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Disease that Stunts Infants’ Growth Traced to Same Gene that Makes Kids Grow too Fast

By Guest PostMay 30, 2012Scienceabhik banerjee, acronym, adrenal hypoplasia, alice, alice fleming, beckwith wiedemann syndrome, caterpillar, children, chromosome 11, dna sample, edward mccabe, eric vilain, france, geneticist, genital anomalies, genome, growth restriction, hane lee, hormone replacement therapy, image syndrome, infants growth, john achermann, lewis carroll, metaphyseal dysplasia, mushroom, mutation, nature genetics, protein coding factory, ucla, valerie arboleda, wonderland

Discovery ends UCLA scientist’s 20-year quest for cause of IMAGe syndrome

The Caterpillar got down off the mushroom … remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’

—Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

UCLA geneticists have identified the mutation responsible for IMAGe syndrome, a rare disorder that stunts infants’ growth. The twist? The mutation occurs on the same gene that causes Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, which makes cells grow too fast, leading to very large children.

Published in the May 27 edition of the journal Nature Genetics, the UCLA findings could lead to new ways of blocking the rapid cell division that allows tumors to grow unchecked. The discovery also offers a new tool for diagnosing children with IMAGe syndrome, which until now has been difficult to identify accurately. (more…)

International Team Uncovers New Genes That Shape Brain Size, Intelligence

By Guest PostApril 16, 2012Scienceadenine, alzheimer's disease, arthur toga, australia, bad gene, barbara franke, bigger brain, bipolar disorder, brain size, brain study, centers, cytosine, dementia, depression, derrek hibar, disorder, DNA, Europe, gene, genetic variant, geneticist, guanine, hmga2, human gene, intelligence, iq test, jason stein, margaret wright, memory, mental illnesses, neda jahanshad, nick martin, North America, paul thompson, project enigma, rita cantor, rudy senstad, schizophrenia, thymine

*UCLA-launched partnership identifies genes that boost or lessen risk of brain atrophy, mental illness, Alzheimer’s disease*

In the world’s largest brain study to date, a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide collaborated to map the human genes that boost or sabotage the brain’s resistance to a variety of mental illnesses and Alzheimer’s disease.

Published April 15 in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Genetics, the study also uncovers new genes that may explain individual differences in brain size and intelligence. (more…)

Complexity Not So Costly After All, Analysis Shows

By Guest PostSeptember 27, 2010Sciencecomplex, complex organisms, Environment, geneticist, h allen orr of rochester, jianzhi george zhang, pleiotropy, ronald fishe, taiwan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—The more complex a plant or animal, the more difficulty it should have adapting to changes in the environment. That’s been a maxim of evolutionary theory since biologist Ronald Fisher put forth the idea in 1930.

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Tag Archives: geneticist

Disease that Stunts Infants’ Growth Traced to Same Gene that Makes Kids Grow too Fast

International Team Uncovers New Genes That Shape Brain Size, Intelligence

Complexity Not So Costly After All, Analysis Shows