The mosquito Aedes aegypti is a powerful, plentiful species: It populates six continents, can carry deadly viruses, and bites with abandon. But until recently, its genome was in tatters. For the past decade, researchers attempting to study the mosquito’s DNA had only fragments to work with—genetic swatches that didn’t come together to form a cohesive…
Embryos Remember the Chemicals That They Encounter
We all start out as a clump of identical cells. As these cells divide and multiply, they gradually take on distinct identities, acquiring the traits necessary to form, for instance, muscle tissue, bone, or nerves. A recent study from Rockefeller scientists offers new insight into how these cellular identities are cultivated over the course of…
Deep in the Fly Brain, a Clue to How Evolution Changes Minds
For lovers throughout the animal kingdom, finding a suitable mate requires the right chemistry. Now, scientists at The Rockefeller University have been able to map an unexpected path in which evolution arranged for animals to choose the correct partner. Working with fruit flies, the scientists probed how males manage to pick out members of their…
Troves From a Search For New Biomarkers: Blood-Borne RNA
It’s the critical first step in treating everything from strokes to cancer: a timely and accurate diagnosis. Today, doctors often rely on biomarkers, such as cardiac troponin, the protein that appears in the blood after a heart attack, to help them figure out what’s going on with patients. But the information the biomarkers provide can…
Drowsy Worms Offer New Insights into the Neuroscience of Sleep
Scientists Map the Portal to the Cell’s Nucleus
Structural Studies Reveal Workings Of Molecular Pump That Ejects Cancer Drugs
Sometimes cells resist medication by spitting it back out. Cancer cells, in particular, have a reputation for defiantly expelling the chemotherapy drugs meant to kill them. Researchers at The Rockefeller University have shed new light on a molecular pump that makes this possible, by determining its three-dimensional structure, down to the level of atoms. “This…
Atomic-Scale View of Bacterial Proteins Offers Path to New Tuberculosis Drugs
With the first detailed analysis of a cellular component from a close relative of the pathogen that causes tuberculosis, Rockefeller scientists are suggesting strategies for new drugs to curb this growing health problem. Each year, nearly half a million people around the world are infected with mutant TB strains capable of evading existing antibiotics. The…
