Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found an enzyme vital for controlling the early stages of cell death – a beneficial and normal process when it works right, but malignant in a variety of cancers when it malfunctions.

The researchers are now examining tissue from cancer patients to try to determine how mutations in the enzyme’s gene may relate to cancer. “We think this gene will really be a hot spot in research,” said Dr. Qing Zhong, postdoctoral researcher

A group of LSU researchers, led by biological sciences Professor Mark Batzer, have unraveled the details of a 25-million-year-old evolutionary process in the human genome. Their study focused on the origin and spread of transposable elements in the genome, many of which are known to be related to certain genetic disorders, such as hemophilia.

“Effectively, we’ve devised a theory that allows us to explain the origin of about half of all of the human genome,” said Batzer.

Efforts to halt a fungus that deprives about 60 million people a year of food have led Purdue University scientists to discover the molecular machinery that enables the pathogen to blast its way into rice plants.

The fungus, Magnaporthe grisea, which is known as rice blast fungus, is the most deadly of the pathogens that attack rice, reducing yields by as much as 75 percent in infected areas. Learning how the fungus tricks rice’s natural defenses against pathogens to penetrat

MicroRNAs are a recently discovered large class of small, non-coding genes. Each animal genome contains hundreds of these genes, which have been shown to regulate the expression of protein coding genes by binding to partially complementary sites in messenger RNAs. However, little is known about the biological function of these tiny genes, which are encoded in a string of 21 to 24 DNA bases.

In a series of four high-profile papers in Nature, Nature Genetics, Developmental Biology,

With equipment designed to probe the smallest segments of the genetic code, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and collaborating institutions have found something much larger: sections of the chromosomes of lung cancer cells where cancer-related genes may lurk.

In a study in the July 1 issue of the journal Cancer Research, the researchers used single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array technology, which focuses on the building blocks of individual genes, to identify regio

New research suggests novel treatment targets for the most common form of childhood epilepsy – with the potential to have fewer side effects than traditional therapy. The findings from Wake Forest University School of Medicine are reported today in the July issue of the Journal of Neurophysiology.

Through studies in animals, the researchers learned more about the possible brain pathways involved in absence, or petit mal, seizures and tested a drug that revealed a potential new targe

New study boosts evidence for link between kids’ sleep and behavior problems

Several years ago, University of Michigan researchers published some of the strongest evidence yet that children who snore when they sleep are far more likely to have attention and hyperactivity problems than their non-snoring peers.

Today, that link takes on a new long-term dimension with the publication in the journal Sleep of follow-up data from some of the same children who took part in the

New research sheds light on why cervical precancers disappear in some women and not in others. Scientists at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center report in the July 1 issue of Clinical Cancer Research that the reason many of these lesions persist is an unlikely mix of human papilloma virus (HPV) strain and a woman’s individual immune system.

For decades, scientists have known that HPV causes nearly all cases of cancer in the neck of the womb. Most sexually active women – some rep

As a part of a research collaboration, scientists at the Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sweden, have developed a new drug candidate against HIV-infection. The new substance, named alphaHGA, will be tested on patients this year. In a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy, parts of the research essential for the performance of the clinical trial are presented.

At the end of 2004, approximately 40 million people were living with HIV-infection, most of them in southern Afr

A useful tool for evolution studies

An international team of researchers led by the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Professor Alfredo Ruiz, has launched in this month’s issue of the journal Genome Research the first detailed physical map of the Drosophila buzzatii chromosomes. This fly species is used worldwide as a model for studies in evolutionary genetics.

The investigation involved two steps. First, a genomic library was produced. This library comprises more th

Scientists from the UK and around the world will benefit from £6M grant awards for large-scale science research facilities. This significant investment will ensure that the world-leading Council for Central Laboratories of the Research Councils’ (CCLRC) large facilities will remain internationally competitive and capable of providing the technological infrastructure necessary for UK and international scientists to probe materials deeper, faster and more accurately than ever before.

Ei

Study marks first step in decoding gene regulatory logic

Investigators from the University California, San Diego (UCSD) Branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research (LICR) and NimbleGen Systems have developed an efficient method to identify thousands of regulatory sequences in the human genome, according to a study published today in Nature.

Genes are defined by their ability to generate a functional product. Thus the ’promoter’ – a DNA sequence that cont

If you thought the sleep-deprived months with your newborn were tough, pity the poor mother dolphin or killer whale.

Reporting in the June 30 edition of the peer-reviewed journal Nature, UCLA/Veterans Affairs neuroscientists report a developmental pattern in bottlenose dolphins and killer whales that is unique from other mammals, with calves of both species active 24 hours a day during their first month.

The mother also has minimal sleep during this period, but unlike a

Physiology is sometimes a crossroads where many different paths converge. Such is the case with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a severe and often fatal condition also known as adult respiratory distress syndrome or simply “shock lung.”

Acute respiratory distress syndrome can be caused by a number of underlying conditions, including smoke inhalation, a severe blow to the chest, bad pneumonia, septic shock, severe blood loss, or drug overdose. Although the causes vary greatly, t

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology and the Vienna University of Technology have developed a modular system that combines chemical and biological sensing tools capable of providing simultaneous, nano-level resolution information on cell topography and biological activity. The tools integrate micro and nanoscale electrodes into the tips of an atomic force microscope (AFM). A veritable Swiss army knife of sensors, the patented technique is currently being tested to combine other sensing

Map of gene control regions provides tool for understanding cells’ different roles

In another step to decipher information in the human genome, scientists have discovered the location and sequence of over 10,000 DNA regions that function as genetic on-off switches, or “promoters” in human fibroblasts. Fibroblasts are relatively generic, easily maintained, human cells that form connective tissues throughout the body. By knowing the specific sequences of DNA that control the ne