Addressing concerns about gene-drive releases in the wild, UC San Diego scientists and their colleagues have developed two new genetic systems that halt or eliminate gene drives after release. The details are published in the journal Molecular Cell.
In August, a team of researchers at UC San Diego published groundbreaking studies describing unprecedented details of a protein linked to genetically inherited Parkinson’s disease.
With the aid of artificial intelligence, UC San Diego scientists have solved a long-standing puzzle in human gene activation. The discovery described in the journal Nature could be used to control gene activation in biotechnology and biomedical applications.
Molecules known as tRNAs are often overlooked in study of disease processes. Researchers have now found that a mutation in a tRNA gene called n-Tr20—expressed only in the brain—can disrupt the landscape of entire cells, leading to chain reactions that alter brain function and behavior.
An elusive protein that many consider the key of fully understanding the causes of genetic Parkinson’s disease has come much more clearly into focus. Impacting millions around the world, Parkinson’s is a neurological disorder that progressively attacks motor functions.
What are the boundaries of natural selection? Research published in PNAS shows that even natural selection has a tough time optimizing performance simultaneously across multiple components of the cell. They call the concept "evolutionary stalling."
Although they were introduced back in the 1950s, the true dawn of plastics is rooted in the 1970s. The ’70s ushered in a meteoric rise in everyday consumer plastics. Single-use straws, product packaging, omnipresent water bottles and a range of modern household items went plastic during the decade.
As the world’s most popular shoe, flip-flops account for a troubling percentage of plastic waste that ends up in landfills, on seashores and in our oceans. Scientists at the University of California San Diego have spent years working to resolve this problem, and now they have taken a step further toward…
Researchers investigating the ways that plants protect themselves—from insects to pathogens—have discovered an “on-off” switch that controls plant defensive mechanisms. The finding lays the groundwork for improved plant disease resistance and food stability.
Scientists have unraveled key mechanisms behind the mysteries of aging. They isolated two paths that cells travel during aging and engineered a new way to genetically program these aging routes. The researchers also identified a master circuit that guides the aging processes.