A new discovery by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons could fix one of the major shortcomings of current gene-editing tools, including CRISPR, and offer a powerful new approach for genetic engineering and gene therapy. Their new technology, called INTEGRATE, harnesses bacterial jumping genes to reliably insert any DNA sequence into […]
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Scientists restore some functions in a pig’s brain hours after death
Circulation and cellular activity were restored in a pig’s brain four hours after its death, a finding that challenges long-held assumptions about the timing and irreversible nature of the cessation of some brain functions after death, Yale scientists report April 18 in the journal Nature. The brain of a postmortem pig obtained from a meatpacking […]
New DNA ‘shredder’ technique goes beyond CRISPR’s scissors
In the last six years, a tool called CRISPR-Cas9 has transformed genetic research, allowing scientists to snip and edit DNA strands at precise locations like a pair of tiny scissors. But sometimes, it takes more than scissors to do the job. Now, a collaborative international team has unveiled a new CRISPR-based tool that acts more […]
New biologically derived metal-organic framework mimics DNA
The field of materials science has become abuzz with “metal-organic frameworks” (MOFs), versatile compounds made up of metal ions connected to organic ligands, thus forming one-, two-, or three-dimensional structures. There is now an ever-growing list of applications for MOF, including separating petrochemicals, detoxing water from heavy metals and fluoride anions, and recovering hydrogen or […]
New RNA sequencing strategy provides insight into microbiomes: Tools allow scientists to understand the activity of naturally occurring microbiomes in response to real-world conditions and diet
Researchers from the University of Chicago have developed a high-throughput RNA sequencing strategy to study the activity of the gut microbiome. The new tools analyze transfer RNA (tRNA), a molecular Rosetta Stone that translates the genetic information encoded in DNA into proteins that perform basic biological functions. Developing a clear picture of tRNA dynamics will […]
Eyes of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease patients show evidence of prions
By the time symptoms of sporadic Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (sCJD) are typically discovered, death is looming and inevitable. But, in a new study, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine with colleagues at the National Institutes of Health and UC San Francisco, report finding tell-tale evidence of the condition’s infectious agent in the […]
New insights into DNA phase separation
“Each human cell contains approximately 2 meters of DNA, yet that are too small to be visible to the unaided eye. Amazingly, all of that DNA is tightly packaged into a teeny little nucleus. There, we were able to observe the most basic separation principle of oil and water phases.” A new study by Professor […]