Genetic ancestry plays a key role in determining the behavior of head and neck tumors and may help explain why African-American patients survive for half as long as their counterparts of European ancestry, according to a new review study led by researchers from the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Institute for Genome Sciences (IGS) and the University of Maryland Greenebaum Comprehensive Cancer Center (UMGCCC).

Gene-editing tools like CRISPR have unlocked new treatments for previously uncurable diseases. Now, researchers at the University of British Columbia are extending those possibilities to the skin for the first time.

A new study shows that cancer damages its own DNA by pushing key genes to work too hard. Researchers found that the most powerful genetic “on switches” in cancer cells, called super-enhancers, drive unusually intense gene activity. That high gear creates stress on the DNA and can cause dangerous breaks.

A multidisciplinary team has developed a selective compound that inhibits an enzyme tied to inflammation in people at genetic risk for Alzheimer’s, while preserving normal brain function and crossing the blood-brain barrier.