Ana Rodríguez, Author at Baylor College of Medicine Blog Network

Improving the view on the genetic causes of retinitis pigmentosa

January 13, 2017 blindness, CRISPR/Cas9, Genetics, REEP6, Retinitis pigmentosa, visula impairment

Progressive development of night blindness and tunnel vision, sometimes from the early age of 2, are trademarks of retinitis pigmentosa. Being the most common inherited

From The Labs

“Freeze-frame” synthetic proteins capture DNA events leading to cancer

January 11, 2017 Cancer, cancer evolution, DNA repair, E. Coli, Freeze-frames proteins, Genetics

Cancer scientists have focused on identifying signature genetic changes present in cancerous cells and understanding how these changes lead to cancer. Although this approach has

From The Labs

How breast cancer can become resistant to hormone therapy

January 9, 2017 Breast cancer resistance, Brest cancer resistance, estrogen receptor-positive, FOXA1, IL-8, Metastasis, tamoxifen

Despite the overall success of hormone therapy, breast cancer tumors in patients with metastatic disease often fail to respond. One new mechanism that can explain

From The Labs

Future scientists inspired by recipients of Breakthrough Prize

January 6, 2017 Alzheimer's Disease, Award, Parkinson's Disease, Rett Syndrome

Since being honored with the prestigious Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine’s Dr. Huda Zoghbi has been busy, but not just with

From The Labs

Image of the Month: Neuron-muscle synapses in the fruit fly

January 4, 2017 ATAD3A, Drosophila, fruit fly, Genetics, heart conditions, low muscular tone, neurological syndromes, Neuroscience

Certain human gene variants of ATAD3A can cause rare neurological syndromes characterized by global developmental delay, low muscular tone and visual, neurological and heart problems. The

From The Labs

New mutations in gene PKD1L1 are associated with disarrangement of human internal organs

December 9, 2016 congenital heart malformations, Human genetics, internal organ disarrangement, laterality defects, PKD1L1, pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, prenatal diagnosis

Scientists have linked gene PKD1L1 with disarrangement of human internal organs, known as laterality defects, and complex congenital heart disease. This discovery contributes to a

From The Labs

Image of the Month: Human natural killer cells preparing to deliver a lethal strike to diseased cells

December 2, 2016 alpha-tubulin, cancer cells, Immunology, lytic vesicles, microtubules, NK cells, primary immunodeficiency disease, viral infections

This mosaic montage of still images of live natural killer (NK) cells from the human immune system shows the cells have a skeleton of microtubules

From The Labs

Mouse Gata2 gene can affect female fertility and uterine susceptibility to cancer

November 30, 2016 estrogen, Fertility, Gata2, Genetics, human fertility, mouse fertility, progesterone, uterine cancer

Determining the cause of infertility can be a complex matter. Infertility may be the result of a problem in one or several of the multiple

From The Labs

How understanding tumor diversity can potentially improve the outcomes of patients with lung cancer

November 28, 2016 Cancer, Cancer Genome Atlas, cancer molecular profile, Genetics, Immunotherapy, immunue check point, lung cancer, lymphocyte infiltration

[See video below] “People may think of lung cancer as one disease, but lung cancer is a collection of diverse subtypes of cells and each

From The Labs

Research opens the possibility of new, noninvasive genetic prenatal testing

November 25, 2016 amniocnetesis, blood test, chorionic villus sampling, Genetics, prenatal testing, trophoblasts

Performing a routine prenatal test with a mother’s blood sample might be possible in the future, says a group of researchers. They have determined that