Most biochemistry labs that study DNA isolate it within a water-based solution that allows scientists to manipulate DNA without interacting with other molecules. They also tend to use heat to separate ...

Gene therapy holds the promise of preventing and curing disease by manipulating gene expression within a patient's cells. However, to be effective, the new gene must make it into a cell's nucleus. The ...

Labs around the world are trying to turn cells into autobiographers, tracking their own development from embryos to adults. By Carl Zimmer Shortly after conception, a fertilized egg divides, becoming ...

Every time a cell divides, it must copy its entire genome so that each daughter cell inherits a complete set of DNA. During that process, enzymes known as polymerases race along the DNA to copy its ...

For almost 60 years, scientists have tried to understand why DNA doesn't replicate wildly and uncontrollably every time a cell divides – which they need to do constantly. Without this process, we ...