Category Archives: Molecular biology
Life and deeds of RNA (III): RNA processing, neurodegeneration and a rare disease
One of the most surprising and fascinating facts about scientific research is that one never truly knows which directions investigations may take. Along the way that goes from gathering data, to the path that links our initial question and the […]
Life and deeds of RNA (II): the inscrutable ways of gene silencing
In the previous article of this series starred by ribonucleic acids, we found out about how an RNA molecule is able to regulate complex cascades of molecular events as critical as to decide the fate of a whole cell […]
Life and deeds of RNA (I): William Wallace and the fate of the cell
Among all the molecules that constitute living organisms, DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) is probably the most popular and certainly it deserves the “molecule of life” surname. However, its role as the keeper of the critical information needed to construct an organism […]
Flu: the H and the N
The organism that causes flu is the influenza virus. It belongs to the family Orthomyxoviridae and they are included in Group V of the Baltimore classification, consisting in negative sense, single-stranded RNA viruses. Within this family there are […]
The 3D structure of the genome
The genome is the text of life. Its ink is the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a heteropolimer of four nucleotides (guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine). It encodes the instructions to make work all known living organisms (and viruses). It was isolated […]
Mysterious vaults and neuronal regeneration
From a certain point of view, eukaryotic cells could be described as microscopic power plants equipped with factories and energy-generating platforms, inside of which highways and compartments are constantly built and rebuilt, and a fluent traffic provides a constant recycling […]
Exceptional problems demand exceptional computers
Proteins perform most of the daily work of the cell, they catalyse most of the biochemical reactions, initiate and mediate the electrical signals in our neurons and form an important part of the structure of our bodies. Formed by up […]
Unraveling protein knots
Proteins are sophisticated machines that perform most of our cellular activities. Proteins are codified in the cellular DNA and synthesized as linear chains that need to get properly folded in a 3D structure to become functional. This state is […]
Diabetes, a road paved with unfolded proteins
Diabetes is a metabolic disorder characterized by an inefficiency to respond to the glucose requirements of the body, a process largely regulated by the popular hormone known as insulin. Insulin is produced and secreted in a specific type of […]
The flick of a switch controls the fate of human parasites
The advances in molecular biology and the so called post-genomic era, have improved significantly the fight against many human diseases, in some cases almost leading to their eradication. However, there are still regions of our planet were people suffer from […]