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Clinical genetics news

Japan approves stem-cell treatment for Parkinson's in world first

Japan has approved ground-breaking stem-cell treatments for Parkinson's and severe heart failure, one of the manufacturers and media reports said Friday, with the therapies expected to reach patients within months.

Consent and its discontents: UK Biobank projects may breach trust of thousands of participants

UK Biobank is a major biomedical database and research resource, holding the genetic, health, and lifestyle information of half a million adult volunteers. Its datasets are accessible to approved researchers from academic, ...

mRNA therapy restores fertility in genetically infertile mice

Researchers have found that targeted delivery of messenger RNA (mRNA) can restore sperm production and fertility in genetically infertile male mice. The findings, published in Stem Cell Reports, demonstrate that transient ...

Life-changing drug identified for children with rare epilepsy

A new experimental treatment for children with a hard-to-treat form of epilepsy is safe and can reduce seizures dramatically, helping them lead much healthier and happier lives, according to the findings of a UCL (University ...

A promising potential therapeutic strategy for Rett syndrome

A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Duncan Neurological Research Institute (Duncan NRI) at Texas Children's Hospital reports in Science Translational Medicine a potential new approach to treat Rett ...

Tracking mysteries of loss of Y chromosome, cancer

The Y chromosome is among the smallest in the human body and carries the fewest genes. Researchers are paying renewed attention to its role in cancer—specifically, what happens when it vanishes.

What is a 'cancer gene'? How genetic mutations lead to cancer

An estimated 170,000 Australians were diagnosed with cancer in 2025. Many people know the causes of cancer are partly genetic. But how do your genes, which contribute so much of what makes you you, change what they do and ...

Vitamin B3 therapy offers hope for fatal childhood disease

Scientists at Gladstone Institutes have flipped the traditional approach to finding potential treatments for deadly diseases. Instead of starting with a disease and hunting for a cure, they began with vitamins and systematically ...

Engineers sharpen gene-editing tools to target cystic fibrosis

Engineers at the University of Pennsylvania and Rice University have refined a technology for editing individual genetic "base pairs" to a new level of precision, opening the door to safer, more reliable therapies for a wide ...

Study sheds light on the role of genetics in the body weight

The obesity rate has been steadily climbing and so have scientific efforts to understand why. A new study, published in Nature Communications, takes a closer look at the genes behind body weight and how they might point toward ...

Missing molecule holds clues to Down syndrome

New research suggests a missing brain molecule may hold the key to understanding—and potentially treating—the faulty neural circuits seen in Down syndrome. Restoring the molecule, called pleiotrophin, could enhance brain ...