'Soft' CRISPR may offer a new fix for genetic defects

Curing debilitating genetic diseases is one of the great challenges of modern medicine. During the past decade, development of CRISPR technologies and advancements in genetics research brought new hope for patients and their ...

Researchers build most complex synthetic biology circuit yet

Using genes as interchangeable parts, synthetic biologists design cellular circuits that can perform new functions, such as sensing environmental conditions. However, the complexity that can be achieved in such circuits has ...

Newly identified protein helps flowers develop properly

Flowers rely on a newly identified protein to develop properly with all of their organs, according to the research team who made the discovery. The team, led by Penn State biologists, identified the protein in the model plant ...

Study reveals how the ovarian reserve is established

Fertility is finite for mammalian females. From birth, females possess a limited number of primordial follicles, collectively called the ovarian reserve. Within each follicle is an oocyte that eventually becomes an egg. But ...

Developing tools to visualize DNA repair as never before

Each one of the trillions of cells that make up the human body suffers more than 10,000 DNA lesions every day. These injuries would be catastrophic if cells were unable to repair them, but a very delicate machinery that detects ...

Genetic switch lets marine diatoms do less work at higher CO2

Diatoms in the world's oceans exhale more oxygen than all the world's rainforests. These tiny drifting algae generate about 20 percent of the oxygen produced on Earth each year and invisibly recycle gases enveloping our planet.

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