Stowers News

Control of gene expression: histone occupancy in your genome

May 1 2012

A team of Stowers scientists defines biochemical crosstalk between DNA interacting proteins and their modifications

KANSAS CITY, MO—When stretched out, the genome of a single human cell can reach six feet. To package it all into a tiny nucleus, the DNA strand is tightly wrapped around a core of histone proteins in repeating units—each unit known as a nucleosome. To allow access for the gene expression machinery the nucleosomes must open up and regroup when the process is complete. 

Jarid2 may break the Polycomb silence

Apr 30 2012

Stowers scientists use fruit flies to reveal unknown function of a transcriptional regulator of development and cancer

KANSAS CITY, MO—Historically, fly and human Polycomb proteins were considered textbook exemplars of transcriptional repressors, or proteins that silence the process by which DNA gives rise to new proteins. Now, work by a team of researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research challenges that dogma.

On the Move

Apr 9 2012

KANSAS CITY, MO—Cells on the move reach forward with lamellipodia and filopodia, cytoplasmic sheets and rods supported by branched networks or tight bundles of actin filaments. Cells without functional lamellipodia are still highly motile but lose their ability to stay on track, report researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in the April 9, 2012, online issue of the Journal of Cell Biology.

Stowers Institute ranks among the top 10 places for postdocs nationwide

Mar 29 2012

KANSAS CITY, MO—The Stowers Institute for Medical Research was ranked among the top 10 U.S. institutions listed as “Best Places to Work: Postdocs,” The Scientist announced today.

A double ring ceremony prepares telomerase RNA to wed its protein partner

Mar 26 2012

KANSAS CITY, MO—Few molecules are more interesting than DNA—except of course RNA. After two decades of research, that “other macromolecule” is no longer considered a mere messenger between glamorous DNA and protein-synthesizing machines. We now know that RNA has been leading a secret life, regulating gene expression and partnering with proteins to form catalytic ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes.

Smell is a symphony

Mar 19 2012

Stowers researchers present a new model for how the brain is organized to process odor information

KANSAS CITY, MO - Just like a road atlas faithfully maps real-world locations, our brain maps many aspects of our physical world: Sensory inputs from our fingers are mapped next to each other in the somatosensory cortex; the auditory system is organized by sound frequency; and the various tastes are signaled in different parts of the gustatory cortex.

A surprising molecular switch

Feb 21 2012

Lipids help control the development of cell polarity.

KANSAS CITY, MO – In a standard biology textbook, cells tend to look more or less the same from all sides. But in real life cells have fronts and backs, tops and bottoms, and they orient many of their structures according to this polarity explaining, for example, why yeast cells bud at one end and not the other.

That which does not kill yeast makes it stronger

Jan 30 2012

Stress-induced genomic instability facilitates rapid cellular adaption in yeast

KANSAS CITY, MO— Cells trying to keep pace with constantly changing environmental conditions need to strike a fine balance between maintaining their genomic integrity and allowing enough genetic flexibility to adapt to inhospitable conditions. In their latest study, researchers at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research were able to show that under stressful conditions yeast genomes become unstable, readily acquiring or losing whole chromosomes to enable rapid adaption.

Making memories last

Jan 27 2012

Stowers researchers discovered that a prion-like protein plays a key role in storing long-term memories

Flatworms’ minimalist approach to cell division reveals the molecular architecture of the human centrosome

Jan 5 2012

KANSAS CITY, MO—Researchers at the University of California, San Francisco and the Stowers Institute for Medical Research have discovered that planarians, tiny flatworms fabled for their regenerative powers, completely lack centrosomes, cellular structures that organize the network of microtubules that pulls chromosomes apart during cell division.

Pages