Evolutionary history can often provide profound insights into genetic switchups in our past that may continue to hold a significant impact on our lives today. Thus, breaking down the genomes of our shared ancestors with other species and points of divergence is a primary area of research in biology. The Sialic Sugar Family The disparities […]
Drug resistant pathogens are an ongoing plague for the medical field and efforts to find original drugs and other solutions are slow going. The past few years, however, have seen some new scientific discoveries that might finally prove to be a more long-term option to help deal with such disease-causing offenders. These contemporary options though […]
Abstract By Brigette Corder, Sterling Ericsson, and Taylor Uhlir The CRISPR-Cas systems are a new and exciting tool for research and scientific discovery. Here we discuss and compare the various CRISPR-Cas systems and report current uses for these systems by concentrating a principal spotlight on CRISPR-Cas 10. From CRISPR’s rudimentary beginnings in the form of […]
Not every genetic modification has to involve a violent cleaving of nucleotides to insert or remove sections of the genome. The most common form this type of change takes involves what are termed double-strand breaks (DSBs) and they have long been something that scientists have wanted to avoid if possible. You may remember us discussing […]
We think about them in a ton of different ways. Fungi can be a delicacy in food or they can be a deadly poison. They are beneficial mutualists with plants or harmful parasitic pests. But there is one more feature of theirs that has become more and more prominent in recent decades with the emergence […]
Cloning has long been a topic fraught with controversy and vocalized concern about where the technology would lead. While we still grapple with these ideas to this very day, the science itself continues to move forward toward a better understanding of how cloning works and what repercussions biologically it might have. Or might not have, […]
Sudden death syndrome is, as the name would suggest, a devastating disease. It first emerged in Arkansas in 1971 and has since spread across the US and even into South America by the 1990’s, causing heavy fatalities. The fungus that causes it, Fusarium virguliforme, can be considered the root of one of the most deadly […]
The benefits of modern gene editing techniques and tools come with some downsides. While the precision of new and improved CRISPR systems is continually on the rise, there are some fundamental aspects of the tools that scientists have long wished we could work around, in order to reduce even the most minimal risk of off-target […]
Developmental biology can be a wild field to study. Through looking into the fundamental genes controlling body structure and the formation of the body as a whole, strange and bizarre effects can be discovered from the smallest of changes. One of the most famous being the creation of fruit flies that grow a pair of […]
Sometimes doctors are able to accomplish the most miraculous of surgeries using top of the line technology. Treatments with an incredibly low chance of success and with a high risk of death. Successes that likely will not be possible to do again in the near future, even with other patients with the same condition. That […]