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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).

Bacterial DNA promotes tau protein misfolding and aggregation, study shows

Researchers from Human Microbiology Institute and Mitchell Center for Alzheimer’s disease at the University of Texas McGovern Medical School in Houston have discovered that bacterial extracellular DNA can trigger Tau protein misfolding into neurotoxic aggregates, a key process in Alzheimer’s disease pathogenesis.

12 Feb 2020

Vapers exhibit similar chemical changes in their genome as smokers

Biologically important changes in DNA seen in smokers are also being found in people who vape, according to a new study published in the journal Epigenetics.

12 Feb 2020

DNA misfolding linked to heightened risk for Type 1 diabetes

It's known that genetics, or an inherited genome, is a major determinant of one's risk for autoimmune diseases, like Type 1 diabetes. In human cells, a person's genome--about six feet of DNA--is compressed into the micrometer space of the nucleus via a three-dimensional folding process.

11 Feb 2020

Major breakthrough in understanding how malaria parasite grows and multiplies

Scientists have made a major breakthrough in understanding how the parasite that causes malaria is able to multiply at such an alarming rate, which could be a vital clue in discovering how it has evolved, and how it can be stopped.

11 Feb 2020

Biological age metric can provide new opportunities for preventative healthcare

People age in different ways. Biological age is a metric that scientists use to predict health risks, the relevance of which can be enhanced by combining different markers. Particularly important markers are frailty and the epigenetic clock, write researchers from Karolinska Institutet in a study published in eLife.

11 Feb 2020

Pioneering project on genomic edition through CRISPR/Cas9 to study early embryonic development

Characterization studies of early embryonic development are limited, mainly due to the lack of samples and the obvious legal and ethical limitations.

11 Feb 2020

Finding a cure for canine gliomas may help find treatment for human brain cancer

Cancer research using experimental models--everything from cancer cells in a dish to patient tumors transplanted in mice--has been extremely useful for learning more about the disease and how we might treat it.

10 Feb 2020

Study explores how some mammals postpone development of their embryos

How do some mammals postpone the development of their embryos to await better conditions for having offspring? A recent study at the UW Medicine Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine explored this reproductive enigma, which can occur in more than 130 species of mammals as well as in some marsupials.

10 Feb 2020

Depression treatment using AI, brain scans

Artificial intelligence (AI) may be a useful and even essential tool in selecting the best treatment for depression, according to a new study published in the journal Nature Biotechnology on February 2020.

10 Feb 2020

Finding the origins of angiosarcoma

In a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine on February 2020, scientists report some newly discovered reasons for the occurrence of a rare blood vessel wall cancer called angiosarcoma. This could one day help develop better therapies for this aggressive tumor. The project is a striking example of unexpectedly rich findings from a crowd-sourced venture that brings together a scattered group of patients with a rare disease.

10 Feb 2020

Higher maternal blood pressure linked to placental gene modifications

Higher maternal blood pressure in pregnancy is associated with chemical modifications to placental genes, according to a study by researchers from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, part of the National Institutes of Health.

10 Feb 2020

Protein Data Bank archive releases new coronavirus protease structure

The Protein Data Bank archive, which contains more than 160,000 3D structures for proteins, DNA, and RNA, this month released a new Coronavirus protease structure following the recent coronavirus outbreak, an ongoing viral epidemic primarily affecting mainland China that now threatens to spread to populations in other parts of the world.

10 Feb 2020

Growing eggs and sperm to treat infertility

Scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles, have reported, in the journal Cell Reports, the mechanism of how the very early precursor or stem cells which eventually give rise to the germ cells, eggs and sperm, are formed over the course of development. This could help create eggs and sperms under laboratory conditions to help infertile people who don’t have sperms, or eggs, for instance.

9 Feb 2020

CRISPR-edited immune cells can be safely given to cancer patients

The emergence of CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology has spurred hope in both doctors and patients since it shows promise in treating a multitude of diseases, including cancer. For the first time in the United States, a team of scientists has shown that CRISPR-edited immune cells can be safely used to cancer patients.

9 Feb 2020

Biological toolkit will help researchers design new functions in mammalian cells

A new synthetic biology toolkit developed at Northwestern University will help researchers design mammalian cells with new functionalities.

9 Feb 2020

Powerful vaccine could boost the effectiveness of cancer immunotherapy

Supercharging the mutation rate in cancer cells can create a powerful vaccine that is able to boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy, a major new study reports.

9 Feb 2020

Genomic sequencing technique helps understand gut microbiota one cell at a time

A population of microorganisms living in our intestine, known as the gut microbiota, plays a crucial role in controlling our metabolism and reducing the risk of conditions such as obesity and diabetes.

9 Feb 2020

Novel method to monitor residual disease after treatment in high-risk neuroblastoma patients

A research group led by Professor NISHIMURA Noriyuki (Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University) has developed a new method to monitor the residual disease after treatment in high-risk neuroblastoma patients.

9 Feb 2020

Research provides new insights into molecular basis of X-chromosome inactivation

Researchers at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Heidelberg and Institut Curie in Paris have shown that the protein SPEN plays a crucial role in the process of X-chromosome inactivation, whereby female mammalian embryos silence gene expression on one of their two X chromosomes.

7 Feb 2020

Collaborative research uncovers underlying rules that, when broken, contribute to ALS

Clumps of proteins inside cells are a common thread in many neurodegenerative diseases, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or Lou Gehrig's disease.

7 Feb 2020