Genetics & Molecular Biology

You're Not Bald, You Simply Have A Hairless Gene Others Lack

A new research report explains why people with a rare balding condition called "atrichia with papular lesions" lose their hair and it identifies a strategy for reversing this hair loss. Specifically the report shows for the first time that the & ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 1 2014 - 11:47am

Peanut Genome Initiative Sequence Success

The International Peanut Genome Initiative, a multinational group crop geneticists who have been working in tandem for the last several years, have successfully sequenced the genome of  Arachis hypogaea  - the peanut.  Arachis hypogaea and also called gro ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 2 2014 - 9:57am

Every Hour Someone In The UK Is Told They Have Parkinson’s

“The gift that keeps on taking” someone called it. It starts with a little twitching that you think it will go away, but instead grows and soon your limbs shake, your balance and coordination lost. Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects almost 10 million people ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Apr 3 2014 - 8:16pm

Long Non-Coding RNAs More Conventional Than Previously Thought

Some long non-coding RNAs can give rise to small proteins that have biological functions, according to a recent study that describes how researchers have used ribosome profiling to identify several hundred long non-coding RNAs that may give rise to small p ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 5 2014 - 9:43am

Flying Bears – Molecular Genetics Evidence For An Unusual Dispersal Mode

A genetic study of brown bears (Ursus arctos) in Bulgarian mountain regions showed they originated in Carpathia. So how did they get to Bulgaria? It wasn't natural dispersal.  Bulgarian and Romanian NGOs, the Frankfurt Zoological Society, and scientis ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 5 2014 - 11:31pm

MiR-25 Shuts Down The Overworked Heart

Cardiovascular disease often causes the heart to work harder than usual, a condition that triggers the chronic buildup of cardiac pressure and the onset of heart failure. ...

Article - Jennifer Wong - Apr 15 2014 - 5:18pm

CHRONO: The Missing Piece In The Mammalian Circadian Clock Puzzle

All organisms, from mammals to fungi, have daily cycles controlled by a tightly regulated internal clock called the circadian clock. The circadian clock is influenced by exposure to light and dictates the wake-sleep cycle. At the cellular level, the clock ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 15 2014 - 6:00pm

Genetic Anticipation: Bad News Is Good News For Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy

In biology, anticipation is the term for genetic diseases caused by an abnormal repeat in DNA that becomes more severe with each new generation. Now there is a twist. A study has found the existence of anticipation in diseases caused by different errors- n ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2014 - 1:24pm

Genetic Factors Suggest Link For Pain Tolerance

Chronic pain is an unknown issue with unknown causes and a subjective definition but some people clearly have it. Researchers recently analyzed 2,721 people, all taking prescription opioid pain medications, for genes COMT, DRD2, DRD1 and OPRK1. The partic ...

Article - News Staff - Apr 20 2014 - 8:46pm

When Bad News Is Good News For Neurodegenerative Diseases

Some genetic diseases caused by an abnormal repeat in the DNA are known to become more severe with each new generation- this dreadful trait is called anticipation. Now a study by Portuguese researchers from Porto University has proved for the first time t ...

Article - Catarina Amorim - Apr 21 2014 - 9:03pm