Multiple genes implicated in autism
Discovery could lead to drugs targeting gene interactions
Deborah Halber, Picower Institute
By pinpointing two genes that cause autism-like symptoms in mice, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have shown for the first time that multiple, interacting genetic risk factors may influence the severity of autistic symptoms.
Reversing the conventional DNA wisdom
Researchers find DNA is transcribed by divergent polymerases
Anne Trafton, News Office
The copying of DNA's master instructions into messenger molecules of RNA, a process known as DNA transcription, has always been thought to be a unidirectional process whereby a copying machine starts and moves in one direction. But in work that represents a fundamental shift in scientists' understanding of the phenomenon, MIT researchers have found evidence that two DNA copying machines frequently start from the same site and move in different directions.
Untangling DNA regulation
Biologists theorize role for DNA packaging in stem cell development
Anne Trafton, News Office
MIT biologists have discovered that the organization of DNA's packing material plays a critical role in directing stem cells to become different types of adult cells.
Human genes sing different tunes in different tissues
Biologists find almost all genes express multiple messenger RNAs
Anne Trafton, News Office
Scientists have long known that it's possible for one gene to produce slightly different forms of the same protein by skipping or including certain sequences from the messenger RNA. Now, an MIT team has shown that this phenomenon, known as alternative splicing, is both far more prevalent and varies more between tissues than was previously believed.
Photo / Donna Coveney
Eric Wang, graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences
and Technology, and Christopher Burge, Whitehead Career Development Associate Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at MIT used a gene-sequencing
machine in their work finding that nearly all human genes undergo differential splicing.
Caltech Engineers Build First-Ever Multi-Input "Plug-and-Play" Synthetic RNA Device
Could one day be used to detect tumor cells or create targeted gene therapies
PASADENA, Calif.--Engineers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have created a "plug-and-play" synthetic RNA device--a sort of eminently customizable biological computer--that is capable of taking in and responding to more than one biological or environmental signal at a time.
ANN ARBOR, Michigan— Los científicos de la Universidad de Michigan han determinado que cuatro genes previamente implicados en el control del cáncer desempeñan papeles clave en el proceso de envejecimiento y la regulación de las células madre.
Fungal Life: Researchers Develop Self-Training Gene Prediction Program for Fungi
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a computer program that trains itself to predict genes in the DNA sequences of fungi.
Caltech Scientists Find Cells Coordinate Gene Activity with FM Bursts
PASADENA, Calif.-- How a cell achieves the coordinated control of a number of genes at the same time, a process that's necessary for it to regulate its own behavior and development, has long puzzled scientists. Michael Elowitz, an assistant professor of biology and applied physics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), along with Long Cai, a postdoctoral research scholar at Caltech, and graduate student Chiraj Dalal, have discovered a surprising answer. Just as human engineers control devices ranging from dimmer switches to retrorockets using pulsed--or frequency modulated (FM)--signals, cells tune the expression of groups of genes using discrete bursts of activation.
Heady research: Stanford study finds molecule triggers hair growth in mouse embryos
By ERIN DIGITALE
STANFORD, Calif. — Comb-overs might not be the only solution for those who are losing their hair. A molecule that prompts hair follicle development in utero might one day be used to treat hair loss or combat excess hair growth.
Stanford fruit-fly study adds weight to the theories about another type of adult stem cell
STANFORD, Calif. — It turns out that an old dog—or at least an old fruit-fly cell—can learn new tricks. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found that mature, specialized cells naturally regress to serve as a kind of de facto stem cell during the fruit-fly life cycle.
Researchers Discover Remnant of an Ancient ‘RNA World’
New Haven, Conn. — Some bacterial cells can swim, morph into new forms and even become dangerously virulent – all without initial involvement of DNA. Yale University researchers describe Friday in the journal Science how bacteria accomplish this amazing feat – and in doing so provide a glimpse of what the earliest forms of life on Earth may have looked like.
Ronald Breaker and the chemical structure of cyclic di-GMP.
Lancelet genome shows how genes quadrupled during vertebrate evolution
By Robert Sanders, Media Relations
BERKELEY – The newly sequenced genome of a dainty, quill-like sea creature called a lancelet provides the best evidence yet that vertebrates evolved over the past 550 million years through a four-fold duplication of the genes of more primitive ancestors.
Stem cell discovery sheds light on placenta development
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Researchers studying embryonic stem cells have explored the first fork in the developmental road, getting a new look at what happens when fertilized eggs differentiate to build either an embryo or a placenta.
Researchers Discover Synthetic Chemicals that Create Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adult Cells
LA JOLLA, CA, June 4, 2008—Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute report that they have significantly improved upon a revolutionary technique that uses genes to turn skin cells from an adult back into pluripotent stem cells.
Gene That Magnetically Labels Cells Shows Potential as Imaging Tool
Mammalian cells can produce tiny magnetic nuggets after the introduction of a single gene from bacteria, scientists have found. The gene MagA could become a valuable tool for tracking cells’ movement through the body via magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), says Xiaoping Hu, PhD, professor of biomedical engineering at Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology.
