MicroRNA News and Research

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In genetics, microRNAs (miRNA) are single-stranded RNA molecules of 21-23 nucleotides in length, which regulate gene expression. miRNAs are encoded by genes from whose DNA they are transcribed but miRNAs are not translated into protein (i.e. they are non-coding RNAs); instead each primary transcript (a pri-miRNA) is processed into a short stem-loop structure called a pre-miRNA and finally into a functional miRNA. Mature miRNA molecules are partially complementary to one or more messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules, and their main function is to down-regulate gene expression.

Micro molecules identify pancreatic cancer

A pattern of micro molecules can distinguish pancreatic cancer from normal and benign pancreatic tissue, new research suggests.

10 Jan 2007

Renegade ribonucleic acid

Researchers at Johns Hopkins have discovered that a tiny piece of genetic code apparently goes where no bit of it has gone before, and it gets there under its own internal code.

3 Jan 2007

Detecting rare microRNAs with gold nanoparticles

Over the past three years, numerous studies have shown that short pieces of single-stranded RNA, known as microRNAs, play a central role in the development of at least some cancers.

30 Oct 2006

Researchers identify how molecules of microRNA are responsible for the growth of blood vessels in a model for human colon cancer

The process, called angiogenesis, results in ability of ravenous cancer cells to recruit blood vessels and receive a steady supply of nutrients and oxygen.

4 Aug 2006

Objections to Kreutzer-Limmer patent by Sirna Therapeutics accepted by the European Patent Office

Sirna Therapeutics has announced that its objections to the Kreutzer-Limmer patent in Europe were accepted by the European Patent Office.

29 Jun 2006

miR 155 overexpression can lead to cancer

Scientists in the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center say that just one, single, malfunctioning microRNA is sufficient to cause cancer in mice.

18 Apr 2006

Researchers find genetic "signature" that accurately identifies colon cancer

Researchers at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia have uncovered a genetic "signature" that accurately identifies colon cancer--a key, they hope, to better understand how the cancer develops.

13 Apr 2006

New approach to treating hepatitis C virus

Last year Peter Sarnow, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology at the Stanford University School of Medicine, identified a previously unknown mechanism that the hepatitis C virus uses to replicate, yielding a promising new approach to combating the disease-causing virus.

10 Apr 2006

Scientists identify microRNAs that appear to play a role in the development of platelets

Scientists have identified a handful of microRNAs (miRNAs) that appear to play a significant role in the development of platelets - blood cells critical to the body's ability to form clots following an injury.

21 Mar 2006

New genome-wide map of miRNA-MRNA interactions

Researchers at New York University's Center for Comparative Functional Genomics and the University of California, Berkeley have used computational analyses to predict a genome-wide map of microRNA (miRNA) targets in the animal model organism, Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans).

9 Mar 2006

miRNA emerge as a class of gene regulators

Scientists have discovered that a wide variety of different cancers actually share something in common - a molecular "signature" made up of tiny bits of genetic material called microRNA (miRNA) that target key cancer genes and promote malignant growth.

7 Feb 2006

New microRNA mechanism for regulating brain function

Non-coding regions of the genome - those that don't code for proteins - are now known to include important elements that regulate gene activity. Among those elements are microRNAs, tiny, recently discovered RNA molecules that suppress gene expression.

18 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

New cell findings have implications for cancer, immune disorders

It all started 5 years ago when a University of Calgary neuroscientist sent blood from a patient with a neurological disorder to the laboratory of Dr. Marvin Fritzler, professor of medicine / biochemistry & molecular biology at the University of Calgary Faculty of Medicine.

15 Dec 2005

MicroRNAs greatly influence the evolution of genes

RNA continues to shed its reputation as DNA's faithful sidekick. Now, researchers in the lab of Whitehead Institute Member David Bartel have found that a class of small RNAs called microRNAs influence the evolution of genes far more widely than previous research had indicated.

7 Dec 2005

Researchers link microRNA - miR 196 - to limb development

A tiny strand of molecules plays a role in how our arms and legs develop and grow - a finding that sheds light on perplexing bits of material once dismissed as genetic "junk," say scientists at the University of Florida and Harvard University.

5 Dec 2005

Gene silencing and microRNA discovery

One of the body's primary strategies for regulating its genome is a kind of targeted gene silencing orchestrated by small molecules called microRNAs, or miRNAs.

7 Nov 2005

First gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome

Researchers have identified the first gene mutation associated with Tourette syndrome - opening a new avenue for understanding the complex disorder that causes muscle and vocal tics.

13 Oct 2005

New research adds to the emerging range of functions that miRNAs perform in an organism

In an effort to understand the biological function of the microRNA mir1, Drs. Nicholas Sokol and Victor Ambros (Darmouth Medical School) have studied the expression profile, transcriptional regulation and loss-of-function phenotype of Drosophila mir-1 (Dmir-1).

20 Sep 2005