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60 years after Watson and Crick's ground breaking paper described the double helix structure of DNA, researchers at the University of Cambridge have observed four-stranded DNA structures within human cells. The discovery could open the door to novel cancer therapies and a new era for personalised medicine.
Jan 29th, 2013
Read moreScientists have developed a way to grow iron-oxidizing bacteria using electricity instead of iron, an advance that will allow them to better study the organisms and could one day be used to turn electricity into fuel.
Jan 29th, 2013
Read moreScientists from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden have made progress in understanding how human genes are regulated. In their study they have identified the DNA sequences, which bound to over four hundred proteins controlling the expression of genes.
Jan 28th, 2013
Read moreVanderbilt biochemists have discovered that the process bacteria undergo when they become drug resistant can act as a powerful tool for drug discovery.
Jan 25th, 2013
Read moreIn biology, molecules can have multi-way interactions within cells, and until recently, computational analysis of these links has been "incomplete," according to T. M. Murali, associate professor of computer science in the College of Engineering at Virginia Tech. His group authored an article on their new approach to address these shortcomings.
Jan 25th, 2013
Read moreAfter years of experimentation, researchers at the University of Arkansas have solved a complex, decades-old problem in membrane biochemistry. The consequence of their work will give scientists more information about the function and structure of proteins, the workhorses within the cells of the human body.
Jan 24th, 2013
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With projections of 9.5 billion people by 2050, humankind faces the challenge of feeding modern diets to additional mouths while using the same amounts of water, fertilizer and arable land as today. Cornell researchers have taken a leap toward meeting those needs by discovering a gene that could lead to new varieties of staple crops with 50 percent higher yields.
Jan 23rd, 2013
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Scientists at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (ESF) are developing a biochemical process that uses a protein molecule to disrupt the process by which bacteria become virulent, a finding that could have widespread implications for human health.
Jan 23rd, 2013
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While working out the structure of a cell-killing protein produced by some strains of the bacterium Enterococcus faecalis, researchers stumbled on a bit of unusual biochemistry. They found that a single enzyme helps form distinctly different, three-dimensional ring structures in the protein, one of which had never been observed before.
Jan 22nd, 2013
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Sticky spots on cell membranes hold onto the master regulator of cell polarity, helping to ensure that the regulatory protein accumulates in high enough concentrations to trigger cell polarity.
Jan 22nd, 2013
Read moreA new metabolic engineering tool that allows fine control of gene expression level by employing synthetic small regulatory RNAs was developed to efficiently construct microbial cell factories producing desired chemicals and materials.
Jan 20th, 2013
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Chromosome-capping telomeres are a potential target for anti-cancer drugs.
Jan 19th, 2013
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Researchers report a novel charge zipper principle used by proteins to form functional units.
Jan 18th, 2013
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Scientists have developed a new method to visualize aging and tumor growth in mice using a gene closely linked to these processes.
Jan 18th, 2013
Read moreScientists at the Research Institute of Molecular Pathology (IMP) in Vienna, Austria and at the University of Cologne, Germany have discovered the molecular basis underlying the patterned folding and assembly of muscle proteins.
Jan 18th, 2013
Read moreNew technique captures division of membrane-less cells.
Jan 18th, 2013
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Genes make up only a minority of the entire genome sequence - roughly two percent in humans. The remainder was once dismissed as "junk", mostly because its function remained elusive. "Dark matter" might be more appropriate, but gradually light is being shed on this part of the genome, too.
Jan 17th, 2013
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Fraunhofer researchers are exhibiting how renewable, biodegradable and biostable raw materials can be used in architecture, interior design and the packaging industry at this year's International Green Week in Berlin.
Jan 17th, 2013
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