Using a new combination of computational tools to analyze ancient DNA, Yale researchers have discovered two ancient, extinct giant tortoise lineages that once lived on the Galapagos Islands.

The researchers’ pioneering approach, which employs computational genome analysis tools, showed that museum specimens previously considered too genetically degraded to be useful in this type of research can help reveal evolutionary history. The findings could also aid ongoing efforts to expand giant tortoise populations in the Galapagos archipelago.

Results of the study are published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

A new collaborative study from the laboratories of Drs. Xaralabos Varelas and Giovanni Ligresti from Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine have identified a distinct population of cells located in lung veins that becomes active after injury and helps create an environment that promotes scar tissue formation, a process known as fibrosis. Identifying a previously unrecognized driver of lung fibrosis and a signaling pathway that can be targeted, offers new opportunities for developing therapies to prevent, or slow disease progression in pulmonary fibrosis and other fibrotic lung diseases.

When a pregnancy ends early and unexplained, the search for answers usually begins with the mother. Lacey Luense, Ph.D., wants to know what the father’s sperm might have to do with it.

Researchers at the Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) and their collaborators have traced harmful autoantibody production following SARS-CoV-2 infection to a distinct population of B cells. By integrating single-cell, proteomic, genetic, clinical, and laboratory data, the team found that these cells adopt molecular features also seen in established autoimmune diseases. The findings help explain how viral infections can disrupt immune regulation and may provide a framework for understanding and eventually preventing autoimmune complications following infection.

Researchers at the Max Delbrück Center have built a search engine that can scan data from millions of single cells from thousands of experiments worldwide in seconds.  The tool, described in “Nature,” makes it possible to answer previously impossible questions about RNA biology.