A novel gene called rumi regulates Notch signaling by adding a glucose molecule to the part of the Notch protein that extends outside a cell, said researchers from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston and Stony Brook University in New York in a report that appears today in the journal Cell.

Marine bacteria come almost a billion to a cup. Until recently, however, little has been known about how these minute creatures live or what they need to flourish.

The more scientists learn about microRNAs – short strands of RNA that can interfere with normal gene activity – the more obvious it becomes how closely they are associated with cancer. In a new study, scientists at The Wistar Institute and their colleagues have identified two microRNAs (miRNAs) that promote tumors’ deadly spread, or metastasis. One of the miRNAs may provide an early warning of metastatic breast cancer and the need for aggressive treatment.

In 2006, Bausch & Lomb withdrew its ReNu with MoistureLoc contact lens solution because a high proportion of corneal infections were associated with it. Now in a new study from University Hospitals Case Medical Center, researchers show that these infections were fueled and made resistant to treatment by the formation of a highly resistant structure of microbial cells held together with a glue-like matrix material. Scientists call this conglomeration of cells biofilms.

The number of Russian women who smoke has more than doubled since the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to new research.

The genetic alphabet contains four letters. Although our cells can readily decipher our genetic molecules, it isn’t so easy for us to read a DNA sequence in the laboratory. Scientists require complex, highly sophisticated analytical techniques to crack individual DNA codes. Volker Deckert and his team at the Institute for Analytical Sciences (ISAS) in Dortmund have recently developed a method that could provide a way to directly sequence DNA. Their process is based on a combination of Raman spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. As reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, Deckert and Elena Bailo have successfully analyzed DNA’s closest relative, RNA.

Scientists have shown for the first time how a particular family of diseases are passed down from mother to child and how this can lead to the severity of the disease differing widely. The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, offers hope of being able to predict a child's risk of developing a mitochondrial disease which can cause muscle weakness, diabetes, strokes, heart failure and epilepsy.

There’s a high probability that people who are prone to herpes simplex virus (HSV) outbreaks can inherit that susceptibility through their genes, University of Utah researchers report in a new study.