Seeking genes and proteins
As part of a billion-dollar investment in science and engineering, the university announced in April that it will spend more than $200 million on the new Yale Center for Genomics and Proteomics, which will explore the myriad functions and interactions of genes and proteins in a range of organisms including humans. The research will help scientists understand basic biological processes and promises to open doors for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. “In addition to research, the center will be used for teaching and to amplify our interactions and partnerships with industry,” said Director Michael Snyder, Ph.D., chair of molecular, cellular and developmental biology. Added Graduate School Dean Susan Hockfield, Ph.D.: “We’ve designed a structure that provides access to state-of-the-art technology to scientists all over our campus, and that will encourage collaboration in research and teaching. … Our aim is to create a center without walls.”
Other Findings Et Cetera
A study by Yale physicians suggests that sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) may be linked to a defect in a neuron that...
From Other Issues
Spring 2009
Biomarker for lung cancer risk
A genetic variation could explain why some people have a greater risk of developing lung cancer, Yale scientists...
Spring 2009
Yale paper among best of 2008
An article by Yale scientists on the formation of cell membranes has been named one of the top scientific papers of...
Winter 2009
Fix-it kit for faulty genes
School of Medicine researchers led by Peter M. Glazer, M.D. ’87, Ph.D. ’87, HS ’91, department chair and the Robert E....
Winter 2009
Junk DNA and evolution
Humans can handle tools and walk upright thanks to a handful of letters in their genome, Yale scientists said in a...
Autumn 2008
Metastasis and a hybrid cell
Metastasis, the spread of cancer throughout the body, may be caused by a hybrid cell that takes on the most dangerous...
Autumn 2008
A clue to evolution
After 16 years of research, Yale scientists have produced the first images of a group II intron, a cellular molecule...
Spring 2008
Big role for tiny RNA
Tiny RNAs discovered in “junk” DNA play an important role in controlling gene function, Yale scientists reported in the...
Spring 2008
Nanotubes can kill bacteria
A study to measure the toxic effects of nanotubes on human cells has led to a possible new approach to treating...
Spring 2008
Tiny RNAs discovered in “junk” DNA play an important role in controlling gene function, Yale scientists reported in the journal Nature in October.
Yale researchers have engineered a virus that can find its way through the vascular system and kill deadly brain...
Winter 2008
To beat cancer, eat your veggies!
Kids aren’t the only people who should pile more vegetables on their dinner plate. A study published in the August 1...
Autumn 2007
Chlamydia more prevalent
Young women between the ages of 14 and 19 are getting infected and reinfected with chlamydia at a rate higher than...
Autumn 2007
A superbug from Iraq
Wounded soldiers returning from Iraq in the fall of 2006 were found to be carrying a “superbug” responsible for highly...
Spring 2007
Cancer mutations common
Cancer gene mutations are found in about 1 percent of the general population, more frequently than previously thought,...
Spring 2007
A gene for nicotine addiction
The World Health Organization estimates that more than 1 billion people smoke worldwide, and that smoking causes nearly...
Winter 2007
Smoking and nicotine receptors
Smokers may have a hard time quitting because their brains have significantly more nicotine receptors than those of...
Winter 2007
Testosterone vs. nerve cells
A study by Yale scientists has shown that a high level of testosterone—such as that caused by the use of steroids—can...
Autumn 2006
Fighting a lethal microbe
Scientists at Yale have discerned how the immune system fights the bacterium that causes Legionnaire’s disease.The...
Autumn 2006
Gene linked to social aversion
Knocking out a gene in the brains of mice can counteract an aversion to social interactions, according to researchers...
Spring 2006
Protection against mad cow disease
In 1996, during an epidemic of mad cow disease—bovine spongiform encephalopathy—in British cattle, epidemiologists...
Spring 2006
Taste and smell—the nose knows
Although our taste buds distinguish sweet, sour, salty, savory and bitter, flavor arises from a combination of tastes...
Autumn 2005
New target for melanoma
Using a technology devised at Yale five years ago, researchers have found what may be a new target for treatment of...
Autumn 2005
A toll on infections
In 1997 the late Charles A. Janeway Jr., M.D., and Ruslan M. Medzhitov, Ph.D., professor of immunobiology, discovered...
Summer 2005
MicroRNA linked to oncogene
A Yale scientist has identified a microRNA, let-7, that controls an oncogene implicated in about 20 percent of cancers,...
Summer 2005
Smoking turns receptor on and off
Cigarette smoking turns on and then inactivates brain receptors that are critical to the effectiveness of...
Spring 2005
Alzheimer’s protein solved
Using X-ray crystallography, Yale scientists have discerned, for the first time, the atomic structure of a protein that...
Fall/Winter 2004
Picturing an enzymatic RNA
More than 20 years ago scientists discovered that RNA, and not just proteins, could act like an enzyme. Now Yale...
Fall/Winter 2004
How Salmonella survives
Yale scientists have discovered how Salmonella, a bacterium that causes food poisoning and typhoid, escapes the innate...
Summer 2004
A signal that the end is near
A chemotherapeutic agent used against cancer for more than 30 years has a secondary effect of inducing “death signals”...
Summer 2004
Enzyme linked to epilepsy
Small amounts of glutamate help the brain to function normally, but high concentrations of the neurotransmitter have...
Spring 2004
Honors for immunologist
Scientists from around the world gathered in November to honor the late Richard K. Gershon, M.D. ’59, 20 years after...
Winter 2004
Touched by an illusion
Why would multiple real stimuli register as a single stimulus in the brain? A paper published September 18 in the...
Winter 2004
Ro's role in lupus
An estimated 1.5 million Americans suffer from lupus erythematosus, an autoimmune disorder that causes aching joints,...
Autumn 2003
New axons in mice
A Yale scientist has encouraged axonal sprouting in mice by removing a protein, Nogo, that blocks the regrowth of nerve...
Autumn 2003
A doubling of the human genome?
A new analysis of the well-studied chromosome 22 suggests that there may be far more than the estimated 30,000 genes in...
Summer 2003
A DNA “mimic” to repair genes
A peptide nucleic acid (PNA) that mimics DNA holds the promise of repairing defective genes, according to Yale...
Summer 2003
Boost for protein, gene studies
The Center for Genomics and Proteomics, founded last year with a $200 million investment from the university, awarded...
Spring 2003
It’s a fly’s life (and a longer one)
Fewer calories may mean longer life, and Yale scientists working with colleagues at the University of Connecticut may...
Spring 2003
Hope for the sleep-deprived
Narcoleptics and those who are sleep-deprived may find comfort in a recent study by Yale scientists. According to...
Winter 2003
A promising target
Yale researchers have shown that an artificial gene switch can induce the growth of new blood vessels in a mouse model,...
Summer 2002
Case of the vanishing virus
Viruses that leave no molecular fingerprints as they destroy brain cells may be behind certain psychiatric and...
Summer 2002
How Legionella subverts the cell
Of the 35 species of Legionella bacteria, one is implicated in most outbreaks of Legionnaires’ disease, a severe...
Spring 2002
Bleach, water and HIV
Although proven effective in preventing the spread of HIV, needle exchange programs remain unfunded by the federal...
Spring 2002
Cocaine and the fetus
When pregnant women use cocaine, their offspring may suffer permanent harm to an area of the brain that governs...
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