DNA News and Research

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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).

Gene detectives discover culprit for type 1 diabetes

Researchers at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and McGill University in Montreal have discovered a gene they believe is the culprit in a person developing type 1 diabetes.

16 Jul 2007

New genomics-based technology

Bruce S. Gillis, M.D., M.P.H., a medical toxicologist and CEO of the research group, The Cytokine Institute, will present a tutorial on a new genomics-based technology, msds1(TM).

16 Jul 2007

New gene found for type 1 diabetes in children

Pediatrics researchers at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and McGill University in Montreal have identified a gene variant that raises a child's risk for type 1 diabetes, formerly called juvenile diabetes.

16 Jul 2007

A suntan is the body's best effort to fend off ultraviolet light

For years, the official word on tanning has been … don't. Health organizations have driven home the message that the sun exposure needed to get a tan increases your chances of getting skin cancer.

16 Jul 2007

Chromosome glue repairs damaged DNA

When a strand of DNA breaks in the body's cells, it normally does not take long until it has been repaired.

16 Jul 2007

Hope for cure for insulin-dependent diabetes

A diagnosis of type I diabetes means a life sentence of medical follow-up. While treatments have become simpler and less restrictive in recent years, they are still a burden, especially for young patients.

16 Jul 2007

DNA' s double helix shape explained

Researchers at Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering have uncovered a missing link in scientists' understanding of the physical forces that give DNA its famous double helix shape.

13 Jul 2007

Breakthough in understanding of how mutations occur in genes

For the first time, it can now be shown what enzyme copies the genetic make-up of cells.

13 Jul 2007

Discovery of one important function of junk DNA

Scientists have only recently begun to speculate that what's referred to as junk DNA , the 96 percent of the human genome that doesn't encode for proteins and previously seemed to have no useful purpose , is present in the genome for an important reason.

13 Jul 2007

New DNA sequencing technology at University of Liverpool

Unique technology, that uses the enzymes of fireflies to read the genetic code of DNA, has been installed at the University of Liverpool.

13 Jul 2007

Scientists discover human genes hover between "on"and "off" in any given cell

Biologists have long thought that a simple on/off switch controls most genes in human cells.

13 Jul 2007

Chemotherapy may benefit all women with a BRCA1 mutation

Breast cancer patients who possess one of the so-called "breast cancer" or BRCA genetic mutations do not have a higher risk of dying than patients with no BRCA mutations, according to a detailed study by researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the University of Toronto.

12 Jul 2007

Sigma-Aldrich launches Imprint DNA Modification kit

Sigma-Aldrich has announced the launch of the Imprint DNA Modification kit.

11 Jul 2007

Kaposi sarcoma tumors arise independently from multiple cells

Kaposi sarcoma is unique among cancers because most tumors grow from a small number of different cells, whereas nearly all other cancers arise from a single cell, according to a study published online July 10 in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

11 Jul 2007

Magnetic nano tweezers show how cancer drug works

The annoying bulges of an over-wound telephone cord that shorten its reach and limit a caller's motion help to explain why drugs called camptothecins are so effective in killing cancer cells, according to investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and Delft University of Technology.

10 Jul 2007