Molecular biology

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Molecular biology is the study of biology at a molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Molecular biology chiefly concerns itself with understanding the interactions between the various systems of a cell, including the interactions between DNA, RNA and protein biosynthesis as well as learning how these interactions are regulated.

Writing in Nature, William Astbury described molecular biology as:

"[...]not so much a technique as an approach, an approach from the viewpoint of the so-called basic sciences with the leading idea of searching below the large-scale manifestations of classical biology for the corresponding molecular plan. It is concerned particularly with the forms of biological molecules and[...]is predominantly three-dimensional and structural—which does not mean, however, that it is merely a refinement of morphology. It must at the same time inquire into genesis and function."

For more information about Molecular biology, read the full article at Wikipedia.
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News tagged with molecular biology

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Ancient ecosystem thrives millions of years below Antarctic glacier

Ancient ecosystem thrives millions of years below Antarctic glacier

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created Apr 16, 2009 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (24) | comments 12

(PhysOrg.com) -- A reservoir of briny liquid buried deep beneath an Antarctic glacier supports hardy microbes that have lived in isolation for millions of years, researchers report this week in the journal ...


IBM Cantilever end with virus sample

Researchers Create Microscope With 100 Million Times Finer Resolution Than Current MRI

Nanotechnology / Bio & Medicine

created Jan 13, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (24) | comments 8

(PhysOrg.com) -- IBM Research scientists, in collaboration with the Center for Probing the Nanoscale at Stanford University, have demonstrated magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volume resolution 100 million ...


Native Americans descended from a single ancestral group, DNA study confirms

Native Americans descended from a single ancestral group, DNA study confirms

Biology / Evolution

created Apr 29, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (16) | comments 2

For two decades, researchers have been using a growing volume of genetic data to debate whether ancestors of Native Americans emigrated to the New World in one wave or successive waves, or from one ancestral ...


One word: bioplastics

One word: bioplastics

Chemistry / Materials Science

created Nov 17, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (14) | comments 4

(PhysOrg.com) -- Every year, more than 250 billion pounds of plastic are produced worldwide. Much of it ends up in the world's oceans, a fact that troubles MIT biology professor Anthony Sinskey.


Rewrite the textbooks: Transcription is bidirectional

Biology /

created Jan 25, 2009 | popularity 4.6 / 5 (9) | comments 1

Genes that contain instructions for making proteins make up less than 2% of the human genome. Yet, for unknown reasons, most of our genome is transcribed into RNA. The same is true for many other organisms that are easier ...


Researchers discover mechanism that explains how cancer enzyme winds up on ends of chromosomes

Medicine & Health / Research

created Jul 10, 2008 | popularity 4.9 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Human cancer cells divide and conquer. Unless physicians can control that division with surgery, chemotherapy or radiation, the wildly dividing cells will eventually destroy a person's life.


Researchers make breakthrough against poxviruses

Biology /

created Jan 23, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Smallpox has a nasty history throughout the world. Caused by poxviruses, smallpox is one of the few disease-causing agents against which the human body's immune system is ineffective in its defense.


Mountaintop Soil Sample in Antarctica

How an Antarctic worm makes antifreeze and what that has to do with climate change

Biology /

created Feb 09, 2009 | popularity 3.5 / 5 (10) | comments 0

Two Brigham Young University researchers who just returned from Antarctica are reporting a hardy worm that withstands its cold climate by cranking out antifreeze. And when its notoriously dry home runs out ...


Scientists identify human monoclonal antibodies effective against bird and seasonal flu viruses

Biology /

created Feb 22, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 1

Researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Burnham Institute for Medical Research and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have reported the identification of human monoclonal antibodies (mAb) that neutralize ...


Recruitment of reproductive features into other cell types may underlie extended lifespan in animals

Biology / Biotechnology

created Jun 07, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0

In the sense that organisms existing today are connected through a chain of life - through their parents, grandparents and other ancestors - almost a billion years back to the first animals of the pre-Cambrian era, an animal's ...


Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier

Beyond genomics, biologists and engineers decode the next frontier

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Nov 18, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (7) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- A team of Princeton biologists and engineers has dramatically improved the speed and accuracy of measuring an enigmatic set of proteins that influences almost every aspect of how cells and ...


Princeton team learns why some drugs pack such a punch

Scientists learn why some drugs pack such a punch

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Aug 20, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

By studying the intricate mechanisms at work in protein production, a Princeton-led team has discovered why certain kinds of antibiotics are so effective. In doing so, they also have discovered how one protein ...


Genome-wide study of autism published in Nature

Genome-wide study of autism published in Nature

Medicine & Health / Genetics

created Oct 07, 2009 | popularity 4.8 / 5 (6) | comments 0

(PhysOrg.com) -- In one of the first studies of its kind, an international team of researchers has uncovered a single-letter change in the genetic code that is associated with autism. The finding, published ...


Scientists model 3D structures of proteins that control human clock

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Apr 11, 2009 | popularity 4.5 / 5 (6) | comments 0

In an Early Edition issue of The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on April 9, 2009, the researchers report that they have been able to determine the molecular structure of a plant photolyase protein that ...


Mammary Stem Cells

Cell microenvironments hold key to future stem cell therapies

Biology / Cell & Microbiology

created Feb 27, 2009 | popularity 5 / 5 (5) | comments 0

Adult stem cells and their more committed kin, progenitor cells, are prized by medical researchers for their ability to produce different types of specialized cells. The potential of using these cells to repair ...