A study published this week purports that mass spectrometry technology is robust and can achieve reproducible results, while at the same time suggesting that the skills of researchers using the machines may not match the technical abilities of the instruments.

Study reveals essential step in female reproductive process.

Researchers from the National Institutes of Health and other institutions have identified in mice two proteins essential for ovulation to take place.

The finding has implications for treating infertility resulting from a failure of ovulation to occur as well as for developing new means to prevent pregnancy by preventing the release of the egg.

Although obesity and gallstones often go together, U.S. scientists say genetically modified mice fed high-fat food don't grow fat, but do develop gallstones.

Washington University School of Medicine researchers in St. Louis said they studied a strain of mice genetically engineered to lack a substance called liver fatty acid binding protein. The scientists compared the modified mice with their healthy, normal littermates.

A team of researchers from the United States, the Netherlands and Iceland has identified three genes containing common mutations that are associated with altered kidney disease risk. One of the discovered genes, the UMOD gene, produces Tamm-Horsfall protein, the most common protein in the urine of healthy individuals. Although the Tamm-Horsfall protein has been known for almost 60 years, its functions are not well understood and its relationship to chronic kidney disease risk was not known previously. The findings are published in the May 10 issue of Nature Genetics.

The mystery of genetic disease is only partially solved with the identification of a mutated gene. Often, the pattern of disease – the features or disorders associated with it – varies in type and severity among those who are affected. Scientists, physicians and patients all ask why.

New research led by investigators at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) identifies three genes that specifically mediate the metastasis, or spread, of breast cancer to the brain and illuminates the mechanisms by which this spread occurs. The study was published online today in Nature.

According to the study, COX2 and HB-EGF -- genes that induce cancer cell mobility and invasiveness -- were found to be genetic mediators in the spread of breast cancer to the brain. A third gene, ST6GALNAC5, was shown to provide cancer cells with the capability of exiting the blood circulation and passing through the blood-brain barrier to enter the brain tissue.

Of dozens of candidates potentially involved in increasing a person's risk for the most common type of Alzheimer's disease that affects more than 5 million Americans over the age of 65, one gene that keeps grabbing Johns Hopkins researchers' attention makes a protein called neuroglobin.