JCI table of contents, November 15 2004
...ey-Hailey disease possess not one, but two or more genetically different populations of cells that originate from the one fertilized cell after fusion of the sperm and ovum during fertilization. This condition is known as mosaicism. In most cases of clinical mosaicism, the linear patterns of abnormal skin are su...Researchers piece together the puzzle of Hailey-Hailey skin disease
...ey-Hailey disease possess not one, but two or more genetically different populations of cells that originate from the one fertilized cell after fusion of the sperm and ovum during fertilization. This condition is known as mosaicism. In most cases of clinical mosaicism, the linear patterns of abnormal skin are su...Rare immunodeficiency provides new insight into immune system function
...ells that underlies XLP is unclear, research using genetically engineered mice that lack SAP demonstrated that T helper cells in these animals exhibit reduced cytokine production. Dr. Pamela L. Schwartzberg from the National Human Genome Research Institute and colleagues used SAP-deficient T cells to investigate...IRCM scientist demonstrates basic active mechanism of immune-system cells
...t is also located within the cell. Using mice with genetically mutated SLAM, SAP or FynT proteins, Dr. Veillette provided evidence of the importance of links among the three proteins. It should also be noted that SAP protein mutations occur in humans, causing a fatal immune dysfunction known as "X-linked lymphop...Muscle loss from space travel, prolonged inactivity linked to two genes
...th those from control groups as well as those from genetically unaltered ("wild-type") mice, Kandarian was able to isolate the effects either gene had on triggering atrophy in each of two weight-bearing muscles in the mouse hind limb: the soleus, a so-called slow-fast muscle, and the plantaris, a fast muscle. T...A $2 Million NSF grant brings technology and biology together at UC Riverside
...ent, an issue at the heart of the controversy over genetically modified foods. http://www.newsroom.ucr.edu/cgi-bin/display.cgi?id=869 In September, Prof. Edith Allen earned a $2 million grant to study the impact of excess nitrogen from air pollution on the plant world. http://www.newsroom......kers in the number of cigarettes smoked per day is genetically determined. The same is true for the degree of nicotine dependency. However, a predisposition for nicotine addiction does not mean that somebody will also become addicted or remain addicted. Smokers who have a genetic disposition can still stop smok...How receptors govern inflammatory pain
...whole animals. To study that role, the researchers genetically altered mice to lack one or another type of key component, or subunit, of the AMPA receptor protein. Knocking out one type of subunit, called GluR-A, would enhance AMPA permeability to calcium; and knocking out the other, called GluR-B, would reduce ...Study shows stem cells can preserve vision
...ored mice that had retinal disease. Green mice are genetically raised so that all their tissues are fluorescent green. The green color makes it possible to detect where the transplanted cells are and how they are growing and changing. After several weeks the team evaluated the eyes of the treated mice and found ...University of South Florida designated Center of Excellence by Huntington's Disease Society
...ay delay the onset of Huntington's disease in mice genetically engineered to have symptoms of the disease. Such cells have already shown promise in animal models for brain injuries caused by stroke and trauma. USF is also one of the sites for an ongoing multicenter, placebo-controlled clinical trial inves...'Blind' cells see the light; maybe someday humans will, too
...e functions of the photoreceptors if they could be genetically engineered to respond to light. Kramer envisions a...ne in the journal Nature Neuroscience. The idea of genetically engineering surviving retinal cells to be sensitive to light has various advantages over the most co...UCI researchers use human embryonic stem cells to aid spinal cord injury repair
...injected these cells into the spinal cords of mice genetically engineered to have no myelin tissue. After transplantation into mice, the early-stage cells formed into full-grown oligodendrocyte cells and migrated to appropriate neuronal sites within the spinal cord. More importantly, the researchers discovered t...Studies suggest promising new directions for gallstone treatment
...eloping diagnostic tests to identify people with a genetically increased risk for developing gallstones. A research team led by David J. Mangelsdorf , a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) investigator at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, published its findings November 21, 2004,...Scientists achieve self-assembly of spider silk fiber in insect cells
...rily from two proteins, ADF-3 and ADF-4, which are genetically similar and are produced in a gland in the abdomen...nsect-infecting virus, known as baculovirus. These genetically engineered viruses were then grown in cultures of cells derived from a type of caterpillar called th...University of Texas at Austin researchers identify drug-tolerance mechanism in flies
...se to drug intoxification. Fruit flies are easy to genetically manipulate, so the work could rapidly identify which of those factors would be good targets for future drug research. "We will use Drosophila to answer these regulatory questions," Atkinson said. "Once we understand what happens in flies we can more ...Gene therapy shows promise in model of Parkinson's disease
... could prevent the onset of Parkinson's disease in genetically predisposed subjects and arrest the disease's progression once it has been diagnosed, according to Aebischer. "These observations could translate into the clinic either through a direct gene therapy approach or through the identification of small dru...UT Southwestern initiating trials in humans for ricin vaccine
...ts and research associates," Dr. Vitetta said. The genetically engineered protein vaccine, RiVax, was developed b...T Southwestern scientists eventually created three genetically distinct non-toxic versions of the ricin A chain, two of which were effective as vaccines in mice. D...Efforts to clone primates move forward
...e it would be very important to be able to develop genetically identical primates for disease research, which is one of our aims, we also are investigating the feasibility of therapeutic cloning of stem cells," said Dr. Simerly. "If we can test these techniques in rhesus monkeys, it would go a long way toward di...Chicken genome analysis unlocks secrets of mammalian and bird evolution
... differences that occur in chickens and to develop genetically customized chicken strains that will serve as useful research models. Detailed information about the chicken genome is considered particularly valuable to researchers because the chicken, in evolutionary terms, is a rather distant relative to humans ...$43 million from Gates Foundation to produce inexpensive antimalarial drug for Third World
...emical engineering at UC Berkeley, who created the genetically engineered microbial drug factories. Keasling also...roduce the artemisinin, Keasling and his team have genetically modified microbes. This approach, one of the first triumphs of a field called synthetic biology, als...