Aug
25
2009
A new genetic screening process has helped researchers understand the genetic causes of cancer, such as how mutations accumulated in a person’s life can cause leukemia.
The study shows that by comparing a person’s own DNA to that of their cancerous cells, researchers can find DNA mutations that may have led to abnormal cell growth, or [...]
Tags: acute myeloid, cancer, leukemia, mutation, NEJM, personalized medicine
Aug
06
2009
Not long after Karl Landsteiner first described the different ABO blood types, scientists started looking for associations between blood type and other human traits. Some of their theories were truly weird (more on these tomorrow!), but some have held up to scientific scrutiny.
Venous Thromboembolism (VTE)
People with non-type O blood (A, B and AB) have been [...]
Tags: blood, blood type, cancer, infectious disease, Malaria, ulcers, vte
Jul
06
2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Tags: basal cell carcinoma, cancer, CDKN2A, CDKN2B, coronary artery disease, glioma, melanoma, tumor suppressor, type 2 diabetes
Jun
29
2009
Much to the surprise of many scientists, a lot of the SNPs identified in genomewide association studies have not been in the parts of genes that encode the molecular machinery of a cell.
Instead, many SNPs have been found on the edges of genes, in regions of DNA that control when the genes get turned on [...]
Tags: cancer, colorectal, gene desert, GWAS, MYC, SNP, Wnt
Jan
20
2009
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Tags: basal cell carcinoma, bladder cancer, cancer, cervical cancer, cutaneous carcinoma, lung cancer, prostate cancer, telomeres
Nov
05
2008
Understanding the genetic changes that lead to different cancers is key to more effective diagnosis and treatment of the disease. And thanks to the availability of faster, cheaper genome sequencing technologies, researchers are now able to peer more deeply into the DNA of cancer cells than ever before.
Recent studies have sequenced more than 600 [...]
Tags: acute myeloid leukemia, cancer, Gleevec, Nature, sequencing, Washington University
Jul
14
2008
One of the best parts about working at 23andMe is being surrounded by people who are active and love taking on new challenges. We exercise together regularly and are always looking for new ways to contribute to our community, so we recently decided it was time to take on our first race. We chose the [...]
Tags: cancer, Lance Armstrong, LIVESTRONG, Team 23andMe
Jun
24
2008
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Tags: Aspergillus, bone marrow transplant, cancer, plasminogen, SNP, SNPwatch
May
27
2008
SNPwatch gives you the latest news about research linking various traits and conditions to individual genetic variations. These studies are exciting because they offer a glimpse into how genetics may affect our bodies and health; but in most cases, more work is needed before this research can provide information of value to individuals. For that [...]
Tags: alcohol, cancer, Nature Genetics, SNP, SNPwatch
May
08
2008
Multiple studies have indicated that a SNP in the FGFR2 gene can increase the risk for breast cancer. Results published online this week in the open-access journal PLoS Biology show how.
It turns out that the riskier version of this SNP increases the amount of the FGFR2 protein that is made by cells, which can [...]
Tags: breast cancer, cancer, FGFR2, SNPs