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Study Reveals How the Formation of Microtubules Drives Cell Division

Cellular life hinges on a network of hollow cables called microtubules dynamically lengthening and shortening according to the needs of the moment.

2 May 2023

Research Shows How Mammalian Genomes Have Developed Over the Course of Evolution

Why is it that certain mammals have an exceptional sense of smell, some hibernate, and yet others, including humans, are predisposed to disease?

28 Apr 2023

New Gene Therapy may be on the Horizon for Usher Syndrome Type 1F

Usher Syndrome type 1F is a rare but severe genetic disease that causes deafness, lack of balance, and progressive blindness.

27 Apr 2023

Getting Insights into Parkinson’s Patients’ Brain Cells Through Stem Cell Research

When the first symptoms of Parkinson’s disease are experienced by a patient, the disease has been evolving for a long period, and the patient might already have lost half of a certain kind of nerve cells in the brain.

27 Apr 2023

New Genetic Mutations Linked to Canine Bladder Cancers Identified

Researchers have identified new genetic mutations linked to a subset of canine bladder cancers. Their findings have implications both for early cancer detection and for targeted treatments in dogs and humans.

26 Apr 2023

Interpreting Mutations in Disease Genes and Improving Clinical Decision-Making

DeMAG is a new method that was developed by Max Planck and Harvard’s research team. It is a new technique that has been shared as an open-source web server (demag.org) to assist interpret mutations in disease genes and enhance clinical decision-making.

26 Apr 2023

Genetic Variant Linked to Increased Risk of Developing Perianal Crohn's Disease

Cedars-Sinai investigators have identified a genetic variant that increases people's risk of developing perianal Crohn's disease, the most debilitating manifestation of Crohn's disease.

24 Apr 2023

Sickle Cell Disease Cure? Prime Editing Offers Hope for Blood Disorder

At St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, researchers have shown how prime editing could help correct the mutation that results in sickle cell disease in a possibly curative method.

18 Apr 2023

UH Researcher Designs New Model Expressing the Most Common Disease Mutation in USH2A

Usher syndrome, a rare inherited genetic disease, is a leading cause of combined deafness and blindness with type 2A (USH2A) being the most common form.

18 Apr 2023

Entry of Aging-Associated Enzymes into Human Genetic Material

An enzyme that controls aging and other metabolic processes accesses human genetic material to modify gene expression within the cell, according to a new study. Images of a sirtuin enzyme bound to a nucleosome, a tightly packed complex of DNA and proteins called histones, have been created by a team led by Penn State researchers.

17 Apr 2023

Next-Generation Sequencing Provides New Insights into Mutations of Mitochondrial DNA

A high-throughput single-cell single-mitochondrial genome sequencing technology known as iMiGseq has provided new insights into mutations of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and offers a platform for assessing mtDNA editing strategies and genetic diagnosis of embryos prior to their implantation.

17 Apr 2023

Potential Therapy for Lethal Pediatric Brain Cancer Using ASO Technology

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a lethal pediatric brain cancer that often kills within a year of diagnosis. Surgery is almost impossible because of the tumors' location.

13 Apr 2023

New Technique Identifies a Gene that Drives Clonal Expansion of Abnormal Cells

An international coalition of biomedical researchers co-led by Alexander Bick, MD, PhD, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center has determined a new way to measure the growth rate of precancerous clones of blood stem cells that one day could help doctors lower their patients' risk of blood cancer.

12 Apr 2023

The Relation Between an Autism Gene and Infertility

The biological foundations of a reproductive disease caused by a DNA mutation have been discovered by a University of California, Riverside study. Fragile X Syndrome, a major genetic contributor to cerebral impairment and autism, is also caused by this gene mutation.

5 Apr 2023

Enhancing Cancer Modeling with New Genetic Analysis Tool

Healthy food and exercise habits can have a big impact on a person’s general health. However, an individual’s genetics largely determines their chance of developing cancer.

5 Apr 2023

Researchers Explain How a Single Mutation Causes Ataxia

Worldwide, only a handful of patients are known to suffer from episodic ataxia type 6, a neurological disease that causes transient loss of muscle control.

4 Apr 2023

Jumping Genes in Various Cancers may be Used to Direct Novel Immunotherapies to Tumors

New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests that transposable elements in various cancers potentially may be used to harness novel immunotherapies against tumors that don't typically respond to immune-based treatments. Shown is a 3D rendering of cancer cells.

4 Apr 2023

"Visual Biochemistry" Approach to Understand How the BRCA2 Protein Binds and Interacts with DNA

Using a self-built inverted microscope complete with laser optical tweezers to capture DNA, Yale Cancer Center and University of California Davis researchers for the first time created a visualization of the full-length human BRCA2 protein at the single molecule level.

3 Apr 2023

Tighter Core of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein in New Variants Likely Improved the Virus's Ability to Infect Host Cells

Just as a tight core is a component of good physical fitness for humans, helping to stabilize our bodies, mutations that tightened the core of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in new variants may have increased the virus's fitness.