Formin gene may explain a common cause of female infertility
Harvard Medical School researchers Philip Leder and Benjamin Leader have discovered that oocytes from female mice without the formin gene Fmn2 cannot correctly position the metaphase I DNA-spindle....
View ArticleScientists identify hundreds of worm genes that regulate fat storage
Findings by Harvard researchers, published in the Jan. 16, 2003 issue of Nature, represent the first survey of an entire genome for all genes that regulate fat storage. The research team led by Gary...
View ArticleSurprising variations discovered in human genomes
Researchers from Harvard Medical School and the University of Toronto in Canada looked at 55 healthy, unrelated men and women, and they discovered 255 regions with relatively large gains or losses in...
View ArticleDouble trouble: Cells with duplicate genomes can trigger tumors
So-called “double-value” cells are produced by random errors in cell division that occur with unknown frequency. The generation of these genetically unstable cells appears to be a “pathway for...
View ArticleCancer link to ‘protein promiscuity’ being studied
When found at abnormally high concentrations, two proteins implicated in many human cancers have the potential to spur indiscriminate biochemical signaling inside cells, chemists at Harvard University...
View ArticleLab moves genomic testing into the clinic
The earliest symptom of the inherited heart condition hypertrophic cardiomyopathy can be sudden death at a tragically young age. Harvard Medical School researchers discovered the first human gene...
View ArticleProteasome recognized as nuclear player on gene-transcription team
One of the most common agents in the cytoplasm of the cell, the proteasome, also plays a widespread and critical role in transcription from inside the cell nucleus. Pam Silver, Kathryn Auld, and their...
View ArticleGenome-wide map will help fight diabetes
The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Lund University, and Novartis have announced the completion of a genome-wide map of genetic differences in humans and their relationship to type 2 diabetes and...
View ArticlePractical way to target cancer cell mutations demonstrated
A study led by researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University provides the first demonstration of a practical...
View ArticleDespite their heft, many dinosaurs had surprisingly tiny genomes
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than those of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who’ve linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then...
View ArticleBroad receives $100M gift to launch research center
The Stanley Medical Research Institute today announced a $100 million gift to the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to launch a new research center that will combine the strengths of genomics and...
View ArticleOpossum genome shows ‘junk’ DNA source of genetic innovation
A tiny opossum’s genome has shed light on how evolution creates new creatures from old, showing that change primarily comes by finding new ways of turning existing genes on and off. The research, by...
View ArticleFirst robust genetic link to height in humans identified
Over a century ago, scientists first proposed that height is a complex trait — one influenced by environmental factors and multiple genes. While subsequent studies revealed that most of the variation...
View Article‘Speed limit’ found on rate of evolution
Harvard University scientists have identified a virtual “speed limit” on the rate of molecular evolution in organisms, and the magic number appears to be six mutations per genome per generation — a...
View ArticleBiologist Venter will be visiting scholar at Origins of Life Initiative
J. Craig Venter, the visionary biologist and intellectual entrepreneur who was a leading figure in the decoding of the human genome, will join Harvard University as a visiting scholar at the...
View ArticleNext-generation tool for visualizing genomic data introduced
Researchers are collecting vast amounts of diverse genomic data with ever-increasing speed, but effective ways to visualize these data in an integrated manner have lagged behind the ability to...
View ArticleIn brief
HARVARD-AFFILIATED STUDY RUNS IN JOURNAL OF COMMUNITY PSYCHOLOGY A new, Harvard-affiliated study on effective community partnerships (titled “Staying at the Table: Building Sustainable...
View ArticleEli and Edythe L. Broad endow the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT with...
Los Angeles-based philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad today declared the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT an unprecedented success as an experiment in science and philanthropy, and announced that...
View ArticleWhen genetics gets personal
Just five years after the Human Genome Project announced it had decoded the first human DNA, the era of personal genetics is dawning, bringing with it not just the promise of targeted, personalized...
View ArticleEli and Edythe Broad make unprecedented gift
Los Angeles-based philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad on Sept. 4 declared the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT an unprecedented success as an experiment in science and philanthropy and announced...
View ArticleHMS to host quantitative genomics conference, more
The second annual Conference in Quantitative Genomics will be held Sept. 23-25 at the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Hosted by the Program in Quantitative Genomics at the School, “Emerging...
View ArticleHarvard faculty members net MacArthur fellowships
Three biologists — one current and two future faculty members at Harvard — have won MacArthur Foundation “genius” grants, $500,000 no-strings-attached awards intended to encourage creativity,...
View ArticleBroad Institute gets major grant for epigenomics research
Researchers at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT announced Sept. 30 that they have received a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to map the epigenomes of a variety of medically...
View ArticleGenetic ‘fingerprint’ shown to predict liver cancer’s return
Scientists have reached a critical milestone in the study of liver cancer that lays the groundwork for predicting the illness’s path, whether toward cure or recurrence. By analyzing the tissue in and...
View ArticleGenome Project releases data on 10 genetic pioneers
The world moved a step deeper into the DNA age Monday (Oct. 20) as 10 volunteers released their genetic and medical information on the Internet as part of a multiyear effort to make genetic data an...
View ArticleGenetic screening no better than traditional risk factors for predicting type...
Screening for a panel of gene variants associated with the risk for type 2 diabetes can identify adults at risk for the disorder but is not significantly better than assessment based on traditional...
View Article“My genome, my self”
One of the perks of being a psychologist is access to tools that allow you to carry out the injunction to know thyself. I have been tested for vocational interest (closest match: psychologist),...
View ArticleWatching evolution in real time
In 1831, the young Charles Darwin set off on the H.M.S. Beagle, a Royal Navy sloop bound for detailed surveys of South America. He took with him the first volume of the massive trilogy “Principles of...
View ArticleScientists create cell protein machinery
Harvard scientists have cleared a key hurdle in the creation of synthetic life, assembling a cell’s critical protein-making machinery in an advance that has practical, industrial applications and that...
View ArticleStudy finds genetic links to age of first menstrual period, menopause
Newly identified gene variants associated with the age at which females experience their first menstrual period and the onset of menopause may help shed light on the prevention of breast and...
View ArticleBroad scientists to sequence multiple myeloma samples
The Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation (MMRF) announced today a collaboration with the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT to systematically uncover the molecular changes underlying multiple myeloma...
View ArticleBIDMC geneticist Rinn named to Popular Science’s ‘Brilliant 10’
Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) geneticist John Rinn, whose research has helped to uncover a new class of RNA, has been named to this year’s “Brilliant 10” list of top young scientists by...
View ArticleThe Postdocs – II
Miriah Meyer isn’t a biologist, but she helps biologists better understand their work. A postdoctoral research fellow in computer science in Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences...
View ArticleRare variants in gene coding may up risk of autoimmune disorders
Rare variants in the gene coding of an enzyme that controls the activity of a key immune cell occur more often in people with autoimmune disorders like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes,...
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Two studies prove value of iPS cells
One of the biggest questions confronting the field of stem cell science is whether iPS cells — stem cells created by reprogramming adult cells — are the equal of the field’s gold standard, human...
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The map of us
It has been described as “biology’s moonshot.” After 15 years of planning and work by public- and private-sector scientists at 20 centers in six countries, the Human Genome Project delivered what...
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To catch a killer
Last summer, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) brought in a young African-American man on a felony weapons charge. After obtaining a DNA sample, the police found a close match in their...
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Following the genomic road map
OK, we’re part Neanderthal, and not that much different from chimpanzees after all. We also know that some drugs won’t work on my cancer, even though they might work on yours. And, if you want to find...
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‘Truly inspirational’
The Harvard Foundation has named Maggie Werner-Washburne the 2011 Scientist of the Year. Werner-Washburne was presented with the Harvard Foundation Medal for Science at a luncheon on April 8 to kick...
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Cancer clues from another species
Harvard researchers have decoded the genome of a creature that may prove an unlikely ally in the fight against both cancer and aging: the naked mole rat. The animal, which lives in large, underground...
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A new view of DNA
While it’s clear that DNA sequencing has been an indispensable tool in understanding any number of biological processes, new research from Harvard suggests that how DNA is packed into cells may be at...
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The future of self-knowledge
A health care revolution is on the way, driven by the availability of cheap genetic sequencing, the head of the personal genomics company 23andMe said Tuesday, adding that she’s not sure we’re...
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Six fresh books worth perusing
You can soothe your intellectual itch with these recent Harvard faculty-authored titles. Creating a New Racial Order: How Immigration, Multiracialism, Genomics, and the Young Can Remake Race in...
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‘Stealing’ life’s building blocks
In a finding that could fundamentally rewrite science’s understanding of how some parasite-host relationships work, Harvard researchers have found that, despite being separated by more than 100...
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Melding the Web and the tactile
Alessa Moscoso and Mike Seward peered at the mountain lion just a few feet away. The animal didn’t peer back, or do anything else. That’s because the two Harvard undergraduates were looking at a...
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‘If you’re not failing, you’re probably not trying as hard as you could be’
Stories of learning, teaching, and turning points, in the Experience series. In 1986, Harvard “rescued” George Church — in his telling, at least — when the Medical School hired him as an assistant...
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New ATAC-seq method from Harvard accelerates single-cell research
Scientists at Harvard University have developed a way to vastly accelerate single-cell sequencing, an advance that promises to give a major lift to biomedical genomics research. The new approach...
View ArticleNervous system activity might influence human longevity, neural activity
The brain’s neural activity — long implicated in disorders ranging from dementia to epilepsy — also plays a role in human aging and life span, according to research led by scientists in the Blavatnik...
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Rawan Alhawamdeh has her goals in focus
This is one in a series of profiles showcasing some of Harvard’s stellar graduates. In the fall of 2017, Rawan Alhawamdeh stepped onto Harvard’s campus with a vision for improving the lives of children...
View ArticleLegendary Battle of Himera was triumph of Greek heroism, kind of
In the 480 B.C. Battle of Himera, Greek forces defeated the invading Carthaginians in a victory that ushered in a period of peace and prosperity across their world. But while historians such as...
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