The Harvard Gazette

Genetics

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Terence Capellini, researcher in Human Evolutionary Biology

Study identifies hundreds of genetic ‘switches’ that affect height

Researchers whittled their way to answers

Health|

DateDecember 7, 2017December 9, 2017

A Science Panel featuring Harvard's program for the Science of the Human Past, headed by Michael McCormick (pictured), launched a new center with Max Planck Institute.

History under the microscope

‘The sciences are destabilizing what we thought we knew about the past’

Science|

DateOctober 16, 2017

Normally, U2-snRNP (red) is found in the nucleus of motor neurons (left), but accumulates outside the nucleus in ALS or FTD patient-derived neurons with C9ORF72 mutation.

RNA errors linked to ALS and dementia

A tweak to cellular machinery could hold promise for treatment

Health|

DateJune 14, 2017June 15, 2017

A study led by Harvard Professor Hopi Hoekstra has uncovered links between the activity of specific genes and parenting behaviors across species, such as close cousins deer mice (pictured) and oldfield mice. "[T]here’s no measurable effect based on who raises [offspring]," Hoekstra said. "It’s all about who they are genetically."

Mom, dad set in their ways? Maybe it’s not their fault

Hoekstra leads breakthrough on genetics of parenting behavior across species

Health|

DateApril 20, 2017October 3, 2017

Associate Professor of Psychology Max Krasnow (left) and Graduate School of Education doctoral student Samuel Mehr are the co-authors of a new study that posits infant-directed song evolved as a way to calm fussy infants, and could potentially be the starting point of music in human culture.

Why sing to baby? If you don’t, you’ll starve

Researchers develop evolutionary case for the music parents make for children

Science|

DateMarch 8, 2017December 15, 2017

Harvard Medical School geneticist Stephen Elledge is the recipient of the 2017 Breakthrough Prize for his illuminating research into cell life, death, repair, and recycling.

Geneticist Stephen J. Elledge wins Breakthrough Prize

Award recognizes scientist’s trail-blazing work on how cells sense DNA damage and initiate self-repair

News|

DateDecember 5, 2016September 7, 2017

‘If you’re not failing, you’re probably not trying as hard as you could be’

George Church’s scientific drive

Campus|

DateMay 11, 2016

Doubling up at Harvard

Pairs of undergraduate twins lead separate college lives at Harvard, but stay connected

Campus|

DateMay 6, 2016September 7, 2016

Sasha Kimel, a visiting professor in the Psychology Department, has studied the effect of genetic information on groups in conflict. “We found evidence that if you make Arabs and Jews believe they are either genetically similar or different from another, that can impact their propensity for peace or conflict,” Kimel said.

For groups in conflict, genes matter

Researchers compare effects of stressing similarities, differences

Science|

DateMay 5, 2016

Harvard faculty members are among the 84 people elected to the National Academy of Sciences.

Faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences

Members are honored for their distinguished and original research

Campus|

DateMay 3, 2016

Widely recognized as a leader in bringing meiosis research into the modern era, Nancy Kleckner, the Herchel Smith Professor of Molecular Biology, received the Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal. Kleckner has pioneered efforts to combine traditional genetic approaches with molecular biology, microscopy, physics, and modeling, techniques that have now become commonplace.

Kleckner receives Thomas Hunt Morgan Medal

Recognizes her significant contributions in understanding chromosomes

News|

DateFebruary 24, 2016

Harvard’s George Church (from left) moderated a Radcliffe symposium with John Hawks, Beth Shapiro, and Spencer Wells that featured discussions related to modern DNA analysis, including the possible resurrection of extinct animals like the mammoth, forensic DNA investigation, the ethics of DNA, and a peek at the likely future of DNA science.

History as mosh pit

Radcliffe session recounts impact of DNA technology in understanding human past, crafting future solutions

Health|

DateOctober 6, 2015January 8, 2018

David Liu, professor of chemistry and chemical biology, and his colleagues have begun to unlock the mystery of how to improve the specificity of genome-editing proteins.

Improved accuracy in genome editing

Scientists engineer helpful protein that has greatly increased specificity

Health|

DateMay 8, 2015

DNA forms loops and domains inside the nucleus (image 1). This rendering (image 2) of a 2.1 Mb region on chromosome 20 shows eight domains, six of which are demarcated by loops between convergent CTCF-binding sites located at the domain boundaries. The research team identified approximately 10,000 of these loops in the human genome. Members of the research team include Erez Lieberman Aiden, Ph.D. '10 (from left, photo 3), Harvard graduate student Miriam Huntley, and Suhas Rao of the Baylor College of Medicine Center for Genome Architecture.

Creating ‘genomic origami’

Researchers use of 3-D maps to create catalog of 10,000 folding loops, depicting genetic regulation

Science|

DateDecember 11, 2014

Probing genes for disease risk

News +|

DateDecember 9, 2014

Getting a detailed picture of Ebola

News +|

DateDecember 9, 2014

“Human genetics are another extraordinary window on a vanished world of migrations and matings that take you back literally to the dawn of human time,” said Harvard Professor Michael McCormick.

The surprising origins of Europeans

Researchers discuss new theories on human migration revealed by sophisticated DNA tests

Science|

DateDecember 3, 2014June 14, 2018

HSPH ‘molecular pathway’ discovery may lead to type 2 diabetes treatment

News +|

DateDecember 1, 2014

“We hope this approach to protein delivery will help connect where genome editing is now to where the field needs to be in order to realize the therapeutic potential of these proteins to address genetic diseases,” said David Liu (right), a professor of chemistry and chemical biology. Liu and a team of researchers, which included John Zuris (left), have already demonstrated that the technology can be used to modify genes in living animals.

Toward genetic editing

Scientists develop system that could treat a host of conditions

Health|

DateNovember 3, 2014

A new advance on the nine genetic variants that increase the risk of developing type 2 diabetes were identified by Harvard Medical School (HMS) instructor in medicine Amit Majithia (pictured) and a team of researchers led by HMS Professor of Genetics David Altshuler, the paper's first author.

Diabetes’ genetic variety

Researchers find nine variants that can greatly increase risk from disease

Health|

DateSeptember 15, 2014

Searching for “broken genes” — those whose protective effects come from shutting off and ceasing to function — gives drug companies an important leg up, explained David Altshuler, professor of genetics and medicine at Harvard Medical School. Creating a drug to stop a gene from working is less complicated than creating one to turn a gene on, make it go faster, or change how it functions. During the Broad Institute's summer lecture series, Altshuler was explaining the recent discovery of a genetic mutation that protects against type 2 diabetes.

‘Broken genes’ for a broken system

Diabetes discovery illuminates path to new drugs, says HMS professor

Health|

DateJuly 24, 2014

“Because of the genetic complexity of schizophrenia and other psychiatric disorders, we need a large sample size to conduct this type of research," said Steve E. Hyman, director of the Broad’s Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. Broad summer student Lydia Emerson prepares samples for sequencing in the Stanley Center lab in July. Research scientists Ellen Vieux and Tim Blosser collaborate in the background.

Researchers shed new light on schizophrenia

International team's work may lead to innovations in treatment that has seen little change in 60 years

Health|

DateJuly 21, 2014

A new technique for observing neural activity will allow scientists to stimulate neurons and observe their firing pattern in real time. “This is a tool for looking in great detail at how signals flow through neurons, and how the signal flows through circuits of neurons,” said Adam Cohen, professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics.

Viewing how neurons work

New tool allows researchers to stimulate them and observe their signals in real time

Health|

DateJuly 15, 2014

New molecule links asthma, cancer

News +|

DateMay 8, 2014

Research by Harvard Stem Cell Institute scientists shows that much lincRNA plays an important role in the genome, contrary to previously held beliefs. The research team includes Simona Lodato (from left), Loyal Goff, John Rinn, Paola Arlotta, and Martin Sauvageau.

‘Junk?’ Not so fast

Harvard scientists show that much lincRNA, which was believed useless, plays role in genome

Health|

DateJanuary 22, 2014

Genetic variant may increase heart disease risk among people with type 2 diabetes

News +|

DateAugust 28, 2013

Regina LaRocque (from left), Pardis Sabeti, and Elinor Karlsson have uncovered evidence of genetic changes that might help protect some people from contracting cholera.

Clues to cholera resistance

Evidence that genetic changes may offer protection

Health|

DateJuly 22, 2013

An intensive, two-week course in plant morphology was the first of what will become an annual summer offering in plant organismic biology at Arnold Arboretum.

A learning gap is filled with plants

Arboretum offers increasingly rare course in their morphology

Health|

DateJune 21, 2013November 10, 2016

Christopher Marx, associate professor of organismic and evolutionary biology, says his study shows that while beneficial mutations may be more common than previously believed, they must occur within a limited window of opportunity to become successful. Ultimately, Marx said, the research casts important new light on the process of natural selection.

When timing is everything

Research says beneficial mutations need specific circumstances to win out

Health|

DateMarch 19, 2013

A team of researchers led by Hopi Hoekstra, professor of organismic and evolutionary biology and molecular and cellular biology, studied two species of mice — oldfield mice and deer mice — and identified four regions in their genome that appear to influence the way they dig burrows.

Digging yields clues

Biologists connect burrowing behavior in mice to genes

Health|

DateJanuary 16, 2013

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