For the first time, scientists have examined how the three-dimensional (3D) structure of a patient’s genome can contribute to bladder cancer and pediatric brain tumors, according to a pair of Northwestern Medicine studies published in Science Advances and Genome Biology. Within each cell, two-meter-long DNA needs to be properly folded and organized so that it […]
The rollout of vaccines is on in an attempt to achieve population immunity against the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, the recent emergence of several variants that have altered transmissibility, infectivity and virulence characteristics has cast doubt on the feasibility of this goal. A […]
A team of scientists from the University of California Santa Cruz, USA, recently identified a novel variant (B.1.x) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) that might be circulating in at least 20 US states and six countries globally. The mutations found in this variant are also present in other known variants of concern […]
The effect of different neutralizing antibodies, both vaccine-elicited and from convalescent sera, suggests new variants are emerging that can evade the human immune response. The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) binds to host cells via its spike protein, which has two parts, the S1 and S2 subunits. The S1 subunit has the receptor-binding […]
Genome sequencing of thousands of SARS-CoV-2 samples shows that surges of COVID-19 cases are driven by the appearance of new coronavirus variants, according to new research from the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis published April 1 in Scientific Reports. “As variants emerge, you’re going to get new outbreaks,” said Bart […]
A team of scientists from Brazil recently explored the abilities of the UK, South African, and Brazilian variants of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) to evade host CD8+ T cell responses induced by natural infection or vaccination. The findings reveal reduced antigenic coverage for the P.2 Brazilian lineage, indicating its ability to evade […]
Ask Eric Weaver about pandemics, and he's quick to remind you of a fact that illustrates the fleeting nature of human memory and the proximal nature of human attention: The first pandemic of the 21st century struck not in 2019, but 2009. That's when the H1N1/09 swine flu emerged, eventually infecting upwards of 1.4 billion […]
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) co-authored a study, published today in the journal Science, that details the sequencing of 64 full human genomes. This reference data includes individuals from around the world and better captures the genetic diversity of the human species. Among other applications, the work will enable population-specific […]
Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) is a technique invented in 1984 by the English scientist Alec Jeffreys during research into hereditary diseases. It is used for the analysis of unique patterns in DNA fragments in order to genetically differentiate between organisms – these patterns are called Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (VNTRs). Genetic polymorphism is […]
Ancient embedded elements in our DNA from generations past can activate a powerful immune response to kill cancer cells like an infection. The work builds on Princess Margaret Senior Scientist Dr. De Carvalho’s previous ground-breaking discovery known as viral mimicry— the ability to cause cancer cells to behave as though they have been infected, thereby […]
