Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology

In a new study, scientists managed to increase the lifespan of a genus of small flies by altering the symbiotic relationship between bacteria and the cells lining the intestine. Read on to find out more. 

Researchers have been able to study 2 percent of the human genome in depth, which includes protein-coding DNA sequences. Professor Brendan Frey of the University of Toronto, has developed a “deep-learning” machine algorithm that can recognize patterns of mutation across coding and noncoding DNA. Read on to find out more. 

Researcher Kamel Khalili and his team at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, used the CRISPR/Cas9 genome-editing system to remove HIV from several human cell lines, including microglia and T cells. Read on to find out more. 

Masayo Takahashi, an ophthalmologist at the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology (CDB) in Kobe, is set to treat a human patient with induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. Read on to find out more. 

In a new twist in the STAP cell research controversy, Dr. Haruko Obokata was pronounced guilty by the research institute Riken on April 1, 2014. Shunsuke Ishii, chairman of the investigative committee examining the matter proclaimed that Dr. Obokata was solely responsible for the misconduct. Read on for more details. 

A group of researchers has developed a device that acts like the spleen to rid the body of infection and toxins. The artificial ‘biospleen’ uses a modified version of mannose-binding lectin (MBL). Read on to find out more. 

Researchers at the US Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek, California observed that some microbes do not follow the DNA coding, which is considered to consist of a universal set of rules. These microbes interpret the genetic code differently and recode themselves. Read on to find out more.

Researchers Ramkumar et al. have uncovered evidence that the Smurf2 protein, which typically plays an “enforcer” role in cellular aging, could suppress tumor cells. Read on to know more. 

Over time, stem cells in damage-repairing muscle tissues struggle to regenerate. In a new study, scientists have identified a process by which the older muscle stem cell populations can be rejuvenated to function like younger cells. Read on to learn more.

Two international teams, one headed by Akhilesh Pandey and the other by Bernhard Küster, have independently analyzed human tissue samples using mass spectrometry and produced the first drafts of the human proteome. They discovered new complexities of the human genome and identified new proteins from regions of the genome previously thought to be non-coding. Read on for more details.