News by Subject Biology

University of Cincinnati professor Takuya Konishi examined the youngest-ever specimen of tylosaur ever found. Like orcas, mosasaurs might have used their bony noses to strike prey.

New research from Emory University, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, shows that a versatile RNA molecule may be a key player in human cells' frontline defenses against viruses.

Cytokines, small proteins that alert the body to infection and cause inflammation, have been found in the amniotic fluid of many women who gave birth prematurely. Now, researchers are looking into whether halting the immune response will stop preterm births.

Changing the way microbes are classified can reveal similarities among mammals' gut microbiomes, according to a new study published in mBio that proposes an alternative method for classifying microbes to provide insight into human and environmental health.

Are human disturbances to the environment driving evolutionary changes in animals and plants? A new study conducted by McGill researchers finds that, on average, human disturbances don't appear to accelerate the process of natural selection. While the finding may seem reassuring, this unexpected pattern could reflect the limited number of species for which data were available.

In a new study researchers have developed a two-pronged approach for targeting Ebola virus infection using linked nucleic acid (LNA) antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs)designed to interfere both genes essential for translation of Ebola virus genes and to block production of an intracellular human protein needed for the virus to enter cells.

NIH's Clinical Genome Resource (ClinGen) and ClinVar programs are addressing a major barrier to incorporating genomic medicine into healthcare, which is a lack of evidence about the relationship between gene variants and diseases. A special issue of Human Mutation, published on Oct. 12, highlights the broad array of advances made through these programs, which work in concert to advance knowledge connecting human genomic variation to human health.