Individuals who carry a particular type of the gene have more fat in their livers and carry a greater risk of developing liver disease, new studies have found.

The gene, known as Patatin-like phospholipase domain containing 3 or PNPLA3, is more common in Hispanics in comparison to Caucasians and African-Americans thus leading to increased instances of Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the former

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is welcoming proposals for food and medicine made from genetically engineered animals and will come up with rules for such products to ensure public and animal health.

The move announced Thursday paves way for such company as Boston-based Aqua Bounty Technologies to get approval in producing and selling its faster-growing salmon. The firm has the technology to transfer DNA from a fast-growing eel-like fish to the genes of salmon to make the fish grow in one year instead of three years

Canada's largest publicly listed pharmaceutical company Biovail Corp. acquired U.S. privately held Prestwick Pharmaceuticals Inc. for $100 million, a move that would allow the Canadian drug maker to change its focus to central nervous system medication.

Prestwick holds the Canadian and U.S. rights to Xenazine, a drug used to treat chorea, an illness related to Huntington's disease, a rare genetic disorder that could lead to memory loss, uncontrolled movements and death. The drug is approved by the Food and Drugs Administration

Embryonic stem cell-derived cells can help prevent rejection of hearts transplanted into mice without the use of immunosuppressive drugs, researchers say.

The implications are huge for people who have undergone bone marrow or organ transplants and must take drugs that suppress their immune systems to avoid having their bodies reject the transplanted organ as foreign tissue

An experimental new breast cancer vaccine has completely eliminated a type of breast cancer tumour in tests on mice, say researchers.

The vaccine targets breast cancers that grow wildly in response to a growth factor called HER-2, which is prevalent in about 25 percent of women with breast cancer