News by Subject Biology

A gene called GAS2 plays a key role in normal hearing, and its absence causes severe hearing loss, according to a study led by researchers in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists have developed a highly efficient method to address a major challenge in biology--identifying the genetic 'switches' that regulate gene expression.

Researchers at the University of New Hampshire found that to live in hotter more desert-like surroundings, and exist without water, there is more than one genetic mechanism allowing animals to adapt. This is important not only for their survival but may also provide important biomedical groundwork to develop gene therapies to treat human dehydration related illnesses, like kidney disease.

An experimental treatment produced improvements in cognitive function and language in patients with fragile X syndrome, according to study results published on April 29 in Nature Medicine.

What The Study Did: The association of identified SARS-CoV-2 variants and virus groupings with disease severity and patient outcomes is evaluated in this study.

Over the last 60 years, scientists have been able to observe how and when genetic information was replicated, determining the existence a "replication timing program", a process that controls when and in what order segments of DNA replicate. However, scientists still cannot explain why such a specific timing sequence exists. In a study published today in Science, Dr. David Gilbert and his team have answered this 60-year-old question.