Interior of a human blood vessel. Something looks wrong, very wrong. Bacteria have entered the circulation, and the immunological system is reacting. All the alarms are on fire, while an army of white blood cells comes by, getting ready to unleash hell on the invaders. Suddenly, among these security agents, a neutrophil stands out. It […]
If there should be one rule that could apply to all fields of biological knowledge, it could be that they get more and more complex as we deepen into their study. Regarding genetics, the landscape has become not only more complex but also much more dynamic than initially thought. The old-fashioned concept of genes as […]
Could your parents’ lifestyle choices affect how long you live? And could this effect not be directly related to your genes? Scientists studying my favourite roundworm (C. elegans) have discovered a surprising answer: yes, they can. Why does the offspring live longer? Researchers at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus made an unexpected discovery while studying aging […]
T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive hematological malignancy with a poor prognosis and limited options for targeted therapies . Since the targeted therapies benefiting T-ALL are still limited owing to the biological heterogeneity of T-ALL , identifying novel “druggable” molecular markers and illustrating the underlying mechanisms are immediate pressing issues in T-ALL […]
Multiple myeloma (MM) is an incurable hematological malignancy characterized by clonal expansion of plasma cells in the bone marrow (BM) . Nearly 90% of myeloma patients suffer from skeletal-related events during the course of the disease that not only affect the quality of life but also their overall survival . Myeloma-associated bone disease (MBD) is […]
Chromatin is a complex of DNA and histone, a protein, in the nucleus of a cell. One of the main functions of chromatin is to help DNA packing. Cellular phenotypic heterogeneity is a key determinant of many biological functions; yet, it is still not clear whether it stems from the modifications of the chromatin structure […]
Author: José R. Pineda got his Ph.D. from University of Barcelona in 2006. Since 2007 he has worked for Institut Curie and The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Currently he is a researcher of the UPV/EHU. He investigates the role of stem cells in physiologic and pathologic conditions. Replicative senescence is a process […]
Author: José R. Pineda got his Ph.D. from University of Barcelona in 2006. Since 2007 he has worked for Institut Curie and The French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission. Currently, he is a researcher of the UPV/EHU. He investigates the role of stem cells in physiologic and pathologic conditions. Cell migration is key to […]
This article is not about supporting the use of animals for research or to justify the need of such models for the advance of our society (many others have addressed that already). This post is neither about the constant pressure that researchers feel from peers, funding bodies or institutions to do more and more. The […]
Almost every one of our body cells bears in its nucleus about 2 meters of DNA containing the genes that shape our being. All that, roughly 20.000 protein-coding genes, regulatory and unknown-function sequences, tightly packed inside a structure that has a volume of only a few cubic micrometres. How this huge amount of material is […]