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Study discover two new mechanisms that govern editing in key neurodevelopmental gene

RNA editing gives organisms a way to adapt the instructions that their DNA provides for making proteins. Few people would have described RNA editing as a simple process, but a new paper in Nature Communications demonstrates the process as more complex and difficult to predict than previously assumed. The study, done in living fruit flies, discovered two new mechanisms that govern editing in a key neurodevelopmental gene.

1 Aug 2013

Researchers are a step closer to producing stem cells for research and therapy

A team of Toronto-based researchers may be one step closer to a 'recipe' for large-scale production of stem cells for use in research and therapy.

6 Jul 2013

TSRI scientists identify small molecules to control genetic defect responsible for muscular dystrophy

For the first time, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute have identified small molecules that allow for complete control over a genetic defect responsible for the most common adult onset form of muscular dystrophy.

28 Jun 2013

3D motion-tracked PET imaging uses MR micro-coils to reduce movement-related imaging artifacts

One of the biggest hurdles of hybrid positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging is the prevalence of motion artifacts-blurring and ghostly visual anomalies caused by patient motion on the table during imaging.

13 Jun 2013

International researchers find how brain cancer cells survive and drive tumor growth

An international team of researchers - led by principal investigator Paul S. Mischel, MD, a member of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine - has found that a singular gene mutation helps brain cancer cells to not just survive, but grow tumors rapidly by altering the splicing of genes that control cellular metabolism.

1 Jun 2013

Scientists design 'fishing' technique to show health benefits of foods

New research suggests that a compound abundant in the Mediterranean diet takes away cancer cells' "superpower" to escape death.

21 May 2013

New hope for patients with myotonic dystrophy

There's hope for patients with myotonic dystrophy. A new small molecule developed by researchers at the University of Illinois has been shown to break up the protein-RNA clusters that cause the disease in living human cells, an important first step toward developing a pharmaceutical treatment for the as-yet untreatable disease.

2 May 2013

Evidence shows progerin induced by ultraviolet light is responsible for premature skin aging

A study conducted by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) provides new evidence that longwave ultraviolet light (UVA) induces a protein that could result in premature skin aging.

26 Apr 2013

Isis Pharmaceuticals starts ISIS-SMNRx Phase 2 study in infants with SMA

Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced the initiation of a Phase 2 study of ISIS-SMNRx in infants with spinal muscular atrophy. SMA is a severe and rare genetic neuromuscular disease characterized by muscle atrophy and weakness and is the most common genetic cause of infant mortality.

24 Apr 2013

Researchers find new potential target for anti-telomerase cancer therapy

Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have found that alternative splicing - a process that allows a single gene to code for multiple proteins - appears to be a new potential target for anti-telomerase cancer therapy.

20 Apr 2013

MD Anderson scientists demonstrate new way to restore tumor suppression

Tumor suppression, the family business of the sibling genes p53, p63 and p73, is undermined from within by the split personalities of p63 and p73, which each produce protein forms that not only block the work of the other two genes but also shut down its own cancer-stifling fraternal twin.

10 Apr 2013

Columbia University Medical Center, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital present research works at AAN meeting

The following research from Columbia University Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital is being presented at the 65th annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology, March 16-23, 2013, in San Diego.

18 Mar 2013

SRSF1 protein can prevent cancerous proliferation by stabilizing p53

Some cellular proteins have multiple, and occasionally opposing, functions. Professor Adrian Krainer and colleagues at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory demonstrate in a paper published online today in Molecular Cell that the oncogenic protein SRSF1 can also trigger a stop in cell growth and prevent cancerous proliferation by stabilizing p53, the powerful tumor-suppressor protein.

8 Mar 2013

Finding solutions to global health problems might mean creating more risk

"Scientists are aware that their interventions in the natural world will have unintended effects, and in order to behave ethically, these potential risks must be considered," Maggie Koerth-Baker, science editor at BoingBoing.net, writes in a New York Times opinion piece, adding, "Even something as innocuous as a mosquito net may carry a considerable downside."

26 Feb 2013

Researchers discover SCANR that helps protect a cell's genes against DNA interlopers

Gene wars rage inside our cells, with invading DNA regularly threatening to subvert our human blueprint. Now, building on Nobel-Prize-winning findings, UC San Francisco researchers have discovered a molecular machine that helps protect a cell's genes against these DNA interlopers.

15 Feb 2013

Researchers identify gene variants that influence lifespan

By broadly comparing the DNA of children to that of elderly people, gene researchers have identified gene variants that influence lifespan, either by raising disease risk or by providing protection from disease.

5 Feb 2013

KLF6-SV1 gene variant drives the spread of breast cancer

A team of researchers led by Goutham Narla, MD, PhD, at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine and University Hospitals Case Medical Center, and collaborators at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and Erasmus Medical Center, have discovered a gene variant that drives the spread of breast cancer.

23 Jan 2013

Sabutoclax appears to selectively target leukemia stem cells that are responsible for relapses

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have discovered that hard-to-reach, drug-resistant leukemia stem cells (LSCs) that overexpress multiple pro-survival protein forms are sensitive - and thus vulnerable - to a novel cancer stem cell-targeting drug currently under development.

18 Jan 2013

Repression of PTB protein in fibroblasts can convert pluripotent stem cells into functional neurons

Repression of a single protein in ordinary fibroblasts is sufficient to directly convert the cells - abundantly found in connective tissues - into functional neurons. The findings, which could have far-reaching implications for the development of new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases like Huntington's, Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, will be published online in advance of the January 17 issue of the journal Cell.

11 Jan 2013

Researchers reveal genetic basis for fundamental differences between humans and other vertebrates

University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine researchers have uncovered a genetic basis for fundamental differences between humans and other vertebrates that could also help explain why humans are susceptible to diseases not found in other species.

21 Dec 2012