Almost three metres of tightly-coiled DNA strands fit into a cell’s nucleus. As DNA replicates, the strands unwind and unfold and then re-package into chromosomes, the genetic blueprints of life – but what happens if this process becomes entangled?
Untangling the heaps of DNA strings during cell division is the job of special enzymes called topoisomerases. How they achieve this feat may be simpler than previously thought, says U of T research. In a study published in the current onli
Devising a nifty variation on a tested method to bind compounds useful in biological and medical research, a group of chemists at the University of Illinois at Chicago has discovered a new way to make permanent these bindings called ligation reactions.
The group, led by David Crich, distinguished professor of chemistry at UIC, reports their findings in the March 1 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
Crich, graduate student Venkataramanan Krishnamurthy and post
Fusion molecules could be the key to producing vaccines from plants
Scientists have developed a new kind of molecule which they believe could ultimately lead to the development of a vaccine against HIV using genetically modified tobacco. Writing in Plant Biotechnology Journal, Dr Patricia Obregon and colleagues from St George’s, University of London along with researchers at the University of Warwick say they have overcome a major barrier that has so far frustrated attempt
The chemist Mikel Arandigoyen Vidaurre, of the Department of Chemistry and Soil Sciences of the University of Navarra, has proved the effectiveness of new formulas for the restoration of buildings. In his thesis, defended at the School of Sciences, he proposes a combination of calcium and cement, which is able to strengthen the qualities of both materials.
The restoration of architectural patrimony currently presents certain problems of compatibility. Cement-based mortar is useful fo
Scientists have uncovered new information about what orchestrates the complex balance between blood stem cells and mature blood cells, a relationship that is often disrupted in leukemia. The results, published in the March issue of Cancer Cell, will lead to a better understanding of the behavior of leukemic cells and may have vital clinical applications for patients recovering from chemotherapy, radiation therapy, or bone marrow transplantation.
Recent studies have implicated reduced le
Researchers at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and the Department of Horticulture in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech have developed a new procedure for the efficient transfer of specific DNA sequences into the genome of strawberry. The scientists have used Agrobacterium tumefaciens, nature’s genetic engineer, to introduce DNA into the woodland or alpine strawberry Fragaria vesca.
The method takes advantage of Agrobacterium’s circular DNA
Oral cancer is the 6th most common cancer in men and the 14th most common cancer in women. In the US, oral cancer will be diagnosed in an estimated 30,000 Americans this year and will cause more than 8,000 deaths. The disease kills approximately one person every hour. Oral cancer can spread quickly. The majority of oral cancers are diagnosed in late stages, which accounts for the high death rates. Only half of those diagnosed with the disease will survive more than five years. However, if the
Embryonic development is already disturbed at concentrations 10 times lower than the norm for human consumption.
Dioxin-like contaminants such as PCB’s are probably playing a key role in the extinction of the eel. Embronyic development in this species is halted at dioxin concentrations 10 times below the levels for human consumption. This discovery was made by a team of biologists, led by Guido van den Thillart, who are conducting research in Leiden into the sexual maturity and
New research at UT Southwestern Medical Center shows that on a biochemical level, hormone-like molecules in tiny worms called nematodes work similarly to the way in which certain hormones work in humans — findings that one day may help eradicate worm infections that afflict a third of the world’s population.
UT Southwestern researchers have discovered a molecule that activates genes involved in the development and reproduction of Caenorhabditis elegans, a common research worm abou
Biologists at New York University have identified a key factor that enables photoreceptor cells to decide their color sensitivity. The findings, which were uncovered by researchers in Professor Claude Desplan’s laboratory in NYU’s Center for Developmental Genetics, were published in the March 9th issue of the journal Nature.
The researchers used the fruit fly Drosophila as a genetic model system to study stochastic events like color sensitivity in photoreceptor cell
First-of-its-kind clinical trial will explore safety, preliminary efficacy of injecting human stem cells directly into the brain to treat fatal pediatric neurodegenerative disorder
Researchers in Doernbecher Children’s Hospital at Oregon Health & Science University will begin a Phase I clinical trial using stem cells in infants and children with a rare neurodegenerative disorder that affects infants and children. The groundbreaking trial will test whether HuCNS-SC(TM), a pro
Applications of new method will make possible earliest warning of cancer and other diseases
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have developed a paradigm-shifting method for detecting small amounts of proteins in the blood. Applications of this method will make discerning low-abundance molecules associated with cancers (such as breast cancer), Alzheimer’s disease, prion diseases, and possibly psychiatric diseases relatively easy and more accurat
Complete description of pneumococcal vaccine targets
New tools in the fight against pneumococci – the bugs targeted by vaccines recently announced by the Department of Health – are described by a team led by scientists from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. They have put together a complete description of the targets of the vaccine that will help monitor the disease and provide new tools for rapid diagnosis.
Pneumococci (formal name Streptococcus pneumoniae) are wides
Researchers at New York University’s Center for Comparative Functional Genomics and the University of California, Berkeley have used computational analyses to predict a genome-wide map of microRNA (miRNA) targets in the animal model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans). MicroRNAs bind to messenger RNA (mRNA) in a specific section, called 3’UTR, and are known to regulate them. Parts of the predicted map were confirmed through the development of a novel in vivo method that asked
Researchers create new tool against transmission of virus
Researchers have successfully created a genetically engineered mosquito that shows a high level of resistance against the most prevalent type of dengue fever virus, providing a powerful weapon against a disease that infects 50 million people each year.
Anthony James, a UC Irvine vector biologist, is one of a team of researchers who injected DNA into mosquito embryos, creating the first stable transgenic mosquito resi
In a fascinating new study forthcoming from The Quarterly Review of Biology, biologists from the University of Oxford explore a rare tactic employed by females badgers to maximize their reproductive success. The authors argue that conception during pregnancy, known as superfetation, benefits female reproductive fitness by reducing the risk of infanticide, extending the female’s window of opportunity for conception, and increasing the genetic diversity of the litter.
“Natural selec
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