RNA modifications control how stem cells develop into retinal cells, research demonstrates

Cells contain a blueprint in the form of DNA that dictates what they can make. This blueprint is converted into a message ...
The Economist

A primer on RNA, perhaps the most consequential molecule of all

The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life’s Deepest Secrets. Thomas Cech. W.W. Norton; 304 pages; $28.99 and £23.99 All this is the subject of Thomas Cech’s new book, “The Catalyst”. The author ...
The Scientist

What Is RNAi? Gene Silencing Explained for Researchers and Innovators

The natural RNAi mechanism can be directed by either short interfering RNA (siRNA) or microRNA (miRNA). 1 There are four key steps in the RNAi pathway. When miRNA acts as the guide for RNAi, only a ...
The Scientist

Long noncoding RNAs and Microproteins Can Spark Cancer—or Sometimes Squelch It

As a PhD student at the University of Münster in the early 2000s, Sven Diederichs would bike three kilometers each morning to a compact lab in a brick building on the hospital campus. There, he’d ...