In human cells, there are about 20,000 genes on a two-meter DNA strand—finely coiled up in a nucleus about 10 micrometers in diameter. By comparison, this corresponds to a 40-kilometer thread packed ...

What if the mechanical properties of a cell could be programmed like the components of a machine? Researchers at the ...

Understanding the interaction between genetic and epigenetic variation remains a challenge due to confounding environmental factors. We propose that human induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSCs) are an ...

DNA methylation (DNAm) is a key epigenetic mark that shows profound alterations in cancer. Read-level methylomes enable more in-depth analyses, due to their broad genomic coverage and preservation of ...

A joint research team has developed an automated design technology that enables the creation of DNA origami structures that ...

Scientists have uncovered a surprising twist in how cells behave when division goes wrong. Sometimes a cell successfully copies its DNA but fails to split into two, leaving it with double the genetic ...

Every cell in a body contains the same genetic sequence, yet each cell expresses only a subset of those genes. These cell-specific gene expression patterns, which ensure that a brain cell is different ...

Damaged DNA can escape from one human cell and infiltrate another. Like prisoners tunneling out of jail, this DNA travels via tubelike structures between neighboring cells, scientists report May 19 in ...

While most known types of DNA damage are fixed by our cells' in-house DNA repair mechanisms, some forms of DNA damage evade repair and can persist for many years, new research shows. This means that ...