Attacking RNA with small-molecule drugs
Yale researchers have developed a way to target RNA with small-molecule drugs, creating a new method for tapping into a vast number of biological mechanisms critical to metabolism and gene expression.
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An RNA key that unlocks innate immunity
RNA has long been the neglected middle child of biomolecules, the go-between between DNA, which encodes the cell's instructions, and proteins, which carry them out. Increasingly, though, researchers are recognizing RNA as ...
Origin of life in membraneless protocells
How life arose from non-living chemicals more than 3.5 billion years ago on Earth is a still-unanswered question. The RNA world hypothesis assumes that RNA biomolecules were key players during this time as they carry genetic ...
Decoding the regulation of cell survival—a major step towards preventing neurons from dying
An interdisciplinary and international research group led by Dr. Volker Busskamp from the Center for Regenerative Therapies Dresden at the TU Dresden (CRTD) has decoded the regulatory impact on neuronal survival of a small ...
Screening technique detects special messenger RNA molecules that sense and respond to environmental signals
A*STAR researchers have developed a rapid, high-throughput screening procedure that can detect RNA aptamers—special messenger RNA molecules (mRNAs) able to sense and respond to particular cellular chemicals—in a sea of ...
A recording device for cell history
ETH researchers are using the CRISPR-Cas system to develop a novel recording mechanism: The snippets of DNA it produces can provide information about certain cellular processes. In the future, this cellular memory might even ...
New study identifies possible ancestors of RNA
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology may have made headway in helping determine the origin of life by identifying three different molecules that self-assemble to form a molecular structure with features characteristic ...
Similarities between the two gap phases of the cell cycle indicate a default biochemical program in living cells
The two 'gap' phases of the cell cycle were long thought to be under different regulatory control circuits, but a new study from A*STAR overturns this idea.
New materials improve delivery of therapeutic messenger RNA
In an advance that could lead to new treatments for a variety of diseases, MIT researchers have devised a new way to deliver messenger RNA (mRNA) into cells.
Scientists flip molecular switches on building blocks of life
A team of researchers at Yale is expanding our understanding of how bacteria continue to evolve and adapt at the molecular level.
