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GeneDesign speeds design of artificial pieces of DNA

Johns Hopkins researchers have announced the development of a Web-based, automated computer program that they say greatly simplifies the time-consuming and error-prone process of manually designing artificial pieces of DNA.

17 Feb 2006

Genome data may contain small but significant errors

Since the genome sequence of the bacterial pathogen Haemophilus influenzae was published in 1995, the genetic code of many other large, complex, medically, and commercially significant organisms including humans has also been elucidated

17 Feb 2006

60 new genes controlled by regulatory sequences

Researchers worldwide are seeking to define ancient sections of our genetic code that may soon be as important to medical science as genes.

2 Feb 2006

First large-scale bird flu genome study

Investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital have completed the first large-scale study of bird flu virus genomes, thereby doubling the amount of genetic information available on the genes and proteins of these viruses.

26 Jan 2006

Identity Swap: Finding the variants that human history has favoured

Sequence differences in less than 0.2% of the 3-billion-base human genome play a vital role in a bewildering variety of human disease. Researchers from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and the Cambridge University’s Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, together with international colleagues report in PLoS Genetics their detailed maps of differences implicated in disease as well as genes that are unchanged in recent human history.

26 Jan 2006

Genome-wide prediction of mammalian enhancers for control of gene expression

Molecular biologists, developmental biologists and computer scientists at the Universtity of Helsinki, Finland, came together to advance towards cracking the code for how gene expression is controlled. The results of this work are published in Cell, in January 2006.

16 Jan 2006

Genetic fingerprint unmasks microbial vandals

For the first time DNA analysis can identify paper-degrading microorganisms.

16 Jan 2006

Gene that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease

An international team of researchers, led by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, are zeroing in on a gene that increases risk for Alzheimer's disease. They have identified a region of chromosome 10 that appears to be involved in risk for the disease that currently affects an estimated 4.5 million Americans.

10 Jan 2006

Researchers discover that large segments of human genome are devoid of mobile DNA elements called transposons

Scientists from the University of Queensland, Australia report in the journal Genome Research that large segments of the human genome are conspicuously devoid of ubiquitous mobile DNA elements called transposons.

6 Jan 2006

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

Study finds two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle

Scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have found two genes that are essential for the proper development of muscle.

30 Dec 2005

University at Buffalo researches rules for targeting RNA

Once described as DNA's less-famous chemical cousin, RNA, or ribonucleic acid, recently has moved to center stage.

15 Dec 2005

Researchers learn to detect DNA mutations

A team of ASU researchers led by Nongjian Tao and Peiming Zhang has developed a new, breakthrough technique for the detection of DNA mutations.

13 Dec 2005

Comprehensive analysis of DNA barcodes

With species around the world disappearing faster than biologists can identify them, many scientists pinned their hopes on DNA barcoding, a recently proposed strategy that treats a short fragment of DNA as a sort of universal product code to identify species.

30 Nov 2005

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox...

Exploiting biology's own chemical toolbox, researchers have developed a new technique that will allow them to modify specific sequences within a DNA molecule. The approach will not only help reveal the impact of biochemical alterations to DNA, but could have far-reaching implications for DNA-based medical diagnosis and nanobiotechnology.

28 Nov 2005

Megestrol acetate may combat weight loss during radiation treatments

A new study by researchers at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and colleagues shows that a drug originally used to treat breast cancer may help combat the severe weight loss that can plague patients undergoing radiation treatment for lung and head and neck cancer.

28 Nov 2005

Fundamental insight about protein evolution

While searching for new targets for malaria drugs and vaccines, a team including a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) medical student fellow reached a fundamental insight about evolution: different species make use of similar sets of proteins in different ways.

3 Nov 2005

New insights into how genetic mutations arise

Researchers at Stanford University have created a larger-than-normal DNA molecule that is copied almost as efficiently as natural DNA.

27 Oct 2005

Mechanisms of evolution may be associated with disease

By comparing the human genome with that of the chimpanzee, man's closest living relative, researchers have discovered that chunks of similar DNA that have been flipped in orientation and reinserted into chromosomes are hundreds of times more common in primates than previously thought.

26 Oct 2005

Maximum longevity inherited from the father

The parts of the genetic make-up that are thought to determine an individual’s maximum possible longevity, so-called telomeres, are inherited from the father but not the mother. This is shown by a research team at Umea University in the coming issue of the U.S. scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

24 Oct 2005