The Human Dynasty

Scientists find the skull of a 29 million-year-old primate, shedding light on when our evolutionary line diverged from monkeys.

(Wiley-Blackwell) Italian scientists pioneering a new gene transfer treatment for the blood disorder beta-thalassemia have successfully completed preclinical trials, claiming they can correct the lack of beta-globin in patients’ blood cells which causes the disease. The research, published in EMBO Molecular Medicine, reveals how gene therapy may represent a safe alternative to current cures that are limited to a minority of patients.

(Public Library of Science) Researchers funded by the Medical Research Council have discovered for the first time that two proteins called Mahjong and Lgl could be star players in helping to identify how the body’s own cells fight back against cancer cells. This discovery, publishing today in the online, open-access journal PLoS Biology, could lead to future treatments to make our healthy cells better-equipped to attack cancer cells, an entirely new concept for cancer research.

(Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research) In the largest study of its kind, researchers at the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research have found that exposure to cigarette smoke can alter gene expression — the process by which a gene’s information is converted into the structures and functions of a cell. These alterations in response to smoking appear to have a wide-ranging negative influence on the immune system, and a strong involvement in processes related to cancer, cell death and metabolism.

The gene could one day be used to turbocharge memory and brain function.

Genes “borrowed” from Arctic bacteria that cannot survive at body temperature successfully protect against disease before safely dying off

(Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions) By inspecting the sequence of all 3 billion “letters” that make up the genome of a single person affected with a rare, inherited disorder, a Johns Hopkins and Duke University team ferreted out the single genetic mutation that accounts for the disease.

The earliest archaeological evidence of a tortoise kept as a family pet in Britain is unearthed by researchers.

Egyptian archaeologists unveiled on Thursday two rock-hewn painted tombs belonging to a man who had a supervising role in the construction of pyramids — and his son. It’s considered among the most distinguished Old Kingdom tombs. Dating from around 4,300 …

(The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine) Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have identified a previously unknown mechanism by which cells direct gene expression, the process by which information from a gene is used to direct the physical and behavioral development of individuals. The research, which may help scientists gain insight into how muscle and heart diseases develop, is published in the July 8 issue of Nature.