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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).

New findings on microcephaly may offer clues to explore how Zika virus disrupts brain development

Long before Zika virus made it a household word, the birth defect called microcephaly puzzled scientists and doctors -- even as it changed the lives of the babies born with it during the pre-Zika era.

8 Aug 2016

UM SOM selected as study site for human safety trial of new Zika vaccine

As world leaders increasingly recognize the Zika virus as an international public health threat, the Center for Vaccine Development at the University of Maryland School of Medicine's Institute for Global Health has been chosen as one of three study sites in a human safety trial of a new Zika vaccine.

7 Aug 2016

Researchers show how p53 protein can control gene expression at levels of transcription, mRNA translation

Proteins that bind DNA or RNA are usually put in different categories, but researchers at Umea University in Sweden and Inserm in France recently showed how the p53 protein has the capacity to bind both and how this controls gene expression on the levels of both transcription (RNA synthesis) and mRNA translation (protein synthesis).

7 Aug 2016

Disordered airway microbiome at birth may be linked to severe neonatal lung disease

In contrast to the general belief that the airways of an infant are sterile until after birth, University of Alabama at Birmingham researchers and colleagues have found that the infant airway is already colonized with bacteria or bacterial DNA when a baby is born -- and this is true for infants born as early as 24 weeks gestation.

5 Aug 2016

Scientists make major advance in understanding how stem cells become specialized

Scientists at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute have made a major advance in understanding how the cells of an organism, which all contain the same genetic information, come to be so diverse.

5 Aug 2016

Three vaccine candidates provide complete protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys

A month after announcing that two promising vaccine candidates provided mice with complete protection against the Zika virus, a research team at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, in collaboration with scientists at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and the University of São Paulo, now reports achieving complete protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys.

5 Aug 2016

New study analyzes evolution of epigenetic mechanisms from bacteria to humans

After the emergence of single-celled organisms some billions of years ago, nature started experimenting with how to diversify gene function without changing the sequence of the DNA, such that the blue print remains conserved, but allows gene products to have different functions.

4 Aug 2016

Research findings may have implications for ALS and other neurological disorders

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease) is a progressive disorder that devastates motor nerve cells. People diagnosed with ALS slowly lose the ability to control muscle movement, and are ultimately unable to speak, eat, move, or breathe.

4 Aug 2016

NIH launches clinical trial of experimental vaccine candidate for preventing Zika virus infection

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, has launched a clinical trial of a vaccine candidate intended to prevent Zika virus infection.

3 Aug 2016

New biochip test helps identify individuals at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease

Researchers today unveiled results from a new blood test to help identify which patients are at an elevated risk of Alzheimer's disease.

3 Aug 2016

Mayo researchers discover important differences in breast tissue microbiome of women with cancer

A team of Mayo Clinic researchers has identified evidence of bacteria in sterilely-obtained breast tissue and found differences between women with and without breast cancer.

3 Aug 2016

Scientists reveal new transmission path for yaws

Lesions on arms and legs, deformed faces - yaws is a tropical disease that infects the skin, bones and cartilage. It is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pertenue

3 Aug 2016

Penn's ADCC receives $8.8 million grant to continue research on treatment for AD and related dementias

The University of Pennsylvania's Alzheimer's Disease Core Center has been awarded an estimated $8.8 million over five years from the National Institute on Aging to continue its mission of investigating mechanisms, diagnostics, treatments and strategies for Alzheimer's Disease (AD) and related dementias including Parkinson's disease (PD), Parkinson's disease dementia (PDD), Lewy Body dementia (LBD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD).

3 Aug 2016

Scientists engineer therapeutic system with two arms to get better hold on cancer target

Scientists have engineered a sort of biological barbell that can get inside cancer cells and do damage to two proteins that work independently and together to enable cancer's survival and spread.

3 Aug 2016

Biologists discover male-harming mtDNA mutant that substantiates mother's curse hypothesis

There is new evidence that the "mother's curse" - the possibility that moms may transmit genes to their children that harm their sons but not their daughters - holds true in animals.

3 Aug 2016

E. coli bacteria capable of beneficial mutations at more variable rates than previously thought

Scientists studying how microbes evolve have long assumed that nearly all new genetic mutations get passed down at a predictable pace and usually without either helping or hurting the microbe in adapting to its environment.

2 Aug 2016

Study finds how differences in vegetation in urban areas influence airborne microbial communities

New research finds that airborne bacterial communities differ from one urban park to the next but those of parking lots are alike -- and differ from those of parks in subtle but potentially important ways.

2 Aug 2016

Next-generation sequencing to evaluate cell-free DNA yields more accurate results in diagnosis of MDS

Using next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods to analyze cell-free DNA in the blood of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) yields more accurate results than the current standard approach of Sanger sequencing.

2 Aug 2016

Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy can considerably reduce total HIV DNA levels

A team of researchers, led by Drs. Merlin Robb and Jintanat Ananworanich of the U.S. Military HIV Research Program at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, has found that when antiretroviral therapy (ART) is initiated during early acute HIV infection, it can significantly reduce total HIV DNA levels in the body, which may have implications for the goal of achieving long-term HIV remission.

2 Aug 2016

Cell-free DNA test could help identify liver transplant patients with acute rejection

Today, researchers presented findings at the 68th AACC Annual Scientific Meeting that DNA found circulating in the bloodstream—known as cell-free DNA—can be used to identify liver transplant patients with acute rejection with greater accuracy than conventional liver function tests.

1 Aug 2016

DNA News and Research

Further Reading

New findings on microcephaly may offer clues to explore how Zika virus disrupts brain development

UM SOM selected as study site for human safety trial of new Zika vaccine

Researchers show how p53 protein can control gene expression at levels of transcription, mRNA translation

Disordered airway microbiome at birth may be linked to severe neonatal lung disease

Scientists make major advance in understanding how stem cells become specialized

Three vaccine candidates provide complete protection against Zika virus in rhesus monkeys

New study analyzes evolution of epigenetic mechanisms from bacteria to humans

Research findings may have implications for ALS and other neurological disorders

NIH launches clinical trial of experimental vaccine candidate for preventing Zika virus infection

New biochip test helps identify individuals at increased risk of Alzheimer's disease

Mayo researchers discover important differences in breast tissue microbiome of women with cancer

Scientists reveal new transmission path for yaws

Penn's ADCC receives $8.8 million grant to continue research on treatment for AD and related dementias

Scientists engineer therapeutic system with two arms to get better hold on cancer target

Biologists discover male-harming mtDNA mutant that substantiates mother's curse hypothesis

E. coli bacteria capable of beneficial mutations at more variable rates than previously thought

Study finds how differences in vegetation in urban areas influence airborne microbial communities

Next-generation sequencing to evaluate cell-free DNA yields more accurate results in diagnosis of MDS

Early initiation of antiretroviral therapy can considerably reduce total HIV DNA levels

Cell-free DNA test could help identify liver transplant patients with acute rejection

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