There’s no such thing as a “good” case of dengue fever, but some are worse than others, and it’s difficult to determine which patients will make a smooth recovery and which may find their condition life-threatening. Now, after scouring the gene expression of hundreds of patients infected with dengue virus—a mosquito-borne virus that can cause […]
Cancer: A mutation that breaks gene interplay in 3D
Inside the cell, DNA is tightly wrapped around proteins and packed in a complex, 3D structure that we call “chromatin.” Chromatin not only protects our genetic material from damage, but also organizes the entire genome by regulating the expression of genes in three dimensions, unwinding them to be presented to the cell’s gene-expression machinery and […]
Discovery in cell development changes understanding of how genes shape early embryos
Our bodies hold roughly 14 trillion cells, each containing a nucleus with DNA measuring two meters long by 20 atoms wide. To fit inside each nucleus, DNA coils around specialized proteins. These spools of wrapped DNA inhibit gene regulatory proteins from binding to protein-coding stretches along the genome, which help keep genes in the “off” […]
Two thousand human brains yield clues to how genes raise risk for mental illnesses
It’s one thing to detect sites in the genome associated with mental disorders; it’s quite another to discover the biological mechanisms by which these changes in DNA work in the human brain to boost risk. In their first concerted effort to tackle the latter, 15 collaborating research teams of the National Institutes of Health-funded PsychENCODE […]
How much are we learning about the genome? Natural selection is science’s best critic
In 2003, the Human Genome Project revealed to the world the three billion chemical units within human DNA. Since that time, scientists have designed many ways to organize and assess this overwhelmingly large amount of information. Now, scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have determined that evolution can help guide these efforts. Researchers have […]
When less is more: A promising approach for low-cell-number epigenomic profiling
Scientists at Kyushu University and Tokyo Institute of Technology in Japan have developed a technique that enables analysis of DNA-protein interactions using very small numbers of cells, ranging from 100 to 1,000. Their method could capture previously unexamined epigenomic information, facilitate biomarker discovery and open new avenues for precision medicine. A collaborative study by researchers […]
Ant-Man and The Wasp: Helping Marvel superheroes breathe
Marvel comics superheroes Ant-Man and the Wasp — nom de guerre stars of the eponymous 2018 film — possess the ability to temporarily shrink down to the size of insects, while retaining the mass and strength of their normal human bodies. But a new study suggests that, when bug-sized, Ant-Man and the Wasp would face […]
Single protein controls thousands of genes essential for sperm development: New regulatory mechanism could underlie male infertility
A single protein regulates a battery of key genes inside developing sperm, according to a new study out of Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Scientists discovered the protein — called Dazl — controls a network of genes essential for developing sperm to replicate and survive. The findings, published in Cell Reports, could lay […]
New platform based on biology and nanotechnology carries mRNA directly to target cells: Combined platform provides safe, effective passage for therapies treating cancer and other diseases, researchers say
Delivering an effective therapeutic payload to specific target cells with few adverse effects is considered by many to be the holy grail of medical research. A new Tel Aviv University study explores a biological approach to directing nanocarriers loaded with protein “game changers” to specific cells. The groundbreaking method may prove useful in treating myriad […]
Researchers wake-up DNA from soil bacteria to discover novel acid antibiotic
Scleric Acid has been discovered by capturing and engineering a DNA fragment from soil bacteria Streptomyces sclerotialus, and could help fight bacterial infections — by researchers at the School of Life Sciences and Department of Chemistry, University of Warwick. A team led by Dr Christophe Corre and Dr Manuela Tosin have had published in Chemical […]