Genes
Category archives for Genes
Overturning Ideas on Cancer
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on February 24, 2013 Another advance in cancer research is featured on our website this week. Among other things, this one highlights the dangers of assuming causation from correlation. Prof. Dov Zipori and his team were looking at adult stem cells in the bone marrow. These hold a lot of potential for treating many kinds of disease but, like…
DiGeorge Syndrome Demystifed
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on January 17, 2013 Does your face reveal what’s in your heart? It might – even more than you know. Take, for instance, a common group of birth defects – forms of a disorder called DiGeorge syndrome. Around one in 4000 is born with this syndrome, which arises from a deletion of a short segment of chromosome 22. Among…
The Surprising Viruses in Our Gut
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on July 17, 2012 We were just getting used to the idea of our digestive tract as an ecosystem. There are 10 times as many bacteria in our gut as there are cells in our bodies, and the ecological balance between the different types might affect everything from our tendency to gain weight to our general health and susceptibility…
Memory Booster, Aha Moments and Biological Quantum Phenomena
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on March 31, 2011 Today’s Weizmann Institute news stories include two new papers from the prolific lab of Prof. Yadin Dudai. The first is on a protein that boosts memory in rats. Dudai and his group have been investigating this protein for several years. Previously, they had managed to show that blocking the protein, even for a very short…
Hope for Stroke, Anti-anxiety Genes, and a Unique Environmental Record
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on February 8, 2011 Three news items were posted on our site today. The first is on two papers by a group in Spain. Normally we don’t publicize papers that are not written by Institute scientists, but these are a special case. They appear to have clinched the claims of a Weizmann scientist that one can treat stroke and…
Strawberry Genes and Budding Math Geniuses
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on December 29, 2010 This week, two press releases from the Institute: The first was on the sequencing of the woodland strawberry genome (unfortunately, in the same week the cacao genome was sequenced). The Institute scientists who participated in the project contributed in the computational analysis of genes encoding flavor- and aroma-related proteins. This wild cousin of the cultivated…
A Gene for Sweet Cravings
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on October 5, 2010 Feel the need to eat chocolate when under pressure? You might be able to blame it on your genes, specifically a gene in the brain that responds to stress. This gene, when active, brings out your anxiety and as well as bringing about metabolic changes that tell your body to burn sugar, rather than fat.…
The Pink Gene (for Tomatoes)
Posted by Weizmann Science Writer on August 16, 2010 When you look over the assortment of sizes, shapes and colors of tomatoes displayed in the market, do you stop to consider the time and effort that went into developing them (more than ten years to create a new commercial cultivar)? But a variety of sweet, pink-skinned tomato that’s popular in the Far East could…