People with albinism have hypopigmentation in their hair, skin, or eyes. What causes it? Genetic mutations that affect production of the pigment melanin. Albinism takes a number of phenotypic forms, each tied to a different type of genetic mutation.
Whether you’re left, right or play it straight down the middle, is there a chance that your political views are hard-wired into your genes? One researcher thinks so, and he’s got a whole pile of stats and figures to prove it.
Planet Earth is home to billions upon billions of microbes. Most of them are invisible to the naked eye, but now it’s time to get a little more familiar with our tiny neighbours. And that’s where metagenomics comes in; a relatively new way of characterising them.
Stephen Hawking is blasting off into outer space. Well, actually his digitized DNA will be sent into space to promote the Archon X Prize for genomics, a $10 million prize to the first person or team who can sequence 100 genes within 10 days or less.
Incontinentia pigmenti, also known as Bloch-Sulzberger syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that’s characterised by a discolouration of the skin. It’s an X-linked dominantly inherited condition caused by mutations in a gene known as NEMO.
Scientists have moved a big step closer to using genetic engineering to restore hearing to the deaf. A therapy is not round the corner just yet but the advance in understanding from this new research is significant.
A team of scientists from the University of Bonn have discovered a gene linked with early baldness. It’s hoped that their six-year study will pave the way for treatments and therapies to boost hair growth in individuals with early male pattern baldness.
Using genetic engineering and cloning technologies, scientists have created pigs with the lung disease cystic fibrosis. It’s a breakthrough in the search for new ways of treating cystic fibrosis because up until now knowledge gained from animal models of the disease has been limited.
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy is the most severe kind of muscle wasting disease. It’s caused by mutations in the DMD gene, the largest gene in the human body.
Current genetic research covers a wide range of areas, including work on biological clocks, the effects of DNA repair mechanisms, and how the human genome changes over its lifetime.
