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Epigenetic changes are chemical modifications that turn our genes off or on. In a new study from Uppsala University, researchers show that tea consumption in women leads to epigenetic changes in genes that are known to interact with cancer and estrogen metabolism.

More than 99 percent of your genetic information is exactly the same as every other person on the planet. Your genes determine your skin colour, sex, and hair colour and whether or not you have certain genetic diseases.

A pioneering CRISPR trial in China will be the first to try editing the genomes of cells inside the body, in an effort to eliminate cancer-causing HPV virus

Uh oh... Now researchers have found evidence that the unwanted mutations brought on by CRISPR in living animals could be a more widespread than we thought.

Researchers have identified a new way to potentially slow the fast-growing cells that characterize all types of cancer. By removing a specific protein from cells, they were able to slow the cell cycle, which is out of control in cancer. The findings were made in kidney and cervical cancer cells and are a long way from being applied in people, but could be the basis of a treatment option in the future.

FOR $150, YOU can buy a Crispr kit online and use it to engineer heartier gut bacteria in your kitchen. That’s thrilling, but the technology is giving Jennifer Doudna, an inventor of the gene-­editing method, nightmares. Easy genetic modification could mean cures for cancer (yay!), kitty-sized pigs (squee!), and, yes, designer babies (ack).

The men and women who are trying to bring down cancer are starting to join forces rather than work alone. Together, they are winning a few of the battles against the world’s fiercest disease. For this unprecedented special report, we visited elite cancer research centers around the country to find out where we are in the war.

In addition to relieving headaches and preventing heart attacks, the drug seems to keep malignant cells from spreading

THE WORLD’S LARGEST genetics research center isn’t at Harvard or Stanford or even the NIH. It’s a 20-mile drive from Hong Kong International Airport, in the bustling Chinese city of Shenzhen. BGI-–formerly the Beijing Genomics Institute—has sequenced the DNA of organisms big and small: millet, rice, the giant panda, 40 types of silkworm, the SARS virus, even a 4,000-year-old man named Inuk. And soon it will add a new name to its genomic guest book: Dubs, the Alaskan Malamute, and mascot for...

Favorable mutations that went along with increased fruit size and other beneficial traits in tomato plants do not always play well together. A study published in Cell found that natural mutations in two important tomato genes that were selected for different purposes in breeding can cause extreme branching and reduce fruit yield when they occur in the same plant. The researchers used those genes to create a tomato plant that grows more tomatoes.