There has been a major advance in our understanding of the genetic basis of one of the most common forms of leukaemia. For the first time scientists have showed a genetic susceptibility to developing Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia or CLL, research which could one day benefit people with leukaemia.
It is a sad fact of life that every year millions of children are born with birth defects that are caused solely or partially by genetic defects. This article looks at where they occur in the world and what can be done about them.
Genetic variation is considered to be the raw material of evolutionary change. Without it a species cannot change in response to changes in the environment. This article looks at how it happens; from mutation through to genetic shuffling, and the effect it has on species.
Evolution is easy to see when you look back over the earth’s history. But evolution is not full of large, significant events: instead it is an enormous collection of tiny genetic changes which occurred over thousands of millions of years.
The results of research carried out in Ethiopia have produced some fascinating new information about Homo sapiens during a relatively recent period of human evolution.
Mitochondrial Eve, an ancient matrilineal ancestor, is perhaps the more famous of the pair, but her male counterpart, Y-chromosomal Adam, is just as interesting a figure in human evolution.
Gene therapy is a technique that introduces an altered gene into a person’s body to carry out the work of a mulfunctioning gene. The procedure aims to treat or cure diseases that have been caused by faulty genes.
This history of crime is as old as the history of mankind but the methods of searching for clues and criminals have been changing over the ages. Let us see how the modern technology of genetics helps to match the crime to the criminal.
DNA barcoding is one of the newest and fastest rising scientific fields. A five year old technology that has widespread applications from food safety to animal conservation and much more. By using our knowledge of DNA genetics scientists hope to catalogue every single living species.
For the first time ever, researchers have discovered the gene mutations that cause the childhood cancer neuroblastoma. The same mutations also play a role in non-inherited forms of the disease. The findings mean that early diagnosis will be possible and it paves the way for new treatments.
