Painted turtle gets DNA decoded
Scientists have decoded the genome of the western painted turtle, one of the most abundant turtles on Earth, finding clues to their longevity and ability to survive without oxygen during long winters spent hibernating in ice-covered ponds.
Ancient sea lamprey gets DNA decoded
A large team of scientists has decoded the genome of a sea lamprey – one of the few ancient, jawless species of vertebrates that has survived through the modern era.
DNA sequencing lays foundation for personalized cancer treatment
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are using powerful DNA sequencing technology not only to identify mutations at the root of a patient’s tumor – considered key to personalizing cancer treatment – but to map the genetic evolution of disease and monitor response to treatment.
Scientists map genetic evolution of leukemia
By mapping the evolution of cancer cells in patients with myelodysplastic
syndromes who later died of leukemia, Timothy Graubert, Matthew Walter and their Washington University colleagues have found clues to suggest
that targeted cancer drugs should be aimed at mutations that develop
early in the disease.
Soil bacteria and pathogens share antibiotic resistance genes
Disease-causing bacteria’s efforts to resist antibiotics may get help from their distant bacterial relatives that live in the soil, new research by Kevin Forsberg, a graduate student at Washington University School of Medicine suggests. The researchers found identical genes for antibiotic resistance in soil bacteria and in pathogens from clinics around the world.
Discovery lets scientists seize controls of South American parasite
Scientists battling Leishmania, a parasite second only to malaria in the number of deaths it causes, have identified an important vulnerability in the genetic code of one major parasite strain.
Baby brain growth mirrors changes from apes to humans
A study undertaken to help scientists concerned with abnormal brain development in premature babies has serendipitously revealed evolution’s imprint on the human brain.
Platypus hunter studies the bizarre mammal’s venom
When she was a child “in the land Down Under,” Camilla Whittington’s dad decided it would be fun for them to go look for platypuses. These animals, found only in Australia, are technically mammals, yet they are like no other mammals around – sure, like all mammals, they produce milk for their babies, but they also lay eggs and have a bill like birds do, and, most oddly, the males shoot venom from spurs in their hind legs that causes pain even the strongest painkillers can’t alleviate.
Tweet: Scientists decode songbird’s genome
Nearly all animals make sounds instinctively, but baby songbirds learn to sing in virtually the same way human infants learn to speak: by imitating a parent. Now, an international team of scientists, led by the School of Medicine, has decoded the genome of a songbird — the Australian zebra finch — to reveal intriguing clues about the genetic basis and evolution of vocal learning.
Rodeo bull goes head-to-head with zoo dolphins in a study of balance
Dolphins, whales and porpoises have extraordinarily small balance organs, and scientists have long wondered why. In a head to head comparison of two dolphins and a rodeo bull, Washington University School of Medicine researchers have contradicted the leading explanation for these undersized organs and left the door open for new theories.
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