Gastric and colorectal cancers account for more than 1 million deaths worldwide every year and several research groups have been working to identify the molecular events that result in the initiation and progression of these tumors. It has been established that interfering with the function of one gene, called Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) has a profound effect on the cells lining the innermost layer of the colon (called the epithelium) and causes them to lose control over their proliferation leading to tumors.

Now Klaus Kaestner from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has headed a study that identifies another molecular player influencing the initiation of colon cancers.

This study will be published in the February 1 issue of the journal Genes and Development.

Article @ BMC Bioinformatics

Alternative splicing (AS) is now considered as a major actor in transcriptome/proteome diversity and it cannot be neglected in the annotation process of a new genome. Despite considerable progresses in term of accuracy in computational gene prediction, the ability to reliably predict AS variants when there is local experimental evidence of it remains an open challenge for gene finders.

We have used a new integrative approach that allows to incorporate AS detection into ab initio gene prediction. This method relies on the analysis of genomically aligned transcript sequences (ESTs and/or cDNAs), and has been implemented in the dynamic programming algorithm of the graph-based gene finder EuGene. Given a genomic sequence and a set of aligned transcripts, this new version identifies the set of transcripts carrying evidence of alternative splicing events, and provides, in addition to the classical optimal gene prediction, alternative optimal predictions (among those which are consistent with the AS events detected). This allows for multiple annotations of a single gene in a way such that each predicted variant is supported by a transcript evidence (but not necessarily with a full-length coverage).

This automatic combination of experimental data analysis and ab initio gene finding offers an ideal integration of alternatively spliced gene prediction inside a single annotation pipeline.

The adult male zebra finch knows only one scratchy tune learned in its youth, which it performs repeatedly and intensely when females are listening. But occasionally, the finch might improvise, experimenting with a slower, more sultry variation or emphasizing different notes.

Neurobiologists studying the finch now say the improvisation arises from a component of a crucial learning circuit in a section of the forebrain that seems to generate the trial and error necessary to master sophisticated motor skills, such as singing in birds or speech and sports in humans.

I'll be quite busy tonight, so the update might be a little late for some. In science, either everything or nothing works; this week I've been quite lucky, being on the 'everything' side, but it means that I have more work to do this evening :) Meanwhile, here's some biology-related news I found on the web today :

- Massachusetts governor expresses concerns over stem cell research
- NASA Development May Help Solve Ocean Biology Problem
- Singapore scientists research gene sequencing of elephant shark
- Open-Source Practices for Biotechnology
- Open-Source Technique for GM Crops

As a side note, I've implemented rotating colors scheme for the Google Ads. I know that I'm not sure for at least one of them; please let me know if you find one particularely annoying; they're here to support the site, not to make your decrease the quality of Biology News. Please don't block them; running the site involve lots of time and effort (and money too). Just let me know (in comments or in the forum) if you have suggestions / feedback, it'll help everyone.

Leading laser scientists at the University of St Andrews have developed a new method of delivering genes to cells using laser light. The new technique, which is cheap and powerful, could have important implications for future studies in biomedicine and healthcare.

Optical technology has huge potential for novel developments in the bio-medical field and St Andrews has outstanding research groups in this area. The new method -which involves a miniature violet laser -is cheap, simple, powerful and versatile. Its adaptability means it could have potentially wide medical applications including gene therapy, the delivery of anti-cancer agents and advanced studies of neuro-degenerative diseases.

The Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (IBN) has developed a novel method to simultaneously control the size and morphology of nanoparticles, which can be used in pharmaceutical synthesis and novel biomedical applications.

This groundbreaking research was recently featured in the leading Chemistry journal, Angewandte Chemie, and a United States patent has been filed on the invention.

Expanded HIV screening can increase patient life span, prevent the spread of the disease, and is cost effective, researchers at Yale, Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital report in the February 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

The study's findings are part of a two-paper series in NEJM on the value of expanded HIV screening in the United States. The Yale/Harvard study used different data and methods than another study by VA, Duke and Stanford researchers, yet both teams reached roughly the same conclusions.