DNA

Rock Doc column: A wolf in other clothing

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – I was hospitalized for 10 days in late July. In August, to rebuild my strength, I took my dog on increasingly long walks around town. We went virtually every day; the exercise was good for both Buster Brown and me.

Rock Doc: An ancient American woman buried by the sea

By E. Kirsten Peters, College of Agricultural, Human & Natural Resource Sciences  PULLMAN, Wash. – I need a cap on my front tooth redone – it has a significant chip. Luckily I live at a time when dentists are in every city and town, plying their trade in ways that can help us each day.

Anthropologist discovers clues to first Americans

PULLMAN, Wash. – For more than a decade, Washington State University molecular anthropologist Brian Kemp has teased out the ancient DNA of goose and salmon bones from Alaska, human remains from North and South America and human coprolites—ancient poop—from Oregon and the American Southwest.

DNA ‘burrs’ discovery earns Smithsonian award

By Joanna Steward, College of Arts and Sciences WASHINGTON – A simple mistake during an experiment into endocrine disruptors – chemicals known to interfere with fetal development – dramatically changed the direction of inquiry for one Washington State University researcher and led him to challenge the core biological principals of genetic inheritance.

DNA variation uncovered; may control gene activity

PULLMAN – Researchers at Washington State University have identified a new class of DNA sequence variation in gene promoter regions that could help control the activity of genes. The novel variations, dubbed “multiple nucleotide length polymorphisms,” or MNLPs, altered transcription of the genes they were associated with as much as 11-fold. The presence of such […]

WSU report on DNA repair named “Article of the Month”

PULLMAN–A suite of proteins that changes the arrangement of DNA in chromosomes plays a key role in enabling cells to repair damage to their DNA, according to a new study by researchers in Washington State University’s School of Molecular Biosciences. The report, by scientists Feng Gong, Deirdre Fahy, and Michael Smerdon, offered the first direct […]

Researchers develop hand-held spectrometer

Prashanta Dutta, assistant professor in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, is trying to thread the eye of a tiny needle. But, instead of the 1,230 microns of an average-sized needle eye, Dutta’s is only 10 microns wide, and the “thread’’ is five microns wide. Dutta and his colleagues recently received a grant from […]