Genetics & Molecular Biology

Epigenetics: What Your Father Ate Before You Were Born Influenced Your Health

There has long been evidence that lifestyles of parents could influence offspring- a parent who smokes or does drugs has a greater chance of having a child with a birth defect- but epigenetics is a brand new world of how choices can be passed through gene ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 4 2015 - 1:34pm

GMO Pigs Resistant To Incurable PRRS Virus Disease

 Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome (PRRS) virus, first detected in the U.S. in 1987, has been identified as a $660 million per year problem. Pigs who contract the disease have extreme difficulty reproducing, don't gain weight and have a h ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2015 - 3:44pm

First Map Of The Wheat Epigenome Created

Scientists have carried out the first ever genome-wide survey of heritable molecular changes that regulate gene activity in wheat. Epigenetic marks are chemical tags which physically attach themselves to DNA, and modify its function without changing the g ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 11 2015 - 7:30am

Beige Fat Activation Could Combat Obesity

Almost 70 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, according to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health. Strategies for fighting obesity, such as pharmacological and behavioral approaches to decrease food int ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 16 2015 - 2:02pm

Stem Cells Likely To Be Safe For Use In Regenerative Medicine

Researchers say they have found the strongest evidence to date that human pluripotent stem cells-- cells that can give rise to all tissues of the body-- will develop normally once transplanted into an embryo. Pluripotent stem cells for use in regenerative ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2015 - 7:28am

Gametes From Stem Cells: Just Another Way To Have A Baby?

New analysis examines the possibility of using in vitro gametogenesis (IVG) for human reproduction. IVG derives gametes from induced pluripotent stem cells (capable of giving rise to several different cell types) or human embryonic stem cells. It's n ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 18 2015 - 7:47am

The Genetic Potential In Your Pond

Euglena gracilis, the single cell algae which inhabits most garden ponds, has a whole host of new, unclassified genes which can make new forms of carbohydrates and natural products. Euglena creates many well-known, valuable natural products including vita ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 2 2016 - 12:34pm

Stem Cell Dysfunction And Metabolic Disease Reduced In Study

Researchers have taken what they hope will be the first step toward preventing and reversing age-related stem cell dysfunction and metabolic disease, including diabetes, which affects 12.2 million Americans age 60 and older, according to the National Coun ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2016 - 12:09pm

Like Walking Upright? Thank Gene Expression

Consider the engineering marvel that is your foot. Be it hairy or homely, without its solid support you'd be hard-pressed to walk or jump normally. Now, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biote ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 7 2016 - 5:18pm

Cholesterol Levels Improve With Fat-Rich Diet And Weight Loss

Fat is back, at least in some sense. It has just been replaced with polyunsaturated fats in the minds of nutritionists.  Studies on low-fat, high-carbohydrate diets and the recently popular fad called the Mediterranean diet have shown similar results in w ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 30 2016 - 11:45am