The study of microRNAs (miRNAs), small RNAs that play important roles in gene regulation in animals and humans alike, have long been a topic of interest to many. How these miRNAs control and regulate gene expression, a subject of great importance in biology and medicine, is often believed to hold the keys to providing effective cures, or strategies, to different phenomenon and symptoms, such as cancer, a result of cell mutations. Read More...
A research team from HKUST has solved the puzzle of C. elegans pri-miRNA processing.
In April to May 2019, the coral reefs near the French Polynesian island of Moorea in the central South Pacific Ocean suffered severe and prolonged thermal bleaching. The catastrophe occurred despite the absence of El Niño conditions that year, intriguing ocean scientists around the world.
Damages to the central nervous system (CNS), for example in the case of spinal cord injury, can result in permanent loss of sensory and motor function. It is because the severed axons are unable to regenerate. As of today, there are very limited options to help these patients regain their motor abilities. Scientists have been exploring ways to enable the regeneration of severed axons, with a view to developing viable treatments in the long term.