RNA News and Research

RSS

Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate.

Compound derived from cottonseed oil could help improve the effectiveness of chemotherapy at treating head and neck cancer

The findings, which will be presented Tuesday, April 19, at the American Association for Cancer Research annual meeting, could lead to a treatment that provides an effective option to surgically removing the cancer, helping patients preserve vital organs involved in speech and swallowing.

19 Apr 2005

Scientists reveal the shape of a protein that helps retroviruses break into cells

Retroviruses are among the trickier and more malicious disease agents, causing AIDS and cancers such as leukemia. The viruses manage to sneak into cells with the help of special protein assemblies scattered all over their surfaces. These retrovirus surface proteins cause the membrane envelope of the virus to fuse with the membrane of the cell, spilling virus RNA into the cell to wreak damage.

13 Apr 2005

Scientists have discovered the mechanism that enables some CD4 T cells - the main target of HIV - to thwart the virus

The discovery, reported on April 13 in the online version of Nature, could open the door to an entirely new strategy for preventing the spread of HIV infection in the body's cells, according to the senior author of the study, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology Director Warner C. Greene, MD, PhD.

13 Apr 2005

Groundbreaking results for the potential treatment of Huntington's Disease

Sirna Therapeutics announced today that its collaborator at the University of Iowa, Dr. Beverly Davidson, published groundbreaking results for the potential treatment of Huntington's Disease (HD).

12 Apr 2005

HIV treatment-experienced patients set high standards for therapy success

Patients who have previously failed at least two anti-HIV regimens continue to have high standards for their treatment success, according to a survey commissioned by the American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR).

11 Apr 2005

Assessing the function of unknown genes is feasible and can be done with a microarray phenotype

Microarrays provide a method of quantifying the expression and order of genes in a particular genome -- acting as a surrogate measure of cell physiology, said researchers at Baylor College of Medicine in a report that appears online today in the journal Nature Genetics.

10 Apr 2005

Fibril shape is the basis of prion strains and cross-species prion infection

New research on prions, the infectious proteins behind "mad cow" disease and Creutzfeld-Jakob disease in humans, suggests that the ability of prions in one species to infect other species depends on the shape of the toxic threadlike fibers produced by the prion. Two studies on the topic appear in the 8 April issue of the journal Cell.

7 Apr 2005

Largest "gene deserts" yet discovered in the human genome sequence

A detailed analysis of chromosomes 2 and 4 has detected the largest "gene deserts" known in the human genome and uncovered more evidence that human chromosome 2 arose from the fusion of two ancestral ape chromosomes, researchers supported by the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI).

6 Apr 2005

DNA repair kit announced by scientists

A study by scientists at Sangamo BioSciences, Inc. has demonstrated the use of the Company's zinc finger DNA-binding protein (ZFP) technology to achieve highly efficient, permanent correction of a disease-causing gene in primary human cells.

5 Apr 2005

Step toward a potential treatment for Huntington's disease

Researchers at the University of Iowa Roy J. and Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine have taken another step toward a potential treatment for Huntington's disease (HD). Using an approach called RNA interference (RNAi), the scientists reduced levels of the disease-causing HD protein in mice and significantly improved the movement and neurological abnormalities normally associated with the disease.

4 Apr 2005

CDC experts sent to Angola to help with Marburg epidemic

In an effort to control the Marburg virus outbreak in Angola, Health officials from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta will assist the World Health Organization by going to Angola to help with outbreak investigation, infection control and laboratory diagnosis of the disease.

30 Mar 2005

Vical Incorporated issued two Canadian patents

Vical Incorporated announced today the issuance of two Canadian patents on the company's core technology, which involves direct administration of polynucleotide genetic material such as DNA or RNA.

29 Mar 2005

Body fat may promote inflammation

Why does extra fat around the waist increase the risk of heart disease? A new study by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center researchers and colleagues suggests that inflammation may be the key.

28 Mar 2005

Research tool for turning off genes may eventually have therapeutic application

A research team based at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) has identified 80 new genes essential to the process of RNA interference (RNAi), a powerful new research tool for inactivating genes in plants or animals.

28 Mar 2005

Tiny scaffolding allows stem cells to become working fat cells

Researchers here have used a new microscopic, three-dimensional scaffolding to coax mouse stem cells to transform themselves into fat cells, and then to function identical to how fat cells naturally do in the body.

22 Mar 2005

Genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma

The genes TEL2 and MYC cooperate with each other to promote pediatric cases of the immune system cancer B-cell lymphoma. This finding, from investigators at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, is published in the current issue of Molecular Cell Biology (MCB).

22 Mar 2005

Scientists find microRNA regulates Ras cancer gene

Research in the laboratory of Assistant Professor Frank J. Slack at Yale University has identified a new way that a familiar gene is regulated in lung cancer, presenting new possibilities for diagnosis and treatment. The work is reported in March issues of the journals Cell and Developmental Cell.

21 Mar 2005

RNA loops and knots guide genetic modifications

University of Connecticut Health Center scientist, Robert Reenan, has uncovered new rules of RNA recoding - a genetic editing method cells use to expand the number of proteins assembled from a single DNA code.

21 Mar 2005

RNAi Consortium to accelerate genetic research

Whitehead Institute has joined ten other leading biomedical organizations in an $18 million, three-year public-private consortium that will create a comprehensive library of gene inhibitors to be made available to the entire scientific community.

16 Mar 2005

Study reveals how brain's immune system fights viral encephalitis

The findings, published as the cover study in the latest issue of Virology, show that proteins in neurons fight the virus at multiple stages - by preventing the formation of viral RNA and proteins, and blocking the virus' release, which could infect other cells in the brain.

16 Mar 2005