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).

Dynamics of drying DNA droplets on glass surfaces

Coffee drinkers are familiar with the ring-shaped stains that result from spilled drops that have dried, in which the brown stain is not evenly distributed, but instead concentrated at the edge.

11 May 2006

Extension of embryo screening will help reduce serious illness

A fertility watchdog in Britain, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), has given approval for the extension of embryo screening to cover a wider range of mutated genes, in the main those which raise the risk of cancer in later life.

11 May 2006

Researchers link novel mutated gene to mental retardation and imbalance syndrome

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have identified a genetic cause for a form of pediatric brain malformation involving the cerebellum.

11 May 2006

Promising chemo, therapeutic viruses, cutting-edge surgery debut at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center

Brain tumor specialists at The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center are poised on the brink of a new era.

10 May 2006

New treatment for chronic eosinophilic leukemia

Leukemia - or cancer of the bone marrow - strikes some 700 Belgians each year. Chronic Eosinophilic Leukemia (CEL), a specific form of leukemia, is currently treated with Glivec.

10 May 2006

Dietary folate intake may decrease risk of bladder cancer

Genetic alterations, epigenetic events and environmental exposures all contribute to the development of bladder cancer.

10 May 2006

Stem cell 'fusion' occurs in tumors

An Oregon Health & Science University study is adding credence to an increasingly popular theory that fusion is what bonds stem cells with bone marrow cells to regenerate organ tissue.

10 May 2006

"Junk" RNA regulates important cellular processes

It has been known for a long time that much of a cell’s RNA stems from DNA regions called intergenic spacers (IGS) that lie between two genes and do not code for proteins.

9 May 2006

New insight into the way an embryonic retina cell develops

The discovery provides a new vantage point for understanding how a healthy visual system develops. It also raises the possibility of re-directing the production of cell types as needed to stave off eye disease.

9 May 2006

Scientists assemble a complete viral coat around a gold nanoparticle

Using a short piece of DNA as a template, a team of investigators at North Carolina State University has assembled a complete viral coat around a gold nanoparticle.

9 May 2006

Effective gene suppression using small interfering RNA in hard-to-transfect human T cells

A technical advance in laboratory techniques may provide biology researchers broader access to RNA interference, a process of blocking the activity of targeted genes. RNA interference has recently emerged as an important tool in studying how genes function in normal biological processes and in disease.

9 May 2006

Scientists discover molecular security mechanism for keeping gene mutations in check

Everyone knows mutations - genetic mistakes in DNA, the material of heredity - are bad: The more mutations in the cell's DNA, the higher the risk of cancer developing.

8 May 2006

Alveolar type I cells as diagnostic markers for acute lung injury

Recent work in an Oklahoma State University lab on type I cells in the alveoli has opened up a new field of investigation.

8 May 2006

Calorie counting may lessen the effects of aging

A lifelong habit of trimming just a few calories from the daily diet can do more than slim the waistline - a new study shows it may help lessen the effects of aging.

8 May 2006

New understanding of chromosomal glue

Researchers have a new understanding of the process cells use to ensure that sperm and eggs begin life with exactly one copy of each chromosome - a process that must be exquisitely regulated to prevent problems such as miscarriages and mental retardation.

8 May 2006

Gene silencing protein discovered

A team of researchers, including biologists at Washington University in St. Louis, has discovered the key role one protein plays in a major turn-off -in this case, the turning off of thousands of nearly identical genes in a hybrid plant.

8 May 2006

Novel protein JHDM2A offers new look at male hormone regulation

For the second time in less than a year, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill scientists have purified a novel protein and have shown it can alter gene activity by reversing a molecular modification previously thought permanent.

8 May 2006

Urgent effort underway to learn how diabetes increases heart disease risk

A researcher at the University of Rochester Medical Center has won the 2006 Thomas R. Lee Career Development Award from the American Diabetes Association (ADA), which includes an $842,400 grant to study how diabetes dramatically increases risk for cardiovascular disease.

8 May 2006

Mutated gene leads to JSRD

The research team, directed by Joseph Gleeson, M.D., Director of the Neurogenetics Laboratory at the UCSD School of Medicine and associate professor in the Department of Neurosciences, have identified a new gene that, when mutated, leads to JSRD. Their findings will be published on-line in advance of publication in the journal Nature Genetics.

8 May 2006

Combination of genetic mutation and viral infection may cause prostate cancer

Significant recent interest in the literature (JAMA 2006;295:1503, Lancet, epub) and by patients has arisen in response to a presentation given by Dr. Eric Klein of the Cleveland Clinic at the 2006 Prostate Cancer Symposium in San Francisco, February 24, 2006.

3 May 2006