Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology

Researchers from the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., created a semi-synthetic microbe, a genetically modified E. coli bacterium. They created two new nucleotides, X and Y, and fused them into the E. coli bacterium. Read on for more details. 

A team of researchers has created human sperm and egg precursor cells in a lab using a person's skin cells. The team modeled their experiment on the research by stem-cell biologist Mitinori Saitou of Kyoto University, Japan, who created the first artificial primordial germ cells (PGCs) in mice but with an extremely low efficacy rate. Read on to know how this team built on the previous research. 

Two research teams based in Germany and Spain have discovered that ASC specks—protein aggregations that drive inflammation—are released from dying immune cells. The protein aggregations are a component of inflammasomes, which sense pathogens and cell damage and set off innate immune inflammation. Read on to know more. 

Eduardo Marbán, a cardiologist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, and his team have developed a method to keep heart cells outside the sinoatrial node beating, which is less invasive than fitting electronic pacemakers. Read on to find out more. 

Rosen et al. show that 3,3’-diindolylmethane—produced in the stomach after consuming cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli—protects against ionizing radiation. Read on to know more. 

Researchers have attributed the cause of cancer to two factors: heredity and lifestyle. However, environmental risk factors can alter the cancer rates among adult tissues contribute to the development of cancer. Now scientists at Johns Hopkins University have identified a third factor that helps explain why the chances of developing some kinds of cancer are higher than others.

A group of scientists was successful in creating small stomachs, also called 'gastric organoids,' from stem cells. Read on to find out how this creation works. 

Scientists have been aware of two types of pluripotent stem cells. However, Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, a developmental biologist at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, and his team discovered a third type of stem cell, which they have named region-selective pluripotent stem cells (rsPSCs). Read more about their research here.

Researchers have been attempting to find ways to make humans immune to the HIV virus. Now, viral immunologist Michael Farzan of the Scripps Research Institute in Jupiter, Florida, and his team have discovered a synthetic molecule that mimics an antibody from our immune system, and can provide immunity to the HIV virus. Read on to find out more. 

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh studied 5000 individuals over 14 years for chemical changes in their DNA that accumulate over a lifetime, and found a new indicator of aging. Read on to find out more.