New technique provides insights into gene regulation
...on" and others "off". The complete set of genes in humans is only several times that of budding yeast and close to the number found in the significantly less complex nematode worm, C.elegans, a microscopic ringworm. How very different organisms develop from comparable numbers and types of genes has been a...Inexpensive, mass-produced genes at core of synthetic biology advances at UH
...ps of function and structure of complex genomes of humans and other species. Gao's research has been funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Welch Foundation, the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, the National Foundation for Cancer Research, the Merck Genomic Research Institute and the De...'Casanova' field crickets - live fast, die young
...trying to impress female crickets," he says. "For humans this might seems counterproductive because we don't want to die young we want to live long lives. But for animals the goal isn't living longer it's to reproduce."...Healthy mix of GI tract microbes are key to preventing allergies and asthma
...eloped the first mouse model designed to mimic how humans develop allergies following antibiotic therapy. In a just-published study in the current issue of Infection & Immunity, they report results of new experiments linking changes in GI tract microflora to an overzealous allergic response in the lung. Ins...An unusual RNA structure in the SARS virus offers a promising target for antiviral drugs
...ses are common causes of respiratory infections in humans and other animals. Although none of the other human coronaviruses have the s2m RNA, several important animal pathogens do and would be susceptible to a drug that targets s2m. Astroviruses, meanwhile, are a leading cause of gastrointestinal infections...UCSD discovery shows how embryonic stem cells perform 'quality control' inspections
...critical role in the suppression of tumors in both humans and mice, is also used to maintain the genetic stability of embryonic stem cells. The scientists, who included Tongxiang Lin, a UCSD postdoctoral fellow and the first author of the study, and Connie Chao, a graduate student in Xu's laboratory, dis...Evidence that human brain evolution was a special event
... brain have undergone much more rapid evolution in humans than in non-human primates or other mammals, accor...easure, brain-related genes evolved much faster in humans and macaques than in mice and rats. In addition, the rate of evolution has been far greater in the l...Ants' 'genetic engineering' leads to species interdependency
...species. Millions of years before the first modern humans evolved, ants were practicing many of the social innovations we consider to be our own: division of labor, agriculture, and even slavery. Indeed, these traits have been taken to their extreme in many ant species, such as the case of slavemaker ants, ...University of Chicago researchers discovered that humans are a 'privileged' evolutionary lineage
...elopment and function evolved much more rapidly in humans than in nonhuman primates and other mammals becaus...tes split from rodents about 80 million years ago; humans split from macaques 20 million to 25 million years ago; and rats split from mice 16 million to 23 mi...Animal experiments more stressful than previously recognized
...s?" The authors found that in many cases trials on humans were conducted concurrently with the animal studies and in other instances, clinical trials went ahead despite evidence of harm from the animal studies. ...Mouse brain tumors mimic those in human genetic disorder
...developed a mouse model in which the animals, like humans with the disease, have one abnormal copy of the ge...fter a few months in mice and after a few years in humans tells us there may be growth signals that are produced early in life, which are critical for tumor f...Component of plastic stimulates growth of certain prostate cancer cells
...h some arguing that exposure to the chemical among humans is safe, with others contending that it may promote the growth of human tumor cells and alter the growth and development of animals. Also participating in the study were Yelena Wetherill, Ph.D., Nicola Fisher, B.S., and Ann Staubach, B.S., all with ...Urban ecology study witnessing the birth of a 'designer ecosystem'
...manipulated and controlled. "There are things that humans can deliberately manipulate, like the water system. But then there are a lot of by-products of our activities -- big changes in our ecosystem that we don't necessarily recognize or try to control," Grimm said. "The good example of one of these is a b...The giant eagle of Middle Earth
...y Polynesians. However, there is no evidence that humans were targets for this huge aerial predator. In the research paper, New Zealand researchers at Oxford University's Ancient Biomolecules Center run by Professor Alan Cooper extracted DNA from fossil eagle bones about 2000 years old. Dr Michael Bun...Zebrafish may hold key to understanding human nerve cell development
... the specialized neurons found in the inner ear of humans that make hearing possible. This research increase... be possible to regenerate these types of cells in humans one day," said Tatjana Piotrowski, Ph.D., assistant professor of neurobiology and anatomy at the Uni...Don't count on vitamin C to boost your exercise performance
...ore, physiological or non-diseased aging "in adult humans is associated with increased oxidative stress as a result of increased production of ROS, a reduction in antioxidant defenses, or both. Recent evidence suggests that increased ROS tonically suppresses myocardial beta-adrenergic receptor responsivenes...Gene sequencing explains bioremediation 'bug'
...halococcoides bacteria doing for a living before humans devised chlorinated solvents, the highly effective cleaning compounds that also are potentially carcinogenic chemicals and now pose a significant threat in the environment? The Cornell researchers think Strain 195's genetic antecedents were reducing ...The Louis-Jeantet-Prize for Medicine 2005
...entify genes involved in traits that are unique to humans such as speech and language faculties or other cog...d in human evolution that show differences between humans and apes. One of these genes, FOXP2, is involved in speech and language development. To this end he ...The simple truth: Animal development not as complicated as it seems
...ct developmental biology, but also medicine. With humans being made up of trillions of cells, cell lineage analysis has been slower to catch on when compared to the study of the large groups of cells we call organs, such as the liver and the brain. However, research into cancer and stem cells has focused ...Reduced calorie and carbohydrate diet slows progression of Alzheimer's disease in mouse model
...prevention. There is epidemiological evidence that humans who consume reduced calorie diets have a lower incidence of AD. Our investigation provides a possible rational for this observation and possible mechanisms through which caloric reduction may provide protection in Alzheimer's disease." Ongoing stud...