I got this off Senator John McCain’s Twitter (yes, he now tweets). Over the last few days, the Arizona lawmaker has been tweeting his version of “The Top Porkiest Projects� in the Omnibus spending bill. Here are science/genetics projects that Sen. McCain consider earmarks or pork-barrel: “$8...

P52 gene, arrows show locations of common mutations  (Image courtesy www.bioinf.org ) Following on from my last article on using gene therapy for increasing survival in head and neck cancer, Professor Jack Roth, M.D., professor in M. D. Anderson’s Department of Thoracic & Cardiovascular ...

Thank you to Jennifer Texada at MD Anderson for bringing this great cancer treatment discovery to my attention…. (Image courtesy Introgen Therapeutics) A gene therapy invented at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center is the first to succeed in a U.S. phase III clinical trial fo...

(Image credit www.about.com)  A University of Carolina study monitoring 1200 newborns found that first borns were more likely to carry a gene variant which raised their risk of developing an allergy before the age of 10.  The study suggested that a first born experienced different conditions in t...

  The Washington Post featured a series of thought-provoking articles in ‘The Science Century’ section of the newspaper.  Here are some of my favourites: The Post’s Joel Achenbach writes about how “the most important things happening in the world today…[will] be happe...

(Photo credit: Flu viruses among cilia - National Geographic magazine http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ ) US scientists have discovered a possible reason why the flu virus is seasonal and tends to infect people mostly in the winter. It has a jacket that melts in the summer causing the virus to die ...

  Nature constantly ”shuffles” our genes around in our genome, creating a genetic cocktail of human chromosomes and trying out different changes as it does so.  Some of these changes represent neither a positive nor a negative mutation or a competitive advantage.  One such ’shu...

  Most gems, such as diamonds, rubies and sapphires, are crystalline inorganic and inert materials. Within each crystal structure, the atoms have precise locations, which give each material its unique properties. Diamond’s renowned hardness and refractive properties are due to its structure ...

Further to my article on Fragile X Syndrome the BBC health website has posted this article: “Genetic engineering has been used to alleviate symptoms Fragile X in mice, which is a leading cause of inherited learning difficulties and autism. There is currently no treatment for Fragile X syndrome...