Genetics news

The study of our genes is central to our understanding of practically everything about us.  They are the building blocks of how our bodies grow, function and what they look like.  Here are some of the latest stories making the news, as well as fun facts about genetics.

'Lorenzo's oil' boy dies

Lorenzo Odone, the inspiration for the film Lorenzo's Oil, has died as a result of his genetic disorder.  Lorenzo was diagnosed at the age of six with adrenoleukodystrophy, or ALD, a rare, terminal, brain disorder.  Doctors said he wouldn't live for more than two years, but his parents developed an oil which helped to prolong his life.  He died at home on Friday, a day after his 30th birthday.

Read more about Lorenzo's story »

Read about the funding ALD Life will receive from Jeans for Genes in 2008 »

Changes to the law on embryo research move a step closer

MPs have voted in support of a change in the law on embryo research.  In the House of Commons on Monday 19th May 2008, MPs voted in favour of allowing scientists to create hybrid human animal embryos for research purposes.  Many experts believe that such research will bring new treatments for life-limiting medical conditions such as Parkinson’s, motor neurone disease, Huntington’s disease and cystic fibrosis.

MPs also backed a change in the law which will allow couples to create so-called ‘saviour siblings’

Read more on this story »

18 year old's sight saved by gene therapy

Steven Howarth faced losing his sight because of a rare genetic disorder which causes blindness.  The 18 year old from Bolton has Leber's congenital amaurosis which affects one in 80,000 people in the UK.

Thanks to gene therapy at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, Stephen's sight has dramatically improved.  Get the details »

The tearless onion

Don’t cry, it’s only an onion!

Scientists in New Zealand have created the world’s first tearless onion.  After 6 years of studying how to turn a gene ‘off’, they’ve found a way to shut down the gene which produces the enzyme that makes us cry.

Not only does it make cooking a much more pleasant experience, it also enhances the onion’s flavour and health benefits.  Read more about the tearless onion »

Magic genes?  That’s wizard!

You might have thought that Harry Potter had just helped to rid the world of He Who Should Not Be Named.  But he’s also had a hand in helping us to understand how magic is inherited. 

Dr Julian Knight and his team from the Wellcome Trust have been studying the presence of magic in families like the Blacks and the Weasleys in the Harry Potter novels.  They’ve been looking at how their genes have produced muggles, purebloods and halfbloods.  Get the full story »

Do you look like this man? 

Meet my distant cousin, Genghis Khan

One in every 200 men alive today is a relative of Genghis Khan.  One in every 200 men alive today is a relative of Genghis Khan. 

An international team of geneticists has discovered that more than 16 million men in central Asia have the same male Y chromosome as the great Mongol leader. 

His enthusiastic mating habits mean he now accounts for around 8% of the men in that region.  Think you might be one of them?  Find out more »

Prince William and President Bush are cousins 

Genealogists in America have found that Prince William and President George Bush are related! 

The family link, Henry Spencer, came to light in the Victorian census records.  He makes them 17th cousins.  Do you think there is a family resemblance?  Find more on this story here »

Don’t it make my brown eyes blue

Ol’ Blue Eyes, Frank Sinatra, owes his eye colour to a genetic mutation that probably happened between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago.  Scientists at the University of Copenhagen say we all originally had brown eyes. 

But a change in the gene responsible for eye colour occurred somewhere near the Black Sea in the Neolithic period.  It literally ‘turned off’ our ability to produce brown eyes.  Read more about this story »  

Twin sisters unlock the secrets of leukaemia

Olivia and Isabella are identical twins.  Olivia has acute lymphoblastic leukaemia but her sister is a healthy little girl.  Doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital, the Institute of Cancer Research in London and Oxford University joined forces to study the girls. 

They hoped they would discover vital clues about the causes of the disease.  Although both girls were found to be missing a gene in their bone marrow, Olivia had gone on to develop leukaemia because she was missing a second gene.  Read more about their fascinating story here »