News
US scientists show how immune system 'prunes' tumours (Cancer Research UK)
February 08, 2012
Laboratory research by US scientists has shown for the first time how the body's immune system shapes how a tumour grows.
The finding, by a team at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, published in Nature, suggests that genetic information from within a patient's tumour could one day be used to rapidly create tailored vaccines to treat their disease.
Genomes offer clues to treating childhood cancers (LA Times)
January 12, 2012
On Tuesday, two biotech companies announced that it would soon be possible to sequence the human genome -- each individual's complete DNA blueprint -- in about a day for around $1,000.
DNA Damage From Chemo May Help Spur Leukemia's Return (US News and World Report)
January 12, 2012
The chemotherapy used to treat a form of adult leukemia sets a trap that can result in the return of the disease within years, a new study suggests.
Chemotherapy treatment might induce leukemia relapse (FOX News)
January 11, 2012
Chemotherapy drugs, the first line of defense for a common form of adult leukemia, could actually be contributing to the disease’s rate of relapse in patients.
High-Tech Choir Master (The Scientist)
January 01, 2012
Elaine Mardis was in the right place at the right time. During her senior year as a zoology major at Oklahoma University, Mardis found herself at loose ends. “It wasn’t readily apparent to me what to do next,” she says. “Then I took a biochemistry class—and the instructor was one Bruce A. Roe.
Work begun on Wash U data center expansion (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
December 20, 2011
Construction is underway on a $12.5 million project to double the size of the genetics data center at the Washington University School of Medicine. Clayco Inc., a design/build firm, began construction last month. Completion is scheduled for next May.
Work on cells targets tumors (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
December 15, 2011
Imagine two women sitting in an oncologist's office. Both have been diagnosed with a type of breast cancer called hormone-receptor positive, and both will receive the same chemotherapy drug.
Key genetic error found in family of blood cancers (WUSTL News)
December 13, 2011
Scientists have uncovered a critical genetic mutation in some patients with myelodysplastic syndromes — a group of blood cancers that can progress to a fatal form of leukemia.
Funds dedicated to personalized genetics (Nature News)
December 06, 2011
The US National Institutes of Health has earmarked nearly half a billion dollars for a plan that it hopes will usher in an era of diagnoses and treatments based on genome sequencing.
NHGRI Unveils New-Look Genome Sequencing Program; Plans $416M in Funding (GenomeWeb)
December 06, 2011
The National Human Genome Research Institute today unveiled an updated model of its flagship genome sequencing program that represents a partial shift away from large-scale sequencing and toward applied genomics and informatics projects.
