Genome sequencing in record time: now it only takes days instead of years

Software assembles complete genome sequences on-demand

23-Feb-2023 - National Institutes of Health researchers have developed and released an innovative software tool to assemble truly complete (i.e., gapless) genome sequences from a variety of species. This software, called Verkko, which means “network” in Finnish, makes the process of assembling complete genome ...

Researchers generate the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome

“The complete blueprint is going to revolutionize the way we think about human genomic variation, disease and evolution”

04-Apr-2022 - Scientists have published the first complete, gapless sequence of a human genome, two decades after the Human Genome Project produced the first draft human genome sequence.According to researchers, having a complete, gap-free sequence of the roughly 3 billion bases (or “letters”) in our DNA is ...

Scientists work toward a rapid point-of-care diagnostic test for Lyme disease

18-Oct-2019 - A study published in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology describes a new rapid assay for Lyme disease that could lead to a practical test for use by healthcare providers. The researchers found the assay, which uses several biomarkers to detect Lyme disease infection, was more sensitive than ...

Mega docking library poised to speed drug discovery

One billion-plus compounds - weeded of 'decoys' - expected by 2020

08-Feb-2019 - Researchers have launched an ultra-large virtual docking library expected to grow to more than 1 billion molecules by next year. It will expand by 1000-fold the number of such "make-on-demand" compounds readily available to scientists for chemical biology and drug discovery. The larger the ...

Combination Pack Battles Cancer

Nanoparticles with multifunctional drug precursor for synergistic tumor therapy

01-Jun-2018 - For efficient cancer therapy with few side effects, the active drug should selectively attain high concentration in the tumor. Scientists have now introduced a new approach, in which two synergistic drug components are combined into a dimer. This dimer can be incorporated into polymeric ...

Lack of sleep may be linked to risk factor for Alzheimer's disease

17-Apr-2018 - Losing just one night of sleep led to an immediate increase in beta-amyloid, a protein in the brain associated with Alzheimer's disease, according to a small, new study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health. In Alzheimer's disease, beta-amyloid proteins clump together to form ...

Star-like cells may help the brain tune breathing rhythms

09-Feb-2018 - Traditionally, scientists thought that star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes were steady, quiet supporters of their talkative, wire-like neighbors, called neurons. Now, an NIH study suggests that astrocytes may also have their say. It showed that silencing astrocytes in the brain's breathing ...

First 3-D structure of DHHC enzymes reported

15-Jan-2018 - The first three-dimensional structure of DHHC proteins--enzymes involved in many cellular processes, including cancer--explains how they function and may offer a blueprint for designing therapeutic drugs. Researchers have proposed blocking DHHC activity to boost the effectiveness of first-line ...

Clever use of mirrors boosts performance of light-sheet microscope

21-Nov-2017 - Using a simple "mirror trick" and not-so-simple computational analysis, scientists affiliated with the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL) have considerably improved the speed, efficiency, and resolution of a light-sheet microscope, with broad applications for enhanced imaging of live cells and ...

Gene silencing shows promise for treating 2 fatal neurological disorders

18-Apr-2017 - In two studies of mice, researchers showed that a drug, engineered to combat the gene that causes spinocerebellar ataxia type 2 (SCA2), might also be used to treat amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). "Our results provide hope that we may one day be able to treat these devastating disorders," ...