News by Subject Biology

A biologist at Louisiana State University conducted a pioneering research study that could help us to better understand the role of dopamine in stress resilience in humans through analyzing wild songbirds. This study could lead to increased prevention and treatment of stress-related disorders.

A team of UC Davis Health scientists and physicians has identified a cellular connection between diabetes and one of its major complications -- blood vessel narrowing that increases risks of several serious health conditions, including heart disease and stroke.

A bone cancer known as osteosarcoma is genetically similar in dogs and human children, according to the results of a study published today by Tufts University and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope. The findings could help break the logjam in the treatment of this deadly disease, which hasn't seen a significant medical breakthrough in nearly three decades.

Researchers have found that a gene known as AEBP1 may play a central role in the development, severity and potential treatment of liver disease, according to a study by Temple University, the Geisinger Obesity Institute and the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope. One of the study's major findings is that AEBP1 regulates the expression of a network of at least nine genes related to fibrosis: AKR1B10, CCDC80, DPT, EFEMP1, ITGBL1, LAMC3, MOXD1, SPP1, and STMN2.

Under physiological conditions, only certain sequences within the genome, called flipons, are capable of dynamically forming either right- or left-handed DNA. When a flipon is left-handed, genes change the transcripts they produce, affecting how cells respond to their environment. The outcomes depend on both the shape and sequence of a gene's DNA, each feature encoding a different subset of genetic information: one dynamic, the other static. Both flipons and codons are subject to natural selection.