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Published on October 25, 2017
A new version of the gene-editing tool CRISPR (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats) has been developed by a research team led by Feng Zhang, Ph.D., which says its ability to target and edit RNA presents several advantages over its familiar DNA-editing counterpart. Dr. Zhang, of the Broad Institute of…
Published on September 20, 2017
Synpromics says growing global demand has prompted the developer of gene control and synthetic promoter technology to relocate to expanded facilities in Edinburgh, Scotland. The company has moved into more than 5,000 square feet at the Roslin Innovation Centre, based at the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush Campus. Synpromics’ new…
Published on February 7, 2017
“Geology is the study of pressure and time. That’s all it takes really… pressure… and time…,” bellows Morgan Freeman’s character, Red, when foreshadowing his friend Andy Dufresne’s harrowing escape from prison in the critically acclaimed movie Shawshank Redemption. Oddly enough, this same logic can be applied to antibiotic resistance, although…
Published on January 18, 2017
Johns Hopkins researchers have published new data that suggests epigenetic changes controlling how DNA operates, provides survival advantages to a subset of pancreatic cancer cells. The results, published in the Nature Genetics article, “Epigenomic Reprogramming during Pancreatic Cancer Progression Links Anabolic Glucose Metabolism to Distant Metastasis,” show that these changes…
Published on November 7, 2016
Investigators at Northwestern University have assembled study results that looked at the collaboration patterns in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) areas and found that some disciplines represented a notable challenge for many female faculty. The findings from this study were published recently in PLOS Biology through an article…
Published on September 23, 2016
Scientists at the National University of Ireland Galway have recently shown that the TP53 gene has even greater anti-cancer activity than previously suspected. The new study—“A role for the p53 tumour suppressor in regulating the balance between homologous recombination and non-homologous end joining”—published recently in Open Biology, provides new insight…
Published on April 27, 2016
Understanding the genetic differences that predispose addictive behavior in one individual versus another could significantly influence treatment options and outcomes for patients. Moreover, identifying the genetic factors that cause some to stay clean, while others relapse, is of significant value to clinicians and treatment facilities. Now, researchers at the University…
Published on April 12, 2016
“Life finds a way,” is the famous line uttered by Jeff Goldblum’s character in the original Jurassic Park film. While the statement is true, it is also unfortunate when it applies to cancer cells. When a targeted therapy blocks a pathway that enables tumors to grow, the cancer cells usually…
Published on February 23, 2016
Lipidomics, the large-scale analysis of cellular lipids, is not only enriching the discipline of systems biology, it is also contributing to the development of new biomarkers. Yet for all the structural and mechanistic insights it is capable of providing, lipidomics continues to struggle with a blind spot. It has trouble…
Published on February 17, 2016
In 1956, Francis Crick—co-discoverer of DNA’s helical structure—postulated what is now considered to be a central doctrine of the biological sciences stating that “The central dogma of molecular biology deals with the detailed residue-by-residue transfer of sequential information. It states that such information cannot be transferred back from protein to…
Published on January 4, 2016
Few other techniques in the laboratory so exquisitely blend the scientific fields of analytical chemistry, physics, and biology better than mass spectrometry (MS). Put simply, MS is designed to identify, and often quantify, the chemical makeup of a sample by measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of the ions that constitute that…
Published on May 4, 2015
Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center say they have developed a technique for finding where DNA repair happens throughout all of human DNA. Their study (“Genome-wide analysis of human global and transcription-coupled excision repair of UV damage at single-nucleotide resolution”),…
Published on October 10, 2014
An exhaustive analysis of fatty acids from a diabetes-protected animal model has revealed a whole new class of molecules. These molecules, dubbed fatty acid hydroxyl fatty acids, or FAHFAs, enhance insulin sensitivity and glucose control. Better yet, they also reduce inflammation. Ordinarily, elevated fatty acids are associated with insulin resistance…
Published on June 16, 2014
Horizon Discovery and LGC have been offered a research grant of £360,224 ($608,000) by the Technology Strategy Board, the U.K.’s innovation agency. The grant is awarded under the board’s collaborative research and development project “Improving Cell and Tissue Analysis for Stratified Medicine” and will fund a joint project run by…
Published on May 12, 2014
If a genetic variant is the origin and a disease the destination, the biochemical path between them may appear on a map of a sprawling genetic/metabolomic network. But that’s just the simplest imaginable use of such a map. Rather than think of a genetic/metabolomic map as a way to trace…