Contaminated lab kits

Scientific sleuthing for reproducible results

14-Jun-2018 - Researchers found traces of foreign, non-human genetic material in human blood samples. It turned out that it was not a groundbreaking scientific discovery, but mostly the result of contaminated laboratory materials. Scientists led by Associate Prof. Paul Wilmes of the Luxembourg Centre for ...

Freeze-frames of enzymes in action have implications for a new cancer treatment concept

05-Jul-2017 - Over millions of years of evolution, cells have developed myriad ways of regulating the processes that enable them to thrive. Especially useful tools have been saved, or "conserved," over the eons, so that today we can find them in a broad spectrum of life forms, from the very primitive to the ...

Small RNA fragments defend the genome when it's 'naked'

03-Jul-2017 - Our genomes are minefields, studded with potentially damaging DNA sequences over which hundreds of thousands of sentries stand guard. These sentries, called epigenetic marks, attach to the double helix at such spots and prevent the underlying DNA sequences from springing into destructive ...

A virus common among livestock depends on a micro-RNA to replicate

15-Mar-2016 - In the ongoing arms race between pathogenic viruses and the cells they infect, each side needs every advantage it can get. One way wily viruses can get a leg up is by subverting the microRNAs (miRNAs) of their host. These miRNAs are small stretches of RNA made by host cells to regulate gene ...

Metabolically engineered E. coli producing phenol

10-Oct-2013 - Many chemicals we use in everyday life are derived from fossil resources. Due to the increasing concerns on the use of fossil resources, there has been much interest in producing chemicals from renewable resources through biotechnology. Phenol is an important commodity chemical, and is a starting ...

The Porcine microRNAome is revealed

Results blaze a trail for advancement in pig biology as well the use of pigs as model organism for human biological and biomedical studies

20-Aug-2010 - Researchers from LC Sciences LLC and a collaboration of universities have established a porcine microRNAome, a complete catalog of all microRNAs expressed in the species Sus scrofa. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small regulatory RNA molecules known to control a wide array of cellular functions such as ...

Screening method for anti-HIV therapeutics?

20-May-2009 - A new and easy method for the detection of microRNA and RNase H activity could be used for screening anti-HIV therapeutics say Chinese scientists. Zhengping Li and co-workers at Hebei University have developed a rapid, quantitative and sensitive method for the detection of microRNA (miRNA) and ...

MIT reels in RNA surprise with microbial ocean catch

15-May-2009 - An ingenious new method of obtaining marine microbe samples while preserving the microbes' natural gene expression has yielded an unexpected boon: the presence of many varieties of small RNAs — snippets of RNA that act as switches to regulate gene expression in these single-celled creatures. ...

InteRNA Technologies and VU University Medical Center to Develop microRNA-based Diagnostics and Therapeutics for Cancer

03-Nov-2008 - InteRNA Technologies B.V. and VU university medical center in Amsterdam, VUmc, announced the signing of a framework research agreement to develop microRNA (miRNA)-based diagnostics and therapeutics for cancer using InteRNA’s proprietary library of miRNAs. Under the research collaboration, ...

New RNA Libraries Can Inactivate Human Genes Selectively

25-Mar-2004 - Researchers have produced vast libraries of short segments of ribonucleic acid (RNA) that can be used to turn off individual human and mouse genes to study their function. The libraries will be made widely available to laboratories studying human biology and disease. The researchers are ...