http://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Supercomputers and next-generation gene sequencers allow researchers to explore DNA and heredity. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-06-landmarks-genome.html Genetics Thu, 02 Jun 2011 11:03:01 EST news226231349 One way of discovering a gene's function is to switch it off and observe how the loss of its activity affects an organism. If a gene is essential for survival, however, then switching it off permanently will kill the organism before the gene's function can be determined. Researchers at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) have overcome this problem by using RNA interference (RNAi) technology to temporarily turn off any essential gene in adult mice and then turn it back on before the change kills the animals. http://medicalxpress.com/news/2011-04-team-non-lethal-essential-genes-mice.html Genetics Thu, 14 Apr 2011 10:07:25 EST news221994407