Bioinformatics News and Research

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Bioinformatics is the application of information techniques for the storage, retrieval, and analysis of large quantities of biological data.

New findings offer hope for vaccine against AIDS

AIDS patients' failure to clear HIV-1 might not be due to the inability of the human immune system to recognise the virus, as was previously thought.

6 Jun 2006

Europe-wide study into the role of genetics and the environment in the development asthma

Previous investigations have fallen short of proving cause-effect due to the complexity of human genetics and varying lifestyles. But the EU-funded GABRIEL study has pooled the very best in the field from all over Europe and can draw on the latest genomic and environmental data and approaches.

11 May 2006

Scientists detect cancer genes with new algorithm

Researchers at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a new algorithm that enhances the ability to detect a cancer gene, and have applied their algorithm to map the set of tumor-suppressor genes involved in lung cancer.

10 May 2006

Europe wide study to examine causes of asthma

The GABRIEL project, funded through an EC Framework 6 grant, involves over 150 scientists from 14 European countries and Russia, using the latest research across a variety of disciplines, including genetics, epidemiology and immunology, to identify key factors in the development of asthma bronchiale.

9 May 2006

DARPA grant supports research toward realizing tissue regeneration

While U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are surviving injuries that in previous conflicts likely would have been fatal, the number of wounded with major tissue loss has never before been so high.

3 May 2006

Researchers identify novel agent that protects neurons involved in Parkinson's disease from being destroyed by rotenone

Researchers at the University at Buffalo affiliated with the New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences have identified a novel agent that can protect neurons involved in Parkinson's disease from being destroyed by the pesticide rotenone.

18 Apr 2006

Whole genome analysis of the protein kinases from Dictyostelium

The journal PLoS Genetics has published the findings of a team of scientists at the nonprofit Boston Biomedical Research Institute that provides a whole genome analysis of the protein kinases from a scientifically valuable model organism known as Dictyostelium.

10 Apr 2006

Mouse Brain Gene Expression Map at St. Jude - powerful new tool for studying brain development

Scientists at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have given investigators around the world free access to a powerful tool for studying brain development.

28 Mar 2006

Crucial breakthrough in pectin biosynthesis

Most people know pectin as a common household gelling agent in making jams and jellies, but its uses are vast. It has anticancer properties, for instance, and may have a role in important biological functions including plant growth and development and defense against disease.

22 Mar 2006

Researchers use computer simulations to mimic DNA mess inside the nucleus

Almost three metres of tightly-coiled DNA strands fit into a cell's nucleus. As DNA replicates, the strands unwind and unfold and then re-package into chromosomes, the genetic blueprints of life - but what happens if this process becomes entangled?

15 Mar 2006

Artificial intelligence addresses the problem of confusing drug names

Was that Xanex or Xanax? Or maybe Zantac? If you're a health care professional you'd better know the difference--mistakes can be fatal.

7 Mar 2006

Analysis of protein interactions dispels old notions of what's important about them

Discoveries made during the first large-scale analysis of interactions between proteins in our cells hold promise for identifying new genes involved in genetic diseases, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins and the Institute of Bioinformatics (IOB) in Bangalore.

27 Feb 2006

Cell growth and cell division genes identified

A recent study shows that hundreds of genes contribute to cell growth and cell division. For the first time these genes, many of which are potential contributors to cancer, have been mapped in a single systematic study.

23 Feb 2006

Researchers show how estrogen turns genes on and off during cancer progression

Ohio - A new study suggests that the hormone estrogen works in partnership with other proteins to activate or suppress gene activity in breast cancer cells.

2 Feb 2006

Counting cells that ensure gene balance

Two are one too many - this is the motto used by cells of a female organism: These contain two X chromosomes, one of which always becomes inactivated.

2 Feb 2006

First large-scale bird flu genome study

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have completed the first large-scale study of bird flu virus genomes, thereby doubling the amount of genetic information available on the genes and proteins of these viruses.

26 Jan 2006

First genome-wide screen for protein complexes is completed

Researchers in Germany have finished the first complete analysis of the "molecular machines" in one of biology's most important model organisms: S. cerevisiae (baker's yeast). The study from the biotechnology company Cellzome, in collaboration with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), appears in this week's online edition of Nature.

23 Jan 2006

University at Buffalo researches rules for targeting RNA

Once described as DNA's less-famous chemical cousin, RNA, or ribonucleic acid, recently has moved to center stage.

15 Dec 2005

New type of sulfite reductase

Biswarup Mukhopadhyay and Eric Johnson from the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech have discovered a novel enzyme that represents an ancient detoxification system and provides a clue to the development of early metabolism on earth.

7 Dec 2005

Fundamental insight about protein evolution

While searching for new targets for malaria drugs and vaccines, a team including a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) medical student fellow reached a fundamental insight about evolution: different species make use of similar sets of proteins in different ways.

3 Nov 2005