A study conducted by researchers at the Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG) and the Sanger Institute in Cambridge (UK), led by the Faculty of Medicine, Geneva University, and has studied how genetic variations affect DNA in gene activity. The findings were published in the journal 'Nature'.

Staff | 12 March 2010

Researchers at the University of Minnesota have created a molecular image of a system that moves electrons between proteins in cells. The achievement is a breakthrough for biology and could provide insights to minimize energy loss in other systems, from nanoscale devices to moving electricity around the country. The research has been published in 'Science'.

Staff | 12 March 2010

An international team of researchers led by scientists at Uppsala University in Sweden have achieved a breakthrough in genetic studies of domestic animals by demonstrating the genomic evolution of the modern chicken. The results are published in the journal 'Nature'.

A.R. | 12 march 2010

The Catalan initiative Fiasco Award was given last Thursday in Barcelona to the greatest failure of the year. This year it has gone to the iPAD of Apple which is still not sold in Spain. In its second edition, this contest aims to reward the best projects in the ICT sector that have ended in a fiasco, to promote critical thinking.

Staff | 12 March 2010

Scientists from the Institute of Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) have identified a new function of the Notch protein, opposite to the one already known. Such protein is located in the membranes of cells and triggers a cascade of signals that regulate the expression of genes that makes the cell divide, grow, migrate, specialize, or die. Now, researchers have discovered that the protein is also required to inactivate the signalling pathway. The work was published in the journal 'Current Biology'.

Staff |12 March 2010

A European work has shown that valproic acid, a drug used for epilepsy, is effective in treating a minority neurodegenerative disease: the Adrenoleukodystrophy linked to the X chromosome. The outcome of the investigation has been reported in the electronic journal 'Human Molecular Genetics’.

Staff |11 March 2010

Scientists in Seattle (United States) have sequenced for the first time the genome of all members of one family, North American, with the aim of providing scientists a powerful tool to reveal the genes that are related to hereditary diseases suffered by the children. The parents have no disease, whilst the two infants have facial and limb malformations (Miller syndrome) and pulmonary dysfunction (primary ciliary dyskinesia). The research is published in 'Science'.

Staff | 11 March 2010

Researchers from the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB) and University of Helsinki (Finland) have carried out an international project and have developed a mathematical model that is able to describe with more precision and realism than ever t the actions of genes on cell organization and, therefore, on the morphology of the whole organism. The research is published in the journal 'Nature'.

Staff | 12 March 2010

EU-funded researchers have identified over 4,000 genes that are involved in endocytosis, the process that cells use to take in substances from the external environment. The findings, published in the journal 'Nature', could lead to the development of treatments and diagnostic tests for a range of diseases.

A.R. | 12 March 2010

The first research on the DNA of Tutankhamen and his family suggested he had malaria and that this disease could have led to his death, along with osteonecrosis. Similarly, the analysis confirms that his father was Akhenaton, the pharaoh who introduced the worship of the Sun God into Egypt however, the work has not cleared all the doubts about the young pharaoh.

Elena Ledda, Michele Catanzaro | 11 March 2010

Once again the International Year of Biodiversity puts on the table the role of Cryptozoology, the study of hidden animals. Surveying their footsteps and popular traditions, occasionally this pseudoscience describes some new species, which then ceases to be cryptic and is included in the official catalogue of zoology. Its clues however can contribute to science.

Patricia Moreno | 11 March 2010

Block 67; could be the title of a film. It has become one of the last scenes of the battle that began decades ago among Amazonian people and their own government (other ways of saying it: among the Amazonian people and the oil companies or between the Amazon people and the rest of the world that is the one "drinking-oil"). It is believed that Block 67 is the oil concession with most reserves, and it is in a region of forest that is almost intact, near the border with Ecuador. The problem is that, in addition to oil, there is great biodiversity and, probably there are ethnicities that have not been contacted.

Mònica Salomone | 10 March 2010

Jan Selby quenches his research thirst at many sources. "This meeting of CLICO (Climate Change, Water Conflict and Human Security) in Bellaterra gives me the chance to contrast what I know about water resources with the experience and expertise of geologists, geographers, biologists, chemists and engineers”. And what we know is not little. Selby holds a chair in International Relations at the University of Sussex (United Kingdom) and is author of several books, despite having water as the protagonist, it is not wet paper.

Jordi Montaner | 10 March 2010

Scientists from the School of Medicine from Stanford University (USA) have developed a 'software' algorithm that could allow any devices of any laboratory to separate virtually a complete sample of blood in its different cell types, as well as detecting changes in the activity of their genes important in medicine, specific to each type of cell. The study is published in the journal 'Nature Methods.'

Redacción | 9 de marzo del 2010

Schizophrenia and bipolar disorder have the same genetic causes, according to a study from Karolinska Institutet published today in ‘The Lancet’. The results throw the current separate classification of the diseases into question.

Staff | 9 March 2010