by Federico Graciano, Duke-NUS Medical School CRISPRi screens to identify functional Wnt-regulated lncRNAs that are important for pancreatic cancer growth in different models. Credit: Excerpted from Figure 4 in Liu, S., Harmston, N., Glaser, T.L. et al. Wnt-regulated lncRNA discovery enhanced by in vivo identification and CRISPRi functional validation. Genome Med 12, 89 (2020). doi:10.1186/s13073-020-00788-5, under...
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR CANCER RESEARCH Bottom Line: Prostate cancer tumors from African American men had higher frequencies of certain genetic alterations that may be associated with aggressive disease, compared with prostate cancer tumors from white men. Journal in Which the Study was Published: Molecular Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research Author: Jianfeng Xu,...
by Jacob Shea, University of California – Berkeley The miR-128-1 microRNA, a tiny snippet of regulatory RNA emanating from the ‘dark matter’ of the genome previously thought to be junk DNA, controls energy metabolism and contributes to metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. It is linked to human evolutionary selection for survival of...
by Tim Stephens, University of California – Santa Cruz Cryptochrome is one of four main clock proteins that drive daily biological rhythms. This illustration shows a “pocket” in the clock protein complex where binding of the “tail” of the cryptochrome protein helps regulate the timing of the biological clock. A new study by researchers at UC Santa Cruz...
According to a new study from an international research team, co-directed by Scripps Research molecular biologist Claudio Joazeiro, PhD, failures in a quality control system that defends protein-building fidelity in cells can result in motor neuron degeneration and associated diseases. Claudio Joazeiro, PhD, is a professor in the Scripps Research Department of Molecular Medicine. Motor neurons regulate breathing, movement, speaking,...
MAYO CLINIC PHOENIX, Ariz. Genetic testing can uncover inherited genetic mutations, and could individualize cancer therapies, improve survival, manage cancer in loved ones and push the boundaries of precision medicine. In a new study published in JAMA Oncology, scientists with Mayo Clinic’s Center for Individualized Medicine conducted genetic testing in more than 3,000 patients who were...
NIH/NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGICAL DISORDERS AND STROKE IMAGE: NIH FUNDED RESEARCHERS DISCOVERED THAT A GENE CALLED PIEZO2 MAY HELP US SENSE WHEN OUR BLADDERS ARE FULL, AND IT IS TIME TO URINATE. In a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study involving both mice and patients who are part of an NIH Clinical Center trial, researchers discovered that...
UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA HEALTH CARE IMAGE: LEFT: THE GENE UBE3A IS OFF IN NEURONS FROM ANGELMAN MICE. RIGHT: CRISPR USED TO TURN ON GENE, AND NEURONS CAN FIRE PROPERLY (YELLOW). CHAPEL HILL, NC – October 21, 2020 – Babies born with a faulty maternal copy of the UBE3A gene will develop Angelman syndrome, a...
by Lynda De Widt, Mayo Clinic Mayo Clinic researchers, along with national and global collaborators, have developed a potential test for Machado-Joseph disease, or spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3)—a disease that has no cure. They also have clarified the role of a gene target associated with the disease. The inherited disease is linked to a mutation in...
by Sarah C.p. Williams, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard As people grow older, certain genetic mutations in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs)—which give rise to blood and immune cells—can eventually cause cancer or predispose people to cardiovascular disease. Now, two teams of scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston Children’s...
