Currently, prenatal diagnosis of genetic diseases and genetic monitoring of fetal development require invasive procedures. New data generated by Jill Maron and colleagues, at Tufts — New England Medical Center, Boston, has indicated that it might be possible to perform these processes non-invasively.

According to a study in Evolution, resistance to certain infectious diseases may be passed genetically from parent to child. The genetic resistance may be beneficial to families as those with the gene are both unlikely to suffer from disease and unlikely to carry the disease home.

Researchers at BRIC, University of Copenhagen, have identified a new gene family (UTX-JMJD3) essential for embryonic development. The family controls the expression of genes crucial for stem cell maintenance and differentiation, and the results may contribute sig-nificantly to the understanding of the development of cancer.

A review of previous research suggests that prominent claims of sex differences of gene-disease associations are often insufficiently documented and validated, according to an article in the August 22/29 issue of JAMA.

A University of Warwick physicist has uncovered how female cells are able to choose randomly between their two X chromosomes and why that choice is always lucky.

Most research on Lou Gehrig's disease therapeutics has been based on the assumption that its two forms (sporadic and hereditary) are similar in their underlying cause. Now, researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have found an absolute biochemical distinction between these two disease variants, suggesting that current approaches to drug discovery should be re-examined.

Researchers at Melbourne's Howard Florey Institute have opened up new treatment possibilities for Huntington's disease by proving a scientific theory incorrect.

A study led by scientists from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may have identified a molecular mechanism involved in the development of schizophrenia.