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Biotech News Science news Regular science news |
- Cloning experiment suggests cancer is reversible
- Genetic disease linked to cot death
- Japan panel OKs human cloning for research
- Noah's archive of endangered DNA
Cloning experiment suggests cancer is reversible
August 2 – US-based researchers claim a cloning experiment may show that the body itself has the ability to reverse cancer. They cloned mouse embryos from a melanoma skin cancer cell, and created healthy adult mice using some of the cloned cancer cells, showing that malignancy is not the inevitable fate of a cancer cell. 'This settles a principal biological question,' said Dr. Rudolf Jaenisch of the Whitehead Institute at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the country's leading experts in cloning. He said while the genetic elements of cancer cannot be reversed, the epigenetics, how the genes are actually turned on and off can be. The finding, published in the journal Genes and Development, point to a new way to treat cancer, said Lynda Chin of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, who worked on the study.
[Source: Reuters]
Genetic disease linked to cot death
July 20 – A gene believed responsible for some instances of cot death has been discovered in a US study. Researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute analysed 21 infants who has died suddenly and came from two generations of an American Amish community. All had died before 12 months of age from sudden cardiac and respiratory arrest. Four of the infants have two abnormal copies of a gene called TSPYL which is located on chromosome 6. Comparing this DNA to their parents, researchers found the parent carried only one abnormal copy of the gene. It is believed that two abnormal copies of TSPYL gene affects the nervous system and causes sudden death by interfering with the brain's control of the heart and lungs. Researchers say the next step is to determine how this mutation is within the general population.
[Source: BBC News]
Japan panel OKs human cloning for research
July 26 – Japan's top science council has voted to adopt policy recommendations that would permit limited cloning of human embryos for scientific research in Japan. Japan banned human cloning in 2001, but has permitted researchers to use human embryos that aren't produced by cloning. The recommendations, approved last week, would let researchers produce and use cloned human embryos, but only for basic research, said Tomohiko Arai, an official at the Cabinet's Council for Science and Technology Policy. The cloning won't be allowed for use in treating human patients.
[Source: Associated Press]
Noah's archive of endangered DNA
July 28 – The Animal Gene Storage Resource Centre of Australia, which is located at a hospital in suburban Melbourne, is collecting and preserving tissue from endangered Australian animals for Project Ark. Zoos and wildlife parks have been the main contributors of animal tissue since the centre started collecting in 1995. Curator of the centre, Tasha Czarny, says in theory small populations of animals could be supplemented with cloned animals that have died in the past.
[Source: The Australian]
