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Deep-learning model for zinc finger design allows reprogramming of human transcription factors

Researchers at the University of Toronto and New York University have developed a novel technology that can engineer proteins to target any stretch of DNA in the human genome, opening a door toward gene therapies for a broader range of health conditions.

27 Jan 2023

Uncovering the secret of how plants make limonoids

Groundbreaking research has revealed the secret of how plants tend to make limonoids, a family of useful organic chemicals which incorporate bee-friendly insecticides and have the potential as anti-cancer drugs.

27 Jan 2023

Persistent tumor mutation load may help predict outcome of novel immunotherapies

Cancer experts have tried, sometimes unsuccessfully, to use the total number of mutations in a tumor, called the tumor mutation burden (TMB), to predict a patient's response to immunotherapy.

27 Jan 2023

Unboxing the mystery genome black box with the DNA sequencing method

Researchers from the University of Cambridge have described a new DNA sequencing technique that can find out where and how small molecule drugs interact with the targeted genome in a study that was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology.

26 Jan 2023

Figuring out how cells safeguard their genomes during replication

Cells zealously protect the integrity of their genomes, because damage can lead to cancer or cell death. The genome, a cell’s complete set of DNA, is most vulnerable while it is being duplicated before a cell divides.

26 Jan 2023

New insights into cell health and disease

Scientists from Weill Cornell Medicine have discovered a protein that not only prepares DNA for replication but also controls the replication process. The research, which was published on January 5th, 2023, in the journal Molecular Cell, resolves a puzzle that has long-baffled biologists.

26 Jan 2023

Enhancing the efficacy of CRISPR/Cas9 and related methods

The effectiveness of molecular genetic techniques like CRISPR/Cas9 and related systems has been significantly improved, and their range of applications has been expanded, by researchers from the Department of Developmental Biology/Physiology at the Centre for Organismal Studies of Heidelberg University.

26 Jan 2023

Researchers use supercomputer to unveil new methods for DNA mosaic recognition

As humans, we each have trillions of cells. And each cell has a nucleus with individual genetic information –DNA – that can mutate to create an abnormality.

25 Jan 2023

New genetic condition that raises vulnerability to opportunistic infections

An international consortium co-led by Vanderbilt University Medical Center immunogeneticist Rubén Martínez-Barricarte, PhD, has discovered a new genetic disorder that causes immunodeficiency and profound susceptibility to opportunistic infections including life-threatening fungal pneumonia.

24 Jan 2023

Native genome model of a “live” virus replicated

An Aston University scientist has developed the world’s first computer reconstruction of a virus, complete with its native genome.

24 Jan 2023

New center to assist in understanding non-coding cancer genome

The MacMillan Center for the Study of the Non-Coding Cancer Genome (MCSNCG) was officially launched by the New York Genome Center (NYGC) on January 18th, 2023.

19 Jan 2023

Blending multiple maps uncover new genetic causes of blindness

In a new study, Ran Elkon and Ruth Ashery-Padan of Tel Aviv University, Israel, and colleagues discovered a new genetic risk factor for adult-onset macular degeneration (AMD) by combining a map of gene regulatory sites with disease-associated loci.

18 Jan 2023

Potential to rectify various disease-causing mutations enhanced by CRISPR-based enzymes

Designing genome editing strategies for each patient’s mutation would be impractical and expensive because many genetic diseases are induced by diverse mutations spread across an entire gene.

18 Jan 2023

Using fungi to transform ocean plastic waste into key pharmaceutical components

Research on fungi underway at the University of Kansas has helped transform tough-to-recycle plastic waste from the Pacific Ocean into key components for making pharmaceuticals.

18 Jan 2023

New toolkit enables researchers to map an individual’s RNA data to a much richer reference

Examining the gene expression of a person needs mapping the RNA landscape to a standard reference. This is done to gain an understanding of the degree to which genes are “turned on” and execute the functions in the body.

From University of California Santa Cruz 18 Jan 2023

Role of clonal hematopoiesis as a broad driver of atherosclerosis

A group at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), collaborating with institutions in the USA, has shown that acquired mutations in the gene encoding the protein p53 contribute to the onset of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

18 Jan 2023

New scalable approach for the diagnosis of multiple respiratory viruses

Cambridge scientists have created a novel test that “fishes” for many respiratory viruses at once using single strands of DNA as “bait” and provides extremely accurate results in under an hour.

18 Jan 2023

Insights into the role of the germline in de novo mutation

The male reproductive system is a hotspot for the introduction of new genes. Perhaps that might assist in understanding why fathers tend to pass on more new mutations than mothers do. However, it does not explain why older fathers pass on more mutations than younger fathers.

16 Jan 2023

Ten years and 1,000 studies later, epigeneticists discover problems in their arsenal

Twenty years ago, following the initial sequencing of the human genome, geneticists started carrying out extensive genome-wide association studies to find genomic regions connected to human disease.

16 Jan 2023

Quicker and affordable method of extracting DNA from elephant dung

With the aid of a novel DNA-collection technique, researchers can now collect genetic data from elephants without endangering the animals or endangering themselves.

16 Jan 2023