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Researchers say the method will allow for more efficient laboratory research and expand gene therapy. Originally published at Penn Medicine News, on March 21, 2024   PHILADELPHIA – Human artificial chromosomes (HACs) capable of working within human cells could power advanced gene therapies , including those addressing some cancers, along with many laboratory applications, though serious technical obstacles have hindered their development. Now a team led by researchers at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania has made a significant breakthrough in this field that effectively bypasses a common stumbling block. In a study published last March, 21, in Science, the researchers explained how they devised an efficient technique for making HACs from single, long constructs of designer DNA . Prior methods for making HACs have been limited by the fact that the DNA constructs used to make them tend to join together—“multimerize”—in unpredictably long seri...

Originally published by Meg Wingerter, The Denver Post, on March 14, 2024             Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain A process of taking patients' own cells and reprogramming them to fight cancer has been a last-ditch option for blood cancer patients when nothing else worked, but a new study underway in Aurora is trying to determine whether more patients could benefit from trying the procedure sooner. Chimeric antigen receptor T cell therapy , known as CAR-T , is a type of immunotherapy that involves taking cells from the patient's body and altering them to attack cancerous cells that have specific proteins on their surfaces. The patient ...

  Originally published by the University of Helsinki, on March 11, 2024 3D printed version of the endogenous Human Commander complex. Credit: Markku Varjosalo & Esa-Pekka Kumpula Cellular communication relies on receptor molecules on the cell surface . The periodic uptake and sorting of these receptors, critical for their degradation or recycling, are governed by an elaborate machinery prominently featuring the Commander complex . Research teams at the I nstitute of Biotechnology, University of Helsinki, led by Dr. Markku Varjosalo and Prof. Juha Huiskonen, dissected the molecular interactions and atomic structure of this supercomplex, in its purest native form present in human cells. The study is published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology . New avenues for potential therapeutic interventions in diseases The Commander complex's three-dimensional arrangement and the extent of its interaction landscape have remained a mystery until now. The research ...

Originally published by Field Museum, on March 5, 2024 Illustration showing the fossil skeleton of Imparavis Attenborough , alongside a reconstruction of the bird in life. Credit: Ville Sinkkonen. No birds alive today have teeth. But that wasn't always the case; many early fossil birds had beaks full of sharp, tiny teeth . In a paper in the journal Cretaceous Research , scientists have described a new species of fossil bird that was the first of its kind to evolve toothlessness ; its name, in honor of naturalist Sir David Attenborough, means " Attenborough's strange bird ." "It is a great honor to have one's name attached to a fossil, particularly one as spectacular and important as this. It seems the history of birds is more complex than we knew," says Sir David Attenborough. All birds are dinosaurs , but not all dinosaurs fall into the specialized type of dinosaurs known as birds, sort of like how all squares are rectangles, but not all rectang...

Originally published by Kyoto University, on February 28,2024   'epidecodeR' is a tool that can streamline the analysis of complex epigenome and epitranscriptome data, allowing for the rapid and accurate prediction of the effects of epimarks on gene expression. Credit: Mindy Takamiya/Kyoto University iCeMS Scientists have extensively researched the structure and sequence of genetic material and its interactions with proteins in the hope of understanding h ow our genetics and environment interact with diseases . This research has partly focused on ' epigenetic marks ,' which are chemical modifications to DNA, RNA , and the associated proteins (known as histones ). Epigenetic marks influence when and how genes get switched on or off . They can also instruct cells about how to interpret and use genetic information , influencing various cellular processes. Changes in epigenetic marks, therefore, significantly impact gene regulation and cellular functions, which mea...