Featured series 
Tag: Molecular Genetics
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Health
Proteasome recognized as nuclear player on gene-transcription team
One of the most common agents in the cytoplasm of the cell, the proteasome, also plays a widespread and critical role in transcription from inside the cell nucleus. Pam Silver,…
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Campus & Community
Molecule by molecule, new assay shows real-time gene activity
Chemists at Harvard University have developed the first technique providing a real-time, molecule-by-molecule “movie” of protein production in live cells. Their direct observation of fluorescently tagged molecules in single cells…
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Campus & Community
Drug prevents spread of genital herpes
A new type of treatment has been found to protect mice against a nasty strain of herpes virus common in humans. Because this genital virus is an important co-factor for…
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Science & Tech
Seeing the hole truth
Folding is a big deal in biology. It not only changes a molecule’s shape but its function. Take the proteins made by genes. Folded one way, they can activate processes…
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Health
Early molecule fingered as an Alzheimer’s cause
“The way we look at it, Alzheimer’s disease is really cancer of the brain,” says Rachael Neve, Harvard Medical School associate professor of psychiatry at McLean Hospital. “But neurons cannot…
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Health
New ways found to fight anthrax
John Collier, Presley Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at Harvard Medical School, began tinkering with anthrax molecules in 1989. He looked into a powerful electron microscope and, for the…
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Science & Tech
Human genome sequence yields new tool for microbe-hunting
Microbiologists have traditionally identified pathogens (disease-causing organisms) by growing them in a laboratory dish from a sample of infected tissue. But not all pathogens can be cultured this way. Molecular…
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Health
A strategy to neutralize anthrax toxin in the body
A Harvard Medical School research team has developed a strategy to neutralize anthrax toxin in the body. So far they have tried the treatment in rats. Normally, rats die within…
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Health
Gene initiates joint formation
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have identified a molecule that plays a central role in the initiation of joint formation. Studying limb formation in the developing chick, postdoctoral fellow Christine…
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Health
Diving into the gene pool
Maryellen Ruvolo, professor of anthropology, specializes in the analysis of human and primate family trees using DNA data, a subfield of molecular evolution. She is probably best known for her…