New Type of DNA Discovered? | The Scientist

A newly identified form of DNA—small circles of non-repetitive sequences—may be widespread in somatic cells of mice and humans, according to a study in this week’s issue of Science.

Video game players advancing genetic research

Thousands of video game players have helped significantly advance our understanding of the genetic basis of diseases such as Alzheimer's, diabetes and cancer over the past year. They are the users of a web-based video game developed by Dr. Jérôme Waldispuhl of the McGill School of Computer Science and collaborator Mathieu Blanchette. Phylo is designed to allow casual game players to contribute to scientific research by arranging multiple sequences of coloured blocks that represent human DNA. By looking at the similarities and differences between these DNA sequences, scientists are able to gain new insight into a variety of genetically-based diseases.

Acquired traits can be inherited via small RNAs

It seems that Lamarck may heve been right after all.

GSM mobile phone radiation suppresses brain glucose metabolism

Short-term mobile phone exposure can locally suppress brain energy metabolism in humans

Live longer with fewer calories? Key enzyme involved in aging process found

Caloric restriction slows down aging by preventing an enzyme, peroxiredoxin, from being inactivated. This enzyme is also important in counteracting damage to our genetic material," says Mikael Molin of the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology.

Solve Puzzles for Science | Foldit

This is the Foldit game that allowed gamers to solve the structure of a monomeric retroviral protease from the Mason-Pfizer monkey virus, that had resisted scientific research for 15 years. Turn over your incomprehensible data to them.

Shark compound proves potential as drug to treat human viruses, says researcher

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The compound is squalamine, found in the livers of dogfish and sharks

Breaching the blood-brain barrier: Researchers may have solved 100-year-old puzzle

It turns out that adenosine receptor activation with Lexiscan , an A2A receptor agonist, can breach the blood brain barrier: This could be very useful for delivering brain cancer drugs or  antibodies  and has many other applications ( and potential dangers).

'Dirty' wild mice may be more relevant immunology model

Lab mice are bred in sterile conditions with little risk of infection. They are on a constant light dark cycle , are fed the same diet, and are so inbred that they are homozygous for every gene: This hardly mimics the human condition and perhaps it might be useful  (but also risky) to import some dirty mice from the wild.     Tweet Add to Mendeley

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Wearable Electronics Could Transform Therapies : Discovery News

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Engineered bacteria mop up mercury spills

New conducting properties discovered in bacteria-produced wires

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Delivery of siRNA to the mouse brain by systemic injection of targeted exosomes.

This is a very neat method of delivering siRNA to the brain via exosomes derived from self proteins: It can be used to knock down cerebral targets - in this case BACE1 

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When well-known flu strains 'hook up' dangerous progeny can result: viral sex

This is the equivalent of viral sex: When two strains of virus infect the same cell, their genomes get mixed up creating a novel strain. Perhaps this happens between different viruses as well ?

Promoting Public Health Toward new medication for chronic brain diseases

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With current technology, it is now possible to rapidly screen hundreds of thousands of molecules in bioassays in a relatively short period: The American Chemical Society has used this approach to identify small moleculed that block cholesterol synthesis in the brain, which might be useful in a number of degenerative conditions (although cholesterol is essential for brain function).

Celecoxib May Prevent Lung Cancer in Former Smokers

Exosome Explosion | The Scientist

Exosomes are vesicles secreted from mammalian cells: They help to get rid of intracellular rubbish (and pathogens' proteins) but also play a role in intercellular signalling and contain microRNA (sometimes from viruses) . They play an important role in the immune system, but also in many other tissues and cell types

Temporal analysis of the honey bee microbiome reveals four novel viruses and seasonal prevalence of known viruses, nosema, and crithidia.

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This may seem  irrelevant to the theme of this blog, but it has some startling figures and illustrates the use of metagenomics and the microbiome in detective work. Honey bee colonies have recently been wiped out by an unknown disease (Colony colapse disorder). This study of healthy bees, using bulk sequencing, PCR  and an Arthropod Pathogen Microarray, discovered four previously unknown viruses . Some viruses are expressed in extraordinary numbers (up to 7×10¹¹  individual viruses per bee for one of several hundred viral species). If one extrapolates to man, there are likely to be trillions of viral genomes (and proteins)  in the human body and in blood samples.  

A Shot in the Arm |Vaccine research and human diseases| The Scientist

Decades of vaccine research have expanded our understanding of the immune system and are yielding novel disease-fighting tactics.

A nice series of reviews on the developing benefits of vaccines from The Scientist