UAB's researchers have applied atomic force microscopy to study chromatin -DNA and histones- in its natural aqueous environment and have found that it is much more compact than previously thought. A fact that will have to be considered to understand the mechanism of DNA transcription during the cell cycle.
As a part of the activities of the UAB Year of Evolution, The faculties of Biosciences and Sciences have held a conference on Prebiotic Evolution. The event included various seminars and the inauguration of the reproduction of the Miller-Urey apparatus, that has been set up...
A UAB researchers group have just discovered an important event for the biotechnology field. They have found functional proteins inside the bacterial inclusion bodies. That allows to use the bacterial inclusion bodies like biocatalyst when they are formed by enzymes and...
UAB and CREAF Scientists have demonstrate that the changes involved in the forest structure after a wildfire also imply changes in the animals that lived before. In order to validate its hypothesis, the investigators have studied ones of the most sensible communities to the changes in plant cover: the ant communities.
In the 21th Century tuberculosis is still a very important cause of many deaths every year. There are vaccines, but their efficacy is not very high. UAB researchers have collaborated in a research for improving the treatment based in the study of Toll-like receptors. The trials with animal models have demonstrated a role for Toll-like receptors in...
Mobile genes are DNA sequences able to move and insert into the genome. They constitute more than 50% of the human genome and 28% of that of Drosophila (Fruit fly). They are an important source of mutations because they promote chromosomal arrangements and insert into genes and regulatory regions. This work is based in one of these transposable...
The Bellingshausen Sea is a remote part of the ocean surrounding the Antarctic, isolated, inhospitable and almost unexplored. A Hespérides expedition has managed to study the fauna which inhabit this region. Examples of 23 species of fish have been studied and at present we are in the process of...
The evolution of large brains in vertebrates, such as primates or parrots, poses a paradox for scientists: if the possession of a large brain carries with it great production and maintenance costs, then why have some animals developed such large brains? A classical...
Islands are specially vulnerable spaces to the invasions of exotic plants. UAB researchers have validated this hypothesis in the case of the Oxalis pes-caprae plant species. They have studied its presence in the Balearic Islands. The results show that Oxalis reproduces much more in the islands than in other Spanish continental zones.
The history of radioactivity, traditionally considered a mere antecedent of nuclear physics, in has in recent years been subject to a through a deeply historographical review. This new perspective takes into account the social, cultural and industrial implications of this science and serves as narrative framework in Néstor Herran?s thesis. In this...
