Changes in the bases that make up DNA act as markers, telling a cell which genes it should read and which it shouldn’t. In the journal Angewandte Chemie, a British team has now introduced a new method that makes it possible to enrich the rare gene segments that contain the modified base hydroxymethylcytosine and to identify individual hydroxymethylcytosine molecules in DNA. Such modifications are associated with autoimmune diseases and cancer.
[More]
Doctors currently struggle to determine whether a breast tumor is likely to shift into an aggressive, life-threatening mode-an issue with profound implications for treatment. Now a group from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) has identified a mechanism through which mitochondria, the powerhouses of a cell, control tumor aggressiveness.
[More]
Enzyme hunters at UiO have discovered the function of an enzyme that is important in the spreading of cancer. Cancer researchers now hope to inhibit the enzyme.
[More]
Scientists from the University of Sheffield have unlocked one of the secrets to DNA repair -helping doctors identify DNA base damage and a patient's susceptibility to certain types of cancer.
[More]
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. today announced the withdrawal of its Investigational New Drug application (IND) for the antiviral nucleoside, BCX5191, following a discussion with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
[More]
An enzyme complex present in sperm plasma membranes plays an important role in the overproduction of reactive oxygen species and oxidative stress in sperm with abnormal morphology, researchers have shown.
[More]
People who carry a "G" instead of an "A" at a specific spot in their genetic code have roughly a six-fold higher risk of developing certain types of brain tumors, a Mayo Clinic and University of California, San Francisco study has found. The
[More]
Researchers have discovered that mutations in the NMNAT1 gene encoding nicotinamide mononucleotide adenylyltransferase 1 are present in patients with Leber congenital amaurosis.
[More]
Popularly dubbed "the book of life," the human genome is extraordinarily difficult to read. But without full knowledge of its grammar and syntax, the genome's 2.9 billion base-pairs of adenine and thymine, cytosine and guanine provide limited insights into humanity's underlying genetics.
[More]
A novel form of vitamin B3 found in milk in small quantities produces remarkable health benefits in mice when high doses are administered, according to a new study conducted by researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and the Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland.
[More]
A new blood glucose monitoring (BGM) system from Bayer, the CONTOUR Next EZ meter and CONTOUR Next test strips, proved easy to use and highly accurate in the hands of intended users -- patients and their healthcare professionals (HCPs) - according to a clinical study presented at the American Diabetes Association 72nd Scientific Sessions in Philadelphia, PA.
[More]
Over the past decade, research in the field of epigenetics has revealed that chemically modified bases are abundant components of the human genome and has forced us to abandon the notion we've had since high school genetics that DNA consists of only four bases.
[More]
The study, conducted by a team of more than 200 scientists from 100 institutions worldwide, measured the size of the brain and its memory centers in thousands of MRI images from 21,151 healthy people while simultaneously screening their DNA. According to the researchers, a variant in a gene called HMGA2 affected the brain size, as well as a person's intelligence.
[More]
Dr Jianguang Ji, Lund University, and Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues investigated data from the Swedish Cancer Registry. Researchers analyzed Swedish hospital data from 1969 to 2008. They found 1,510 patients with Huntington's disease. During the study period, 91 of those patients subsequently developed cancer. The authors said that was 53% lower than the levels expected for the general population.
[More]
Researchers have devised a nanoscale sensor to electronically read the sequence of a single DNA molecule, a technique that is fast and inexpensive and could make DNA sequencing widely available.
[More]
In a study published this week in the journal Nature, researchers at the University of Liège's GIGA Unit, together with English and German teams, reveal the central role played by a protein complex, unknown up to now, in gene transcription.
[More]
A University of Cambridge study, which set out to investigate DNA methylation in the human heart and the 'missing link' between our lifestyle and our health, has now mapped the link in detail across the entire human genome.
[More]
IRD scientist and their research partners recently identified the key role of nicotinamidase, an enzyme in the parasite Leishmania, essential for its survival but which does not exist in humans. The pathogen is incapable of developing in mammals In the absence of this enzyme. Specific targeting of this enzyme could lead to more effective ways of controlling this neglected tropical disease.
[More]
UCLA life scientists have identified for the first time a particlular gene's link to optimism, self-esteem and "mastery," the belief that one has control over one's own life - three critical psychological resources for coping well with stress and depression.
[More]
A new method of single molecule DNA sequencing is being developed by scientists at the University of Southampton with funding from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council's Strategic Tools and Resources Development Fund.
[More]