Molecular Biology News and Research

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Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Fibrinogen molecule structure acts as a molecular spring

Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and the School of Arts and Sciences have shown that a well-known protein structure acts as a molecular spring, explaining one way that clots may stretch and bend under such physical stresses as blood flow.

14 Jan 2007

EDMA welcomes 7 new members

EDMA, the European Diagnostic Manufacturers Association, enlarges its membership with six new companies: BioSystems SA, Diagnostica Stago, Innogenetics, Luminex Corporation, Orion Diagnostica and Tecan, and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics (FIND).

9 Jan 2007

TrkB and its role in learning and memory

For the first time researchers investigate the molecular basis of memory in living mice.

9 Jan 2007

Genetically engineered blood protein can be used to split water into oxygen and hydrogen

Scientists have combined two molecules that occur naturally in blood to engineer a molecular complex that uses solar energy to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, says research published in the Journal of the American Chemical Society.

2 Dec 2006

Proteins may behave differently in natural environments

When in an environment similar to that in which they exist naturally, proteins and multiprotein assemblies may demonstrate actions or dynamics different than those they exhibit when in the static form in which they are most often studied, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report in the current issue of the journal Structure.

14 Nov 2006

Scientists shed light on the roll of junk DNA

University of Iowa scientists have made a discovery that broadens understanding of a rapidly developing area of biology known as functional genomics and sheds more light on the mysterious, so-called "junk DNA" that makes up the majority of the human genome.

13 Nov 2006

First step to developing effective therapy against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis virus

Biomedical researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston (UTMB) have taken an important early step toward developing effective drug therapies against Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis (VEE) virus, a potential bioterrorist weapon.

12 Sep 2006

New screening method shows how nanoparticles interact with human cells

Scientists at the Brookhaven National Laboratory have developed a screening method to examine how newly made nanoparticles interact with human cells following exposure for various times and doses. Using this new method, the investigators have been able to visualize how human cells interact with some specific types of carbon nanoparticles.

12 Sep 2006

UIC receives $20 million NCI grant to research blood disorders

A $19.6 million National Cancer Institute grant has been awarded to the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine to advance basic and clinical research for incurable blood disorders.

6 Sep 2006

Useful insights into mechanisms of catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia

World Congress of Cardiology Report - Familial genetic defects are responsible for several cases of unexpected sudden cardiac death in young and otherwise healthy individuals.

5 Sep 2006

Researchers decode the instructions that tell cells how to become blood

Blood cells have limited lifespans, which means that they must be continually replaced by calling up reserves, and turning these into the blood cell types needed by the body.

4 Sep 2006

Mature muscle fibers can revert to become cancerous

Mature muscle fibers, rather than their less-developed neighbors, are the tissues that turn malignant in a soft-tissue cancer that strikes children and teens, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Children's Medical Center Dallas have found.

4 Sep 2006