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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).

Study provides new insights into tuberculosis behavior

Patience may be a virtue in a person, but in an infectious disease, it is insidious. Witness tuberculosis, which can lie dormant in a human host for decades before bursting forth into infection. TB's stealthy nature has made it difficult to decipher how it spreads, seriously hampering efforts to control it. The World Health Organization estimates that a third of the people on Earth are infected.

12 Apr 2011

IncP-1 plasmids can transport antibiotic resistance genes between bacterial species

The part of bacterial DNA that often carries antibiotic resistance is a master at moving between different types of bacteria and adapting to widely differing bacterial species, shows a study made by a research team at the University of Gothenburg in cooperation with Chalmers University of Technology. The results are published in an article in the scientific journal Nature Communications.

12 Apr 2011

Scientists develop new method for enzyme immobilization

Virtually all processes in the human body rely on a unique class of proteins known as enzymes. To study them, scientists want to attach these molecules to surfaces and hold them fast, but this can often be a tricky undertaking.

12 Apr 2011

Insight into neurodegenerative diseases

For years, researchers in genome stability have observed that several neurodegenerative diseases-including Huntington's disease-are associated with cell-killing proteins that are created during expansion of a CAG/CTG trinucleotide repeat.

12 Apr 2011

GeoVax Labs expands its HIV/AIDS vaccine program with NIAID, NIH and HVTN

GeoVax Labs, Inc., announced today that it is expanding its preventative HIV/AIDS vaccine development effort in collaboration with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the HIV Vaccine Trials Network.

11 Apr 2011

Study shows how specific nutritional combination may help maintain healthy breast tissue

Researchers from Canada and the United States today told attendees of the Experimental Biology 2011 Scientific Meeting that they have uncovered a possible means of enabling women to favorably influence whether the estrogens in their bodies take a "beneficial path" or a "disease-potential" path.

11 Apr 2011

Research on rare cancers

A cancer diagnosis can be a life-changing event. Many questions arise, with one of the first being, "Where should I be treated?" Patients diagnosed with rare cancers may have difficulty finding a physician knowledgeable in treating their type of cancer.

11 Apr 2011

New nonviral method to create cardiac cells

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a simplified, cheaper, all-purpose method they say can be used by scientists around the globe to more safely turn blood cells into heart cells. The method is virus-free and produces heart cells that beat with nearly 100 percent efficiency, they claim.

11 Apr 2011

Air pollution on freeways may lead to brain damage: Study

Earlier research has shown that air pollution from cars and trucks on Southern California freeways – that contains soot, pavement dust and other toxic substances - can cause respiratory disease, heart attacks, cancer and premature death. Now a new study has shown that exposure to pollution particles roughly one-thousandth the width of a human hair may lead to brain damage in mice, including signs associated with memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease. The study comes from University of Southern California and is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

10 Apr 2011

Sangamo prices public offering of 6.7M shares of common stock

Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. today announced the pricing of its previously announced public offering of 6,700,000 shares of its common stock at a price to the public of $7.70 per share. The public offering is expected to close on or around Wednesday, April 13, 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.

8 Apr 2011

DNA forensic test frees prisoner with life sentence after having served 18 years

In a landmark case, a prisoner with a life sentence was freed after serving 18 years in a Florida prison, based on DNA findings presented by DDC (DNA Diagnostics Center). DNA analysis and testimony provided by Dr. Julie Heinig, DDC's DNA Forensics Assistant Laboratory Director, is credited with leading to the exoneration of Derrick Williams earlier this week. DDC is the largest provider of private DNA paternity and other DNA testing in the United States and worldwide.

8 Apr 2011

New report finds 13,000 cancer cases per year in the UK due to alcohol consumption

Alcohol causes at least 13,000 cases of cancer a year in the UK, according to a new report published in the British Medical Journal today.

8 Apr 2011

Experimental Biology 2011 to be held April 9-13 in Washington, D.C.

The meeting Experimental Biology 2011 (EB 2011) begins April 9 and runs through April 13 at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in Washington, D.C.

8 Apr 2011

T2 Biosystems' technology platform demonstrates ability to detect Candida organisms in whole blood samples

T2 Biosystems, Inc., a company developing next-generation diagnostic products, presented data today on the rapid and sensitive detection of five species of the fungal infection Candida at the Annual Meeting of the Mycoses Study Group in Philadelphia, PA.

8 Apr 2011

IBM discovers biodegradable nanoparticles that seek out and destroy drug-resistant bacteria

IBM's announcement of the first biodegradable nanoparticles that can seek out and destroy drug-resistant bacteria caps off a century of healthcare and life sciences innovation from IBM.

8 Apr 2011

Researchers determine age of atherosclerotic plaques using carbon dating

In a new study performed in humans, researchers from Sweden's Karolinska Institutet have determined the age of atherosclerotic plaques by taking advantage of Carbon-14 residues in the atmosphere, prevailing after the extensive atomic bomb tests in the 50ties and 60ties.

8 Apr 2011

GeoVax Labs to update its HIV/AIDS vaccine status at World Vaccine Conference

Harriet Robinson, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at GeoVax Labs, Inc., will provide an update on the status of the Company's therapeutic and preventative HIV vaccines at the 2011 World Vaccine Conference at the Gaylord National Hotel and Convention Center in Washington DC on Thursday, April 14.

8 Apr 2011

New discovery in cancer and gene therapy

DNA's role as the master blueprint of the cell means that even small sequence changes can have catastrophic consequences. For this reason, much of our understanding of cancer development comes from studying how cells copy DNA and repair sequence errors--and how these processes can go wrong.

8 Apr 2011

Luminex receives Medical Design Excellence Award for innovative MAGPIX system

Luminex Corporation has won a 2011 Medical Design Excellence Award in the category of In Vitro Diagnostics for its innovative MAGPIX system. Introduced in 2010, MAGPIX is a compact, versatile laboratory analysis platform designed to improve productivity by delivering multiple highly accurate, reproducible results from a single sample.

From Luminex 8 Apr 2011

Alcohol raises risk of cancers: Study

This comes from a large Europe-wide study published in the British Medical Journal that found that one-in-10 of all cancers in men and one-in-33 of all cancers in women are caused by past or current alcohol intake. For alcohol-related cancers, one-in-three in men and one-in-20 in women are caused by any excessive drinking. According to cancer charities say people should limit their drinking to lower the risk.

7 Apr 2011