Life Sciences and Chemistry

If DNA can be compared to an architect who gets all the glory for designing the building, RNA can be compared to the engineer who often goes unrecognized, but is needed to turn the blueprints into a real three-dimensional, functional and safe structure. RNA has numerous functions in a cell, including translating the genetic blueprints found in DNA and catalyzing reactions in the cell to build proteins.

In order to carry out its functions, strands of RNA molecules will bind with other RNA mo

Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) researchers at Harvard University have discovered that insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas that are attacked in type 1 diabetes are replenished through duplication of existing cells rather than through differentiation of adult stem cells.

Although the experiments, which were done using mice, do not rule out the possibility that there are adult stem cells in the pancreas, the researchers say that they do suggest strongly that embryonic stem cell

Results published in May 6 Issue of Nature

It has taken more than 50 years to accumulate the current body of knowledge on Escherichia coli, a bacterium which is one of the best studied organisms in biology. Now, bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have integrated this knowledge into the first genome-scale model of the gene regulatory system in E. coli. The computational model helps to define the rules governing cell function and quickly enabled an exponential increa

Genetic testing identifies illnesses that might be linked to our genes. It can help recognise hereditary diseases, tailor cures to an individual’s genetic make-up and develop new drugs. But its use also has important ethical implications.

At a conference on “Human genetic testing: what implications?” organised by European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin in Brussels today and tomorrow, a High Level expert group will present a report and 25 recommendations on how genetic testing can be

What’s a little male fish’s secret weapon for attracting the lady fish? Something some guys but few other males in the animal kingdom have thought of: It acts like a good dad.

Sand gobies, small fish native to the European coast, are among about 20 percent of fish families worldwide that display some form of care for eggs or hatchlings. But in experiments reported in the current issue of the journal Behavioral Ecology, a team that includes a University of Florida scientist reports

Certain types of cells from fat tissue can repair skull defects in mice, say researchers at Stanford University Medical Center. Because this type of healing process does not depend on the use of embryonic stem cells or gene therapy, it may one day allow doctors to use a patient’s own unmodified cells as building blocks to heal fractures, replace joints, treat osteoporosis or correct defects in bone growth or healing.

“These cells are from you, for you and by you,” said Lucile Packard Child