Genetics & Molecular Biology

Overexpression Of Splicing Protein SRSF6 In Skin Repair Causes Early Changes Seen In Skin Cancer

Normally, a tissue injury causes cells to repair damaged tissue and restore the skin to a normal, homeostatic, state. Errors in this process can give rise to various problems, such as chronic inflammation, which is a known cause of certain cancers.   ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 17 2014 - 12:12pm

Blood-Sucking Worms: Poor, Minorities Impacted Most

Going barefoot in parts of Africa, Asia and South America is dangerous. Hookworms live in the soil and enter the body through the feet. By feeding on victims' blood, the worms cause anemia and, in children, stunted growth and learning problems. These ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 20 2014 - 1:20pm

A Safer Way To Do Miller-Urey Origin Of Life Experiments

A new protocol for conducting Miller-Urey Experiments is comprised of a modern and simplified approach to the method used by Dr. Stanley Miller and Dr. Harold Urey in 1953. Their research evaluated the possibility of organic compounds important for the or ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 21 2014 - 10:46am

Adult Stem Cells Repair Retinal Tissue In Mice

Human induced-pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from human umbilical cord-blood are capable of repairing damaged retinal vascular tissue in mice, according to a new paper. The adult stem cells were coaxed turned into an embryonic-like state without t ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 23 2014 - 5:52pm

Prion Proteins: The Origin Of The Evil Conformation

Prion proteins are "misfolded"and cause a group of incurable neurodegenerative diseases, including spongiform encephalopathies (for example, mad cow diseases) and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.  Prions are unique infective agents. Unlike viruses, ba ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 27 2014 - 5:00am

How Much Neanderthal Are You?

By analyzing whole-genome sequencing data from 665 people from Europe and East Asia  as part of the 1,000 Genomes Project, researchers have determined that more than 20 percent of the Neanderthal genome survives in the DNA of this contemporary group.  Tha ...

Article - News Staff - Jan 29 2014 - 5:29pm

ACE Enzyme May Enhance Immune Responses And Prevent Alzheimer's

People with high blood pressure are familiar with ACE inhibitors, drugs that widen blood vessels by limiting activity of ACE, angiotensin-converting enzyme, a naturally occurring protein found in tissues throughout the body.  But high activity of ACE may ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 3 2014 - 4:09pm

Major Breakthrough For Vaccine Design

Vaccines are the safest, cheapest and most effective way to protect against infectious diseases  but to make a good one remains a challenge, and traditional approaches are now stretched to the limit while fatal diseases, like HIV and malaria, remain withou ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Feb 7 2014 - 3:34am

GABA: Reduce The Chloride To Restore The Switch

A drug given to pregnant mice with models of autism prevents autistic behavior in their offspring, according to a new report, and though the drug could not be administered prenatally in humans- there is no way to screen for autism in human fetuses- clinic ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 7 2014 - 4:37pm

The Ultimate Decoy: Protein M Helps Bacteria Misdirect Immune System

Researchers have discovered an unusual bacterial protein that attaches to virtually any antibody and prevents it from binding to its target. Protein M, as it is called, probably helps some bacteria evade the immune response and establish long-term infecti ...

Article - News Staff - Feb 7 2014 - 3:12pm