University of Minnesota Genomics Center (UMGC) researchers collaborated with more than 20 national and international research institutions to identify a number of genetic markers associated with idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (IIP), a serious and often fatal lung disease with a poorly understood cause. Although there are several variants of IIP, the preponderance of patients in the current study suffered from interstitial pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), the most common and severe IIP.

These genetic locations (loci) led to the identification of neighboring genes proposed to be involved in the cause and/or progression of the disease. Researchers believe these discoveries will move them closer to more effective treatments.

These findings were recently published in Nature Genetics.

After one of the largest examinations of genetic data ever conducted, researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital have found a genetic link between five types of mental disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, autism, major depression and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

While researchers acknowledge hundreds of genes may ultimately determine psychiatric illness, the study’s significance lies in its demonstration that the five psychiatric conditions may actually represent a disease spectrum rather than five distinct, unrelated conditions.

The latest findings, published in The Lancet, stem from a genetic examination of more than 60,000 people from across the globe.

According to University of Minnesota Physicians psychiatrist S. Charles Schulz, M.D., the head of the University of Minnesota Medical School’s Department of Psychiatry, the latest research is significant in how it might lead to a breakdown in the silos of psychiatric illness.

Researchers from the College of Pharmacy and Medical School working within the Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, have partnered to identify genetic variations that may help signal which acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients will benefit or not benefit from one of the newest antileukemic agents.

Their study is published today in Clinical Cancer Research.

A team funded by the Minnesota Partnership for Biotechnology and Medical Genomics has uncovered clues to possible drugs for two rare cancers through research involving baker’s yeast and a library of chemical compounds.

If you missed it, Amanda Schaffer, a science and medical columnist for Slate recently wrote a compelling piece for Newsweek about genetic material found only on the Y chromosome making its way into the brains of women.

According to researchers at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, the concept, known as “microchimerism,” has opened up questions around a) just how the material got there, since it’s absent in a woman’s genome at birth outside of rare genetic defects, and b) the effect of the phenomenon once the material arrives in the female brain.

Schaffer writes:

“While microchimerism has been found in other parts of the body, the discovery extends the phenomenon to the human brain. And it energizes many questions about how this curious mix of self and other functions in our bodies—and how its presence in such a crucial and sensitive organ might differ.”

Now, researchers are trying to determine what the impact might be.  Could microchimerism of the brain cause problems down the road?  Could the misplaced genetic material actually offer some potential benefit?  According to Schaffer’s piece:

“The question,” explains Diana Bianchi, a reproductive geneticist and professor at Tufts University School of Medicine, “is whether it is helping or hurting.” And as the burgeoning literature on autoimmune diseases, cancer, and tissue injury and repair suggests, the answer is probably some of both.

Check out Schaffer’s article, “How Male DNA Gets in a Woman’s Brain” over at Newsweek’s site The Daily Beast.