perhaps, as pets.

Why elephants aren't riddled with tumors poses a weighty problem for researchers. A new study shows that the animals harbor dozens of extra copies of one of the most powerful cancer-preventing genes. These bonus genes might enable elephants to weed out potentially cancerous cells before they can grow into tumors.

Like humans, some golden retrievers develop Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), a hereditary muscle wasting condition that begins early in life. Using gene therapy, scientists were able to restore muscle function in dogs with the disease, according to a study published today (July 25) in Nature Communications.

Within every cell in our body, two copies of a tumor suppressor gene called BRCA1 are tasked with regulating the speed at which cells divide. Michael Windelspecht explains how these genes can sometimes mutate, making those cells less specialized and more likely to develop into cancer.

In a striking advance that helps open the door to organ transplants from animals, researchers have created gene-edited piglets cleansed of viruses that might cause disease in humans.

Researchers have long known that women whose families include fraternal twins are more likely to give birth to twins themselves, and they're finally starting to figure out why. After scanning data from nearly 2000 mothers of fraternal twins, scientists from eight countries found two genes that increase a woman's chance of having twins-one that affects hormone levels and another that may alter how ovaries respond to them. The second of these may also have implications for why some women respond better than others to in vitro fertilization.

Curriculum materials for the following topics: HeLa Cells & HPV Genes: Immortality & Cancer, which reviews basic cell biology, tissue culture, and human subjects research in the context of privacy, rights, and compensation. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/hela-cells-hpv-genes-immortality-cancer.html · Eggs & Blood: Gifts & Commodities, which addresses the value placed on some bodily tissues/cells and not on others. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/eggs-and-blood.html · Disease, Disability, & Immortality: Hope & Hype, which explores the natural physical and cognitive variability in the human population and questions the goal of a "cure" in biomedical research. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/disease-disability-immortality-hope-hype.html · Stem Cells & Policy: Values & Religion, which analyzes how policy is shaped in pluralistic societies that require tolerance of different points of view. Link: http://www.stemcellcurriculum.org/stem-cells-policy-values-and-religion.html

The advent of increasingly powerful and inexpensive DNA sequencing methods is changing many aspects of genetics research. In particular, human genome sequencing is transforming our understanding of many aspects of human biology and medicine. However, we must be careful to remember that genes alone do not determine our futures-environmental factors and chance also play important roles.

Department of Defense researchers disclosed Thursday in a report placed online by the journal Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy that a 49-year-old woman who sought medical care at a military-associated clinic in Pennsylvania last month, with what seemed to be a urinary tract infection, was carrying a strain of E. coli resistant to a wide range of drugs. That turned out to be because the organism carried 15 different genes conferring antibiotic resistance, clustered on two "mobile elements" that can move easily among bacteria. One element included the new, dreaded gene mcr-1.

Parkinson's is a result of the loss of cells in various parts of the brain, including one portion that produces the neurotransmitter dopamine. Dopamine is essential for being able to move in a coordinated way, so the loss of dopamine causes the tremors often associated with the condition. While the exact cause of Parkinson's is unknown, genetics and environment are contributing factors. Most cases occur in patients with no family history of Parkinson's disease, but there are 13 gene mutations that have been linked to either causing the disease or increasing one's risk of developing it. Certainly not everyone who carries these gene mutations develops Parkinson's, but identifying these genetic indicators is the beginning of developing more precise treatments.