Daily briefing: Is a nine-to-five PhD possible?

PhD students share how they make their doctorate fit into the hours of a standard working week. Plus, male and female brain cells differ in gene activity and a whole new way to produce DNA.

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Researchers found sex differences in the activity of genes in cortical neurons (pictured) and other brain cells.Credit: David Scharf/Science Photo Library

Researchers have uncovered more than one hundred genes that consistently differ in their expression between male and female brains. Most of the genes they identified are not located on sex chromosomes, but many of them are regulated by sex hormones such as oestrogen and testosterone. The work could help to explain why the risk of developing some brain conditions, such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s, differs between males and females. “Understanding sex differences in disease susceptibility could lead to better treatments to benefit everyone,” says neuroscientist Jessica Tollkuhn.

Nature | 5 min read

Reference: Science paper

A newly discovered bacterial enzyme can synthesize DNA without the need for a template strand. The enzyme, Drt3b, instead uses the amino acid sequence in its own active site to mimic a reference strand of RNA. “This is a fundamentally new way that life produces DNA,” says biochemist and study co-author Alex Gao. The enzyme, which forms part of a bacterial immune-defence system, could be used as a research tool if scientists can tweak its structure to produce bespoke DNA strands, the team says.

Science | 5 min read

Reference: Science paper

A US$2 million Quantum for Bio (Q4Bio) Prize has been awarded to a team developing light-sensitive cancer drugs. The team — including researchers from software firm Algorithmiq — scooped the prize for demonstrating a potential use of quantum computers in health care. On a nascent quantum computer, they demonstrated the use of algorithms that, when run on more-capable quantum systems in the future, could glean more information about drug-photon interactions than would be possible using classical simulations, says quantum physicist and Algorithimiq chief exec Sabrina Maniscalco. Notably, no team took home Q4Bio’s US$5 million grand prize.

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