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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Northwestern’s SPORE has made advances in understanding the genetic basis of glioblastoma

Glioblastoma is one of the deadliest cancers known to man. While the advent of immunotherapy and other cutting-edge treatments have prolonged life for people afflicted with other types of cancer, the prognosis for glioblastoma has remained relatively constant: just 18 months.

3 Oct 2021

Advanced technique offers new insights about the dynamics of gliomas

A team led by researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine, the New York Genome Center, Harvard Medical School, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard has profiled in unprecedented detail thousands of individual cells sampled from patients' brain tumors.

2 Oct 2021

Scientists identify potential treatment for previously unknown condition affecting children

Researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), and Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine identified a previously unknown condition affecting children, which they discovered could be prevented by administering a drug during pregnancy.

2 Oct 2021

UVA researchers identify 14 genes that cause obesity

Promising news in the effort to develop drugs to treat obesity: University of Virginia scientists have identified 14 genes that can cause and three that can prevent weight gain. The findings pave the way for treatments to combat a health problem that affects more than 40% of American adults.

1 Oct 2021

New defense mechanism makes lethal Salmonella strain resistant to viral infection

Scientists at the University of Liverpool and Harvard Medical School have discovered a new defence mechanism that makes a lethal strain of Salmonella resistant to viral infection.

1 Oct 2021

Scientists find new possibilities for treatment of lung cancers in 'never smokers'

Despite smoking's well-known role in causing lung cancer, a significant number of patients who develop lung tumors have never smoked. While scientists are still working to understand what spurs cancer in so-called "never-smokers," a study led by scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis demonstrates new possibilities for treating these baffling tumors.

1 Oct 2021

Damaging DNA builds up in the eyes to drive blinding age-related macular degeneration

Damaging DNA builds up in the eyes of patients with geographic atrophy, an untreatable, poorly understood form of age-related macular degeneration that causes blindness, new research from the University of Virginia School of Medicine reveals.

1 Oct 2021

Research points the way to identifying new precision treatments for cancer

Researchers at University of California San Diego and University of California San Francisco have mapped out how hundreds of mutations involved in two types of cancer affect the activity of discrete groups of proteins that are the ultimate actors behind the disease.

30 Sep 2021

The applications of nanomaterials against viral disease

The application of nanomaterials in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of viral diseases is reviewed in detail, highlighting areas of significant progress or stagnation from the past few decades.

30 Sep 2021

Researchers supplement synthetic biology toolkit to streamline investigations into genetic code expansion

One of modern biologists' most ambitious goals is to learn how to expand or otherwise modify the genetic code of life on Earth, in order to make new, artificial life forms.

30 Sep 2021

Researchers find potential cure for a previously unknown childhood genetic condition

Describing a previously unknown genetic condition that affects children, researchers at University of California San Diego School of Medicine and Rady Children's Institute for Genomic Medicine say they also found a potential method to prevent the gene mutation by administering a drug during pregnancy.

29 Sep 2021

Novel strategy for in vitro cell-selective protection has potential for use in adoptive cell therapy

Adoptive cell therapy (ACT) is an emerging powerful cancerimmunotherapy, which includes a complex process of genetic modification, stimulation and expansion. During invitroorexvivomanipulation, sensitive cells are inescapably subjected to harmful external stimuli. Although a variety ofcytoprotectionstrategies have been developed, their application on ACT remains challenging.

29 Sep 2021

Methylation of TDP-43 DNA linked to age-dependent motor cortex involvement in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is an intractable neurological disease. Aging is a risk factor for the accumulation of TDP-43 (transduction responsive region DNA-binding protein of 43kDa) in the motor cortex. TDP-43 is a protein that tends to accumulate in increasing amounts, and the amount is strictly controlled by the splicing of TDP-43. Through cell experiments and analysis of human brain tissue, researchers at Brain Research Institute, Niigata University, led by Akihiro Sugai, M.D., Ph.D., have found that methylation of TDP-43 DNA is involved in the background of motor cortex involvement with aging in ALS

29 Sep 2021

Researchers compare transcriptomic and cytokine responses of colorectal cancer cells

Oncotarget published "Pan-drug and drug-specific mechanisms of 5-FU, irinotecan (CPT-11), oxaliplatin, and cisplatin identified by comparison of transcriptomic and cytokine responses of colorectal cancer cells" which reported that there was an increase in IL-8 by oxaliplatin and increase in ferritin by cisplatin which may contribute to cancer cell survival.

29 Sep 2021

Aging may not be due to build-up of mutations alone, study suggests

New research exploring theories of ageing has found that small mutations accumulating in DNA are unlikely to be fully responsible for this process.

29 Sep 2021

Supercoiling and looping can transmit mechanical stress along the DNA backbone, research shows

When people think of DNA, they visualize a string-like double helix structure. In reality, the DNA double helix in cells is supercoiled and constrained into loops. This supercoiling and looping are known to influence every aspect of DNA activity, but how this happens has not been clear.

28 Sep 2021

Researchers create an integrated pipeline for performing genetic screening studies

Today's genetic engineers have a plethora of resources at their disposal: an ever-increasing number of massive datasets available online, highly precise gene editing tools like CRISPR, and cheap gene sequencing methods. But the proliferation of new technologies has not come with a clear roadmap to help researchers figure out which genes to target, which tools to use, and how to interpret their results. So, a team of scientists and engineers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard Medical School (HMS), and the MIT Media Lab decided to make one.

28 Sep 2021

Evidence of persisting autoreactivity in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection?

It has been demonstrated in recent studies that there is a significant breadth of emerging autoreactivity associated with severe severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. More specifically, researchers from Emory University have identified a relaxation of peripheral tolerance within early antibody secretion cells that arise in individuals infected with SARS-CoV-2, as important drivers of those responses.

28 Sep 2021

New discovery greatly improves detection of HPV in the bloodstream

Princess Margaret Cancer Centre researchers have made new findings which greatly improve detection of the human papillomavirus (HPV) in the bloodstream and could further hone precision treatment of the illness.

27 Sep 2021

Review of COVID-19 clinical and viral characteristics, pathogenesis, and genetics

A new review article investigates the clinical and viral characteristics, pathogenesis, as well as human genetic basis associated with COVID-19.

27 Sep 2021

DNA News and Research

Further Reading

Northwestern’s SPORE has made advances in understanding the genetic basis of glioblastoma

Advanced technique offers new insights about the dynamics of gliomas

Scientists identify potential treatment for previously unknown condition affecting children

UVA researchers identify 14 genes that cause obesity

New defense mechanism makes lethal Salmonella strain resistant to viral infection

Scientists find new possibilities for treatment of lung cancers in 'never smokers'

Damaging DNA builds up in the eyes to drive blinding age-related macular degeneration

Research points the way to identifying new precision treatments for cancer

The applications of nanomaterials against viral disease

Researchers supplement synthetic biology toolkit to streamline investigations into genetic code expansion

Researchers find potential cure for a previously unknown childhood genetic condition

Novel strategy for in vitro cell-selective protection has potential for use in adoptive cell therapy

Methylation of TDP-43 DNA linked to age-dependent motor cortex involvement in ALS

Researchers compare transcriptomic and cytokine responses of colorectal cancer cells

Aging may not be due to build-up of mutations alone, study suggests

Supercoiling and looping can transmit mechanical stress along the DNA backbone, research shows

Researchers create an integrated pipeline for performing genetic screening studies

Evidence of persisting autoreactivity in post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection?

New discovery greatly improves detection of HPV in the bloodstream

Review of COVID-19 clinical and viral characteristics, pathogenesis, and genetics

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