LA JOLLA, CA — Embargoed by the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology until February 13, 2011, 1 PM Eastern time — Scientists from The Scripps Research Institute have shed new light on a molecular switch that turns genes on or off in r…
The Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) research team that first discovered tumor-associated RNA in tiny membrane-enclosed sacs released into the bloodstream by cancer cells has now found that these microvesicles also contain segments of tumor DNA,…
Menlo Park, Calif. — In a study that could rewrite biology textbooks, scientists have found the first known living organism that incorporates arsenic into the working parts of its cells. What’s more, the arsenic replaces phosphorus, an elem…
Researchers at New York University’s Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences have developed a novel algebraic model of DNA “hybridization,” a process central to most biotechnology devices that monitor changes in cell’s gene expression or charact…
All biological reactions within human cells depend on enzymes. Their power as catalysts enables biological reactions to occur usually in milliseconds. But how slowly would these reactions proceed spontaneously, in the absence of enzymes – minutes, hours, days? And why even pose the question? One scientist who studies these issues is Dr. Richard Wolfenden, Alumni distinguished professor of biochemistry and biophysics and chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. In 1998, he reported a biological transformation deemed “absolutely essential” in creating the building blocks of DNA and RNA would take 78 million years in water. “Now we’ve found one that’s 10,000 times slower than that,” Wolfenden said.