Developmental geneticists investigate how embryos develop into organisms. The long-term goal is to decipher the genetic programs that regulate development and to understand how those might go awry in disease. Recent research with the nematode C. elegans reveals how a genetic signal helps early embryonic cells move to an appropriate position in the embryo.
Staphylococcus aureus is a notorious bacterium that is the scourge of hospitals nationwide. Recent research is revealing how the bacterium controls expression of its genes for virulence (ability to cause infection). This work may eventually lead to a way of breaking the circuit—in effect, disarming S. aureus until the host immune system can knock it out.
Neuroscientists Win Sloan Fellowships
Each year the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation awards fellowships to exceptional young researchers early in their careers. Two recently recruited neuroscientists to NYU School of Medicine received the coveted awards this year. One uses the fruit fly to understand the intricacies of the central nervous system; the other probes Hox genes.
A duet of proteins called Rag1 and Rag2 orchestrate the gene segment-shuffling that leads to an amazingly diverse array of antigen receptors. Recent research reveals that rejoining of the gene segments can occur through different DNA repair pathways—including one whose existence had only been suspected until now.
School of Medicine researchers discovered a new tumor suppressor gene that negatively controls the overall production of most cellular proteins, and therefore cell growth. This suppressor may play a role in brain cancer, and it joins the ranks of p53 and pRB, which also negatively regulate gene expression.