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DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, is the hereditary material in humans and almost all other organisms. Nearly every cell in a person’s body has the same DNA. Most DNA is located in the cell nucleus (where it is called nuclear DNA), but a small amount of DNA can also be found in the mitochondria (where it is called mitochondrial DNA or mtDNA).

Species differences in somatic mutations shed light on aging

A recent study published in the journal Nature aimed to elucidate, through a comparative analysis, the diversity in mutagenesis across different species, and the long-established hypothesis regarding evolution in the rates of somatic mutation, as well as their role in cancer and aging.

25 Apr 2022

Disease-causing amoebas that live on organic leafy vegetables could be a threat to public health

New research to be presented at this year's European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases in Lisbon, Portugal (23-26 April), suggests that disease-causing amoebas that live on organic leafy vegetables can shelter human pathogens like Pseudomonas, Salmonella, and Helicobacter and are a potential risk to public health.

23 Apr 2022

ST6Gal-I–mediated sialylation of the EGFR modulates cell mechanics and enhances cancer invasion

For more than two decades, University of Alabama at Birmingham researcher Susan Bellis, Ph.D., has studied how the addition of sialic acid to various proteins increases cancer resistance and oncogenicity.

22 Apr 2022

Discovering Genetic Variants that Significantly Predispose People to Critical COVID-19

We speak with postdoctoral researcher Erola Pairo-Castineira about her recent work which aimed to find the genetic factors that may predispose individuals to critical COVID-19 and learn how COVID-19 affects cells in the body.

22 Apr 2022

Could DNA be linked to Premature Aging in Cancer Survivors?

In this interview, we speak to Dr. Wang about his latest research that investigated accelerated aging in childhood cancer survivors and the underlying genetics causing this.

22 Apr 2022

Excitotoxicity matters for stroke recovery, new evidence shows

A new study has prompted scientists to reconsider a once-popular yet controversial idea in stroke research.

21 Apr 2022

DNA analysis of tumors uncovers a 'treasure trove' of clues about the causes of cancer

DNA analysis of thousands of tumors from NHS patients has found a 'treasure trove' of clues about the causes of cancer, with genetic mutations providing a personal history of the damage and repair processes each patient has been through.

21 Apr 2022

CRISPR-based detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA directly from patient swabs

Researchers developed a clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats-based diagnostic technique for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA.

21 Apr 2022

Association between SARS-CoV-2 Omicron viral load and vaccination history

Researchers analyzed the association between viral loads in SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant infection and vaccination history.

21 Apr 2022

Novel methods for inferring the movement of brain cells during fetal development

The making of a human brain remains a mostly mysterious process that races from an embryonic neural tube to more than 100 billion interconnected neurons in the brain of a newborn. To achieve this marvel of biological engineering, the developing fetal brain must grow, on average, at a rate of roughly 250,000 nerve cells per minute throughout the course of a pregnancy.

21 Apr 2022

Revolutionary mRNA vaccine technology: History, facts and the future

mRNA vaccine technology is a field full of promise – as well as unanswered questions – for communities living with the burden of the world’s most deadly infectious diseases.

20 Apr 2022

DNA abnormality explains insensitivity to chemotherapy in germ cell cancer

Extra copies of a piece of DNA partly explain insensitivity to chemotherapy in germ cell cancer, a new study shows.

20 Apr 2022

RNA splicing abnormalities in COVID-19 patients

This study entailed the integration of multiple-omics datasets to examine the dysregulation in the host splicing mechanism and alteration in protein isoforms among COVID-19 patients.

20 Apr 2022

CryoEM reveals never-before-seen details of the human androgen receptor

Scientists at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) have glimpsed never-before-seen details of the human androgen receptor -; the protein inside of cells that responds to male-typical hormones like testosterone.

20 Apr 2022

Advancements in HIV science

As far as viruses go, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is quite simple. About 100,000 times smaller than a red blood cell, the virus expresses just a dozen proteins, yet it can establish a lifelong infection that, if left untreated, causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and death.

20 Apr 2022

Researchers discover more needles in the haystack in the quest to unravel Alzheimer’s disease

21 million. That's the number of genetic variations in the human genome that researchers are sifting to identify patterns predisposing people to Alzheimer's disease.

20 Apr 2022

Single-cell genome sequencing provides a new way to think about Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer's disease is marked by a loss of functional neurons in the brain. But what causes this loss? Through single-cell genome sequencing, researchers at Boston Children's Hospital, Brigham and Women's Hospital, and the Broad Institute show that people with Alzheimer's have an abundance of newly acquired mutations in their neurons -; more than people of the same age without Alzheimer's, and enough to disable genes important to brain function.

20 Apr 2022

'Epigenetic age' can predict performance on cognitive tests later in life

Epigenetic markers of cognitive aging can predict performance on cognitive tests later in life, according to a study published in the journal Aging.

20 Apr 2022

New technology enables single-cell sorting based on functional outputs

For nearly 40 years, drugmakers have used genetically engineered cells as tiny drug factories. Such cells can be programmed to secrete compounds that yield drugs used to treat cancer and autoimmune conditions such as arthritis.

20 Apr 2022

Little-known protein found to play a role in common neurodegenerative disorder

Scientists have known for years that amyloid fibrils -; fibrous, ropelike structures formed by closely linked protein molecules -; are present in the brains of patients with Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and likely play a role in the progression of these disorders.

20 Apr 2022