Gene Expression News and Research

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Gene Expression is the process by which a gene gets turned on in a cell to make RNA and proteins. Gene expression may be measured by looking at the RNA, or the protein made from the RNA, or what the protein does in a cell.

An enriched environment helps heal young, injured brains

An enriched environment--with increased opportunities for physical activity, socialization and exploring novel stimuli--helped lessen functional, anatomical and cellular deficits in an experimental model of brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation at birth.

19 Feb 2020

Time of day influences brain’s global signal fluctuation

As the day progresses, the strength of the brain’s global signal fluctuation shows an unexpected decrease, according to a study published on February 18 in the open-access journal PLOS Biology by Csaba Orban and a multi-disciplinary team of scientists from the Faculty of Engineering, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine and N.1 Institute of Health at the National University of Singapore.

From PLOS ONE 19 Feb 2020

Random pulsing of gene expression contributes to pattern formation during development

A team of Cambridge scientists working on the intersection between biology and computation has found that random gene activity helps patterns form during development of a model multicellular system.

19 Feb 2020

Study reveals underlying mechanism for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias

Low oxygen levels in the heart have long been known to produce life-threatening arrhythmias, even sudden death. Until now, it was not clear how.

18 Feb 2020

Study reveals how overexposure to fluoride causes defects in tooth enamel

Exposing teeth to excessive fluoride alters calcium signaling, mitochondrial function, and gene expression in the cells forming tooth enamel- a novel explanation for how dental fluorosis, a condition caused by overexposure to fluoride during childhood, arises.

18 Feb 2020

Targeting regulatory T cells could boost the effects of cancer immunotherapy

A Ludwig Cancer Research study has identified a mechanism by which regulatory T cells, which suppress immune responses, adapt their metabolism to thrive in the harsh microenvironment of the tumor.

17 Feb 2020

Intratumoral heterogeneity linked to chemotherapy resistance in small-cell lung cancer

Small cell lung cancer accounts for 14% of all lung cancers and is often rapidly resistant to chemotherapy, resulting in poor clinical outcomes.

17 Feb 2020

Novel technique to study gene splicing reveals new insights into the process

Genes are like instructions, but with options for building more than one thing. Daniel Larson, senior investigator at the National Cancer Institute, studies this gene "splicing" process, which happens in normal cells and goes awry in blood cancers like leukemia.

16 Feb 2020

Combination of green tea extract and exercise mitigates fatty liver disease in mice

The combination of green tea extract and exercise reduced the severity of obesity-related fatty liver disease by 75% in mice fed a high-fat diet, according to Penn State researchers, whose recent study may point to a potential health strategy for people.

16 Feb 2020

Acid reflux drug may be a promising therapy to reduce preterm birth

Lansoprazole, an over-the-counter acid reflux drug that is often taken by pregnant women, may be a promising therapy to reduce preterm birth, according to a computational drug repurposing study that also tested several of the drugs in mice.

13 Feb 2020

Marine bacteria genes can help track environmental changes caused by humans

The gene expression of marine bacteria can be a valuable sensor for discovering environmental changes caused by humans. Furthermore, bacteria help to clean our oceans and hopefully they could be used to purify drinking water from harmful environmental toxins in the future.

13 Feb 2020

Vapers exhibit similar chemical changes in their genome as smokers

Biologically important changes in DNA seen in smokers are also being found in people who vape, according to a new study published in the journal Epigenetics.

12 Feb 2020

Accumulated brain protein affects genes in Alzheimer's disease

A new study published in February 2020 in the journal Cell Reports shows how the build-up of specific brain cell proteins are linked to altered gene expression that causes the symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD).

11 Feb 2020

Individual response to Ebola predicted by new method

The Ebola virus produces widely varying reactions, from asymptomatic illness to death, in people depending on the individual's susceptibility. But what drives this difference in response? A new study published in the journal Cell Reports on February 2020 goes one step further in understanding how the immune system reacts to the virus causing varying levels of severity of disease between cases.

11 Feb 2020

DNA misfolding linked to heightened risk for Type 1 diabetes

It's known that genetics, or an inherited genome, is a major determinant of one's risk for autoimmune diseases, like Type 1 diabetes. In human cells, a person's genome--about six feet of DNA--is compressed into the micrometer space of the nucleus via a three-dimensional folding process.

11 Feb 2020

Study explores how some mammals postpone development of their embryos

How do some mammals postpone the development of their embryos to await better conditions for having offspring? A recent study at the UW Medicine Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine explored this reproductive enigma, which can occur in more than 130 species of mammals as well as in some marsupials.

10 Feb 2020

Growing eggs and sperm to treat infertility

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have reported, in the journal Cell Reports, the mechanism of how the very early precursor or stem cells which eventually give rise to the germ cells, eggs and sperm, are formed over the course of development. This could help create eggs and sperms under laboratory conditions to help infertile people who don’t have sperms, or eggs, for instance.

9 Feb 2020