News
January
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.
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.
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.
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.
February
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.
Company Unveils DNA Sequencing Device Meant to Be Portable, Disposable and Cheap (NYTimes)
February 17, 2012
DNA sequencing is becoming both faster and cheaper. Now, it is also becoming tinier.
A British company said on Friday that by the end of the year it would begin selling a disposable gene sequencing device that is the size of a USB memory stick and plugs into a laptop computer to deliver its results.
March
Gorilla genome could hold key to the human condition (BBC)
March 07, 2012
Researchers in Cambridge have deciphered the genetic code of the gorilla - the last of the Great Ape genuses to be sequenced.
Leukemia gene mutations linked to survival odds (Reuters)
March 14, 2012
Advances in genetic profiling are paving the way for more precise, and effective, treatment of the aggressive bone marrow cancer known as acute mylogenous leukemia, or AML, according to new research.
