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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) as small non-coding RNAs play important roles in many biological processes such as development, cell signaling and immune response. Studies also suggest that miRNAs are important in host-virus interactions where host limits virus infection by differentially expressing miRNAs that target essential viral genes. Researchers at the University of Queensland used a combination of deep sequencing an microarray to study how microRNAs are involved in the immune response in insects. Spodoptera frugiperda (army worm) In the first study, identified conserved and

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) play important roles in the regulation of rodent tooth development, but little is known about their role in tooth development in large mammals. Now, researchers at the Capital Medical University, Beijing, China have utilized a Seq-Array methodology and identified the specific microRNAome and expression profile in developing lower deciduous molars of the miniature pig, but they also provided useful information for investigating the molecular mechanism of tooth development in the miniature pig. The research team identified 637 unique

Targeting microRNAs to fight osteoporosis Researchers at the Xiangya Hospital of Central South University, China have used a microRNA microarray to show in vitro, that miR-148a is dramatically upregulated during osteoclastic differentiation of circulating CD14+ peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). Overexpression of miR-148a in CD14+ PBMCs promoted osteoclastogenesis, while inhibition of miR-148a attenuated osteoclastogenesis. MiR-148a directly targeted MAFB mRNA, a transcription factor negatively regulating osteoclastogenesis, by binding to the 3'UTR and repressed MAFB protein expression. Additionally, in vivo, their study showed

A team led by researchers at the Keio University School of Medicine, Tokyo used a miRNA microarray performed by LC Sciences to investigate the molecular pathogenesis of gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma1. Analysis of the miRNA expression profile in tissue specimens from gastric MALT lymphomas and surrounding non-tumor mucosae revealed that a hematopoietic-specific miRNA miR-142 and an oncogenic miRNA miR-155 were overexpressed in MALT lymphoma lesions. The expression levels of

This is the first study which shows the potential of utilization of miRNA mimics and inhibitors in pest control by targeting specific insect genes. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are non-coding small RNAs (18–25 nt) that play crucial roles in various biological processes, including development, as gene regulators. In this study, researchers at the University of Queensland, Australia explored the possibility of utilizing synthetic inhibitor and mimic of a miRNA by oral feeding and confirmed that the inhibitor and mimic can successfully inhibit/oversupply har-miR-2002b in

Good day to all our LC Sciences News Blog subscribers! We have some important information regarding our news blog feed.  Google has decided to shut down Feedburner.  This is the service we were using to deliver our news posts and manage our email subscriptions.  They will discontinue this service as of Oct 20th, 2012 so we have changed over to Wordpress feeds and Mailchimp email subscriptions. If you had subscribed to LC Sciences' News Blog in an RSS reader, you will need

New tools and technologies are enabling discoveries at an ever increasing pace.  It can be difficult to keep up! News blogs have emerged as an efficient means to receive the news that interests you.  By subscribing to a blog, you can receive headlines right to your desktop, either by email or in an RSS reader format.  There are tons of science blogs out there and here a couple that we find interesting and worthwhile.  

Freeze tolerance in insects is associated with a variety of adaptations including production of cryoprotectants, specialized proteins that regulate ice formation, and energy-saving mechanisms that strongly suppress the rates of metabolic processes in the oxygen-limited frozen state. A group of Canadian researchers hypothesized that microRNAs (miRNAs), small non-coding transcripts that bind to mRNA, could play a role in the global regulation of energy-expensive mRNA translation in frozen insects and

Recent Work & Current Methods in Plant microRNA Research

miRBase 18 was just released: Release 18 of the database contains 18226 entries representing hairpin precursor miRNAs, expressing 21643 mature miRNA products, in 168 species. As compared to miRBase version 17 a total of 1488 new hairpin sequences and 1929 novel mature products have been added. This new sequence information is immediately available on all our standard and custom microRNA Microarrays. Apart from the usual addition and corrections this

LC Sciences has been synthesizing oligonucleotide libraries for use in capture applications since 20041. Our OligoMix® product is a pooled library of thousands of oligonucleotides with customer specified sequences that is well suited to sequence capture applications2,3. The product was developed in response to the need for pooled oligonucleotides used in multiplexing reactions and we now have several customers that are using OligoMix® in sequence capture applications that they have developed. Tian, J., Gong, H., Sheng, N., Zhou, X., Gulari, E.,

The latest issue of Nature includes a technology feature describing advances toward synthetic genomes1.  A major step in that advancement is the ability to quickly synthesize thousands of oligonucleotides that can be "stitched" together to form synthetic genes. Oligonucleotides have conventionally been synthesized individually on glass-column supports, but now microarrays allow thousands of molecules to be assembled side-by-side. Highly advanced microfluidics and DLP projectors can be programmed to direct

by Jeffrey M. Perkel If PubMed is any guide, the microRNA field is smokin' hot. Of the nearly 11,100 references that come up in a search for "microRNA," nearly two-thirds (64%) were published since 2009. It's no wonder. Although microRNAs (miRNAs) may be small—they average 22 nucleotides in length—they carry a big stick, biologically speaking. "We can say with confidence that over 60% of human protein-coding genes are conserved targets of

Chromosomal rearrangement (CR) events result from abnormal breaking and rejoining of the DNA molecules, or from crossing-over between repetitive DNA sequences, and they are involved in many tumor and non-tumor diseases. Investigations of disease-associated CR events can not only lead to important discoveries about DNA breakage and repair mechanisms, but also offer important clues about the pathologic causes and the diagnostic/therapeutic targets of these diseases. We have developed a

Our genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics products and services are based on the latest high-throughput sequencing technology and our flexible µParaflo® custom microarrays which enable the total customization of content on each individual microarray to suit your needs. Our innovative and comprehensive services include nucleic acid/protein profiling and functional analysis, biomarker-discovery, and novel drug screening. Genomics Products & Services Our genomics

The current release of the PepCyber: P~Pep database V1.2 (May 2010) includes 11,269 records of interactions between 387 PPBD proteins and 1,471 substrate proteins, curated from 4,852 published studies.  This release represents a 60% increase in the number proteins covered over the previous release. PepCyber: P~Pep is the largest public database of human protein-protein interactions mediated by phosphoprotein binding domains (PPBDs).   The database is hand curated from

LC Sciences has completed testing and validation of the new improved Illumina small RNA sequencing protocol in our lab that only requires 1-3 ug of total RNA. This represents a significant drop from 10 ug for the previous protocol. microRNA sequencing is a powerful tool to identify and quantitatively decode the entire population of microRNAs in your sample.

LC Sciences’ custom microRNA microarray service is based on the flexible µParaflo® microfluidic chip technology which enables us to produce custom synthesized microarrays when ordered. (vs. an off-the-shelf spotted array)  Therefore, researchers are not limited to the species (and sequences) listed in miRBase.  They can add any sequence of their design to the standard miRBase probe content. Customizable features include – sequence design, varying chain lengths, chip layout, synthesis chemistry, and more.   Each µParaflo® microfluidic chip has room for

Seq-ArraySM provides an efficient pathway from an initial broad search to focused biological insights. Seq-ArraySM offers a customized solution to high-throughput genome-wide microRNA discovery and profiling, especially in species with limited or no microRNA sequence information available. This unique combination of the latest deep sequencing technology, advanced bioinformatics, and our innovative µParaflo® custom microarray platform