News
Scientists identify genes tied to increased risk of ovarian cancer
A team of researchers at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, Cedars-Sinai Cancer and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have newly identified 34 genes that are associated with an increased risk for developing the earliest stages of ovarian cancer. The findings, published online in the journal Nature Genetics, will both help identify women who are at highest risk of developing ovarian cancer and pave the way for identifying new therapies that can target these specific genes.
Lab personnel shortage means you could wait longer for medical test results
Each year in Canada, medical lab technologists carry out 440 million medical tests. But half of those techs will retire in the next several years, meaning wait times to get tests and results will get worse. As Abigail Bimman explains, the industry wants the federal government to step in and help.
Canada doesn’t have enough medical laboratory technologists to meet the growing demands of our health-care system, and the problem is getting worse, the profession’s association warned Tuesday.
The search for the kryptonite that can stop CRISPR
In September 2016, Jennifer Doudna called a new colleague named Kyle Watters to her office. By then, the University of California, Berkeley, biochemist was famous as the coinventor of CRISPR. The invention of the fast and versatile tool to edit genes had vaulted her to global notoriety and to considerable wealth. She was the founder of several startup companies and had collected millions in science-prize money.
Powerful gene-editing tools have the potential to heal—or to harm. Now there’s a race to develop the antidote to the next bioweapon.
Test can pinpoint children who do not fast before lab work
A study conducted by researchers at the NIH suggested that children who did not fast before blood work had significantly lower serum free fatty acids, or FFAs. A biochemical test that could demonstrate which patients are adhering to fasting rules for blood work by measuring FFA levels would be a valuable clinical tool, they said.
Drug-resistant tuberculosis reversed in lab
About 1.5 million people died of tuberculosis (TB) in 2017, making it the most lethal infectious disease worldwide. A growing rise in drug-resistant TB is a major obstacle to successfully treating the illness.
Now, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Umea University in Sweden have found a compound that prevents and even reverses resistance to isoniazid, the most widely used antibiotic for treating tuberculosis.
DNA test is an effective cervical cancer screening tool for women in low-income countries
Cervical cancer is a major issue in low- and middle-income countries due to the lack of adequate screening such as routine Pap smear testing. These countries have high incidences of cervical cancer linked to human papillomavirus (HPV). Due to lack of resources for cancer screenings, these countries account for 85% of all cervical cancer cases.
Why the H. pylori stomach bug is so persistent
Helicobacter pylori are bacteria that humans have hosted in our stomachs for ages. The bacterium is able to withstand the extremely acidic stomach environment and is one of the biggest causes of stomach ulcers. Scientists have been trying to learn how it not only survives but thrives there. Reporting in PLOS Biology, researchers at Stanford University have suggested that colonies of H. pylori get into epithelial cells deep within gastric glands. There, the bacteria are provided protection and can live there, creating a bacterial reservoir that might be almost impossible to get rid of.
Searching in vein: a history of artificial blood
For centuries scientists have sought an artificial substitute for blood. Equipped with modern nanotechnology and a humbler strategy, bioengineers think they’re closer than ever.
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