dna sequences
Quick, easy test identifies aggressive type of lung cancer in never-smokers
An inexpensive and rapid testing method can effectively identify a sub-group of never-smoking lung cancer patients whose tumors express a molecule associated with increased risk of disease progression or recurrence, US researchers have found.
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Plant breeding is being transformed by advances in genomics and computing
The arrival of affordable, high throughput DNA sequencing, coupled with improved bioinformatics and statistical analyses is bringing about major advances in the field of molecular plant breeding. Multidisciplinary breeding programs on the world’s ma…
New method for rapidly producing protein-polymers
DURHAM, NC — Duke University bioengineers have developed a new method for rapidly producing an almost unlimited variety of man-made DNA sequences.
These novel sequences of recombinant DNA are used to produce repetitive proteins to create new…
Scientists describe new approach for identifying genetic markers for common diseases
La Jolla, CA, October 28, 2010 — For Immediate Release — A group of researchers at The Scripps Research Institute and the Scripps Translational Science Institute has published a paper that reviews new strategies for identifying collections of ra…
Technology to screen for synbio abuses lags
London, UK (September 16, 2010) — Amid growing concern that synthetic life sciences pose biosecurity and biosafety risks, scrutiny is increasing into the burgeoning DNA sequence trade. Research published today in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scienti…
Rice study examines how bacteria acquire immunity
HOUSTON — (Sept. 15, 2010) — In a new study this week, Rice University scientists bring the latest tools of computational biology to bear in examining how the processes of natural selection and evolution influence the way bacteria acquire immunity…
Chopping and changing in the microbial world: How mycoplasmas stay alive
Mycoplasmas are responsible for a variety of important diseases, including atypical pneumonia in humans and mastitis in cows, sheep and goats, which results in loss of milk production. Mycoplasmal mastitis represents a particular problem in the dai…
Octopus mimics flatfish and flaunts it
Paul the Octopus — the eight-legged oracle who made international headlines with his amazingly accurate football forecasting — isn’t the only talented cephalopod in the sea. The Indonesian mimic octopus, which can impersonate flatfish and sea sn…
UCLA study identifies genetic variation linked to lupus in Asian men
Genes reside along long chains of DNA called chromosomes. UCLA researchers have found that a variation in a gene on the sex chromosome X may enhance an immune response that leads to lupus in men.
Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is an a…
DNA Demands Chimps Be Grouped in the Human Genus
Proposed changes in the primate order are stirring up evolutionary debate. Humans and chimpanzees should be grouped in the same genus, Homo, according to WSU researchers in a May 19 article (#2172) published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Although WSU’s Morris Goodman, PhD, has already proven with non-coding DNA sequences that chimpanzees are closest in kinship to humans rather than to gorillas, evolutionary traditionalists say chimps and humans are functionally markedly different and therefore belong on different branches of the family tree.
Cancer drug ‘smart bomb’ on horizon
Today, even the best cancer treatments kill about as many healthy cells as they do cancer cells. But a St. Louis researcher has begun to lay the conceptual and experimental groundwork for a new strategy for chemotherapy — one that turns existing drugs into medicinal “smart bombs.” The approach is essentially a sophisticated drug releasing system, one that can recognize and use cancerous DNA sequences as triggering mechanisms for the drugs that fight them.