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Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate.

Researchers reveal types of genes necessary for brain development

Researchers from Harvard Medical School and Brandeis University have successfully completed a full-genome RNAi screen in neurons, showing what types of genes are necessary for brain development. Details of the screen and its novel methodology are published July 4th in the open-access journal PLoS Genetics.

4 Jul 2008

New understanding of how herpes simplex virus 1 hides during inactive phase

Now that Duke University Medical Center scientists have figured out how the virus that causes cold sores hides out, they may have a way to wake it up and kill it.

3 Jul 2008

Electrostatic-based RNA assays technique could revolutionize medical diagnostics

The dream of personalized medicine - in which diagnostics, risk predictions and treatment decisions are based on a patient's genetic profile - may be on the verge of being expanded beyond the wealthiest of nations with state-of-the-art clinics.

30 Jun 2008

Scientists fortify the cassava plant - a day's nutrition in a single meal

Scientists have determined how to fortify the cassava plant, a staple root crop in many developing countries, with enough vitamins, minerals and protein to provide the poor and malnourished with a day's worth of nutrition in a single meal.

30 Jun 2008

Quantum dots stop RNA interference in living cells

More than 15 years ago scientists discovered a way to stop a particular gene in its tracks. The Nobel Prize-winning finding holds tantalizing promise for medical science, but so far it has been difficult to apply the technique, known as RNA interference, in living cells.

24 Jun 2008

Researchers create molecule that nudges nerve stem cells to mature

Inspired by a chance discovery during another experiment, researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center have created a small molecule that stimulates nerve stem cells to begin maturing into nerve cells in culture.

24 Jun 2008

Viruses hitch a ride in the cell

Viruses can travel around cells they infect by hitching a ride on a microscopic transport system, according to new research. Cells are exposed to foreign DNA and RNA and it is understood that some of this genetic material can be integrated into the host genome. Using modern microscopic techniques, scientists have been able to see how virus DNA is transported in the cell.

23 Jun 2008

Like father like son - history of heart attacks in the family

Scientists know that heredity plays an important role in causing heart attacks. However the exact genetic mechanisms that transmit the risk of heart attacks from generation to generation still elude them.

17 Jun 2008

Novel agents found to inhibit growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells

Researchers have discovered a new family of agents that inhibit the growth of estrogen-dependent breast cancer cells. The finding, described at a meeting of the Endocrine Society, has opened an avenue of research into new drugs to combat estrogen-dependent breast cancers.

16 Jun 2008

European researchers take lid off the genome

European researchers have made significant progress unravelling how genes are governed and why this sometimes goes wrong in disease.

15 Jun 2008

Nanoparticle delivers antisense agent to tumors

A multifunctional drug delivery system consisting of a lipid-based nanoparticle, a standard anticancer drug, and a short nucleic acid designed to augment the activity of that drug has demonstrated the ability to treat drug-resistant tumor cells.

15 Jun 2008

Discovery of mechanism that prevents cells from transforming into cancer cells

MRC scientists have discovered a mechanism that prevents cells from transforming into cancer cells. As cells age they enter a state called senescence, a kind of suspended animation that allows a cell to keep functioning but prevents it from changing. This state can also be triggered by what's called an 'insult' to the cell, for example a signal from a cancer-initiating gene.

15 Jun 2008

Smad proteins regulate microRNA processing

Researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and Tufts Medical Center have found that Smad proteins regulate microRNA (miRNA) processing.

11 Jun 2008

Compugen announces discovery of novel drug targets for cancer antibody therapeutics

Compugen Ltd. announced today the discovery of more than ten novel targets of antibody therapy for various types of solid and hematopoietic cancer.

11 Jun 2008

MicroRNA play a significant role in some human cancers

A new study demonstrates that microRNAs can modulate the expression of well known tumor-specific oncogenic translocation proteins and may play a significant role in some human cancers. The research, published by Cell Press in the June issue of the journal Cancer Cell, is likely to lead to new strategies for treating some specific lymphomas and leukemias.

9 Jun 2008

Enzyme plays key role in cell fate

The road to death or differentiation follows a similar course in embryonic stem cells, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston in a report that appears online today in the journal Cell Stem Cell.

5 Jun 2008

New molecular mechanism for colorectal cancer

Scientists in Portugal just found a new molecular mechanism behind colorectal cancer in which a mutated and a normal, but over-expressed, gene cooperate and are both needed to create the disease.

4 Jun 2008

A genetic tool for cleaner water

A genetic tool used by medical researchers may also be used in a novel approach to remove harmful microbes and viruses from drinking water.

3 Jun 2008

You may not be what you eat after all!

A new study shows that increased eating does not necessarily lead to increased fat. The finding in the much-studied roundworm opens the possibility of identifying new targets for drugs to control weight, the researchers say.

3 Jun 2008

Self-assembled viruses

Viruses are true experts at importing genetic material into the cells of an infected organism. This trait is now being exploited for gene therapy, in which genes are brought into the cells of a patient to treat genetic diseases or genetic defects. Korean researchers have now made an artificial virus. As described in the journal Angewandte Chemie, they have been able to use it to transport both genes and drugs into the interior of cancer cells.

30 May 2008