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Scientists elucidate surprising dual function of ceramide synthase

Scientists at the University of Bonn have clarified a surprising dual function of ceramide synthase. The enzyme not only catalyzes a central step of the production of vital lipids. It also has the ability to turn genes involved in lipid metabolism on or off. The study is being published in the renowned journal Cell Reports.

24 Jan 2018

Scientists identify molecular key that opens up compacted genome

News article describing the recent discovery of pax7, a protein which opens up compacted DNA for access by transcription factors.

23 Jan 2018

New family of FFPE reagent kits launched by Beckman Coulter Life Sciences

BCLS launched a family of FormaPure reagent kits for extracting nucleic acid often-challenginging formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues.

From Beckman Coulter Life Sciences - Automation and Genomics 23 Jan 2018

Novel gene expression analysis technique can accurately and quickly measure RNA

A University of Illinois and Mayo collaboration has demonstrated a novel gene expression analysis technique that can accurately measure levels of RNA quickly and directly from a cancerous tissue sample while preserving the spatial information across the tissue --something that conventional methods cannot do.

18 Jan 2018

Scientists identify six new gene regions that may help treat type 1 diabetes

Six novel chromosomal regions identified by scientists leading a large, prospective study of children at risk for type 1 diabetes will enable the discovery of more genes that cause the disease and more targets for treating or even preventing it.

17 Jan 2018

Research sheds new light on genetic, environmental factors that promote prostate cancer metastasis

Prostate tumors tend to be what scientists call "indolent" - so slow-growing and self-contained that many affected men die with prostate cancer, not of it. But for the percentage of men whose prostate tumors metastasize, the disease is invariably fatal.

15 Jan 2018

Study reveals how dengue virus replicates without triggering the body's defenses

A new study reveals how dengue virus manages to reproduce itself in an infected person without triggering the body's normal defenses. Duke researchers report that dengue pulls off this hoax by co-opting a specialized structure within host cells for its own purposes, like a lazy roommate sneaking bits of his laundry into the communal wash.

11 Jan 2018

Unhealthy diet makes the body's defenses more aggressive in the long term

The immune system reacts similarly to a high fat and high-calorie diet as to a bacterial infection. This is shown by a recent study led by the University of Bonn.

11 Jan 2018

Study finds genetic variations linked to BMI and obesity risk

It's not just diet and physical activity; your genes also determine how easily you lose or gain weight. In a study published in the January issue of Nature Genetics, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and other institutions of the Genetic Investigation of Anthropometric Traits consortium found 13 genes that carry variations associated with body mass index.

10 Jan 2018

Regeneron forms consortium to accelerate largest widely-available human sequencing resource

By the end of 2019, Regeneron plans to sequence the exomes of all 500,000 people within the UK Biobank resource, all with associated health records, creating an unprecedented resource linking human genetic variations to human biology and disease.

9 Jan 2018

Survival strategy of mRNAs during sugar deficiency in the cell

If a cell runs low on sugar, it stores certain messenger RNAs in order to prolong its life. As a research group at the Biozentrum of the University of Basel has now discovered, the protein Puf5p determines whether individual messenger RNAs will be stored or degraded when sugar levels are low.

9 Jan 2018

Stem cells remain healthy following low-dose X-ray exposure, say biophysicists

Biophysicists have shown that following low-dose exposure to X-rays (at 80 milligrays), stem cells remain healthy, proliferate, and do not accumulate DNA damage to be passed on to their progeny. The paper was published in the journal Aging.

20 Dec 2017

New genetic analysis of candidiasis reveals surprising fungal sex secrets

Working together with researchers in the Université Paris-Sud in France and University Medical Centre Göttingen in Germany, ICREA Research Professor Toni Gabaldón and his team at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona read the genetic code of 33 separate strains of the yeast Candida glabrata, the second most common cause of candidiasis.

15 Dec 2017

Researchers win NIH grants for Alzheimer's research on Amish resilience and rapid onset

Researchers from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine have received two grant awards, in partnership with investigators from other institutions, from the National Institutes of Health to conduct major studies on Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of memory loss and other forms of dementia in older persons.

14 Dec 2017

New genetic model identified for predicting outcomes in patients with primary myelofibrosis

A group of investigators from Mayo Clinic and multiple academic research centers in Italy have identified a genetic model for predicting outcomes in patients with primary myelofibrosis who are 70 years or younger and candidates for stem cell transplant to treat their disease.

11 Dec 2017

Higher educational attainment associated with lower risk of Alzheimer's disease

Using genetic information, researchers at Karolinska Institutet in Sweden provide new evidence that higher educational attainment is strongly associated with a lower risk of Alzheimer's disease. The study is published in The BMJ.

7 Dec 2017

Brazilian researchers identify genes linked to melanoma progression

When researchers at the University of São Paulo in Brazil treated human melanoma cell lines with a synthetic compound similar to curcumin, one of the pigments that give turmeric its orange color, they identified genes with altered expression in potentially invasive tumors and malignant cells resistant to chemotherapy.

6 Dec 2017

TUM scientists discover emergency shut-off switch for T cell Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Safety switches that automatically stop the device for example before it overheats are built into many electrical appliances. Cells are also equipped with such "emergency stop" functions. They make sure that a defective cell doesn't become a tumor cell.

6 Dec 2017

DNA sequencing could identify genetic cause of kidney disease

DNA sequencing could soon become part of the routine diagnostic workup for patients with chronic kidney disease, suggests a new study from Columbia University Medical Center.

5 Dec 2017

Research shows how cells rebuild nucleus, organize genome after division

University of Bristol research has revealed how cells rebuild their nucleus and organise their genome when they divide - a discovery which could have major implications for understanding cancer and degeneration.

4 Dec 2017