Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology

What could be the similarity between human skin and turtle shell? A group of researchers led by molecular biologist Leopold Eckhart of the University Department of Dermatology at MedUni Vienna studied the genes that help in the formation of the shell in the European terrapin and a North American species of turtle. They discovered that the mutations responsible for the hard shell originate in a group of genes known as the Epidermal Differentiation Complex (EDC). Read more about their research here.

Biocontainment measures form a vital aspect of genetic engineering. Two US teams have independently created genetically modified bacteria whose survival depends on an amino acid that does not occur naturally in nature. While the engineered bacteria have the potential of pioneering the use of GM organisms in areas such as agriculture, medicine, and environmental clean-up, find out why some researchers are skeptical of how they will behave when introduced to the natural ecosystem.  

Noam Sobel, a neuroscientist of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, and his colleagues have found that each individual has a personal sense of smell and that this distinctive perception of odors can help identify his/her identity. Read more about their research here.

Long thought to have been eliminated in mammals, antiviral RNA interference may exist in mammalian cells, after all, suggest Maillard et al. Read on to know more. 

A professor of biotechnology and bioengineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology has created a device that contains light-inducible transgenes that respond to light of a specific wavelength and produce proteins or chemical signals within cell implants. Read on to find out how this novel device works. 

Although it is known that Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body's immune system kills insulin-producing cells in the pancreas, researchers were not aware of the exact genes that cause the disease. A research group has now identified the location and identities of the genes that increase the risk of Type 1 diabetes. Read on to find more. 

Certain species of bats have been known to harbor the Ebola virus. According to a study led by researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, the University of Colorado-Boulder (CU-Boulder) and the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID), the Ebola virus infects the host cell by binding to a host cell receptor called NPC1. To understand how this happens, the researchers exposed cells from four types of African bats to various filoviruses, including the Ebola virus. Read more about their research here.

Although researchers have succeeded in sequencing the human genome, a thorough study of how human proteins operate and interact is essential. A group of researchers has made this possible by creating a new human interactome map. Read on to find out more.

Cancer researcher and physician Jeffrey Engelman of the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston has found a promising way of treating drug-resistant cancer by growing patients’ tumor cells and testing various drug combinations on them to find a way of effective treatment. Read on to find out more. 

Stem cells receive various molecular cues, but they differentiate between these cues i.e. they ignore the irrelevant cues and respond only to the crucial signs by rapidly developing to form major organ systems of the body. To understand how stem cells are able to do this, researchers at University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) studied engineered cultured mouse embryonic stem cells. Read more about their research here.