A DNA-unraveling enzyme in neutrophils is essential for deep vein thrombosis:

By: Erin Tornatore

Research led by graduate student Kimberly Martinod and Denisa Wagner, Ph.D., adds a new twist to the growing body of evidence of neutrophils' role in dangerous blood clots

It takes more than platelets, thrombin and fibrin to build deep vein thrombosis (DVT). Increasingly, researchers are recognizing that neutrophils-cells better known for their role in immune defense-play an active role in DVT formation by releasing platelet-catching nets made of chromatin, a tightly-wound mix of DNA and associated proteins.

The team of researchers from Boston Children's Hospital's Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine report that mice lacking a neutrophil enzyme called PAD4,… Read Full Article »

RNA interference: Putting bacteria to work to silence genes

By: Tom Ulrich

The Lieberman Lab reported important progress in producing the RNAs that inhibit gene synthesis.

If you are a scientist and you want to turn off a gene, one option that's been gaining traction is RNA interference (or RNAi).… Read Full Article »

Ills of Aging Blood

By: Jake Miller

Isabel Beerman, Derrick Rossi and colleagues tell us that as blood stem cells age, changes in the epigenome—the system that regulates which genes are switched on and which are switched off throughout the body—alter these cells in ways… Read Full Article »

A picture is worth a thousand words for understating innate immunity

By: Thomas Ulrich

Our immune system has immense powers of observation. It needs to in order to fend off the millions of bacteria, viruses, fungi, you name it, that we get exposed to every day.

Sun Hur and her colleagues are… Read Full Article »

Moving in on what makes malaria move

By: Boston Children's Hospital

The malaria parasite (or parasites; four species of Plasmodium can cause malaria in people) has a really complex life cycle. But that complexity hasn't stopped this mosquito-borne parasite from bringing untold misery to the human race for millennia.… Read Full Article »

Forcing lymphoma cells into withdrawal, one subtype at a time