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NHGRI-Related News

A listing of news releases from other National Institutes of Health (NIH) institutes and centers, academic and non-profit institutions, and scientists or scientific societies related to NHGRI-funded work.

NHGRI-Related News Archive

2009

• April 15, 2009: Brown Researchers Create Novel Technique to Sequence Human Genome
  From Brown University: Physicists at Brown University develop a novel procedure to map a person's genome. They report in the journal Nanotechnology the first experiment to move a DNA chain through a nanopore using magnets. The approach is promising because it allows multiple segments of a DNA strand to be read simultaneously and accurately.
  
  
• April 15, 2009: Researchers Identify Specific Lung Cancer Susceptibility Gene
  From the University of Cincinnati: University of Cincinnati cancer cell biologists identify a distinct gene linked to increased lung cancer susceptibility and development. They say this gene-known as RGS17-could result in a genetic predisposition to develop lung cancer for people with a strong family history of the disease. Funding for this research comes from the National Institutes of Health through the Genetic Epidemiology of Lung Cancer Consortium, a group that includes NHGRI Senior Investigator Joan Baily-Wilson, Ph.D.
  
  
• April 8, 2009: Bioinformatics, Zebrafish At Focus During Cancer Control Month
  From Medical News Today: April marks National Cancer Control Awareness Month, which focuses on the importance of prevention, treatment and research. Making significant contributions in all of these areas is The Cancer Institute of New Jersey (CINJ), which is one of the nation's 40 Comprehensive Cancer Centers as designated by the National Cancer Institute and the only such center in New Jersey. Along with researchers at the National Human Genome Research Institute, a collaborative effort is underway to study the regulation of gene expression in early leukemia development using zebrafish.
  
  
• March 31, 2009: Cancer Genomics Browser gives cancer researchers a powerful new tool
  From University of California, Santa Cruz: A Cancer Genomics Browser developed by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), provides a new way to visualize and analyze data from studies aimed at improving cancer treatment by unraveling the complex genetic roots of the disease. In developing this browser, UCSC used data generated by The Cancer Genome Atlas, which is supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Cancer Institute.
  
  
• The following two news releases about the discovery of genetic variants related to sudden cardiac death, pertain to research supported in part by NHGRI.
  
  
• March 23, 2009: Ten genes identified in connection with sudden cardiac death
  From University of Michigan: Irregular heart rhythms are a common cause of sudden cardiac death or SCD, a condition that accounts for 450,000 deaths annually in the United States. Scientists are now closer to understanding what causes SCD and who it may strike, said Gonçalo Abecasis, associate professor of biostatistics at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Abecasis co-led on an international study, published in the March 22 edition of Nature Genetics, that aimed to identify genetic defects associated with sudden cardiac death.
  
  
• March 22, 2009: Hopkins Scientists ID 10 Genes Associated with a Risk Factor for Sudden Cardiac Death
  From Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine: Sudden cardiac death, which annually claims more than a quarter million Americans, has a dearth of discernable symptoms and a lack of detectable molecules circulating in the blood, making the prediction of sudden cardiac death largely dependent on genetic risk factors. Johns Hopkins researchers, in collaboration with an international contingent of researchers, have identified 10 common variants of genes that modify the timing of the contraction of the heart, known as the QT interval. The study, published March 22 in Nature Genetics, provides new insight about the underpinnings of the QT interval which, when prolonged or shortened, predisposes to sudden cardiac death.
  
  
• March 19, 2009: What's driving specific patterns of gene expression among cell types?
  From University of California - San Diego: Providing another tool to help to understand gene regulation on a global scale, a nationwide research team has identified and mapped 55,000 enhancers, short regions of DNA that act to enhance or boost the expression of genes. The map, which was published March 18 in the advance on-line edition of the journal Nature, will help scientists understand how cells control expression of genes specific to their particular cell type. Funding for this research was provided in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
  
  
• February 25, 2009: Predicting risk of stroke from one's genetic blueprint
  From Children's Hospital Boston: A new statistical model could be used to predict an individual's lifetime risk of stroke, finds a study from the Children's Hospital Informatics Program (CHIP). Using genetic information from 569 hospital patients, the researchers showed that their predictive model could estimate an individual's overall risk of cardioembolic stroke - the most common form of stroke - with 86 percent accuracy. The findings are reported in the March issue of Stroke. The research was supported in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute.
  
  
• February 23, 2009: Landmark DNA Analysis Paper Published in Nature Nanotechnology
  From Oxford Nanopore Technologies: Oxford Nanopore Technologies ("Oxford Nanopore") announces the publication of new research in Nature Nanotechnology, demonstrating accurate and continuous identification of DNA bases using nanopores. The system can also directly identify methylated cytosine, important in the study of epigenetics. This research - funded in part by the National Human Genome Research Institute - marks significant progress towards Oxford Nanopore's goal of developing the first label-free, single molecule DNA sequencing technology.
  
  
• February 19, 2009: A New PAGE in the Genetics of Disease
  From Rutgers University: Population Architecture using Genomics and Epidemiology (PAGE) is a four-year project promoting research into how genes and diseases are associated. PAGE investigates how specific genetic variants act to influence the risk of diabetes, obesity, heart disease, autoimmune disorders, cancer and other common diseases. It is funded by the National Human Genome Research Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health, parts of the National Institutes of Health.
  
  
• February 5, 2009: Biologists Solve Mystery of Black Wolves
  From the University of California, Los Angeles: Why do nearly half of North American wolves have black coats while European wolves are overwhelmingly gray or white? The surprising answer, according to teams of biologists - including coauthor Elaine Ostrander, Ph.D. Chief of NHGRI's Cancer Genetics Branch - and molecular geneticists from Stanford University, UCLA, Sweden, Canada and Italy, is that the black coats are the result of historical matings between black dogs and wild gray wolves. The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, appeared Feb. 5 in the online edition of the journal Science and will be published later in the journal's print edition.
  
  
• February 1, 2009: Missing Links of the Transcriptome
  From the Broad Institute: Only 5 percent of our DNA is thought to be functional, with the 20,000 or so protein-coding genes accounting for just one-fifth of that and the rest still unknown. Researchers at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center have now discovered the identity of some of those unknown players using a new technique that looks for unusual signatures in the genome. The research - published Feb. 1 in the advance online issue of the jouranal Nature - was funded in part by NHGRI.
  
  
• January 29, 2009: Genes May Predict Vascular Malformation
  From the Medical College of Wisconsin: A pair of studies, led by Medical College of Wisconsin scientists at Children's Research Institute in Milwaukee, may translate into rapid molecular tests to distinguish between hemangiomas and congenital blood or lymph vessel malformations in infants. Hemangiomas are common birthmarks consisting of benign tumors of blood vessels. The studies appear in the January 29, 2009 issue of the journal Blood. Researchers from the Genome Technology Branch of the National Human Genome Research Institute were part of the studies.
  
  
• January 13, 2009: Surgeon General's New Family Health History Tool Is Released, Ready for "21st Century Medicine"
  From the Department of Health and Human Services: The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services releases an updated and improved version of the Surgeon General's Internet-based family health history tool. The new tool makes it easier for consumers to assemble and share family health history information. It can also help practitioners make better use of health history information so they can provide more informed and personalized care for their patients.
  
  

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Last Updated: April 16, 2009