A new method to make very small patterns of DNA molecules on surfaces has been developed by chemists at the University of California, Davis, and Wayne State University, Detroit. The technique could allow faster and more powerful devices for DNA sequencing, biological sensors and disease diagnosis.

The technique, called nanografting, can be used to make patterns of DNA that are up to a thousand times smaller than those in commercially available microarrays, said UC Davis chemist Gang-yu Liu

A computer simulation that shows how branches and bends in blood vessels disturb smooth-flowing blood and contribute to heart disease has been built by researchers at the University of California, Davis. Eventually, it could be possible to use such models to predict the risk of some types of heart disease.

Every minute at rest the heart pumps out about five liters, or more than a gallon, of blood. The swirls and eddies of that blood could help determine where fatty plaques build up, damagin

There is a sound neurological basis for the cliché that men are more aggressive than women, according to new findings by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.

Using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, the Penn scientists illustrated for the first time that the relative size of the sections of the brain known to constrain aggression and monitor behavior is larger in women than in men.

The research, by Ruben C. Gur, PhD, and Raquel E. Gur, MD, PhD, and

Folic acid is not only a safeguard against spina bifida and other birth defects in babies – it can also prevent heart disease and strokes, two of Northern Ireland’s biggest killers, according to research from the University of Ulster.

Research at the University has shown and folic acid and three other related B-vitamins can prevent the accumulation of a high blood level of homocysteine, a risk factor in heart disease and strokes.

The risk of high homocysteine is similar to the risk

Changes in the brain’s white matter may play a major role in the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, whose baffling origin has traditionally been blamed on the gray matter. The new findings could provide a fresh direction for Alzheimer’s research in this neglected part of the brain, offering the potential for early diagnosis and enhanced therapies.

The results are reported in the Sept. 17 print edition of Biochemistry, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the w

Connecticut Sea Grant research could be aquaculture breakthrough

Synthetic growth hormones could shorten the growth time needed for farm-raised fish to reach market size. In research led by Connecticut Sea Grant scientist Thomas Chen, transgenics, or the technique of transferring DNA from one species to another, has showed promise as a method for stimulating growth hormone production. Using rainbow trout and tilapia, Chen is testing a synthetic protein to determine whether it can sti

Scientists have discovered an elusive, mutated gene named for the Greek goddess, Aphrodite Kallipygos, that causes certain sheep to have unusually big and muscular bottoms. They hope the genetic mutation will illuminate how muscle and fat are deposited in these animals and possibly in humans.

The discovery is especially exciting, said the researchers, because the unusual gene has evaded all the traditional means of detection for nearly a decade. In fact, the gene appears to represent one of

A team of Dartmouth engineers and doctors are trying to find more comfortable and comprehensive ways to examine breast tissue to better detect and diagnose breast cancer. The Dartmouth group is simultaneously developing and testing four different breast imaging techniques.

The multidisciplinary Dartmouth team includes researchers from the Thayer School of Engineering and Dartmouth Medical School, and they are working under the auspices of the Norris Cotton Cancer Center and the department o

“We need to get (chronic kidney disease) on the radar screen, especially when there’s a medical history of high blood pressure or diabetes, so both patients and physicians are more aware of the consequences and opportunities to intervene.” – Neil R. Powe, M.D., M.P.H.

Kidney disease patients are at a much increased risk of death when they have delays getting to a specialist, a Johns Hopkins-led study shows. Delays occur more often among black males, the uninsured and those who have mul

An experimental gene transfer technique shut down cell re-growth in the arteries’ interior lining and reduced the inflammatory response – two main causes of re-narrowing of newly opened blood vessels, researchers report in today’s rapid access issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.

The process that opens blocked blood vessels – either inflating a tiny balloon to force open the narrowed vessel (angioplasty) or inserting a tiny mesh tube called a stent to se

Researchers have proven that gene therapy can reverse the pathological features of muscular dystrophy in an animal model. Before, gene therapy had only been able to prevent further muscle-wasting in mice. “We expect to build on these results in the continuing search for a way to treat a horrible disease. Our results indicate that gene therapy could be used not only to halt or prevent this disease, but also to restore normal muscle function in older patients,” says Dr. Jeffrey S. Chamberlain, professo

Discovery could lead to the identification of other cancer-preventing compounds

Using gene chip technology, researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health have identified the blueprint of genes and enzymes in the body that enable sulforaphane, a compound found in broccoli and other vegetables, to prevent cancer and remove toxins from cells. The discovery was made using a “gene chip” that allows researchers to monitor the complex interactions of thousands of protein

Scientists in the Center for Human Genomics at Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions have discovered a gene that “may play an important role in prostate cancer susceptibility in both African-American men and men of European descent.”

The 31-member team reports in the October issue of Nature Genetics that mutations in the MSR1 (for Macrophage Scavenger Receptor 1) gene were found in 4.4 percent of Caucasians who had prostate cancer, compared to 0.8 p

Researchers discover gene in cancer-causing “STAT” family encodes two -not one-functional proteins

When the Human Genome Project first revealed last year that humans possess only an estimated 30,000 genes – fives times more than a mustard weed plant – the fact that many genes code for more than just one protein assumed greater importance. Such protein variations, researchers reasoned, must play an even larger role in contributing to the remarkable complexity of human beings.

In findings they believe are fundamentally important to both biology and medicine, chemists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have shown experimentally for the first time that proteins can behave differently inside cells than when taken out of those cells and studied in test tubes.

“For 40 years, we thought we could learn most everything about proteins by studying them in water, but this work shows we are missing important observations by looking at them just in water or oth

Researchers at Stanford University Medical Center have devised a way to sneak DNA into skin cells taken from people with a potentially deadly genetic skin disorder. These modified cells later formed normal, healthy skin when transplanted onto the skin of mice. The technique, published in the advance online publication of the October issue of the journal Nature Medicine, marks the first time researchers have stably replaced the mutated gene in this disease and introduces a new gene therapy technique t