DNA News and Research

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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).

Researchers identify oldest bubonic plague genome

An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History has analyzed two 3,800-year-old Y. pestis genomes that suggest a Bronze Age origin for bubonic plague.

8 Jun 2018

New research provides clues into development of mammalian cerebral cortex

The cerebral cortex-;the brain's epicenter of high-level cognitive functions, such as memory formation, attention, thought, language and consciousness-;has fascinated neuroscientists for centuries.

8 Jun 2018

Researchers discover new therapy combination that may help treat ovarian cancer

Researchers at The University of Kansas Cancer Center have discovered a therapy combination that may be helpful in the treatment of certain types of ovarian cancer.

8 Jun 2018

Researchers discover protein responsible for X chromosome inactivation

Researchers have discovered that the structural protein SMCHD1 is required to prevent genes from both X chromosomes being expressed in female mammals.

7 Jun 2018

Study reveals mechanism behind eye loss in blind cavefish

Blind cavefish lose critical eye tissues within a few days after their eyes begin to develop.

7 Jun 2018

UCLA researchers have blueprint of telomerase that plays major role in cancer, aging

Cancer, aging-related diseases and other illnesses are closely tied to an important enzyme called "telomerase." UCLA researchers report in the journal Cell the deepest scientific understanding yet of this once-mysterious enzyme, whose catalytic core -- where most of its activity occurs -- can now be seen in near atomic resolution.

7 Jun 2018

New method for efficient tracing of neuronal pathways

New technologies have been likened, famously, to magic. At first, even the few who understand how they work have a tendency to sit back and marvel. Soon, flaws and limitations are detected and the invention process begins again, resulting, almost always, in improvements.

6 Jun 2018

New cell-based technologies could help improve understanding of muscle-wasting disease

Researchers from Queen Mary University of London have developed new cell-based technologies which could help improve understanding of the muscle-wasting disease Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and test potential drugs for the disease.

6 Jun 2018

Study finds how colon cancer alters its genes to escape the immune system

A UCLA-led study has found how colon cancer alters its genes during development in order to avoid detection by the immune system, creating a specific genetic imprint in the process.

6 Jun 2018

Scientists uncover new way to make cancers sensitive to treatment

Scientists have uncovered a completely new way to make cancers sensitive to treatment - by targeting antenna-like structures on cells.

6 Jun 2018

Zebrafish may hold answers to how tumors develop in childhood muscle cancer

A popular aquarium fish may hold answers to how tumors form in a childhood cancer.

6 Jun 2018

Finnish research solves family blood mystery

It's the late 1970s, and a man with an unexplained high hemoglobin level (Hb) is referred to Namsos Hospital north of Trondheim, Norway. It turns out that four members of his family have the same condition. Doctor Kjell Kanelønning is the physician who treats the family.

6 Jun 2018

New findings shed light on biological mechanisms of gene regulation

A team led by Prof. Stein Aerts uncovers how access to relevant DNA regions is orchestrated in epithelial cells.

5 Jun 2018

Scientists shed light on key aspect of healthy cell division

Scientists have shed light on a key aspect of healthy cell division, helping build a clearer picture of the complex mechanisms involved.

5 Jun 2018

Researchers find novel gene in red blood cells that may help limb regeneration in adult newts

Newts are the only four-legged vertebrates that can regenerate their body parts even as adults. When a newt loses a limb, a mass of cells, called a blastema, is generated at the stump, from which a new, fully functional limb is eventually regenerated.

5 Jun 2018

Researchers use nanoparticles to predict heavy wound scarring

Researchers have developed a new way of seeing heavy wound scars as they form, using nanoparticles that enable early intervention by doctors.

4 Jun 2018

Genomic markers can predict lynch syndrome across tumor types

Microsatellite instability and DNA mismatch repair deficiencies can predict Lynch syndrome across tumor types, according to researchers from Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, who presented this retrospective data analysis in a press conference at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.

4 Jun 2018