Shining a light on the role of the genome's 'dark matter' in cancer development

Long RNA molecules carrying DNA codes that aren't translated into proteins have long been a mystery of the human genome. Now, scientists at Duke-NUS Medical School have found a way to systematically investigate their functions and discovered some could play a role in pancreatic cancer. Their findings, published in the journal Genome Medicine, highlight the importance of investigating long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) in living organisms.