The Human Dynasty

To better understand how cells become cancerous, a new study by cancer researchers looks at four genes that help regulate cell growth in embryos and contribute to cancer in adults. The genes are generally believed to work together to help control cell proliferation. But this study shows that mice need just one of the four genes to develop from fertilized eggs through adulthood.

The tick-tock of your biological clock may have just gotten a little louder. The number of genes under control of the biological clock in a much-studied model organism is dramatically higher than previously reported. The new study implies that the clock may be much more important in living things than suspected only a few years ago.

Researchers have discovered the earliest form of human blood stem cells and deciphered the mechanism by which these embryonic stem cells replicate and grow. They also found a surprising biological marker that pinpoints these stem cells, which serve as the progenitors for red blood cells and lymphocytes.

Nashville police are looking for clues in the shooting death of Vanderbilt University anthropology professor Pierre Colas. His sister, Marie Colas was wounded. Graduate student Danielle Kurin told the press, “He went above and beyond what a professor is expected to do. He was like a friend and mentor, really a role model. In that [...]

Shedding some genetically induced excess baggage may have helped a tiny fish thrive in freshwater and outsize its marine ancestors, according to a new study in Science.

New findings give insight into the unique characteristics of the birth defect Prader-Willi Syndrome, and at the same time, may help explain how a certain type of gene is expressed in all humans. The research finds that the amount of care a father gives to his child may cause a shift in the syndrome in which its symptoms, in essence, reverse themselves.

Without these tiny parasites and their genetic creativity, we’d be up the primordial creek without a paddle. investigates (full text available to subscribers)

Malaria didn’t evolve along with the animals it infects, say researchers – a shift in its evolution happened millions of years after vertebrates diversified

It may take just one or two proteins to polish off a simple cellular task, but life-or-death matters, such as caring for the ends of chromosomes known as telomeres, require interacting crews of proteins, all with a common goal but each with a specialized task.

(Journal of the National Cancer Institute) The Aug. 26 online issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute features articles on a proposal for a new trial design that could speed drug development, a sea sponge chemical used to kill cancer cells, a new potential mouse model of leukemia development, and the association between mutations in a metabolic gene and the development of familial kidney cancer.