An endangered monkey species in Tanzania is living in geographical pockets that are becoming isolated from one another. The situation, researchers say, is mostly driven by the monkeys’ proximity to villages and the deliberate burning of forests to make way for crops and pastures. An international team, led by Maria Jose Ruiz-Lopez, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oregon,…
The genome is written in an alphabet of just four letters. Being able to read, study and compare DNA sequences for humans, and thousands of other species, has become routine. A new technology promises to make it possible to edit genetic information quickly and cheaply. This could correct terrible genetic defects that blight lives. It also heralds the distant prospect…
A new study from Indiana University provides evidence in mice that males may play a positive role in the development of offspring’s brains starting before pregnancy. The research, reported June 30 in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences, found that female mice exposed to male pheromones gave birth to infants with greater mental ability. “This…
A team of researchers led by the University of Cambridge has described for the first time in humans how the epigenome — the suite of molecules attached to our DNA that switch our genes on and off — is comprehensively erased in early primordial germ cells prior to the generation of egg and sperm. However, the study, published in the…
A team of researchers at the IRCM led by François Robert, PhD, uncovered a critical role for two proteins in chromatin structure. Their breakthrough, recently published in the scientific journal Molecular Cell, helps explain how DNA is organized in our cells. This discovery could lead to a better understanding of what causes certain types of cancer, such as lymphoma. “This…
UCLA scientists examining causes of human infertility have found that the cells that create eggs or sperm during the prenatal stage of development are vulnerable to damage, according to new research published today. The study by Amander Clark, of the UCLA Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research, was published in the journal Cell. Clark…