Clarifying the mechanisms for meiotic recombination in sperm production KUMAMOTO UNIVERSITY A research group from the Institute of Molecular Embryology and Genetics (IMEG)at Kumamoto University, Japan has discovered that the gene C19ORF57 plays a critical role in meiosis. The gene appears to be related to the cause of male infertility and could be a big...
by Yale University Our cells have several ways to repair DNA that breaks when the cells divide. However, genetic mutations can disable these DNA repair mechanisms, destabilize the cells, and trigger cancer. In a paper published today in the journal Nature, Yale Cancer Center (YCC) scientists have identified mutations in metabolite-producing genes as a disruption...
by Nicole Davis, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard In the last several years, excitement has surged for a promising class of drugs that work not by inhibiting the action of a molecular target, as most conventional drugs do, but instead by harnessing the cell’s recycling system to destroy the target. However, these unusual compounds,...
by ETH Zurich ETH researchers have deconstructed the mechanisms that control wound healing and scar formation in more detail. To this end, biologists and engineers have developed a new method that allows the biomechanical properties of the healing tissue to be measured in vivo for the first time. Anyone who is injured hopes for a...
by Nanyang Technological University A promising molecular pair has offered hope that could lead to the development of a new treatment to slow down Parkinson’s disease, a study by Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) and Harvard University has found. Parkinson’s disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer’s disease, affecting 7 to...
Scientists from Leiden University in the Netherlands have shown that anandamide — a natural cannabinoid produced by the brain — could help people to forget traumatic memories and reduce stress levels. A recent study investigates the effects of a natural cannabinoid. Cannabinoids are chemical compounds found in the cannabis plant. One of the most notable...
By Ben Coxworth May 26, 2020 One of the creepy things about ticks is the fact that not only do they suck your blood, but they’re able to do so for a long time, undetected. Scientists have now synthesized the protein that lets them get away with it, and it may have life-saving medical applications....
by University of North Carolina Health Care Hepatitus A virus particles (pink) trapped in lysosomes (yellow intracellular organelles), unable to initiate replication in the cytoplasm of cells due to UCGC enzyme being knocked out. Credit: Maryna Kapustina, PhD, UNC School of Medicine How hepatitis A virus (HAV) manages to enter liver cells called hepatocytes and...
by University of Chicago Medical Center A new study shows that people with a rare genetic disease that causes bleeding in the brain have gut microbiomes distinct from those without the disease. Moreover, it is the molecules produced by this bacterial imbalance that cause lesions to form in the brains of these patients. The results...
by Chris Palmer, University of Utah Health Sciences This electron microscopic image of two Epstein Barr Virus virions (viral particles) shows round capsids—protein-encased genetic material—loosely surrounded by the membrane envelope. Credit: DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.0030430.g001 A team of researchers at University of Utah Health have shown the Epstein-Barr virus—which causes mononucleosis and is linked to development of...
