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.

Newly introduced BARseq technology can be used to expand the brain map

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor Anthony Zador has taken the next step in his quest to solve exactly how the brain is wired.

17 Oct 2019

Scientists successfully create age-resistant mice with hyper-long telomeres

Researchers have shown that it is possible to extend the life of mice by generating hyper-long telomeres, without using any gene modifying technologies.

17 Oct 2019

Genes remember having low social status in the past

A new study in monkeys, published on October 14, 2019, in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, shows that organisms at the bottom of the social hierarchy live shorter lives. Moreover, they experience more sickness, and may continue to experience health problems despite moving up later. Adverse experiences of social life continue to reflect in their genes much longer than the actual experience, in the form of changes in gene expression via altered gene regulation.

16 Oct 2019

Improved antibody validation

Antibodies are used in a variety of clinical and research situations to examine the structure and function, and distribution of proteins. However, many researchers have found a lack of specificity in the functioning of these antibodies. This means that any work conducted using these antibodies will not yield reliable results.

16 Oct 2019

New blood self-collection device quickly estimates a person's exposure to radiation

A University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix research team has developed a blood self-collection device to quickly estimate a person's exposure to radiation in the event of a nuclear accident or attack.

16 Oct 2019

Brain's neural activity plays a role in human aging, life span

The brain's neural activity - long implicated in disorders ranging from dementia to epilepsy - also plays a role in human aging and life span, according to research led by scientists in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.

16 Oct 2019

Subtle changes in mitochondrial DNA can have profound consequences for patient's health

Subtle changes in the DNA of mitochondria, the tiny power plants within cells, can have profound consequences for a patient's health.

16 Oct 2019

Non-invasive tape strips can be used in children to assess atopic dermatitis on the molecular level

In a study using non-invasive tape strips in young children with eczema (or atopic dermatitis), researchers found many molecular signs of immune dysfunction and skin changes that relate to disease activity.

16 Oct 2019

Engineered communities of cells make long-distance calls

The search for effective biological tools is a marathon, not a sprint, even when the distances are on the microscale. A discovery at Rice University on how engineered communities of cells communicate is a long step in the right direction.

15 Oct 2019

Researchers reveal mechanism involved in altering DNA methylation in cancer

Understanding the mechanisms that mediate widespread DNA damage in the cancer genome is of great interest to cancer physicians and scientists because it may lead to improved treatments and diagnosis. In this study, a multi-institutional team led by researchers at Baylor College of Medicine has brought attention to genomic structural variation as a previously unappreciated mechanism involved in altering DNA methylation, a form of gene control, in human cancers.

15 Oct 2019

Combination of two drugs disrupts cancer cells' ability to survive DNA damage, study finds

In continuing efforts to find novel ways to kill cancer cells, researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have identified a new pathway that leads to the destruction of cancer cells.

14 Oct 2019

SOX9 broadly modifies the severity of Alagille syndrome liver disease in mice

Alagille syndrome is a rare pediatric genetic disorder that can affect the liver, heart, kidneys, blood vessels, skeleton and other tissues.

11 Oct 2019

Genetic oscillator captures changes in gut microbiome growth patterns

For all the attention the human microbiome has been getting over the last few years, one aspect of such research rarely makes headlines: the difficulty of observing how it changes over time in response to various stimuli.

11 Oct 2019

Genetic mechanisms could serve as a road map for screening new drugs to prolong healthy lifespan

The discovery in the 1990s that a mutation in a single gene of an experimental worm could double its lifespan set off a stampede of research on the molecular biology of aging and triggered hopes that drug therapies or other interventions could be developed to extend healthy human lifespan. But as is often the case in science, the genetic regulation of aging is more complicated than it first appeared.

10 Oct 2019

Biology and computers meld to help understand how breast cancer develops

Among the most deadly killers in the area of cancer, breast cancer is also extremely difficult to treat, once it has spread to the bones. Not only does it metastasize rapidly, but it comprises a variety of cell types and also depends on the input from many other non-breast cells during the initiation, growth and spread of the cancer. This complexity makes it more difficult to develop targeted therapies in this condition.

8 Oct 2019

Differences at the single-cell level can predict responses to BRAF inhibitor therapy

Patients with advanced melanoma have been able to live longer because of several newly approved targeted treatment options, including BRAF and MEK inhibitors. However, patients will often have different responses to the same treatment due to genetic variability.

8 Oct 2019

Spatial Gene Expression Profiling of Neurological Disorders

In this interview, Cedric Uytingco discusses the key benefits of being able to visualize gene expression patterns in neurological samples.

From 10x Genomics, Inc. 7 Oct 2019

Researchers identify new targets to treat fibrotic diseases

When it comes to repairing injured tissue, specialized cells in the body known as fibroblasts are called into action. Fibroblasts give rise to healing cells called myofibroblasts, which generally is good in the short term - but bad when myofibroblast activation gets out of hand.

4 Oct 2019

Study explores how macrophage specialization gets disrupted by liver disease

Every tissue in the human body has an immune cell in it called a macrophage. Macrophages play important roles in the immune system's initial response to bacteria, viruses and wounds.

4 Oct 2019

Findings shed light on molecular reasons for early miscarriage

Researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have uncovered a chromosome-wide mechanism that keeps the gene expression of sex chromosomes in balance in our cells.

3 Oct 2019