Genetics & Molecular Biology
- Whole genome sequencing of a family- predicting the future?
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Although genetic sequencing sounded exciting- I'll send you a tube full of spit, you tell me what diseases I'm going to get- the reality was less thrilling, and less useful. There are diseases with very specific and even single mutations, but the ...
Blog Post - Becky Jungbauer - Sep 15 2011 - 9:02pm
- Epigenetic Code Evolves Rapidly
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Recently, a lot of attention has gone to epigenetics, or heritable changes in gene expression caused by mechanisms other than changes in DNA sequence. An example of such a mechanism is DNA methylation, where a methyl group (CH 3) binds to cytosine or aden ...
Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 18 2011 - 5:07am
- Gamers Help Scientists Solve Enzyme Structure
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Retroviral proteases are a class of enzymes that play an important role in the maturation and proliferation of the AIDS virus. As such, this class of enzymes is a subject of intense research. The efforts, however, were hindered by a fundamental problem: n ...
Article - Gunnar De Winter - Sep 20 2011 - 8:47am
- Glow-In-The-Dark Kittens (and Monkeys! And Ovaries!)
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I don't want to sound alarmist, but glow-in-the-dark animals are real-- and it's not just cute kitty-cats. As reported earlier here at Science 2.0, scientists did this and that to genetics to make AIDS-resistant cats. Part of the process includ ...
Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Feb 24 2012 - 12:13am
- External Gene Pool Evolution
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"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." — attributed to Charles Darwin. There is general agreement that the arrangement of species, both extant and extinct conforms ...
Blog Post - Dave Finn - Sep 28 2011 - 4:13pm
- Orexin And Weight Loss: Fight Fat With Fat
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According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 33.8 percent of American adults are obese. placing them at increased risk for type 2 diabetes, coronary heart disease, stroke, and certain cancers. That's a lot of fat, but not all fat is ...
Article - News Staff - Oct 4 2011 - 6:00pm
- Scientists Edge A Little Closer To Human Cloning
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I'll lay out something a lot of people won't like to hear; science is about understanding the world according to natural laws and that means sometimes breaking the laws of nature. How far that goes is a policy matter and it's for civilian l ...
Article - Hank Campbell - Oct 7 2011 - 4:15pm
- BDNF: A Genetic Link To Suicidal Behavior
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A new review has found evidence that a specific gene is linked to suicidal behavior, which may be one of the many complex causes of suicide. In the past, studies have implicated the gene for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in suicidal behavior. ...
Article - News Staff - Oct 7 2011 - 12:00pm
- The Genetics Of Suicide
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A meta-analysis has provided support to the previously suggested idea that a certain gene's variation is linked to suicidal behavior. The gene in question is the one that codes for BDNF (or brain-derived neurotrophic factor), a protein that performs ...
Article - Gunnar De Winter - Oct 16 2011 - 4:33pm
- The fate of your stem cells is only as robust as your cellular repair system
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Stem cells by virtue of their potential for self renewal and capacity to differentiate into diverse cell types have remained a primordial force in ensuring evolution of the species and sustenance of organs.While stem cells derived from embryos are totipote ...
Blog Post - Eashwar Subramanian - Oct 12 2011 - 9:20am