Helicos High Speed Gene Sequencing

Nanotubes sniff out cancer agents in living cells

MIT engineers have developed carbon nanotubes into sensors for cancer drugs and other DNA-damaging agents inside living cells.

The sensors, made of carbon nanotubes wrapped in DNA, can detect chemotherapy drugs such as cisplatin as well as environmental toxins and free radicals that damage DNA.

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New genes suggest obesity is in your head, not your gut

A genetic study of more than 90,000 people has identified six new genetic variants that are associated with increased Body Mass Index (BMI), the most commonly used measure of obesity. Five of the genes are known to be active in the brain, suggesting that many genetic variants implicated in obesity might affect behaviour, rather than the chemical processes of energy or fat metabolism.

Harnessing miRNA Natural Gene Repressors For Anticancer Therapy

Michel Sadelain and colleagues, at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, have developed a new approach to modulate the expression of genes for therapeutic purposes, and used this to mediate effective anticancer therapy in mice.

Their study is published online, Dec. 1, 2008, in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.