Genetics & Molecular Biology

How Living Cells Generate Complexity- Hidden Splicing Code

Researchers writing in Nature say they can have discovered how living cells use a limited number of genes to generate enormously complex organs such as the brain. The team describes how a hidden code within DNA explains how a limited number of human genes ...

Article - News Staff - May 5 2010 - 1:00pm

Epigenetic Driver For Neural Stem Cell Avatar

Neural stem cells have long been defined as origin of nervous system development, spontaneously giving rise to the heterogeneous multitude of cells that make up the brain. Remarkably, neural stem cells seem to have the uncanny sense to differentiate at the ...

Article - Jennifer Wong - May 10 2010 - 6:22pm

Researchers Find New Genes Linked To Alzheimer's

Scientists have identified two new genes that may be risk factors for the development of late-onset Alzheimer's disease (AD), according to a new paper in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Using an intensive, genome-wide association anal ...

Article - News Staff - May 11 2010 - 4:53pm

Akodon Fertile XY Female Rodents Defy Disorder Of Sex Development (DSD) Label

I am constantly amazed at how pathologizing variable phenomena is usually a human social agent. Consider the XY fertile Akodon females who go roaming around in South America. No other rodents seem to have told these fertile XY females that they have a  di ...

Article - M Italiano - May 14 2010 - 11:18am

Researchers Developing Molecular Robots

Researchers have programmed an autonomous molecular "robot" made out of DNA to start, move, turn, and stop while following a DNA track. The development could ultimately lead to molecular systems that might one day be used for medical therapeutic ...

Article - News Staff - May 14 2010 - 1:48pm

Scientists Capture Snapshots Of DNA Unfolding

Researchers from the University of Barcelona and the University of California, San Francisco have captured the first high resolution images of DNA unfolding. The team studied a small DNA fragment consisting of 12 base pairs (the human genomes has about 3,0 ...

Article - News Staff - May 20 2010 - 11:17am

Is Synthia Life From Scratch? No, But A Cell Controlled By A Synthetic Genome May Save Our Energy Future

Scientists have developed the first cell controlled by a synthetic genome which may allow them to probe the basic machinery of life and engineer bacteria specially designed to solve environmental or energy problems. The research team, led by Craig Venter, ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 7 2012 - 9:07am

Multiple Sclerosis Is An Elusive Disease With No Genetic Link? Results From Recent Twin Study

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a devastating autoimmune disease, where the immune system attacks the white matter throughout the nervous system. While the cause for MS is currently unknown, epidemiological data so far suggests that the disease is likely trigge ...

Article - Jennifer Wong - May 20 2010 - 6:10pm

A Molecular Basis For Collective Behavior? Amoebae Have The Answer

Scientists have long wondered what is happening at the cellular and molecular level to bring about the amazing coordination that occurs when birds migrate or fish gather in schools. A team of researchers writing in Science has found evidence that this coll ...

Article - News Staff - May 21 2010 - 11:54am

The CpG Effect: DNA Sequence Influences Mutation Rate

A new study published in Genome Research has identified intrinsic properties of DNA that influence mutation rate, shedding light on an area of biology that still needs to be investigated- the mechanisms involved in genome maintenance . Some DNA mutations a ...

Article - News Staff - May 24 2010 - 10:44am