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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).

Genomics can perpetuate inequality and structural racism

Genomics is crowding out ways of reducing inequality, has thwarted medicine from advancing justice, and is creating new forms of social classification and surveillance.

9 Jul 2020

Experimental drug for rare ALS shows promise in early clinical trial

An experimental drug for a rare, inherited form of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has shown promise in a phase 1/phase 2 clinical trial conducted at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and other sites around the world and sponsored by the pharmaceutical company Biogen Inc.

8 Jul 2020

New method helps pinpoint new potential therapeutic targets for lupus

A team of researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) used a new method of pinpointing potential disease-causing changes in the genome to identify two new potential therapeutic targets for lupus, while also paving the way for more accurately identifying disease-causing variations in other autoimmune disorders.

8 Jul 2020

COVID cuts a lethal path through San Quentin’s death row

The old men live in cramped spaces and breathe the same ventilated air. Many are frail, laboring with heart disease, liver and prostate cancer, tuberculosis, dementia. And now, with the coronavirus advancing through their ranks, they are falling one after the next.

8 Jul 2020

New technology can rapidly disrupt existing biofilms that account for chronic diseases

Chronic and recurrent bacterial diseases are treatment-resistant due to the ability of the pathogens to establish biofilms, which act as fortresses built of extracellular DNA and proteins to protect populations of the bacteria.

8 Jul 2020

Untargeted metabolomics can determine genetic variant to improve patient diagnosis

A patient and family walk into a doctor's office. They hope that the latest tests will reveal what is causing the patient's illness and end the diagnostic odyssey they have been going through for years.

8 Jul 2020

RNA plays key role in helping stem cells know what to become

Look deep inside our cells, and you'll find that each has an identical genome -a complete set of genes that provides the instructions for our cells' form and function.

7 Jul 2020

Aspirin and flavonoids in fruits and vegetables could help prevent colorectal cancer

A diet rich in fruits and vegetables and a daily dose of aspirin have one thing in common-;both can help prevent colorectal cancer. Yet scientists have struggled for decades to find the source of their ability to inhibit cancer cell growth.

7 Jul 2020

Risk of severe COVID-19 in ~50 kb genomic segment inherited from Neanderthals

Researchers have found that a small fragment of the genetic code that has been inherited by modern humans from Neanderthals could carry the secret of why some people succumb to a severe form of COVID-19 requiring hospitalization, while others recover.

7 Jul 2020

Researchers use nanoparticles to deliver gene therapy for blinding eye disease

In experiments in rats and mice, two Johns Hopkins scientists -; an engineer and an ophthalmologist -; report the successful use of nanoparticles to deliver gene therapy for blinding eye disease.

7 Jul 2020

New technique to sort out complex interactions unique to prostate cancer cells

UT Southwestern researchers have identified vast webs of small snippets of the genome that interact with each other and with genes to promote prostate cancer.

7 Jul 2020

New technology can sense the presence of toxic metals in the water supply

The new platform uses cell-free synthetic biology to test for 17 contaminants, including lead, copper, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics.

7 Jul 2020

DNA resection pathways are highly specific, shows study

Our cells are constantly dividing, and as they do, the DNA molecule - our genetic code - sometimes gets broken. DNA has twin strands, and a break in both is considered especially dangerous.

7 Jul 2020

Study: Group genomics are responsible for aggression in Africanized honey bees

Researchers often study the genomes of individual organisms to try to tease out the relationship between genes and behavior.

7 Jul 2020

Researchers create new tool to identify cancer-causing mutations lurking in 98% of the genome

Gene coding regions constitute 2% of the human genome. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed a computational tool to identify alterations that drive tumor formation in the remaining 98% of the genome.

6 Jul 2020

Work begins on UK-wide system for detecting coronavirus in wastewater

Scientists will develop a standardized UK-wide system for detecting coronavirus in wastewater, in order to provide an early warning of future outbreaks and reduce reliance on costly testing of large populations.

6 Jul 2020

Real-time tracking of protein filaments in the nuclear pore complex

In human cells, the nucleus is enclosed by a structure called the nuclear pore complex (NPC). It acts as a 'gatekeeper' controlling the transport of molecules between the nucleus and the surrounding cytoplasm (the protein-containing solution in the inside of a cell).

6 Jul 2020

Human trials of potential COVID-19 vaccine commence in South Australia

A potential COVID-19 vaccine developed at Flinders University has commenced human trials in South Australia.

6 Jul 2020

New strategies can help increase the efficiency of artificial cell reprogramming

Maria-Elena: Can you imagine being able to artificially generate cells that can develop into any cell type? That would be really fantastic! We call this ability 'totipotency' and it is the highest level of cellular plasticity.

6 Jul 2020

NPHS1 is a disease-susceptibility gene for steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome, reveals study

An international research collaboration, including Professor IIJIMA Kazumoto et al. (of the Department of Pediatrics, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine) has revealed that NPHS1 is a disease-susceptibility gene for steroid-sensitive nephrotic syndrome in children.

3 Jul 2020