Biotechnology News

THURSDAY, Nov. 5 (HealthDay News) -- New research sheds light on the possible link between the genes you inherit and the size of your belly.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Want to know your entire DNA sequence? A California company has done it for as little as $1,700.

PARIS (AFP) - A breakthrough mix of stem cell and gene therapy halted a lethal brain-wasting illness in two young boys, and could prove effective against other genetic disorders, researchers reported Thursday.

WASHINGTON - French scientists mixed gene therapy and bone marrow transplants in two boys to seemingly halt a brain disease that can kill by adolescence. The surprise ingredient: They disabled the HIV virus so it couldn't cause AIDS, and then used it to carry in the healthy new gene.

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have managed to halt a rare and fatal brain disease with an experimental gene therapy technique using a deactivated version of the AIDS virus, a study published on Thursday showed.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A person's genetic makeup may play an important role in the odds of suffering neck or back pain, new research suggests.

BOSTON/LONDON (Reuters) - Human Genome Sciences Inc said its experimental lupus drug Benlysta eased symptoms in more than 43 percent of patients who took it in a clinical trial, paving the way for approval of the first new treatment for the disease in 50 years.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Biotechnology giant Amgen Inc and drug wholesaler AmerisourceBergen Corp were sued on Friday by 14 U.S. states and the District of Columbia over an alleged kickback scheme designed to boost sales of Amgen's popular anemia drug, Aranesp.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Churchgoers have been found to have lower rates of drinking and smoking than those who spend their Sundays elsewhere. Now a new study suggests that for adults, it may not be church attendance itself that explains much of the phenomenon. It might be genes.

MEXICO CITY (AFP) - As scientists race the clock to increase food production worldwide, new trials to plant genetically-modified maize have stoked anger in Mexico, the cradle of corn.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have a compulsive urge to collect and clutter their homes with junk can partly attribute their problem to genes, a new study confirms.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - No need to curse that bad driver weaving in and out of the lane in front of you -- he cannot help it, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- A new type of gene therapy for injured lungs that were previously rejected for transplantation may increase the number of lungs available for transplant, researchers say.

WASHINGTON - Call it a genetic patch job for worn lungs: Canadian researchers took donated lungs deemed too damaged to transplant and repaired them with outside-the-body gene therapy.

PARIS (AFP) - Culture, not just genes, can drive evolutionary outcomes, according to a study released Wednesday that compares individualist and group-oriented societies across the globe.

SILVER SPRING, Maryland (Reuters) - Animal data suggests a proposed Human Genome Sciences Inc drug may help people exposed to anthrax but more study is needed to show the treatment adds benefit beyond antibiotics alone, a U.S. advisory panel said on Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - A judge on Tuesday dismissed a Christian adoption agency's challenge to Obama administration regulations expanding stem cell research.

Three years after being charged for fraud, misusing state funds and violating bioethics laws, disgraced South Korean stem cell researcher Hwang Woo-suk was convicted today on some but not all charges.

SEOUL, South Korea - A South Korean stem cell scientist once hailed as a hero for bringing hope to people with incurable diseases and creating the world's first cloned dog was convicted Monday on criminal charges related to faked research, but avoided jail.

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean court Monday imposed a suspended prison term on a disgraced scientist whose claims of stem-cell breakthroughs rocked the scientific world until his research was found to be faked.

Seoul, South Korea - South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk got a light sentence Monday for faking stem-cell research in a case that scandalized the scientific community and shocked Koreans who had elevated him to the status of a national hero.

SEOUL (Reuters) - A South Korean court Monday found disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-suk guilty of fraud and handed down a suspended sentence in a case that sent shockwaves throughout the global scientific community.

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean court Monday imposed a suspended prison sentence on disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk after convicting him of embezzlement.

SEOUL (AFP) - A South Korean court Monday found disgraced stem cell scientist Hwang Woo-Suk guilty of embezzlement, and said he knew that data in his team's scientific papers had been manipulated.

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - Nine-year-old Corey Haas can ride his bike alone now, thanks to an experimental gene therapy that has boosted his fading vision with a single treatment.

SATURDAY, Oct. 24 (HealthDay News) -- Gene therapy can improve the vision of people with a severe form of genetically inherited retinal degeneration called Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), a new study shows.

PARIS (AFP) - Exhilarated scientists on Saturday announced they had used gene therapy to restore eyesight to children blighted by a rare, inherited form of creeping blindness.

THURSDAY, Oct. 22 (HealthDay News) -- Researchers have created their first map of parts of the human genome that are considered disposable.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - When one identical twin develops the developmental disorder autism, the risk of the other developing it is high -- substantially higher than it is for fraternal twins, a new study confirms.