Tag: ScienceDaily

An estimated quarter of adults and two-thirds of children have strong fears around needles, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Yet, public health depends on people being willing to receive vaccines, which are often administered by a jab. Darcy Dunn-Lawless, a doctoral student at the University…

A research team has used advanced sequencing technology to analyze Ötzi’s genome to obtain a more accurate picture of the Iceman’s appearance and genetic origins. Ötzi’s genome was decoded for the first time more than ten years ago. This was also the first time the genome of a mummy had…

Scientists have completed a deep analysis of the proteins driving cancer across multiple tumor types, information that can’t be assessed by genome sequencing alone. Understanding how proteins operate in cancer cells raises the prospect of new therapies that block key proteins that drive cancer growth, or therapies that trigger immune…

A new study from clinicians and researchers at the University of Michigan Rogel Cancer Center, U-M Department of Pathology and the Michigan Center for Translational Pathology reveals findings from over 800 clinical assays performed for kidney patients with MiTF family gene mutations. This study, published in the American Journal of…

A change in just one letter in the code that makes up a cancer-causing gene can significantly affect how aggressive a tumor is or how well a patient with cancer responds to a particular therapy. A new, very precise gene-editing tool created by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators will enable scientists…

Some organisms, such as tardigrades, rotifers, and nematodes, can survive harsh conditions by entering a dormant state known as “cryptobiosis.” In 2018, researchers from the Institute of Physicochemical and Biological Problems in Soil Science RAS in Russia found two roundworms (nematode) species in the Siberian Permafrost. Radiocarbon dating indicated that…

Researchers have uncovered two new cholera substrains in a displaced refugee population in southern Bangladesh, where a pre-emptive mass vaccination campaign of over one million refugees was successful in preventing an epidemic. They also showed that the cholera bacterium initiating this campaign was the high risk pandemic strain that has…

Researchers at North Carolina State University used a CRISPR gene-editing system to breed poplar trees with reduced levels of lignin, the major barrier to sustainable production of wood fibers, while improving their wood properties. The findings — published in the journal Science — hold promise to make fiber production for…

A new national study, led by researchers at Tufts Medical Center in Boston, has found whole genome sequencing (WGS) to be nearly twice as effective as a targeted gene sequencing test at identifying abnormalities responsible for genetic disorders in newborns and infants. The study, “A Comparative Analysis of Rapid Whole…

A study of the genetic variation that makes mice more susceptible to bowel inflammation after a high-fat diet has identified candidate genes which may drive inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in humans. The findings are published as a Reviewed Preprint in eLife. Described by the editors as a fundamental study, the…

Malaria remains one of the world’s deadliest diseases. Each year malaria infections result in hundreds of thousands of deaths, with the majority of fatalities occurring in children under five. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently announced that five cases of mosquito-borne malaria were detected in the United States,…

Gene therapy that alters hemoglobin genes may be an answer to curing sickle cell disease (SCD) and beta thalassemia. These two common life-threatening anemias afflict millions of individuals across the globe. Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard used a next-generation genome…

Artificial intelligence can predict on- and off-target activity of CRISPR tools that target RNA instead of DNA, according to new research published in Nature Biotechnology. The study by researchers at New York University, Columbia Engineering, and the New York Genome Center, combines a deep learning model with CRISPR screens to…

Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress in neurodegenerative diseases. sFluorescence images of Calcein AM/PI staining in the CsA- or DMSO-treated NPCs. NPC pyroptosis mechanism via mtDNA mediated TLR9-NF-B-NLRP3 axis activation is unclear. In addition, we found that TLR9 recognized and bound mtDNA, which is critical for NF-B and the NLRP3 inflammasome…

Humans split away from our closest animal relatives, chimpanzees, and formed our own branch on the evolutionary tree about seven million years ago. In the time since — brief, from an evolutionary perspective — our ancestors evolved the traits that make us human, including a much bigger brain than chimpanzees…

Recent scientific discoveries have shown that Neanderthal genes comprise some 1 to 4% of the genome of present-day humans whose ancestors migrated out of Africa, but the question remained open on how much those genes are still actively influencing human traits — until now. A multi-institution research team including Cornell…

Researchers from 24 countries have analyzed the genomes of 809 individuals from 233 primate species, generating the most complete catalog of genomic information about our closest relatives to date. The project, which consists of a series of studies in which researchers from the German Primate Center — Leibniz Institute for…

A team of international researchers has dug into archaeological records, DNA evidence and Indigenous oral traditions to paint what might be the most exhaustive history of early horses in North America to date. The group’s findings show that these beasts of burden may have spread throughout the American West much…

A new UCLA-led study suggests that advanced genome editing technology could be used as a one-time treatment for the rare and deadly genetic disease CD3 delta severe combined immunodeficiency. The condition, also known as CD3 delta SCID, is caused by a mutation in the CD3D gene, which prevents the production…

More than twelve billion doses of mRNA vaccines have been administered globally since the start of the COVID pandemic, saving millions of lives. But RNA-based therapies for other diseases have so far proven more challenging to develop. The full-body immune response caused by mRNA vaccines is fantastic for fighting off…

The small size and isolation of the endangered population of Southern Resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest have led to high levels of inbreeding. This inbreeding has contributed to their decline, which has continued as surrounding killer whale populations expand, according to research published in Nature Ecology and Evolution….

Despite recent advancements, many highly sensitive diagnostic tests for viral diseases still require complicated techniques to prepare a sample or interpret a result, making them impractical for point-of-care settings or areas with few resources. But now, a team reporting in ACS Central Science has developed a sensitive method that analyzes…

Almost 5 miles above sea level in the Himalayan mountains, the rocky dip between Mount Everest and its sister peak, Lhotse, lies windswept, free of snow. It is here at the South Col where hundreds of adventurers pitch their final camp each year before attempting to scale the world’s tallest…

Researchers have analysed image and genomic data from the UK Biobank to find insights into rare diseases of the human eye. These include retinal dystrophies — a group of inherited disorders affecting the retina — which are also the leading cause of blindness certification in working-age adults. The retina is…

A team of researchers from Michigan State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine has made a discovery that may have implications for therapeutic gene editing strategies, cancer diagnostics and therapies and other advancements in biotechnology. Kathy Meek, a professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine, and collaborators at Cambridge University and…

The Pink-throated Brilliant hummingbird, Heliodoxa gularis, has, unsurprisingly, a brilliant pink throat. So does its cousin, the Rufous-webbed Brilliant hummingbird, Heliodoxa branickii. When scientists found a Heliodoxa hummingbird with a glittering gold throat, they thought they might have found a new species. DNA revealed a different story: the gold-throated bird…

Researchers from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have generated the first induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from bats, gaining valuable insights into the close relationship between bats and viruses. This research opens the door to studying how viruses like SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, survive, spread, and evade…

Cells zealously protect the integrity of their genomes, because damage can lead to cancer or cell death. The genome — a cell’s complete set of DNA — is most vulnerable while it is being duplicated before a cell divides. Cancer cells constantly are dividing, so their genomes are constantly in…

In the course of optimising key procedures of genome editing, researchers from the department of Developmental Biology / Physiology at the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University have succeeded in substantially improving the efficiency of molecular genetic methods such as CRISPR/Cas9 and related systems, and in broadening their areas…

MACHETE is a new CRISPR-based technique developed by researchers at the Sloan Kettering Institute (SKI) to study large-scale genetic deletions efficiently in laboratory models. People are already calling it the Machete Paper. Still, lead authors Francisco “Pancho” Barriga and Kaloyan Tsanov of the Sloan Kettering Institute don’t want the name…

Researchers at VCU Massey Cancer Center have set their sights on a new therapeutic target for an aggressive form of breast cancer with limited treatment options. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in U.S. women, and triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a more aggressive and deadly form of…

New research using genome editing technology has allowed scientists to create a model and assess a gene mutation associated with neuropsychiatric disorders in humans. The study has revealed how the mutation functions in the brain and affects anxiety and sociality. Monoamine neurotransmitters such as serotonin and dopamine play important roles…

Part of a gene is better than none when identifying a species of microbe. But for Rice University computer scientists, part was not nearly enough in their pursuit of a program to identify all the species in a microbiome. Emu, their microbial community profiling software, effectively identifies bacterial species by…

New research has uncovered how genetic mutations hijack the production of blood cells in different periods of life. Scientists at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute, EMBL’s European Bioinformatics Institute (EMBL-EBI) and collaborators show how these changes relate to ageing and the development of age-related diseases, including…

Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and their accompanying protein, CRISPR-associated protein 9 (Cas9), made international headlines a few years ago as a game-changing genome editing system. Consisting of Cas9 and strand of genetic material known as a single-guide RNA (sgRNA), the system can target specific regions of DNA…

To get to the places where they are needed, immune cells not only squeeze through tiny pores. They even overcome wall-like barriers of tightly packed cells. Scientists at the Institute of Science and Technology Austria (ISTA) have now discovered that cell division is key to their success. Together with other…

A novel approach for investigating the microbiome in extraordinary detail has been described by scientists. In comparison to previous methodologies, the technology is simpler and easier to apply. The researchers exhibit an increased capacity to detect physiologically relevant factors such as a subject’s age and sex depending on microbial samples…

The term ‘phase transition’ might initially conjure up images of ice melting or water vapour condensing on a cold glass. In biology, phase transition plays a role in processes such as lipid bilayer formation or the spontaneous de-mixing of protein droplets. In a recent paper published in Cell, the Ephrussi…

One of the ultimate goals of medical science is to develop personalized disease diagnostics and therapeutics. With a patient’s genetic information, doctors could tailor treatments to individuals, leading to safer and more effective care. Recent work from a team of Northwestern Engineering researchers has moved the field closer to realizing…

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine, in collaboration with the University of Alabama at Birmingham and five other institutions, are investigating novel regenerative medicine approaches to better manage vascular health complications from type 2 diabetes that could someday support blood vessel repair in the eye among diabetic patients with…

Imagine Bach’s “Cello Suite No. 1” played on a strand of DNA. This scenario is not as impossible as it seems. Too small to withstand a rhythmic strum or sliding bowstring, DNA is a powerhouse for storing audio files and all kinds of other media. “DNA is nature’s original data…

What’s happening in the depths of distant worlds? Discovery could have revolutionary implications for how we think about the dynamics of exoplanet interiors – ScienceDaily – Verve times Home Science What’s happening in the depths of distant worlds? Discovery could have revolutionary implications for how we think about the dynamics…

Researchers from the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute have taken a major step towards mapping the entirety of genetic relationships among humans: a single genealogy that traces the ancestry of all of us. The study has been published today in Science. The past two decades have seen extraordinary advancements…

Single-cell RNA sequencing, or “scRNA-seq” for short, is a technique that allows scientists to study the expression of genes in an individual cell within a mixed population — which is virtually how all cells exist in the body’s tissues. Part of a larger family of “single-cell sequencing” techniques, scRNA-seq involves…

The human immune system, that marvel of complexity, subtlety, and sophistication, includes a billion-year-old family of proteins used by bacteria to defend themselves against viruses, scientists at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and in Israel have discovered. The findings, published online today by the journal Science, are the latest in a growing…

When a patient receives a kidney transplant, doctors carefully monitor them for signs of rejection in several ways, including biopsy. However, this procedure is invasive and can only detect issues at a late stage. Now, researchers reporting in ACS’ Analytical Chemistry have developed a CRISPR-based assay that can sensitively and…

Organ-on-a-chip technology has provided a push to discover new drugs for a variety of rare and ignored diseases for which current models either don’t exist or lack precision. In particular, these platforms can include the cells of a patient, thus resulting in patient-specific discovery. As an example, even though sickle…

Detecting the activity of CRISPR gene editing tools in organisms with the naked eye and an ultraviolet flashlight is now possible using technology developed at the Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Scientists demonstrated these real-time detection tools in plants and anticipate their use in animals, bacteria and fungi…

The ancestor of all living snakes probably had substantially better vision than present-day burrowing snakes, according to new research. An international team of scientists — led by the Natural History Museum and the University of Plymouth — carried out the first detailed analysis of gene sequence data for any species…

Just as a home security system can alert a homeowner to the presence of an intruder, a protein called polyglutamine binding protein-1 (PQBP1) found in brain cells can alert the body to the presence of “intruding” viruses like human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Now, researchers in Japan have shed new light…

Scientists have for the first time obtained stem cells from livestock that grow under chemically defined conditions, paving the way for manufacturing cell cultured meat and breeding enhanced livestock. Researchers from the University of Nottingham’s School of Biosciences, together with colleagues at the Universities of Cambridge, Exeter Tokyo and Meiji…

With a goal of developing rheumatoid arthritis therapies with minimal side effects, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have genetically engineered cells that, when implanted in mice, will deliver a biologic drug in response to inflammation. The engineered cells reduced inflammation and prevented a type of…

Mosquitoes spread viruses that cause potentially deadly diseases such as Zika, dengue fever and yellow fever. New U.S. Army-funded research uses gene editing to render certain male mosquitoes infertile and slow the spread of these diseases. Researchers at the Army’s Institute for Collaborative Biotechnologies and the University of California Santa…

In one type of a rare, inherited genetic disorder that affects control of body movement, scientists have found a mutation in an enzyme impairs communication between neurons and what should be the inherent ability to pick up our pace when we need to run, instead of walk, across the street….

An international research team led by scientists from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a novel strategy using brain-wide genome-editing technology that can reduce Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathologies in genetically modified AD mouse models. This advanced technology offers immense potential to be translated as a…