News tagged with molecular biology

Boosting 'cellular garbage disposal' can delay the aging process, research shows

(Medical Xpress)—UCLA life scientists have identified a gene previously implicated in Parkinson's disease that can delay the onset of aging and extend the healthy life span of fruit flies. The research, ...

Genetics created May 06, 2013 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (18) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Team finds antibody that transforms bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells

In a serendipitous discovery, scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a way to turn bone marrow stem cells directly into brain cells.

Medical research created Apr 22, 2013 | popularity 5 / 5 (11) | comments 2 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover enzyme behind breast cancer mutations

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have uncovered a human enzyme responsible for causing DNA mutations found in the majority of breast cancers. The discovery of this enzyme – called APOBEC3B – may change the way ...

Cancer created Feb 06, 2013 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (2) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Study paves way to design drugs aimed at multiple protein targets at once

An international research collaboration led by scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine and the University of Dundee, in the U.K., have developed a way to efficiently and effectively ...

Medical research created Dec 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Schizophrenia genetic networks identified: Connection to autism found

Although schizophrenia is highly genetic in origin, the genes involved in the disorder have been difficult to identify. In the past few years, researchers have implicated several genes, but it is unclear how they act to produce ...

Neuroscience created Nov 11, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Structure of a bond formed by two proteins critical for hearing and balance described for the first time

Researchers have mapped the precise 3-D atomic structure of a thin protein filament critical for cells in the inner ear and calculated the force necessary to pull it apart.

Medical research created Nov 07, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (1) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers manipulate neurons in worms' brains, take control of their behavior

In the quest to understand how the brain turns sensory input into behavior, Harvard scientists have crossed a major threshold. Using precisely-targeted lasers, researchers have been able to take over an animal's ...

Neuroscience created Sep 24, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (8) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Alcohol by-product destroys blood stem cells

(Medical Xpress)—Scientists at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology have found that stem cells in the body's 'blood cell factory'—the bone marrow—are extremely sensitive to the main breakdown ...

Medical research created Aug 27, 2012 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (5) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Using rabies virus, researcher tracks inputs to dopamine neurons

A genetically-modified version of the rabies virus is helping scientists at Harvard to trace neural pathways in the brain, a research effort that could one day lead to treatments for Parkinson's disease and addiction.

Neuroscience created Jun 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Discovery reveals chromosomes organize into 'yarns'

Chromosomes, the molecular basis of genetic heredity, remain enigmatic 130 years after their discovery in 1882 by Walther Flemming. New research published online in Nature by the team of Edith Heard, PhD, from the Curie ...

Genetics created Apr 11, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (3) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

BIM gene variation in East Asians found to explain resistance to cancer drugs

A multi-national research team led by scientists at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School has identified the reason why some patients fail to respond to some of the most successful cancer drugs.

Cancer created Mar 18, 2012 | popularity not rated yet | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Scientists identify neural activity sequences that help form memory, decision-making

(Medical Xpress) -- Princeton University researchers have used a novel virtual reality and brain imaging system to detect a form of neural activity underlying how the brain forms short-term memories that are ...

Neuroscience created Mar 14, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (3) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Sending out an SOS: How telomeres incriminate cells that can't divide

The well-being of living cells requires specialized squads of proteins that maintain order. Degraders chew up worn-out proteins, recyclers wrap up damaged organelles, and-most importantly-DNA repair crews ...

Medical research created Mar 12, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Study shows how neurons interact, could lead to new treatment for addiction

Harvard scientists have developed the fullest picture yet of how neurons in the brain interact to reinforce behaviors ranging from learning to drug use, a finding that might open the door to possible breakthroughs in the ...

Neuroscience created Jan 18, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (4) | comments 1 | with audio podcast

Researchers discover faulty molecular switch that cause infertility, miscarriage

Scientists have discovered an enzyme that acts as a 'fertility switch', in a study published in Nature Medicine today. High levels of the protein are associated with infertility, while low levels make a woman more likely ...

Medical research created Oct 16, 2011 | popularity 5 / 5 (2) | comments 0 | with audio podcast

Molecular biology

Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature, William Astbury described molecular biology as:

"[...]not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and[...]is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function."

For more information about Molecular biology, read the full article at Wikipedia.
This text uses material from Wikipedia and is available under the GNU Free Documentation License.

Related topics: protein , cells , cancer cells , genes , chromosomes