New gene expression mechanism with possible role in human disease

25-Jun-2018 - When cells grow and divide to ensure a biological function - such as a properly working organ - DNA must be unwound from its typical tightly packed form and copied into RNA to create proteins. When this process goes awry - if too little or too much RNA is produced - then the result could be ...

The science of fluoride flipping

25-Aug-2017 - So much of what happens inside cells to preserve health or cause disease is so small or time-sensitive that researchers are just now getting glimpses of the complexities unfolding in us every minute of the day. UNC School of Medicine researchers have discovered one such complexity -- a previously ...

How a cancer gene protects genome organization

15-Jun-2017 - UNC School of Medicine researchers have cracked a long-standing mystery about an important enzyme found in virtually all organisms other than bacteria. The basic science finding may have implications for understanding cancer development and how to halt it. Researchers have known that the enzyme ...

Using light to control the logic networks of a cell

Role of previously inaccessible proteins involved in health and disease

09-Jan-2017 - Proteins are the workhorse molecules of life. Among their many jobs, they carry oxygen, build tissue, copy DNA for the next generation, and coordinate events within and between cells. Now scientists at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed a method to control proteins ...

New optogenetic tool moves proteins within cells to study biological changes

20-Apr-2016 - Scientists at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine have developed a way to embed light-responsive switches into proteins so that researchers can use lasers to manipulate protein movement and activity within living cells and animals. Using this technique, the UNC team of scientists ...

Technique enables precise control of protein activity in living cells

28-Jun-2010 - Cancer occurs when human cells move and multiply inappropriately. Within cells, a process called phosphorylation serves as an on/off switch for a number of cellular processes that can be involved in cancer, including metabolism, transcription, configuration, movement, cell death and ...

Key protein aids in DNA repair

13-Apr-2010 - Scientists have shown in multiple contexts that DNA damage over our lifetimes is a key mechanism behind the development of cancer and other age-related diseases. Not everyone gets these diseases, because the body has multiple mechanisms for repairing the damage caused to DNA by aging, the ...

Study identifies a protein complex possibly crucial for triggering embryo development

11-Jan-2010 - The DNA contained within each of our cells is exactly the same, yet different types of cells – skin cells, heart cells, brain cells – perform very different functions. The ultimate fate of these cells is encoded not just in the DNA, but in a specific pattern of chemical modifications that overlay ...

A single atom controls motility required for bacterial infection

06-Jan-2010 - Bacteria can swim, propelling themselves through fluids using a whip-like extension called a flaggella. They can also walk, strolling along solid surfaces using little fibrous legs called pili. It is this motility that enable some pathogenic bacteria to establish the infections – such as ...

UNC researchers decode structure of an entire HIV genome

07-Aug-2009 - The structure of an entire HIV genome has been decoded for the first time by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results have widespread implications for understanding the strategies that viruses, like the one that causes AIDS, use to infect humans. The study in ...