More than 30 years ago, when UC Berkeley researchers discovered, in an organism called Tetrahymena, Telomerase, the enzyme that lengthens chromosome ends and prevents them from fraying enough to kill a cell, speculation ran wild about its role in aging and cancer, setting off a full-court press to produce drugs to activate or block the enzyme. While telomerase-based anti-aging drugs are on its development at Sierra Sciences and anti-cancer drugs from Geron Corporation are now in clinical trials, the publication today by UC Berkeley scientists of the first detailed picture of the molecular structure of human telomerase, discovered in year 1997 by Bill Andrews while at Geron Corporation, shoul

Scientists have discovered a new kind of DNA inside humans. The new DNA, known as the i-motif, visually differs from the well-known structure of DNA due to its twisted knot. Online magazine Sputnik discussed the topic with Professor Marcel Dinger, a molecular biologist at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, who co-led the study. Sputnik: Can you tell us about where this DNA is located and how it's different from what we are used to, the double helix? Marcel Dinger: The new DNA is still part of our chromosomes, it's still part of our genome just like all our double helical DNA, what we've really found is that parts of our genome, parts of our chromosomes can fold in this different way,

Scientists at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, in Australia, discovered a new DNA structure, a “knot” form of DNA. Since the discovery of the known DNA form, it has been noticed that shorter chains of genetic material can also appear in other forms, at least under laboratory conditions, and researchers suspect that these different forms can play an important role in how and when the DNA code is read. The new discovery was published in the journal Nature Chemistry and demonstrates that the structure of DNA can be extremely different from the known double helix. “This new study reminds us that there may be totally different DNA structures that may be important to our cells,” said Dani

A study from Columbia University has found notable differences in the DNA of neonatal babies born after a coal plant in China was shut down, compared with babies born in the same place while the plant was still operating and polluting the surrounding air. Dr. Frederica Perera and Dr. Deliang Tang, researchers at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, found that babies born during the coal plant’s operation had shorter telomeres than those born after the plant’s closure — a result which seemed to validate the Chinese government's push to reduce air pollution. “Telomeres are repeated sequences of DNA that form a kind of cap on the ends of chromosomes and preserve the integrity

Divorce, death in the family, money troubles and serious health problems don't just stress you out -- these negative life events may actually accelerate the aging of your brain, new research suggests. "We used a new algorithm to predict brain aging after horrible life events -- like divorce or death -- and negative life events accelerate brain aging by about one-third of a year for each event," said study lead author Sean Hatton, a project scientist at the University of California, San Diego. So, if you're unlucky enough to have two serious issues, that means your predicted brain age will be 8 months older, the study found. How is it that these events that most people experience at some poin