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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).

Protein within neurons in the amygdala controls development of alcohol withdrawal symptoms and drinking behaviors

Doctors may one day be able to control alcohol addiction by manipulating the molecular events in the brain that underlie anxiety associated with alcohol withdrawal, researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine and the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center report in the March 5 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience.

6 Mar 2008

Bioniche receives fast track for bladder cancer therapy

Bioniche Life Sciences Inc. has announced that it has received notice from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that its therapy for first-line non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer meets the criteria for Fast Track designation.

6 Mar 2008

Biologists discover parochial bacterial viruses

Biologists examining ecosystems similar to those that existed on Earth more than 3 billion years ago have made a surprising discovery: Viruses that infect bacteria are sometimes parochial and unrelated to their counterparts in other regions of the globe.

6 Mar 2008

Health groups issue updated colorectal cancer screening guidelines

The American Cancer Society, the American College of Radiology, and the U.S. Multi-Society Task Force on Colorectal Cancer (a group that comprises representatives from the American College of Gastroenterology, American Gastroenterological Association, and American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy) have released the first-ever joint consensus guidelines for colorectal cancer screening.

5 Mar 2008

Experimental cancer drug MI-219 promising in preclinical studies

Researchers have long searched for a novel cancer drug that activates a certain protein to kill tumor cells.

4 Mar 2008

New genetic marker of risk for breast cancer discovered

An international group of investigators led by scientists at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and the National Cancer Institute has identified a new genetic marker of risk for breast cancer.

4 Mar 2008

Device allows scientists to control gene activity across generations of cells

Just as cells inherit genes, they also inherit a set of instructions that tell genes when to become active, in which tissues and to what extent.

4 Mar 2008

Gold nanoparticle-based colorimetric assay for the direct detection of cancerous cells

Early detection of tumors is one of the Holy Grails of cancer research, an achievement that would greatly improve cancer therapy and prognosis. Two new reports describe different but promising approaches to solving this problem.

3 Mar 2008

Novel mechanism found that may boost impaired function of leukemia protein

A new study led by researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) reports on a novel mechanism that can enhance the function of a protein that is frequently impaired in patients with acute forms of leukemia.

3 Mar 2008

Discovery of gene in Asian monkeys that blocks AIDS

Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a gene in Asian monkeys that may have evolved as a defense against lentiviruses, the group of viruses that includes HIV.

1 Mar 2008

Zebrafish help understand hearing loss

A small striped fish is helping scientists understand what makes people susceptible to a common form of hearing loss, although, in this case, it's not the fish's ears that are of interest.

1 Mar 2008

Potential target to treat deadly bloodstream infections

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago have discovered a possible target to treat bloodstream bacterial infections.

28 Feb 2008

Protein protects lung cancer cells from efforts to fix or kill them

A protein that helps lung cancer cells thrive appears to do so by blocking healthy cells' ability to fix themselves when radiation or chemicals such as nicotine damage their DNA, according to a University of Florida study to be published Friday (Feb. 29) in the journal Molecular Cell.

28 Feb 2008

Electronic structure of single DNA molecules revealed

Utilizing a technique that combines low temperature measurements and theoretical calculations, Hebrew University of Jerusalem scientists and others have revealed for the first time the electronic structure of single DNA molecules.

28 Feb 2008

New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008

New drug trial to target hereditary cancers

Cancer Research UK scientists at Newcastle University are starting the first UK trial of a new drug which targets the 'Achilles' heel' in hereditary forms of both breast and ovarian cancer.

28 Feb 2008

Inverted DNA turns quiet developmental gene into a potent driver of t-cell lymphoma

A gene crucial for embryonic development can quickly become a potent cancer promoter in adult mice after a genetic misalignment, according to researchers from Fox Chase Cancer Center, causing white blood cells to become cancerous spontaneously.

28 Feb 2008

Soil-dwelling bacteria provide potential new antibiotics

MIT biologists have provoked soil-dwelling bacteria into producing a new type of antibiotic by pitting them against another strain of bacteria in a battle for survival.

27 Feb 2008

High zinc status in lung cells slows growth and induces DNA

Researchers at the University of Maryland at College Park have discovered that Normal Human Bronchial Epithelial (NHBE) cells cultured in medium with elevated zinc level, at the high end of plasma zinc attainable by oral supplementation, demonstrated inhibition of cell growth, up-regulation of growth arrest and DNA damage-induced gene (Gadd45) mRNA and protein expression, and blockage of G2/M cell cycle progression.

26 Feb 2008

New large-scale method reveals drug targets

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute scientists have developed a new large-scale method to identify the interactions between proteins that are a major target for therapeutic intervention.

26 Feb 2008