Genetics & Molecular Biology

Genetic Links Between Obesity And Early Puberty In Girls

Researchers conducting genome-wide association studies say they have discovered 30 new genes determine the age of sexual maturation in women- and many of those genes also act on body weight regulation or biological pathways related to fat metabolism. Menar ...

Article - News Staff - Nov 21 2010 - 6:25pm

The New Mito-Autism Study In JAMA

A new study was released today in JAMA which looked at, in part, mitochondrial DNA overreplication in a sample of ten autistic children between the ages of 2 and 5 and ten matched controls.  Giulivi et al. found that 5 of the 10 autistic children and 2 of ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Dec 13 2010 - 9:37am

"Is There A Mirror In Your Pocket? Cause I See Myself In Your Genes."

Does science really need to give Tiger Woods/Brett Favre an excuse? "Sorry, sweetheart, I didn't mean to bang anything with a hole and a heart beat that came my way/ text that chick pictures of my junk. But you have to forgive me because it' ...

Article - Becky Jungbauer - Dec 8 2010 - 2:56pm

My Two Dads- Literally

"My two dads" is no longer just a lousy TV show.  Using induced pluripotent stem cell technology (controversy-free!) scientists have produced male and female mice from two fathers. It isn't part of any cultural agenda, the intent was to pres ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 9 2010 - 4:11pm

New Genes As Essential As Old Ones

A million years is a blink of an eye in evolution but that doesn't mean newer genes matter less in life itself.     ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 17 2010 - 11:33am

MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT.

MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT. Molecular techniques, in particular the applications of molecular markers, have been used to scrutinize DNA sequence variation(s) in and among the crop species and create new sources of genetic v ...

Blog Post - Ashwani Kumar - Dec 19 2010 - 7:38pm

A Literal Mickey Mouse In The Making? Researchers Create Mice That Sing

In the 1989 holiday classic "Scrooged", the chairman of the television network predicts that because there were so many pets in America they would become steady viewers in 20 years- which would be 2009.    So he asks network executive Bill Murray ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Dec 21 2010 - 1:48pm

Delicious! Part 1: Chocolate Tree Genome Sequenced

The production of high quality chocolate will benefit from the recent sequencing and assembly of the chocolate tree genome- Theobroma cacao- considered by chocolate experts to produce the world's finest chocolate. The Maya domesticated this variety of ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 27 2010 - 12:02pm

Delicious! Part 2: Wild Strawberry Genome Sequenced

Scientists writing in Nature Genetics have produced the full genome of a wild strawberry plant.  The woodland strawberry- Fragaria vesca- is closely related to garden-variety cultivated strawberry and this berry contains large amounts of anti-oxidants (mai ...

Article - News Staff - Dec 27 2010 - 12:26pm

Adult Stem Cell Breakthrough For Male Pattern Balding

While hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on masking and treating male pattern baldness, surprisingly little is known about its cause at the cellular level. A Journal of Clinical Investigation study has found that stem cells play an unexpected role i ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 4 2011 - 1:24pm