Model Organisms News and Research

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Morgridge researchers develop portable, shareable light sheet microscope

Modern microscopy has given scientists a front-row seat to living, breathing biology in all its technicolor glory. But access to the best technologies can be spotty.

22 Jun 2018

Study: Cellular housekeeping can help mammals live longer and healthier

Building on two decades of research, investigators at UT Southwestern have determined that "cellular housekeeping" can extend the lifespan and healthspan of mammals.

31 May 2018

Small part of cellular protein that helps form long-term memories also drives neurodegeneration

Scientists have just discovered that a small region of a cellular protein that helps long-term memories form also drives the neurodegeneration seen in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). This small part of the Ataxin-2 protein thus works for good and for bad.

23 May 2018

CRISPR-Cas9-based strategy allows researchers to precisely alter hundreds of different genes

Geneticists have been using model organisms ranging from the house mouse to the single-cell bakers' yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to study basic biological processes that regulate human development and physiology, and that can be compromised in various diseases.

22 May 2018

Advances in Cell Lineage Analysis

Dr. Jan Phillip Junker discusses the applications of CRISPR-Cas9 in cell lineage analysis and the development of tomo-seq; a method to study the spatial organization of cells within whole organisms.

9 May 2018

Researchers use human and worm data to explore mutational causes of cancer

Researchers at the European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI), the University of Dundee and the Wellcome Sanger Institute have used human and worm data to explore the mutational causes of cancer.

2 May 2018

Male fruit flies like sex and alcohol

Researchers at Bar-Ilan University in Israel have found that male fruit flies (Drosophilia melanogaster) enjoy ejaculation and sex and are also keen on alcohol consumption. The results of this novel study that shows that sexual gratification is preserved across species was published in the latest issue of the journal Current Biology this week.

19 Apr 2018

Researchers discover how 'junk DNA' plays key role in holding the genome together

Researchers at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute have determined how satellite DNA, considered to be "junk DNA," plays a crucial role in holding the genome together.

11 Apr 2018

Multifunctional protein also plays role in development of blood cells

Like an actor who excels at both comedy and drama, proteins also can play multiple roles. Uncovering these varied talents can teach researchers more about the inner workings of cells.

21 Dec 2017

Russian scientists uncover previously unknown effect of leukemia drug

Researchers from RUDN University and Institute of Biomedical Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences have identified an alternative mechanism for the effective antitumor drug -- an enzyme called L-asparaginase.

10 Nov 2017

Northwestern scientists discover 'wasabi receptor' for pain in flatworms

A Northwestern University research team has discovered how scalding heat and tissue injury activate an ancient "pain" receptor in simple animals. The findings could lead to new strategies for analgesic drug design for the treatment of humans.

17 Oct 2017

DNA discovery could help point towards causes of developmental condition in children

New insights into how our cells store and manage DNA during cell division could help point towards the causes of a rare developmental condition.

21 Sep 2017

UAlberta chemistry professor develops revolutionary neuroscience tools

UAlberta chemistry professor Robert Campbell is developing new ways to see and manipulate the activity of neurons in the brain, which could revolutionize the way we understand the organ that controls most of the activities of the body.

11 Sep 2017

New crowdfunding campaign aims to develop, test novel photographic biomarkers of aging in mice

The Biogerontology Research Foundation announces the launch of a crowdfunding campaign, MouseAge, to develop and test photographic biomarkers of ageing in mice in collaboration with scientists from Harvard University, University of Oxford, Youth Laboratories and Insilico Medicine.

31 Aug 2017

Researchers uncover 16 genetic markers linked to decreased lifespan

The answer to how long each of us will live is partly encoded in our genome. Researchers have identified 16 genetic markers associated with a decreased lifespan, including 14 new to science. This is the largest set of markers of lifespan uncovered to date.

27 Jul 2017

Zirconia-doped ceria nanoparticles can act as effective antioxidants in sepsis treatment

During sepsis, cells are swamped with reactive oxygen species generated in an aberrant response of the immune system to a local infection.

6 Jul 2017

New molecular technique can clone thousands of long DNA sequences at the same time

Scientists at Johns Hopkins, Rutgers, the University of Trento in Italy, and Harvard Medical School report they have developed a new molecular technique called LASSO cloning, which can be used to isolate thousands of long DNA sequences at the same time, more than ever before possible.

5 Jul 2017