UMass Amherst researchers have pushed forward the boundaries of biomedical engineering one hundredfold with a new method for DNA detection with unprecedented sensitivity.
DNA
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Status Report, Tricorders & Sensors, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Tricorder Tech: Translation As A Biosignature
Life on Earth relies on mechanisms to store heritable information and translate this information into cellular machinery required for biological activity. In all known life, storage, regulation, and translation are […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Missions & Hardware, Press Release, Tricorders & Sensors
Life Detection Techniques Inspired By Developments And Tools In Physical And Biological Sciences
Human imagination has long been captivated by the pursuit of life outside of Earth. Is life a phenomenon that extends beyond the limits of Earth, or are humans alone in […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
Discovery Of Novel Primitive Xeno Nucleic Acids As Alternative Genetic Polymers
The chemical origin of life on Earth is a puzzle that scientists have been trying to piece together for decades. Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain how life came […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Exploration Gear & Tech, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Nanotechnology & SynBio, Press Release, Space Life Science, Tricorders & Sensors
Tricorder Tech: Researchers Slow Down And Scan Individual DNA Molecules
Editor’s note: If you are going to investigate genomic information in the field or in a laboratory – the more you know – the more you know. Nanopore technology is […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
The RNA-DNA World And The Emergence Of DNA-encoded Heritable Traits
The RNA world hypothesis confers a central role to RNA molecules in information encoding and catalysis.
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
What Did Earth’s Earliest Animals Look Like?
For more than a century, biologists have wondered what the earliest animals were like when they first arose in the ancient oceans over half a billion years ago.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report
Metagenome Mining And Functional Analysis Reveal Oxidized Guanine DNA Repair At The Lost City Hydrothermal Field
The GO DNA repair system protects against GC → TC mutations by finding and removing oxidized guanine. The system is mechanistically well understood but its origins are unknown. We searched […]
Posted inGenomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Radiation, Status Report
Extreme UVC Radiation Tolerance In Bacteria Recovered From Earth’s Stratosphere
Aerosolized microbes surviving transport to and in the stratosphere endure extremes of low temperature, atmospheric pressure, and relative humidity, and high shortwave ultraviolet radiation flux. However, the genetic determinants for […]
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Origin & Evolution of Life, Press Release
A Prebiotic Genetic Alphabet As An Early Darwinian Ancestor For Pre-RNA Evolution
RNA-based genetic code is thought to be central to life’s emergence due to its dual ability for information transfer and catalysis. Nonetheless, the genetic code of early life was potentially […]