Scientists at the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS), a biomedical research institute of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR), and their colleagues from the National University of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Princeton University have recently discovered that viruses that ‘invaded’ the human genome [...]
The West African forest gecko, a secretive but widely distributed species in forest patches from Ghana to Congo, is actually four distinct species that appear to have evolved over the past 100,000 years due to the fragmentation of a belt of tropical rain forest , according to a report in the [...]
If mice are administered an antibiotic for three days and are simultaneously infected with malaria, no parasites appear in the blood and life-threatening disease is averted. In addition, the animals treated in this manner also develop robust, long-term immunity against subsequent infections.
This discovery was made by the team headed by Dr. [...]
The immune system may open the door to recurrent urinary tract infections (UTIs) by overdoing its response to an initial infection, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.
Researchers showed in mice that severe inflammatory responses to an initial UTI cause bladder damage and allow infection to [...]
Within a dangerous stomach bacterium, Yale University researchers have discovered an ancient but functioning genetic remnant from a time before DNA existed, they report in the August 13 issue of the journal Science.
To the surprise of researchers, this RNA complex seems to play a critical role in the ability of the organism [...]
Duke University physicists have developed a way to produce sharp fluid jets with enough precision that they can inject material into a single, living cell. The technique promises a way to deliver drugs to cells one at a time, which is likely to be very valuable for research involving stem cells [...]
DNA microarrays are one of the most powerful tools in molecular biology today. The devices, which can be used to probe biological samples and detect particular genes or genetic sequences, are employed in everything from forensic analysis to disease detection to drug development.
Now Paul Li and colleagues at Simon Fraser University in [...]
With global warming and climate change making headlines nearly every day, it could be reassuring to know that some creatures might cope by gradually moving to new areas as their current ones become less hospitable. Nevertheless, natural relocation of species is not something that can be taken for granted, according to [...]
No healthy teeth without this gene: if during tooth formation (odontogenesis) the so-called Jagged2 gene is inactivated, and hence the Notch signalling pathway interrupted, tooth crowns will be malformed and enamel will be lacking. As this signalling pathway is involved in the formation of all tissues and organs, the new insights [...]
A new study co-authored by professor Kam Tang of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science reveals that tiny aquatic organisms known as “water fleas” play an important role in carrying hitchhiking bacteria to otherwise inaccessible lake and ocean habitats.
The article, “Bacteria dispersal by hitchhiking on zooplankton,” appeared in the June 29 issue [...]
