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A gene is a unit of heredity in a living organism. It normally resides on a stretch of DNA that codes for a type of protein or for an RNA chain that has a function in the organism. All living things depend on genes, as they specify all proteins and functional RNA chains.

Experimental vaccine shows promise for treating and preventing cancer in mice

An experimental vaccine, designed to enlist the body's own immune system to target cancer cells, has shown promise for treating and preventing cancer in mice.

23 Oct 2020

Study: Early travel restrictions have significantly limited the spread of COVID-19 virus

The coronavirus, responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, has one official name--SARS-CoV-2. But according to virologists, mutations lead to hundreds of genetically-distinct versions of the virus.

23 Oct 2020

Scientists develop lab-grown lung model to study SARS-CoV-2 infection

A team of Duke University researchers has developed a lab-grown living lung model that mimics the tiny air sacs of the lungs where coronavirus infection and serious lung damage take place. This advance has enabled them to watch the battle between the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus and lung cells at the finest molecular scale.

23 Oct 2020

Research demonstrates an agriculturally amenable epigenetic breeding method

Novel grafted plants -- consisting of rootstock epigenetically modified to "believe" it has been under stress -- joined to an unmodified scion, or above-ground shoot, give rise to progeny that are more vigorous, productive and resilient than the parental plants.

23 Oct 2020

New delivery system may treat male infertility

According to the Mayo Clinic, about 15% of couples are infertile, and male infertility plays a role in over one-third of these cases. Often, problems with sperm development are to blame.

22 Oct 2020

Genomic differences can help develop more personalized treatments for African American men

Prostate cancer is the most common type of cancer among American men after skin cancer, but the disease does not affect all races equally.

22 Oct 2020

Study raises ethical concerns about gene-editing technologies

Genome editing of human embryos represents one of the most contentious potential scientific applications today. But what if geneticists could sidestep the controversy by editing sperm and eggs instead?

22 Oct 2020

Researchers identify a valuable source for treating pediatric cancer

For many cancers, doctors are increasingly looking to the DNA that solid tumors shed into the blood stream to help with diagnosis and monitoring.

22 Oct 2020

New nanodevices reveal how intracellular matter rearranges itself over time

Researchers have achieved, for the first time, a look into the complex workings of a cell from within the cell.

From University of Bath 22 Oct 2020

Researchers map the biological diversity of marine sediment

Scientists have mapped, for the first time, the biological diversity of marine sediment, which is considered as one of the largest global biomes on Earth.

22 Oct 2020

New research indicates the link between diabetes and SARS-CoV-2 viral infection

Recently, researchers explained that infection by certain enteroviruses could possibly activate diabetes.

22 Oct 2020

Researchers uncover a new cellular mechanism for disposing of misfolded proteins

About 30 years ago, Dr. Richard Sifers set out on a journey to discover why people with a rare condition known as alpha1-antitrypsin (AAT) deficiency present with high variation in the severity of liver disease.

21 Oct 2020

New DNA-cutting tool could advance gene editing for novel treatments

Gene editing for the development of new treatments, and for studying disease as well as normal function in humans and other organisms, may advance more quickly with a new tool for cutting larger pieces of DNA out of a cell's genome, according to a new study by UC San Francisco scientists.

21 Oct 2020

Researchers assign immunological memory function to cytotoxic natural killer cells

A new study by researchers from the Medical University of Vienna could prove beneficial for the human immune system.

21 Oct 2020

Researchers discover a gene responsible for urination

In a National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study involving both mice and patients who are part of an NIH Clinical Center trial, researchers discovered that a gene, called PIEZO2, may be responsible for the powerful urge to urinate that we normally feel several times a day.

20 Oct 2020

Rutgers researchers discover gene markers linked to metastatic prostate cancer

Rutgers researchers have discovered human gene markers that work together to cause metastatic prostate cancer - cancer that spreads beyond the prostate.

From Rutgers University 20 Oct 2020

Researchers demonstrate the impact of epithelial cells, mammary microenvironment on breast cancer cells

The cover for issue 30 of Oncotarget features Figure 4, "RNAseq results demonstrating differences between normal, cancer, and redirected cells," by Frank-Kamenetskii, et al. which reported that the influence of breast cancer cells on normal cells of the microenvironment, such as fibroblasts and macrophages, has been heavily studied but the influence of normal epithelial cells on breast cancer cells has not.

19 Oct 2020