Category Biology/Biotechnology

Sandcastle worm (Phragmatopoma californica) Credit: Fred Hayes

It has the potential for biomedical and non-biological applications. Areas such as tissue repair, dental adhesives and other surface adhesion applications, industrial and commercial – which are often required under adverse conditions, such as salty sea water and in aqueous solutions containing organic impurities – could benefit from this glue, which replicates the adhesion strategy of the Sandcastle worm (Phragmatopoma californica), a segmented marine invertebrate commonly found along the California coast.

Known for constructing hive-like shelters in colonies out of grains of sand glued together by a protein adhesive, sandcastle worms, along with mussels and other glue-secreting inhabitants of the intertidal zone, have served a...

Representative images of control (left) and Dvl mutants (right) embryonic brains at embryonic day 18.5 (E18.5, just before birth at E20) were stained with DAPI to highlight all of the nuclei (Blue), anti-Ctip2 (Green) for deep layer neurons and anti-Cux1 (Red) for more superficial layer neurons. Analysis of the results shows specific reduction of the deep layer (Ctip2+) neurons at E18.5. This reduction in deep layer neurons is preceded by a transient brain over growth at E14.5, associated with increased proliferation of neural progenitors and premature differentiation. Credit: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine

Autism has been postulated to be caused by neuron overgrowth in the prenatal period, although the precise timing and cause of this overgrowth has been unknown...

Inhibition of transcriptional interference with siRNA. The top panel depicts how GNG12-AS1 modulates the expression of the active DIRAS3 allele through transcriptional interference. GNG12-AS1 may act as a rheostat for DIRAS3 transcription rate. The lower panel depicts how exogenous siRNA molecules in a complex with AGO2 can bind to both the TSS and GNG12-AS1 to inhibit Pol II, and block further transcription initiation and elongation of GNG12-AS1. As a result of transcriptional silencing of GNG12-AS1, transcriptional interference is reduced leading to increased transcription of DIRAS3.

Supposed non-coding DNA, found in between genes, plays a role in suppressing cancer, according to new research by Universities of Bath and Cambridge...

Far right, a zebrafish embryo breaks free from a group of unhatched sibling eggs. Credit: Zebrafish Lab

New UCLA research demonstrates that BPS (Bisphenol S), a common replacement for BPA, speeds up embryonic development and disrupts the reproductive system. The animal study is the first to examine the effects of BPA and BPS on key brain cells and genes that control the growth and function of organs involved in reproduction.

“Our study shows that making plastic products with BPA alternatives does not necessarily leave them safer,” explained senior author Nancy Wayne, a reproductive endocrinologist and a professor of physiology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.

Using a zebrafish model, Wayne and her colleagues found that exposure to low levels of BPA and BPS — equivalent to th...