Monthly Archives: January 2014

The RBPome: unlocking a new layer in gene regulation

gblogo_small

In 2012, Genome Biology joined with a number of other journals to publish articles describing the ENCODE project, which set out to catalog how proteins bind to the genome in order to regulate transcription. With a similar goal, we published a special issue focused on epigenomics, which looked at both DNA-bound proteins and epigenetic modifications… Read more »

Biology
1

Sweetening woody biomass

Aspen

The cell walls in wood, with their abundant lignocellulose, are a vast source of renewable biomass. To make this woody biomass a usable source, however, these raw materials require conversion into simple sugars, and then further processing by microorganisms into ethanol and other bioproducts. The major limiting factor for this process is resistance to the… Read more »

Biology

Sigma factor networking and bacterial versatility

False colour E. coli

In the bacterial RNA polymerase transcription complex, the sigma factors play the role of guide, specifying where in the genome the complex binds – and thereby which genes are turned on at any one time. Lab favourite E. coli has seven such sigma factors, one of which has a ‘housekeeping’ role in standard conditions, with… Read more »

Biology

Welcoming Monique Nijhuis to the Associate Editorial team

Nijhuis

Retrovirology is delighted to welcome a new Associate Editor to the team, Dr Monique Nijhuis, associate Professor of Virology at the University Medical Center Utrecht in The Netherlands. Dr Nijhuis’s laboratory works on antiviral escape and focuses on HIV and viral hepatitis. Dr Nijhuis’ contribution as a member of the scientific committee for the Frontiers of Retrovirology meeting… Read more »

Biology

One to three men fathered most western Europeans

CTS pic

A recent study published in Investigative Genetics has shown that the genetic lineage of most Western Europeans started from just one to three men, sparking many and varied online discussions. The study, led by Chris Tyler-Smith, involved producing a model to investigate the expansion of Neolithic genetic lineages throughout Africa and Europe. Both Africa and… Read more »

Biology

BioMed Central partners with the Chilean Biology Society to publish Biological Research

soc logo

We are pleased to announce that Biological Research, the official journal of the Chilean Biology Society (Sociedad de Biología de Chile) has joined the BioMed Central portfolio in 2014. Originally named Archivos de Biología y Medicina Experimentales, Biological Research was founded in 1964. For 49 years the journal has been dedicated to publishing articles across… Read more »

Biology