Apr 25 2016
A team of researchers from the University of Washington and Microsoft have used DNA to store four image files with a total size of 145 kilobytes, among them an image of a cat. The files have been read error-free afterwards, without losing a single byte of information. Why was DNA chosen for a storage medium?
Sep 29 2015
For most of the last 40 years, scientists thought that new genes simply arose from copies of existing genes. The old version went on doing its job, and the new copy became free to evolve novel functions. Certain genes, however, have no known relatives, and they bear no resemblance to any other gene. The mystery …
May 20 2015
After malaria, dengue fever is the second-most widespread mosquito-borne disease in the world. It is an extremely painful – and sometimes fatal – disease that affects millions of people each year. One of the biggest problems is that there is currently no cure for dengue, nor any way to protect a population from getting sick …
Dec 03 2014
Scientists have made a breakthrough in the field of synthetic biology by creating, for the first time, enzymes from artificial genetic material that does not exist in nature. This exciting new work not only offers new insights into the origins of life on Earth, but also has implications for our search for extraterrestrial life on …
Nov 05 2014
Over the years, there’s been plenty of back and forth over how much of our DNA is important – for decades much of it was thought of as “junk DNA”, but geneticists have gradually come to believe that some of these seemingly pointless segments of DNA may be crucial to regulating the rest of the …
Jul 24 2014
The mitochondrial electrochemical gradient is often disturbed during apoptosis and can be detected using cationic dyes such as DePsipher™ (5,5’6,6’- tetrachloro-1,1’,3,3’-tetraethylbenz-imidazolylcarbocyanine iodide) or MitoShift™ (tetramethylrhodamine ethyl ester). Activation of caspases, or cysteinyl proteases, is a necessary event for execution of the apoptotic response. Some of the caspases
Jul 24 2014
Using a new system of genetic editing based on bacterial proteins by researchers from MIT cured rare liver disease caused by a single genetic mutation. The findings described in the edition of Nature Biotechnology, provide the first evidence that the technique of editing of a gene known as CRISPR, can reverse disease symptoms. CRISPR, which offers an …
Jul 23 2014
Protein in the body can improve its ability to detect and treat viral infections such as influenza and hepatitis C. This conclusion leads a laboratory study by researchers from the University Institute of cancer in Pittsburgh, USA. To start playback in the body, the virus actually “invaded”cells and “takes” control over them. Experts explain that, despite progress in the field of vaccines …