Scientists from Oxford's Radcliffe Department of Medicine have achieved the most detailed view yet of how DNA folds and functions inside living cells, revealing the physical structures that control when and how genes are switched on.

People looking to lose weight and lower their blood sugar may someday be able to get a single injection that turns their cells into tiny factories that churn out a protein that is essentially the active ingredient in drugs like Ozempic,

MIT researchers discovered that the genome’s 3D structure doesn’t vanish during cell division as previously thought. Instead, tiny loops called microcompartments remain (and even strengthen) while chromosomes condense.

DNA, often called the blueprint of life, is built from four chemical building blocks known as deoxy-nucleoside triphosphates (dNTPs)—dATP, dTTP, dGTP, and dCTP. Cells constantly need these molecules to duplicate their DNA during active proliferation.

DNA isn't just a long string of genetic code, but an intricate 3D structure folded inside each cell. That means the tools used to study DNA need to be just as sophisticated-able to read not only the code itself,