MedWorm provides a medical RSS filtering service. Over 6000 RSS medical sources are combined and output via different filters. This feed contains the latest medical blog items that have been tagged with 'biology'. Fri, 19 Mar 2010 19:52:50 +0100 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3359167&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F3lpYDZt3-_E%2Fwhatever_happened_to_synthetic.php I remember Craig Venter talking about synthetic life in the fall of 2007 with Carl Zimmer. Last summer he said that we'd have the first "synthetic species" by the end of the year. I haven't heard about it in 2010, have you? Anyone have info on what's going on here? No surprise that project deadlines get pushed back, it happens. But it seems like I've been hearing "wait 6 months" since the beginning of 2008. Does it actually work out so that only God can pull this off? Or is this vaporscience (OK, he got the genome part nailed down, but that was a while ago)? Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3359167 Fri, 12 Mar 2010 04:55:45 +0100 3359167 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3350294&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2Fj-C4sKulhLQ%2Fbiocontrol_in_the_uk_will_they.php Why do I think that this will end badly? From the UK: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Effect Measure) Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3350294 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:35:05 +0100 3350294 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3318451&cid=t_103947_109_f&fid=36089&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthesituationist.wordpress.com%2F2010%2F03%2F01%2Fthe-situation-of-political-and-religious-beliefs%2F Science Daily summarized an intriguing (and, no doubt, soon-to-be-very-controversial study) finding that “Intelligent People Have Values Novel in Human Evolutionary History,” (such as liberalism and atheisim).  Here are some excerpts from that summary. * * * More intelligent people are statistically significantly more likely to exhibit social values and religious and political preferences that are novel to the human species in evolutionary history.  Specifically, liberalism and atheism, and for men (but not women), preference for sexual exclusivity correlate with higher intelligence, a new study finds. The study, published in the March 2010 issue of the peer-reviewed scientific journal Social Psychology Quarterly, advances a new theory to explain why people form particular pr... The Situationist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3318451 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 04:59:45 +0100 3318451 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3283506&cid=t_103947_87_f&fid=35052&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FWomensBioethicsBlog%2F%7E3%2Fh7eQIpWbePw%2Fdiy-synthetic-biology-more-than.html A few years in his book, A Many-Colored Glass, Freeman Dyson envisioned that the domestication of biotechnology would result in a new art form, as creative as painting or sculpture and would give rise to an explosion of new diverse creatures, few of which will be masterpieces, but “all will bring joy to their creators and variety to our flora and fauna.”  Now, college biology students are competing to see who can create new, living tools to address the planet's problems (e.g., bacteria that   The comments and reactions to the article range from go-get-'em to we-are-destroying-ourselves-and-the planet to philosophical: Sample comment 1:  Genetic engineering by experienced professionals is dangerous enough. Genetic engineering by students is a spectacularly bad idea. S... Women's Bioethics Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3283506 Wed, 17 Feb 2010 21:47:25 +0100 3283506 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3246712&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2010%2F02%2Fconference-update-new-zealand.html November 30 - December 3, 2010 New Zealand Microbiological Society and New Zealand Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology joint meetingAuckland, New Zealand Further informationThis is a multidisciplinary conference generally attracting 200-300 delegates. Most participants are New Zealand-based, although the conference also has a range of renowned international plenary speakers, encompassing diverse fields such as medical microbiology, wine science, food microbiology, industrial microbiology, microbial ecology, systems biology and molecular evolution.Suggested reading: Molecular Microbiology BooksFull range of books on microbiology at Microbiology Books (Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists.) Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3246712 Fri, 05 Feb 2010 18:40:00 +0100 3246712 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3231668&cid=t_103947_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F2AuNRx0lJ8Q%2F (Editor’s Note: we are pleased to bring you this article thanks to our collaboration with Greater Good Magazine). The Evolution of Empathy Empathy’s not a uniquely human trait, explains primatologist Frans de Waal. Apes and other animals feel it as well, suggesting that empathy is truly an essential part of who we are. Once upon a time, the United States had a president known for a peculiar facial display. In an act of controlled emotion, he would bite his lower lip and tell his audience, “I feel your pain.” Whether the display was sincere is not the issue here; how we are affected by another’s predicament is. Empathy is second nature to us, so much so that anyone devoid of it strikes us as dangerous or mentally ill. At the movies, we can’t help but get insi... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3231668 Tue, 02 Feb 2010 14:28:30 +0100 3231668 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3231598&cid=t_103947_109_f&fid=34750&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpsychcentral.com%2Fblog%2Farchives%2F2010%2F02%2F01%2Fkids-and-depression-parents-call-to-action-part-1%2F As a child psychiatrist, I help teenagers struggling with depression, bipolar disorder, and suicide. It’s also my job to communicate with parents during what is often a very difficult and scary time. More than anything, parents want their children to be okay, and I often encourage them by stressing that mental illness is highly treatable, and adolescents are capable of extraordinary growth. With treatment and proactive parents, hope does persist and, with some time and commitment, life can and will go on for children and parents alike. When I do interviews or public readings parents often ask me about warning signs in children for depression and even suicidality. They may be worried about a daughter who is withdrawing, or a son who sleeps for hours on end and is failing in school. These ... World of Psychology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3231598 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 20:45:11 +0100 3231598 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3228031&cid=t_103947_155_f&fid=38412&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpathlabmed.typepad.com%2Fsurgical_pathology_and_la%2F2010%2F02%2Fevidence-for-stemprogenitor-cells-in-mouse-lung-model.html I came across this excellent paper and summarized my "top 10 list" of points from the paper.  The role of stem/progenitor cells in cancer is a crazy-active area in current research.  If you catch some of the details, you can probably guess the technical challenges to this work.  Evidence of an epithelial stem/progenitor cell hierarchy in the adult mouse lung Jonathan L. McQualtera, Karen Yuena, Brenda Williams, and Ivan Bertoncello PNAS 2010; 107:1414-1419. Mesenchymal progenitor cells (EpCAMneg Sca-1pos) regulate the growth of EpCAMpos lung progenitor/stem cells in in vitro matrigel cultures. Fibroblast growth factor-10 and hepatocyte growth factor regulate epithelial cfus even in stromal-free cultures and appear to act synergistically, while the addition of ... The Daily Sign-Out blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3228031 Mon, 01 Feb 2010 12:35:08 +0100 3228031 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3216074&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2010%2F01%2F14th-workshop-of-international-study.html September 6 - 10, 2010 14th Workshop of the International Study Group for Systems Biology 2010Vladimir, Russia Further informationThe International Study Group for Systems Biology is a collective of international researchers interested in advancing the biological sciences through exploring the interplay between theory and experiment. The general theme is theoretical approaches to understanding the behaviour of cell systems, particularly transport, metabolism and signal transduction.Suggested reading: Molecular Biology BooksFull range of books on microbiology at Microbiology Books (Source: Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists.) Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3216074 Wed, 27 Jan 2010 16:55:00 +0100 3216074 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3200462&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2F1Hfklnxu1qM%2Fe_coli_rides_the_wave.php I'm fully immersed in writing a big grant proposal so I have even less time for blogging and reading blogs than usual, but that doesn't mean I have no time. Along with my colleagues I've been working on this beast for 9 months, but now with only 3 months to go before the deadline it's crunch time (the last time we did a competitive renewal of this thing the application was over 900 pages long and this one will be close to that). So time is a precious commodity. It is also a fascinating biological variable and scienceblogs is blessed with several experts on the subject, notably Coturnix at Blog Around the Clock. We also have a new colleague on scienceblogs, Harvard PhD candidate Christina Agapakis who works on synthetic biology and blogs about it on her new blog (new to scienceblogs site ... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3200462 Sat, 23 Jan 2010 11:11:02 +0100 3200462 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3200607&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2FTVjpvpN2flQ%2F Don’t forget to register for Neurospora 2010 held at the beautiful Asilomar Conference center in Pacific Grove, CA held April 8-11, 2010. Get your filamentous fungi fix here! Also save the date for some other important upcoming conferences you may consider attending American Society of Microbiology, Candida and Dimorphic Fungi Meeting, March 22-26, Miami, FL, USA Joint Genome Institute, 2010 User Meeting, March 24-26, Walnut Creek, CA, USA New and emerging fungal diseases of animals and plants, April 17-21, Roscoff Biological Station (near Brest), Brittany, FRANCE American Society of Microbiology, 110th Annual Meeting, May 23-27, San Diego, CA, USA Cellular and Molecular Fungal Biology Gordon Conference, June 13-18, Holderness, NH, USA Mycological Society of America meeting, June 2... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3200607 Fri, 22 Jan 2010 19:03:23 +0100 3200607 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3188876&cid=t_103947_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2FyEjW4dYWK8I%2F Tomorrow is the start of my new virology course at Columbia University. The course, Biology W3310, is aimed at advanced undergraduates and will be taught at the Morningside Campus of Columbia University. Columbia University encompasses two principal campuses: the historic, neoclassical campus in the Morningside Heights neighborhood and the modern Medical Center further uptown, in Washington Heights. The two are separated by fifty-two city blocks, a distance of over two miles and 20-30 minutes by subway. My laboratory is at the Medical Center, where I’ve taught a variety of virology courses over the years. However, a virology course has not been offered at the Morningside Heights campus since the late 1980s. This is a serious omission for a first-class University. Sending graduates in... virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3188876 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 17:52:08 +0100 3188876 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3185554&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F9FqX9BKIlcA%2Fthe_laws_of_the_superorganism.php Mathematical support for insect colonies as superorganisms. Click through for the scatterplot. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3185554 Mon, 18 Jan 2010 22:51:17 +0100 3185554 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3167318&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FoE9cXYFhdX8%2Fthe_oscillator.php Interesting new ScienceBlog, Oscillator. From the about page: A collection of notes, thoughts, and news about synthetic biology and biologically inspired engineering in principle and in practice. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3167318 Tue, 12 Jan 2010 22:27:22 +0100 3167318 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3153405&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F8PQiU_5-W18%2Fcan_you_spot_the_mistake.php This month's cover of The Scientist has a mistake that makes me cringe. Can you spot what's wrong? And they call themselves "The Scientist" humph! Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3153405 Fri, 08 Jan 2010 02:24:31 +0100 3153405 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3136678&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FYourBonesGotALittleMachine%2F%7E3%2F-N23Iq0GDP4%2F So, people tell me 2009 ended recently. Apparently there were fireworks and stuff. This blog as seen very little action during 2009, despite my various good intentions for a blog ‘reboot’ (ala Pawel). Like many of my online friends, I blame FriendFeed. I find commenting on a FriendFeed post a much more productive way of having a conversation around some new development sweeping the web than writing a dedicated blog post. Still, despite this being my “year of FriendFeed”, I started writing a few blog posts / articles / essays this year which never made it out of the Drafts folder. There is a positive side to unpublished drafts – they serve to nicely organize some thoughts, even if they are ultimately never shared. Anyhow, it’s time to clean them out and m... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3136678 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:57:23 +0100 3136678 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3124553&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2FFB8lPF9GY3A%2Fducks_and_the_shape_of_things.php The natural home for influenza viruses is aquatic waterfowl, including ducks and geese (anseriformes). So I've read a fair amount about swabbing the claocae (rectums) of these animals as part of avian influenza surveillance. Recently it has been suggested that avian influenza is actually a sexually transmitted disease, so the question of anseriform sex is now on the agenda. It's not just consensual sex. It turns out that male ducks and geese haven't heard that rape (aka forced copulation) is frowned up in civilized society and, unusual among birds, they go in for it in a big way. Big in lots of ways. Because ducks seem to have prodigiously large penises. I was reading about a just published paper on duck penises and vaginas and decided to Google the subject and came upon a great post from ... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3124553 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:34:59 +0100 3124553 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3067247&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35005&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Ffungalcompgenomics%2F%7E3%2FcVgkeRAUhuM%2F Announced today at the 10th Frontiers in Fungal Biology meeting in Ensenada, Baja California: In honor of his contributions to research in cell biology fungi, in particular the growth of hyphae in fungi, the discovery and characterization of the Spitzenkörper,  development numerous approaches for microscopic and biochemical characterization of fungal cell walls, and uncovering molecular mechanisms for growth and morphogenesis in filamentous fungi, a named award will be established for Salomón Bartnicki-García, Director in the Department of Microbiology at CICESE and Professor Emertius at UC Riverside. He has been honored in the past upon his retirement from UCR in a special issue in Fungal Genetics and Biology and by the Mycological Society of America as a Distinguished Mycologist.  H... Fungal Genomes and Comparative Genomics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3067247 Tue, 08 Dec 2009 00:16:09 +0100 3067247 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3039831&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35762&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgrrlscientist%2F%7E3%2FkW-mLrNa5ug%2Fnew_species_of_orchid_is_world.php tags: new species, biology, botany, orchid, tiniest orchid, Orchidaceae, Platystele, Lou Jost A close-up of the world's smallest orchid, at just over 2mm from petal tip to petal tip. Image: Lou Jost. The world's smallest orchid was discovered recently in a mountainous nature reserve in Ecuador by American botanist Lou Jost. Dr. Jost, a former physicist, is one of the world's leading orchid hunters. In the previous decade, Dr. Jost discovered 60 new species of orchids and 10 other new plant species. He discovered this diminutive plant whilst examining another species of small orchid. "I found it among the roots of another plant that I had collected, another small orchid which I took back to grow in my greenhouse to get it to flower," Dr. Jost stated. "A few months later I saw ... Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3039831 Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:27:32 +0100 3039831 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3039815&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2FcLa3wkOP6uk%2Fpics_of_the_flu_virus_and_some.php We talk so much about the flu virus we thought we'd show you some nice pics that CDC has just put up. This is a review for many of you put reviews are always helpful. In these three pics, only one is the actual swine flu virus, the other two being "cartoon" depictions of a generic influenza virus. The cartoons are quite nice and helpful to see what you are looking at in the electron micrograph of influenza virions (virus particles), probably grown in tissue culture. I say "probably" because there is no other information on the site other than the micrograph was taken in the CDC Influenza Laboratory, but when the virus grows in your lungs it usually isn't nice and spherical like this but assumes many shapes, often elongated and strand-like. Looking at the photomicrograph, though, you see th... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3039815 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 20:00:43 +0100 3039815 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3035828&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2009%2F11%2Fselect-biosciences-conferences-2010.html January 20 - 21, 2010 Stem Cells World CongressSan Francisco, CA, USA Further information4th annual Stem Cells World Congress and exhibition. There will be two parallel tracks focused specifically on: (1) Stem Cells in Drug Discovery and Development and (2) Regenerative MedicineFebruary 11 - 12, 2010 Screening EuropeBarcelona, Spain Further information7th annual Screening Europe conference and exhibition, claimed to be the largest screening event in Europe with four conference rooms in 2010. Novel Screening Platforms and Drug Discovery Methods, High Content Screening, Fragment Based Screening, Label Free Screening, Enzymes as Drug Targets, Receptors as Drug TargetsSuggested reading: Biology BooksMarch 4 - 5, 2010 Advances in Synthetic BiologyLondon, UK Further information3rd annual Advance... Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3035828 Fri, 27 Nov 2009 16:10:00 +0100 3035828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=3022686&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2009%2F11%2Fmolecular-biology-conferences-2010.html Details of conferences on molecular biology from our comprehensive list at Molecular Biology Conferences 2010January 2010January 8 - 13, 2010 Structural Genomics: Expanding the Horizons of Structural BiologyBreckenridge, CO, USA Further informationStructural Biology continues to be one of the most prolific and informative ways to make biological and biomedical discoveries at the turn of the millennium, and provides fundamental molecular level insights into the underlying biological and biochemical functions. Structural genomics has been at the forefront of these developments as a major contributor to the advances of high throughput (HT) technologies and methodologies that span the gene to structure process by both crystallography and NMR. In parallel, the rapid expansion of the genome sequ... Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=3022686 Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:00:00 +0100 3022686 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2962860&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2009%2F11%2Fentamoeba-histolytica-genomic-analyses.html The sequencing of the Entamoeba histolytica genome, as well as the development of genome-wide techniques to allow study of gene expression, has led to many advances in our understanding of the biology of this parasite. Recent work used genomic technologies (DNA microarrays and proteomics) to study important aspects of amebic biology, including pathogenesis, host interaction, phagocytosis, stage conversion, responses to stressful stimuli, and mechanisms of gene regulation. These studies identify pathways involved in regulating major functions in this important human pathogen.from Anaerobic Parasitic Protozoa: Genomics and Molecular BiologyFurther reading:Anaerobic Parasitic ProtozoaAcanthamoeba: Biology and PathogenesisLeishmania: After The GenomeFull range of books on microbiology at Micro... Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2962860 Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:27:00 +0100 2962860 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2962879&cid=t_103947_77_f&fid=37259&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.horizonpress.com%2Fblogger%2F2009%2F11%2Flentiviruses.html comprise a genus of diverse viruses in the Retroviridae family which are united in their ability to infect and persist in macrophages. Infections are characterized by immune system dysfunctions following sometimes lengthy incubation periods. The viruses in this genus include primate lentiviruses such as HIV as well as animal lentiviruses including equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV). An intriguing feature of lentiviruses is their ability to hijack macrophages so that they are simultaneously involved in the dissemination and control of virus spread throughout the host, leading to disease induction and/or transmission to a new host. Macrophage biology is at an exciting stage with a wealth of new information being generated as their role in parasitic, viral and bacterial infections as well... Microbiology Blog: The weblog for microbiologists. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2962879 Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:54:00 +0100 2962879 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2916358&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FQkw_K8erRCI%2Fscientists_of_note_now_on_scie.php Pamela Ronald of Tommorow's Table, author of Tomorrow's Table: Organic Farming, Genetics, and the Future of Food. Additionally, David Sloan Wilson, has moved his blog to ScienceBlogs. It's called Evolution for Everyone, after the book of the same name. You can read my review of his book here. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2916358 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:00:45 +0100 2916358 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2912374&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2FwfK90aoXZSQ%2F This is such a cool application of genetics! By sequencing all the genes of a patient, scientists diagnosed a congenital disease that could not be identified using clinical observations. Because of the “molecular diagnostics technique”, doctors were able to provide a treatment tailored for the disease.   The patient, an infant, was persistently dehydrated and failing to gain weight, and researchers uncovered a gene mutation that was responsible to the infant’s condition called congenital chloride diarrhea. Instead of sequencing all the thousand base pairs in a genome, researchers focused only on DNA that encodes proteins, about 1% of the total genome. DNA mutations in this region can result in a nonfunctional protein, and would have far-ranging effects on health. According to H... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2912374 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:57:31 +0100 2912374 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2912485&cid=t_103947_136_f&fid=36070&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnetwork.nature.com%2Fpeople%2Fbasanta%2Fblog%2F2009%2F10%2F21%2Fsystems-biology-graphical-notation I haven’t updated this blog for a while, the reason being the usual for many researchers working in the US: grant writing. Part of this grant writing involved producing diagrams to illustrate various processes occurring at different scales in prostate tissue. These diagrams describe rather sophisticated intra and extra cellular interactions in the simplest possible manner. Yet these diagrams can be complicated and selecting the right symbols and colours to describe these interactions in a visually appealing but consistent manner can be far from trivial. As someone with a background in computer science I appreciate the advantage of having a standard notation to describe processes. Software engineers use tools such as UML to describe software modules and how they interact to form comp... Cancerevo: Evolution and cancer blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2912485 Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:40:04 +0100 2912485 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2908632&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2FwCLYDZj8oY4%2Fa_discussion_with_a_cancer_sur.php This weekend, I had the opportunity to sit down with a friend, a cancer surgeon who works at a major teaching hospital in the US. He, his wife and two kids were up visiting us for the weekend. Over coffee, I was asking him about the state of cancer therapeutics. Although he himself does not administer drugs or design treatments, he is part of a larger team which includes molecular oncologists that perform this task. What I heard was quite surprising. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2908632 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:40:48 +0100 2908632 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2898985&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2FgeqYLxl_95A%2Fall_your_ribosomes_belong_to_u.php So more than a week has gone by and there has been little press about the science Nobels. And I must say that this year's Medicine and Chemistry prizes are some of the most important in quite a while. But even between the two, the Chemistry is especially important. Why? I'm not sure. Maybe they were overshadowed by Obama's award??? Or maybe science journalists are sleeping on the job. Ribosomes ... boring. Nothing could be further from the truth. Ribosomes are arguably the most important biological molecule that we know of. I don't have much time to write long essays on the subject so I'll just throw some ideas at you. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2898985 Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:16:39 +0100 2898985 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2883113&cid=t_103947_122_f&fid=35065&url=http%3A%2F%2Feideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F10%2Fdyslexic-molecular-biologist-carol.html “It's going to be hard work whether you think it's fun or not, so you might as well have fun while you're doing the hard work.” - Carol Greider, PhD, 2009 Nobel Prize Winner in MedicineHer application package was a bit unusual, Greider says. “I had great research experience, great letters of recommendation, and outstanding grades, but I had poor GREs.” Although she did not know it growing up, Greider suffers from dyslexia, which affected her scores on standardized tests. Only two schools—the California Institute of Technology (Pasadena, CA) and the University of California, Berkeley— offered her an interview..."Carol Greider's family history has some overlaps with others in this blog - including physics in the family (Greider's father is a physics professor). Greider has said a... Eide Neurolearning Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2883113 Mon, 12 Oct 2009 07:03:00 +0100 2883113 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2842580&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36672&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencebase.com%2Fscience-blog%2Fmicrornas.html Until 2001, few people had heard the term micro ribonucleic acids, but these little chunks of nucleic acid, just 21 to 23 bases long, have been conserved throughout evolution. They don’t code for proteins, but they do seem to be involved in the regulation of immunity, the development and differentiation of immune cells, antibody production and the release of chemicals involved in the inflammatory response. So micro by name, but not by nature, you might say. Indeed, microRNA, or miRNA, represent something of a new paradigm in the regulation of a vast array of responses of physiological and hence medical importance. They play a key role in diverse such diverse areas as virology, embryogenesis, differentiation of stem cells, cholesterol and fat metabolism, inflammation and (of course) c... Sciencebase Science Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2842580 Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:00:37 +0100 2842580 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2824347&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F09%2Fsynthetic-biology-goes-mainstream.php If The New Yorker is giving the topic coverage.... (though a lot of probably is more Craig Venter's celebrity status) (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2824347 Tue, 22 Sep 2009 23:36:00 +0100 2824347 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2800427&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2FYMEOosDLHic%2Fdoes_tamiflu_resistant_swine_f.php There is no way to keep up with all the flu news, so we pick and choose, usually based on some kind of point we want to make. That's both the good and the bad of this blog: the news comes with a point of view. But so does most news, and we try to make ours both explicit and scientifically as accurate as we can with the information at hand. Today is a typical example. Bloomberg is reporting that any swine flu virus resistant to oseltamivir (trade name Tamiflu), the only antiviral pill effective at all for the infection, transmits less well than swine flu that's sensitive to Tamiflu. The source of this information is Dr. David Mercer, identified as acting head of WHO's European region communicable disease unit. The article makes it sound pretty definite. I don't know if that's the reporter's... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2800427 Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:28:34 +0100 2800427 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2774829&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F0fO0rTOpvT0%2Flost_world_2009.php The story about the giant rat discovered in an isolated crater in Papua New Guinea is fascinating. It's kind of atypical in these days, but if you read through really old copies of National Geographic from the early 20th century it you observe that it occurred all the time back then. I would of course much rather live now at the turn of the 21st century than the turn of the 20th, but there's a certain amount of zoological and anthropological wonder that we'll not be able to attain because so much of the sample space of possibilities has been mapped out. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2774829 Tue, 08 Sep 2009 05:33:51 +0100 2774829 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2768815&cid=t_103947_136_f&fid=36070&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnetwork.nature.com%2Fpeople%2Fbasanta%2Fblog%2F2009%2F09%2F04%2Fthe-role-of-transforming-growth-factor-beta-mediated-tumor-stroma-interactions-in-prostate-cancer-progression-an-integrative-approach Can biologists and mathematicians accomplish more together than working separately? My answer to that question has always been a resounding yes but today I am backing up that statement with a piece of research: the result of a collaboration involving mathematicians and biologists (and a pathologist) in Tampa, Nashville and Houston. Basanta, D., Strand, D., Lukner, R., Franco, O., Cliffel, D., Ayala, G., Hayward, S., & Anderson, A. (2009). The Role of Transforming Growth Factor- -Mediated Tumor-Stroma Interactions in Prostate Cancer Progression: An Integrative Approach Cancer Research, 69 (17), 7111-7120 DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.CAN-08-3957 The paper, of which I am one of the authors, studies the role of stromal-tumour interactions in prostate cancer progression. It introduces a computat... Cancerevo: Evolution and cancer blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2768815 Fri, 04 Sep 2009 22:27:13 +0100 2768815 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2670940&cid=t_103947_117_f&fid=34808&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthebeautybrains.com%2F2009%2F08%2F05%2Fdid-you-ever-wonder-what-your-hair-looks-like-close-up%2F This really appeals to the scientist in me. You can see all of the important hair structures like the cuticle, the cortex and even the melanin that gives hair it’s color. It also shows you why you can’t fix a split end. Once the hair fiber has been broken, no amount of hair treatment is going to rebuild a broken strand. (Source: thebeautybrains.com) thebeautybrains.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2670940 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 07:53:06 +0100 2670940 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2662606&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35013&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fpedrobeltrao%2F%7E3%2F8Gl7cZ6ggD4%2Fdrug-synergies-tend-to-be-context.html A little over a year ago I mentioned a paper published in MSB on how drug-combinations could be used to study pathways. Recently, some of the same authors have now published a study in Nature Biotech analyzing drug combinations under different contexts (i.e. different tissues, different species, different outputs, etc). The underlying methodology of the study is essentially the same as in above mentioned paper. The authors try to study the effect of combining drugs on specific phenotypes. One example of a phenotype could be the inhibition of growth of a pathogenic strain. Different concentrations of two drugs are combined in a matrix form as described in figure 1a (reproduced below) and the phenotype is measured for each case. Two drugs are said to be synergistic if the measured impact on... Public Rambling blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2662606 Sat, 01 Aug 2009 23:04:00 +0100 2662606 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2584182&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36905&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjemmasbiologyblog.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F07%2Fartificial-sperm.html Read this news story about how human sperm have been made in the lab (Source: Jemma's Biology Blog) Jemma's Biology Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2584182 Thu, 09 Jul 2009 08:25:00 +0100 2584182 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2741110&cid=t_103947_139_f&fid=38879&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FVirologyBlog%2F%7E3%2FwoHBMIBFRvA%2F In the current episode of the Penn State University interview series called “Conversations from Penn State“, Peter Hudson, who is Willaman professor of biology and director of Penn State’s Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, discusses the dynamics of infectious diseases, their spread, and their transmission from animals to humans. (Source: virology blog) virology blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2741110 Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:37:06 +0100 2741110 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2473507&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36905&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjemmasbiologyblog.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F06%2Ftransgenic-monkeys.html News story about how transgenic monkeys may be used to find cures for human diseases.What does transgenic mean? (Source: Jemma's Biology Blog) Jemma's Biology Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2473507 Thu, 11 Jun 2009 09:52:00 +0100 2473507 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2424274&cid=t_103947_117_f&fid=34808&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthebeautybrains.com%2F2009%2F05%2F20%2Fwho-wants-to-get-tan-without-cancer-concerns%2F Mid Brain muses: According to this article, the Fake Bake sunless tanning market is hot. Over the last few years major skin care manufacturers have discovered how to combine a skin moisturizer with a sunless tanner to make an effective light sunless tanner that gives a steady color change. These new tech products prevent the streaking effect that has been a major drawback of traditional sunless tanners. They also provide daily moisturization so there’s a reason to use them everyday. You get healthy skin and a natural looking color. How do sunless tanners work? To understand sunless tanning it is helpful to have a simple understanding of skin structure. Skin is made up of two primary layers, the dermis and the epidermis. The dermis is the inside layers of the skin where all the blood... thebeautybrains.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2424274 Wed, 20 May 2009 06:01:22 +0100 2424274 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2389868&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2Fq1UVig19zgk%2Fteen-age_children_as_experimen.php We always enjoy home science experiments and it was fun the other night to learn about a new experiment we could try with our teenage daughter and an iPhone. As it turned out, the joke was on us. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2389868 Wed, 06 May 2009 13:00:04 +0100 2389868 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2386909&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2Ff_FM-1-5nUc%2Fwhy_are_the_schools_closing_an.php Over at DailyKos, DemfromCT has an excellent post explaining why it may be beneficial for schools to close temporarily, even if they only have one confirmed case of swine influenza: H1N1: Why Do Schools Close, And When Do They Open? DarkSyde also has one up on the basic biology and evolution of the flu. Nick Kristof discusses our lack of attention to public health and what it means in the event of a pandemic in today's NY Times. [Updated: and via the comment theads, this post which further discusses what I mentioned here regarding testing--and how the confirmed cases are only the tip of the iceberg (complete with diagram!). Read the comments on this post... (Source: Aetiology) Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2386909 Sun, 03 May 2009 17:10:00 +0100 2386909 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382360&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2FbMf0ybrEves%2Fadamantane_resistance_in_flu_e.php Nick Anthis has a very nice (and very readable!) overview of why flu viruses (including the new A/H1N1 strain) are resistant to adamantane, one of the antiviral drugs that can be used to treat influenza infections. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Aetiology) Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382360 Fri, 01 May 2009 15:45:00 +0100 2382360 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2381000&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FR6PwxaoKBc0%2Fnoninvasive_down_syndrome_test.php I blogged about this a few months ago, but Dan MacArthur reports that the firm which was going to roll it out first claims that it doesn't really work as advertised. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2381000 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 19:57:02 +0100 2381000 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2381003&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F6Lxtqqa0c70%2Fdrink_wine_to_live_longer.php I'm in the mood for a "feel good" story with the past week's fixation in swine flu. Half A Glass Of Wine A Day May Boost Life Expectancy By Five Years: The Dutch authors base their findings on a total of 1,373 randomly selected men whose cardiovascular health and life expectancy at age 50 were repeatedly monitored between 1960 and 2000. Here are the findings: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2381003 Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:11:42 +0100 2381003 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376518&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FP3Zb795-yfc%2Fpray_the_virus_away.php Carl Zimmer points out that Marianne Williamson is making some real strange suggestions in regards to the swine flue in The Huffington Post: l) Pray it away. Just pray it away, asking God as you understand Him, the Divine Physician, Jesus or whatever other form of divine imagery works for you. Simply ask that it be removed from our midst. 2) Send love to Mexico. Between what's actually been happening there with the drug wars, plus all the "Mexico is dangerous" thoughts we've loaded onto it over the last several weeks, it needs a major dose of love - the most powerful medicine of all - to dissolve the fear thoughts that have produced this flu. It's not that surprising that this was published in The Huffington Post, which has some issues with regards to quality control. Remember the Deepa... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376518 Wed, 29 Apr 2009 03:17:31 +0100 2376518 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376526&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2F1DqT9PcH9o0%2Fvitamin_d_asthma.php Serum Vitamin D Levels and Markers of Severity of Childhood Asthma in Costa Rica. See ScienceDaily. Anecdote: my own asthma has gotten much better since I started Vitamin D supplementation. Not only have I had many fewer bouts of bronchitis the past few years, but my basal respiratory functioning is much improved. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376526 Mon, 27 Apr 2009 15:28:55 +0100 2376526 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2376085&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2FBWsyWs_khbM%2Fswine_flu_and_deaths_in_health.php Discussion after the jump... Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Aetiology) Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2376085 Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:00:00 +0100 2376085 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2367493&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2FZiL5RfaSW3o%2Fswine_flu_a_quick_overview--an.php Sorry for the radio silence--I've been working on grants and manuscripts like a fiend, and so have tried to limit as many distractions as possible (which, unfortunately, includes blogging). However, the swine flu news is right up my alley, so I do just want to say a few words about it, and point you to some excellent stories already up elsewhere. First, in case you've not been paying attention to the news in the last few days, there have been 8 reported cases of swine influenza infections in humans (6 in California and 2 in Texas, with additional suspected cases) and reports from Mexico suggesting as many as 1000 ill and 68 dead from influenza in the past month or so. Of the Mexican cases, a dozen thus far have been confirmed to be the same strain as the US swine flu strain from Californ... Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2367493 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 21:50:00 +0100 2367493 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2367941&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeanutbutter.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F04%2F25%2Fthe-semantic-web-of-life-science%2F This summary was born out of a question  on Twitter and percolated to FriendFeed, which was “Who is using RDF and integrating other resources at the minute and what are those resources? From this question, several resources were highlighted. UniProt. The comprehensive resource of protein information is available as an RDF distribution and each Protein record has a corresponding RDF download option. Phil pointed out Semantic Systems Biology, As systems biology is largely concerned with representing networks and interactions at a systems level, a language like RDF would seem an obvious choice to represent this type of knowledge, to aid semantic description and data integration. Melanie pointed out the following resources such as Bio2RDF. This project aims to RDF-ize numerous public life-s... peanutbutter blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2367941 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 08:45:02 +0100 2367941 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2367928&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FUV1qxSzhW7Y%2Fswine_flu2009_as_annus_horribi.php See FuturePundit & Effect Measure. Also see H5N1. CDC recommends (especially for residents of California & Texas): Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2367928 Sat, 25 Apr 2009 03:26:39 +0100 2367928 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2357325&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2FHyXow_XMVTo%2Finjection_collection_and_sex.php That's how new life forms are created every day in the wild, folks. Human researchers of course have added a few twists on the theme. If we can't induce bacteria or animal cells to collect new bits of DNA on their own, we turn to electroshock therapy. With plants.... aw heck, we just shoot them. And where did this crazy rant come from you ask? Last Saturday morning, at the crack of 9 am I got to be interviewed on a radio program with two of the main spokespeople from the DIY bio movement, Mackenzie Cowell and Meredith Patterson. The program was "The Food Chain" (you can listen to it here: ) Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2357325 Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:40:02 +0100 2357325 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2353993&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FaogFY_QRmRM%2Ftropical_latitude_more_girls.php The New York Times has a story about a new paper, Humans at tropical latitudes produce more females: Skews in the human sex ratio at birth have captivated scientists for over a century. The accepted average human natal sex ratio is slightly male biased, at 106 males per 100 females or 51.5 per cent males. Studies conducted on a localized scale show that sex ratios deviate from this average in response to a staggering number of social, economical and physiological variables. However, these patterns often prove inconsistent when expanded to other human populations, perhaps because the nature of the influences themselves exhibit substantial cultural variation. Here, data collected from 202 countries over a decade show that latitude is a primary factor influencing the ratio of males and female... Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2353993 Tue, 21 Apr 2009 16:58:42 +0100 2353993 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2349281&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35024&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FBlindscientist%2F%7E3%2FJqd895EuEzA%2F Image via CrunchBase I was contacted a couple of months (maybe more) to write a guest entry for their blog. I did that and on March 11th I sent the text you see below. It’s not my best creation (and not the worst, believe me), but as they’re taking so long to publish it and I don’t want it to go to waste, I’m publishing it. — Exactly two years ago (or almost exactly), I posted a follow-up blog entry to Notes to a young computational biologist. I still believe that 97% of all advice is worthless, but I also believe that it’s worth sharing your experiences as it might be useful to someone in the future. In this guest blogging, I will examine those two-year old posts, mixing, matching, remixing, adding and deleting thins. Consider this my four cents on ... Blind.Scientist blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2349281 Fri, 17 Apr 2009 16:07:25 +0100 2349281 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2463558&cid=t_103947_180_f&fid=38602&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.armstrongmethod.com%2Fblog%2Fdealing-with-change-in-your-life%2F Does the idea of a change in your life or career send you running for the hills? Do you get nervous, feel unsettled or anxious about change? Would you prefer that things just stay the same? Well you are not alone. Millions of people feel the same way you do. Why is Change so Difficult to Embrace? Change often stirs up feelings of uncertainty, doubt, fear and trepidation. Emotions most of us don’t like to experience very much. Change can be scary as it often means you have to step outside your comfort zone. People Love Sameness Most people prefer sameness, routine, certainty and familiarity. Just think about organizations like McDonalds and Starbucks. Why are they so popular? What makes them so attractive? It’s not their burgers or their coffees, it’s because they offer ... Armstrong Method blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2463558 Tue, 07 Apr 2009 11:54:36 +0100 2463558 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2323797&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35031&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiowhat.com%2F2009%2F04%2F04%2Fwhat-books-would-be-good-for-self-study-in-bioinformatics%2F Despite my lack of commitment to this site, it seems that I’m still getting comments every now and again. And I appreciate the interest. It really helps me realize the potential interest in the kind of things I’ve written about here. Most recently, I got a comment from Sudhang requesting books for the computer programmer who wants to self-study in the field of Bioinformatics. The following is my list. It may seem like its a bit everywhere but that’s kind of what you get with the field of Bioinformatics. Molecular Cell Biology. One would get glossy eyed trying to read through this book, but you need to have a good reference to some of the Biology that is described in Bioinformatics. Of course, wikipedia is becoming more and more of a reliable source now a days as well. Yo... biowhat.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2323797 Sat, 04 Apr 2009 11:40:40 +0100 2323797 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2320467&cid=t_103947_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2FOo0Lb0x7KHw%2F Here you have the March edition of our monthly newsletter covering cognitive health and brain fitness topics. Please remember that you can subscribe to receive this Newsletter by email, using the box at the top of this page. I know I am biased - but do believe this Newsletter issue might well be our best so far. I hope you find the time to enjoy it! Bird's Eye View Top Articles and Resources in March: Highlights - a) great articles in SciAm Mind and the Wall Street Journal, b) new resources (book and free DVD) by the Dana Foundation, c) research studies on how our cognitive abilities tend to evolve as we age, the impact of physical exercise on the brain, the lack of long-term effectiveness of ADHD drugs, and how working memory training may benefit math performance. Brain Fitness Survey: O... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2320467 Tue, 31 Mar 2009 04:07:56 +0100 2320467 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2323800&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fbiomodels-workshop-2009-day-2.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Today was great fun - lots of presentations and lots of lively discussions, of which we were all a part, but which Nicolas Le Novère ("shown" left, courtesy of Falko Krause :) ) also enjoyed. Here are the notes! CellML: Catherine Lloyd Most o... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2323800 Sun, 29 Mar 2009 16:57:02 +0100 2323800 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296189&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fbiomodels-workshop-2009-day-1.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BioModels Database Introduction: Nicolas Le Novere Repository of quantitative models only for the moment: no implicit statement of biochemical accuracy as a consequence of being in the database, but must be of biological interest and only those ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296189 Sat, 28 Mar 2009 17:40:45 +0100 2296189 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296190&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsbml-hackathon-2009-finished.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss The SBML Hackathon was a really interesting experience for me. I haven't had much time to collect my thoughts, as we've gone straight on to the next phase: the BioModels Workshop or, for some, the trip home. This was my first Hackathon, and I fou... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296190 Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:46:16 +0100 2296190 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296191&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsbml-hackathon-day-2.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Things changing with SBML Level 3 A complete list is available at http://sbml.org/Community/Wiki/SBML_Level_3_Core/Workplan These are just the ones I found the most interesting as we went through the whole list. + Move species type and compart... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296191 Sat, 28 Mar 2009 14:37:34 +0100 2296191 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296192&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsbml-hackathon-2009-afternoon-session.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Falko Krause presented ubuntu 4 systems biology, a live cd with some applications pre-installed, so you can try it out without having to actually install it. He says if you have any software you'd like to include, to let them know and they'll inc... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296192 Fri, 27 Mar 2009 11:27:55 +0100 2296192 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296199&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35016&url=http%3A%2F%2Fpeanutbutter.wordpress.com%2F2009%2F03%2F26%2Fthe-biosysbio-conference-2009%2F Image via Wikipedia The premise of the BioSysBio conference is to bring together the best young researchers working in Synthetic Biology, Systems Biology and Bioinformatics, providing a platform to hear and discuss the most recent and scientific advances and applications in these fascinating fields. This years BioSysBio 09 has just taken place in Cambridge, UK. The program was more slanted towards synthetic biology rather than more traditional systems biology, which I think reflects the growing momentum that synthetic biology has gained in the past year. I think this is a good progress and  I was secretley glad as I did not want to spend 3 days looking at massive network diagrams squashed onto power point slides. This was the first conference I had been to that the organisers actually ... peanutbutter blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296199 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 12:00:41 +0100 2296199 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296193&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsbml-hackathon-2009-introduction-and-libsbml-4-overview.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Keep track of the tweets at http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23sbml Nicolas' Introduction Sponsored by Elixir ("a sustainable infrastructure for biological information in Europe"). Very nice graph of the minimal cost of storage and other IT r... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296193 Thu, 26 Mar 2009 11:18:26 +0100 2296193 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296194&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fkeynote-towards-scalable-synthetic-biology-and-engineering-beyond-the-bioreactor-biosysbio-2009.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Adam Arkin UC Berkeley People have been doing "Old School" synbio for a long time, of course: take corn (which came from Teosinte), dogs. But is selective breeding actually equivalent, in some sense, to "old school" synthetic biology? He argues t... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296194 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 16:01:17 +0100 2296194 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296195&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fde-novo-dna-synthesis-using-single-molecule-pcr-biosysbio-2009.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss T Ben Yehezkel et al. Weizmann Institute of Science When looking at the number of clones needed to sequenced in order to get one error-free molecule, the proportion of perfect molecules decrease exponentially with length. They have an error-corre... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296195 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 15:04:37 +0100 2296195 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296196&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsecond-generation-sequencing-of-mutants-the-1000-mutant-genome-biosysbio-2009.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss J A Pachebat et al. University of Cambridge HGP finished 2004, and took $300 million. Same method in 2007 for $10 million. However, there is a new generation of techniques that are much cheaper and faster. Very nice hierarchy, or family tree, of ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296196 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:40:45 +0100 2296196 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296197&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fbuilding-a-new-biology-biosysbio-2009.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Drew Endy Stanford University, and BioBricks Foundation Overview: Puzzle related to SB and informing some of his engineering work. Then a ramble through the science of genetics. Last part is a debrief on BioBrick public agreements. Part 1. If SB... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296197 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 14:17:18 +0100 2296197 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2296198&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fwhy-secure-synthetic-biology-biosysbio-2009.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Piers Millett Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit, UN Biology is inherently dual-use: can be used for beneficial and malignant purposes. Synbio is value neutral - it's the purpose it's put to that determines if it is bad or ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2296198 Wed, 25 Mar 2009 12:42:33 +0100 2296198 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2312667&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2FWtpWOtwsEj8%2Fwhat_if_everything_you_thought.php For the past few months, the shake-up that began with Next Generation DNA Sequencing has been forcing me to adjust to a whole new view of things going on inside of a cell. We've been learning things these past two years that are completely changing our understanding of the genome and how it works and it's clear we're never going back to the simple view we had before. What's changed? The two most striking changes, to me at least, are the new views of the way the genome is put together and what the cell does with the information. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2312667 Tue, 24 Mar 2009 22:25:54 +0100 2312667 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2286179&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2FPD9_VEU4vI4%2Flook_into_the_future_and_the_p.php What do the missing Romanov children, genetically engineered humans, financial risk taking, and poop have in common? You can read about all these topics from this month's Gene Genie carnival at Mary Meets Dolly. Who would have thought that mutations could be so much fun? Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2286179 Sun, 22 Mar 2009 20:50:30 +0100 2286179 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2285202&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34593&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2FAyaJ%2F%7E3%2FM9Uu5AE1LcM%2Fecology_and_your_urinary_tract.php Papers on biodiversity are not my regular science reading fare and the reason I found my self reading the article "Initial community evenness favours functionality under selective stress" by Wittebolle et al. in Nature from last week isn't very important. But I did find myself reading about the "biodiversity-stability relationship" in a microbial ecosystem, so rather than let all that effort go to waste I decided to write about it here. Like most things that wind up on this page, there is an extra little twist at the end, this time where I come out against biodiversity, but to get there you'll have to wade through a description of the paper first (or you could just skip to the end, but then you wouldn't know what I was talking about). Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on t... Effect Measure blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2285202 Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:08:11 +0100 2285202 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2271678&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2FQgnh7Udlb00%2Fdiy_bio_programming_culture_an.php I guess I put my foot in it when I wrote that Genome Technology article on DIY Bio. I've already gotten a couple of e-mails today and I can see on the Google groups DIY bio section, that I managed to offend some people by suggesting doing biotechnology successfully at home might mean that you actually have to learn some biology. Funny, huh? It's like I suggested something heretical. People have to learn how to program to write software, don't they? I don't see that doing biotechnology as a hobby would be any different. Anyway, here's my response to the DIY google group critics. I've rephrased some of the comments and suppositions on the Google group list serve into questions since reading through e-mail threads is a bit cumbersome. No doubt I'll get corrected in the comments. Read th... Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2271678 Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:42:45 +0100 2271678 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2267520&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2009%2F03%2F14%2Flabtutorials-in-biology-how-to-extract-dna%2F A few days ago, I wrote about a new blog that focuses on tutorials about molecular biology. Labtutorials in Biology is going to be a unique blog providing step-by-step tutorials in molecular biology and descriptions that can be really useful for students. The first posts: Water in the Lab Liquid handling with pipettes Why Molecular Biology? Now the author, Bálint L. Bálint, posted new instructions: Using Serological Pipettes Green Fluorescent Protein or GFP (Source: ScienceRoll) ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2267520 Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:22:54 +0100 2267520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2258802&cid=t_103947_117_f&fid=34808&url=http%3A%2F%2Fthebeautybrains.com%2F2009%2F03%2F12%2Fdoes-the-moon-cause-bad-hair-days%2F Trubey’s long hair lunacy…I am so very definitely a skeptic on this one, that it probably ends up being true. In the last few years, I have had many friends discuss which phase of the moon is the best for a hair cut. Supposedly your hair cut will last longer depending on the cycle. The Right Brain responds: I share your skepticism, Trubey, but I was surprised to find that while there’s no direct research proving this point one way or the other, there are a few studies that MAY suggest there’s actually some science behind your friend’s seemingly bizarre contention. The full moon effect The idea that the full moon causes people to act crazy has been discredited but there is at least one study suggesting that the phase of the moon has an impact on on certain phy... thebeautybrains.com blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2258802 Thu, 12 Mar 2009 06:01:15 +0100 2258802 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249561&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36698&url=http%3A%2F%2Fminingdrugs.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F03%2Fdrug-design-paradigms-get-involved-in.html "The availability of pharmaceuticals must not be taken for granted. Pharmaceutical research requires expertise, a large commitment, a great deal of patience and the courage to take large financial risks. What counts is a sustainable framework in Germany (and other countries, too) as a location for the pharmaceutical industry. This is not a guarantee for economic success but is certainly at its foundation." [we get involved - vfa innovation]"To bring personalized medicine forward, scientists, regulators, policy makers, and pharmaceutical company leadership will need to find ways to more successfully work together, adopt a new mindset, and take a networked approach to innovation—one in which we can successfully share pre-competitive information and common platforms such as biomarkers, geno... Mining Drug Space blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249561 Sun, 08 Mar 2009 11:55:00 +0100 2249561 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2249298&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2009%2F03%2F07%2Fdaily-fun-biochemical-puzzles%2F Just a short post about a blog where you can find biochemical puzzles and quizzes. Let’s start with an amino acid crossword. Further reading: Dance Your Ph.D. Contest! Medical Slang: Bury the Hatchet, Freud Squad and Hasselhoff! Calling 911? Sing this! Monday Video: Amateur Transplants Breathe: Doctors with Microphone (Source: ScienceRoll) ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2249298 Sat, 07 Mar 2009 14:40:08 +0100 2249298 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2233859&cid=t_103947_149_f&fid=35785&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FMoleculeOfTheDay%2F%7E3%2Fxk9ElR45Y0c%2Fedac_water-friendly_condensing.php Awhile back, I discussed dicyclohexylcarbodiimide: a condensing agent that helps turn biological monomers (like amino acids) into polymers (like proteins). People use it a lot on peptide synthesizers for this purpose, where the peptides are made in organic solvents. A related compound, EDAC, works in water: Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Molecule of the Day) Molecule of the Day blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2233859 Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:40:59 +0100 2233859 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2232784&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34995&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fgnxp%2F%7E3%2FyVfEXjoD5xI%2Fchimpanzees_are_2_x_as_strong.php So says John Hawks in Slate. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2232784 Wed, 25 Feb 2009 22:25:52 +0100 2232784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2206788&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34994&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.gnxp.com%2Fblog%2F2009%2F02%2Ffrom-human-genetics-to-biological.php In 2007, SNPs in an intron of the gene FTO were reported to be associated with obesity. At the time, essentially nothing was known about the gene. A few months later, a group of biochemists proposed a role for the gene in demethylation of nucleic acids (RNA or DNA). This week, a group of mouse geneticists present an analysis of a knockout of the gene, and show that the knockouts are resistant to weight gain due to increased energy expenditure. There's still quite a ways to go before the mechanism by which FTO contributes to weight variation in humans is understood (oddly enough, there's some evidence that the mechanism is through increased energy intake rather than expenditure), but people keep chipping away... (Source: Gene Expression) Gene Expression blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2206788 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:20:00 +0100 2206788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2206784&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2009%2F02%2F22%2Flabtutorials-in-biology-a-new-blog-on-the-horizon%2F I’m very happy and excited as the lab I’ve been working in for 2 years just launched a blog that focuses on tutorials about molecular biology. Labtutorials in Biology is going to be a unique blog providing step-by-step tutorials in molecular biology and descriptions that can be really useful for students. Bálint L. Bálint, junior lecturer, is behind the whole concept and he’s been making videos and writing descriptions for weeks. Dear Colleagues! I have decided to make an online collection of the basic (and not so basic) techiques we use in our lab. This is a (hopefully) classical molecular biology lab located in Europe, Hungary, more close in Debrecen. I will present you the lab and environment later. The idea is to describe these techiques, make a pdf version of the p... ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2206784 Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:35:26 +0100 2206784 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2210631&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2FOU-ERQaET88%2Flink_between_the_nuclear_expor.php As many of you may know, I have been examining how mRNAs are transported and localized within the cell and how the regulation of mRNA metabolism contributes to gene expression. From data accumulated recently within the "RNA Field", we know that transcription in eukaryotic cells is very sloppy - that is, a plethora of different RNA transcripts are generated from seemingly random pieces of DNA. As I explained in a recent post, some of this background transcription seems to play a role in regulating how the DNA is packed and thus allows for a tighter control of RNA production from protein coding genes. Moreover many eukaryotic genes have to be extensively processed before they are ready for export - it is likely that processing is not perfect and that at the end of the day many aberrant trans... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2210631 Tue, 17 Feb 2009 23:47:13 +0100 2210631 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2187681&cid=t_103947_87_f&fid=34595&url=http%3A%2F%2Fnhsblogdoc.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Fhow-to-stop-masturbation.html As recommended by the Church of EnglandMy teenage daughter once caught me at it, in flagrante, late at night when I thought everyone else was in bed. She was appalled and ashamed. I would never do it in public. I am usually on-line when I do it, and always in the privacy of my own home. I keep promising myself that I will stop doing it, but I am hooked. And yet, it stresses me beyond imagination. I am sure it furs up my coronary arteries though I doubt it affects my prostate.  Sometimes – and I do not exaggerate – it makes me shake with anger. I talk, of course, of my habit of reading the Daily Mail.GPs will be paid bonuses for persuading teenagers to have long-lasting contraceptive implants and jabs without their parents' knowledge, it has emerged.Daily MailGPs will be paid to 'enco... NHS Blog Doctor blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2187681 Sat, 14 Feb 2009 11:24:00 +0100 2187681 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2173583&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36698&url=http%3A%2F%2Fminingdrugs.blogspot.com%2F2009%2F02%2Flife-science-are-it-guys-getting-it.html "My argument is this: there is so much useful information that needs to be organized in a format that is free, navigational and easy to access. One person cannot do it alone; we all need to contribute for the betterment of science, in general. ... I’ll gladly contribute! How do we get the ball rolling?" [J]The Realm of Organic Synthesis initiated a discussion about chemistry knowledge management, which has triggered a lot of follow-up discussions.Mitch (blog) said that chemical informatics guys do not get it:"What J and I (Mitch) are planning is truly awesome, but it is not going to fall within the realm of the type of collaborative work that the chemical informatics people know so well. J will announce the project in the next couple of days. I think you will find it completely awesome, ... Mining Drug Space blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2173583 Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:25:00 +0100 2173583 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2128828&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2FciAazGWFH6k%2Fmrsa_st398_in_us_swine.php A little over a year ago I put a post up documenting research out of Canada which found methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in Canadian pigs. This had also been seen in Europe (with a lot of research coming out of the Netherlands). What I didn't note at the time was that we were gearing up to start some sampling of our own on area swine farms. Some of you saw that we presented the results of that research last year at ICEID and ASM; now the paper is out describing our pilot project in PLoS ONE. (Note: the paper was available earlier, but now they seem to have removed it...keep an eye on that link). Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Aetiology) Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2128828 Fri, 23 Jan 2009 21:20:52 +0100 2128828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2084068&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F504716440%2Fmendels_garden_is_blooming.php My garden at home is looking a bit bleak after all the snow, Mendel's Garden is blooming wonderfully at Jeremy Cherfas' blog Another Blasted Weblog. Jeremy has prepared a nice collection of perennial favorites. I especially like the story about pea breeding and, if you view the post, there are several interesting pictures of peas. These peas are far more diverse than the kind you'd normally see in a genetics text. Not all peas are shrunken or waxy. genetics, Mendel's garden, blog carnival Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2084068 Tue, 06 Jan 2009 22:46:31 +0100 2084068 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2078229&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F501323815%2Fpersonalized_medicine_is_on_th_1.php The New York Times had a great article a couple of days ago on the need for personalized medicine to become more than a catchy phrase. As we're learning more about the interaction between genes and drug metabolism, we're also learning that large numbers of people are either taking the wrong drug or taking drugs that won't work. tags: personal genomics, pharmacogenomics Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2078229 Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:49:40 +0100 2078229 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2065355&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F494311076%2Fupstream_transcription_a_whole.php Here I am, in the lab with one last experiment to go before I leave to feast on a Christmas Eve dinner, so while I wait for that last centrifugation step, I'll write a quick post about all these great papers on RNA Polymerase II and chromatin remodelling. As I've said before, if you want to understand what is going on with all of these non-coding RNA transcripts, you have to understand how DNA is organized. If you don't understand how DNA is packed in the typical eukaryotic (i.e. nucleated) cell, please read this: How Transcription Affects Genomic Organization and Vice Versa Then to get you up to speed on the latest findings, read this: Activating a gene through pioneer transcripts Now, on to the new stuff. Since I'm pressed for time I'll just point out a few manuscripts that appeared... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2065355 Wed, 24 Dec 2008 20:23:10 +0100 2065355 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2056259&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35624&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsuicyte.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F12%2F21%2Fubiquitin-on-lake-garda-reloaded%2F Hardcore readers of this blog might remember my reports on the EMBO conference “Ubiquitin and Ubiquitin-like modifiers in cellular regulation” in September 2007 in Riva del Garda. See e.g. here, here, and most scientifically here. As I wrote before, this was one of the best conferences I have been to so far, with an excellent scientific content, great atmosphere, and a beautiful setting. I have just been informed that there will be 2nd such conference in September 2009, at the same venue in Riva del Garda. The 2009 title will be “Ubiquitin and Ubiquitin-like modifiers in health and disease“. Again, the organizers (mainly the Rubicon folks) have assembled a very promising line-up of invited speakers,  including Aaron Ciechanover, Allan D’Andrea, Allan Weissman, Br... Suicyte Notes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2056259 Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:46:37 +0100 2056259 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2046786&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsummary-thoughts-on-the-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. I really enjoyed this workshop - met new people, chatted about systems biology, clinical genetics, surname-DNA associations, The Princess Bride and Spinal Tap... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2046786 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 14:15:23 +0100 2046786 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2046787&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fcisban-and-telomere-maintenance-and-shortening-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Amanda Greenall: Telomere binding proteins are conserved between yeat and higher eukaryotes. The capping proteins are very important, because they prevent the... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2046787 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:53:31 +0100 2046787 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2046788&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fmarco-morelli-and-the-micro-evolution-of-rna-viruses-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. More fully, he's talking about the micro-evolutionary dynamics of RNA viruses. They want to get a full picture of what happens from the infection of a single ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2046788 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:48:57 +0100 2046788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2046789&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fscott-grandison-leaf-growth-and-form-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Talking about the physical changes occuring in leaves, and looking at the different levels of granularity and orders of magnitude you need to think about (e.g... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2046789 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:29:48 +0100 2046789 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2046790&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Focisb-from-small-to-large-networks-and-back-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Judy Armitage: Bacterial sensory networks. The e.coli chemotaxis system is probably the best-understood "system" in biology, where biases in swimming directio... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2046790 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 10:05:51 +0100 2046790 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040001&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fmichael-white-and-the-nf-kappab-signalling-system-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Michael White: Dynamics and function of the NF-kappaB signalling system. NF-kappaB controls cell division and cell death in all cells. How can a simple signal... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040001 Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:51:02 +0100 2040001 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040359&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35624&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsuicyte.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F12%2F16%2Fmicroarrays_problems%2F I normally do not blog about topics related to my daytime job, which involves a lot of microarray data analysis. However, a series of recent blog posts [here, here and here] talk about microarray-related problems that differ so much from my own experiences that I cannot let them go uncommented. I am the last person to claim that microarrays are a perfect tool for tackling all questions conceivable . They are not.  DNA microarrays can be seen as some kind of hammer that is being (rightfully) applied to a few nails, but unfortunately also to lots of objects with no nail-like properties whatsoever. Microarray data are problematic in many different ways. However, we should be careful not to throw out the baby with the bath water. Here are the main points of criticism that have been raised in ... Suicyte Notes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040359 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:17:27 +0100 2040359 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040002&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fjim-beynon-and-presta-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. PRESTA stands for Plant Resposes to Environmental STress in Arabidopsis. Even though the environment is changing rapidly, investment in plant research has dec... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040002 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:28:09 +0100 2040002 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040003&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Ffrom-genes-to-jam-modellilng-athaliana-root-growth-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Presented by 4 people from CPIB. Malcolm Bennett: This plant is a good choice because the morpology is simple, the development well-understood, the imaging t... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040003 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 17:06:20 +0100 2040003 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040004&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fthomas-nowotny-and-pheromones-in-moths-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Sensitivity, specificity and ration coding: riddles of the pheromone system in moths. PheroSys project - the neurosciences face the same problem as others in ... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040004 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 16:51:07 +0100 2040004 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040006&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fchris-morris-and-pims-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. PIMS is the Protein Information Management System, developed by the EBI and an number of other locations (e.g.) PIMS has been adopted at EMBL Hamburg, IRB Ba... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040006 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 13:12:15 +0100 2040006 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040007&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fchris-rawlings-on-ondex-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Introduction (common knowledge): Systems biology projects need data integration. Syntactic and semantic integration must both be considered. Ondex (http://ww... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040007 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:11:08 +0100 2040007 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040008&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fsysmo-db-and-carole-goble.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Systems Biology of Microorganisms. 11 projects from 91 institutes, whose aim is to record and describe the dynamic molecular processes occurring in microorgan... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040008 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:00:37 +0100 2040008 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040009&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fvarious-speakers-scoelicolor-and-cisbic-experiments-from-the-bbsrc-systems-biology-workshop.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. David Wild and Global Metabolic Switching in S.coelicolor a.k.a STREAM, or Streptomycete analysis of metabolism. The aim of this project is to understand swit... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040009 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 10:40:49 +0100 2040009 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2040010&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Falistair-brown-and-combinatorial-responses-in-stress-pathways.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss BBSRC Systems Biology Grantholder Workshop, University of Nottingham, 16 December 2008. Alistair Brown presented the CRISP (University of Aberdeen and Imperial College London) approach to studying stress responses in fungal pathogens (Combinatori... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2040010 Tue, 16 Dec 2008 09:25:17 +0100 2040010 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2035828&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F484752369%2Fwelcome_to_the_december_14.php Welcome to the December 14, 2008 edition of the Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival. Below the fold, we have a great compilation of entries to share with you. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2035828 Sun, 14 Dec 2008 18:10:06 +0100 2035828 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2035835&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.pansapiens.com%2F2008%2F12%2F14%2Fnaming-in-molecular-biology-get-comfortable-with-meaninglessness%2F I noticed an interesting post over on BoingBoing: “Comfort with meaninglessness the key to good programmers“. It outlines some research by Dehnadi and Bornat on attributes that can predict aptitude in computer programming. They conclude that a “deep comfort with meaninglessness” is an important predictor of programming aptitude. I think comfort with meaninglessness is an important skill in studying biology (and probably other sciences too). Many times, during the description of a system, various acronyms are thrown about as labels for entities (or ‘actors’) in that system. An important skill of the scientist is being able to follow how all the actors in the system relate to each other, without necessarily knowing anything about the specific properties of... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2035835 Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:16:29 +0100 2035835 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523539&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FYourBonesGotALittleMachine%2F%7E3%2FH_2s4LGTZik%2F I noticed an interesting post over on BoingBoing: “Comfort with meaninglessness the key to good programmers“. It outlines some research by Dehnadi and Bornat on attributes that can predict aptitude in computer programming. They conclude that a “deep comfort with meaninglessness” is an important predictor of programming aptitude. I think comfort with meaninglessness is an important skill in studying biology (and probably other sciences too). Many times, during the description of a system, various acronyms are thrown about as labels for entities (or ‘actors’) in that system. An important skill of the scientist is being able to follow how all the actors in the system relate to each other, without necessarily knowing anything about the specific properties of... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523539 Sun, 14 Dec 2008 01:13:45 +0100 2523539 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2033224&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F482188941%2Fcell_polarity_aging_and_centro.php I just read this fascinating theory that was fully explained in a review that appeared in the latest issue of Cell. This theory connects the origin of cell polarity with aging and it suggests that the centrosome may carry genetic information. Today I'll focus on the first deep connection polarity and aging. Later this week, I'll write about how the centrosome fits in. What is polarity? It is the mechanism by which the cell reorganizes its internal structure so that it now has two different sides. These two sides could by "front" and "back" or "up" and "down". So that if you are a crawling cell it dictates which part of your body is driving migration (the leading edge) and which part is retracting (the tail). It also forces your organelles to reposition them selves with respect to the two... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2033224 Fri, 12 Dec 2008 00:49:24 +0100 2033224 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2027020&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35028&url=http%3A%2F%2Flurena.vox.com%2Flibrary%2Fpost%2Fthis-site-now-listed-in-nature-blogs-and-the-reason-behind-my-keyword-choices.html%3F_c%3Dfeed-rss Last week when scanning through Friendfeed, someone mentioned Nature Blogs. A number of my friends and fellow friendfeeders (1,2,3,4,5,6,etc.) already have their blogs registered there. I took the plunge and submitted my request last week, and thi... Read and post comments | Send to a friend (Source: Systems Biology & Bioinformatics) Systems Biology & Bioinformatics blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2027020 Thu, 11 Dec 2008 08:03:23 +0100 2027020 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2011161&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F474111194%2Factivating_a_gene_through_pion.php First up read yesterday's entry on Genomic Organization. Now that you've done that, let's talk about a paper that appeared in Nature about a month ago. The article is entitled: Stepwise chromatin remodelling by a cascade of transcription initiation of non-coding RNAs (link) Superficially you would look at this title and exclaim Wow another function for non-coding RNAs! Well not exactly. It would seem that everyone is going ga-ga over these non-coding RNAs, but if you dig deeper, something else is going on. Note that I'm not saying that the paper is crap, in fact the results are VERY interesting, but you have to keep in mind that this paper is describing is how the act of transcribing non-coding RNA affects genomic organization. But before we begin, let's dust off our lexicon. Here ar... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2011161 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 23:47:09 +0100 2011161 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2011163&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F473606219%2Fincreased_secretion_in_senesce.php I just read a paper that features fellow science blogger Chris Patil as an author (although he would be the first to state that he was second on the author's list). The manuscript, which appeared in yesterday's edition of PLoS Biology, describes senescence-associated secretory phenotype (aka SASP), a phenomenon that is associated with cancer cells treated with chemotherapeutic reagents that cause DNA-damage and with cells undergoing senescence. From the paper: Despite support for the idea that senescence is a beneficial anticancer mechanism, indirect evidence suggests that senescent cells can also be deleterious and might contribute to age-related pathologies [10,23-25]. The apparent paradox of contributing to both tumor suppression and aging is consistent with an evolutionary theory of a... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2011163 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 12:57:23 +0100 2011163 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2005869&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F473048555%2Fhow_transcription_affects_geno.php Recently there has been a flood of press about epigenetics and non-coding RNA. What is lacking from these articles is a description of how DNA is packaged and what DNA elements such as promoters and enhancers do. Today I would like to touch upon all of these subjects with a post on how DNA is organized and how this affects the turning on or off of genes. OK here we go ... One of the biggest findings over the past couple of years is how the act of transcription feeds back onto the organization of DNA. What do I mean by that? Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2005869 Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:15:03 +0100 2005869 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2005881&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=35008&url=http%3A%2F%2Fscienceroll.com%2F2008%2F12%2F01%2Ftop-10-amazing-biomedical-videos%2F Wired Blog published a list of 10 amazing biomedical videos featuring some really great animations, but they missed a few others: And many more at MolecularMovies.org:        (Source: ScienceRoll) ScienceRoll blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2005881 Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:24:06 +0100 2005881 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1996371&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F468962993%2Fplants_that_make_crystals_that_1.php A crystalline botanical fashion show. Awhile back Chemical & Engineering News published a fascinating article called "The Secret Life of Plant Crystals" with some wonderful photos of calcium oxalate crystals. Special cells (called "idioblasts") produce these crystals, with shapes that are unique to each type of plant. Reposted for the holiday. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1996371 Sat, 29 Nov 2008 03:29:29 +0100 1996371 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1996401&cid=t_103947_133_f&fid=35096&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FAutismVox%2F%7E3%2FZIwO-tSz2KY%2F Patternicity. It’s a term that refers to “the tendency to find meaningful patterns in meaningless noise,” as noted by Michael Shermer in the November Scientific American: Traditionally, scientists have treated patternicity as an error in cognition. A type I error, or a false positive, is believing something is real when it is not (finding a nonexistent pattern). A type II error, or a false negative, is not believing something is real when it is (not recognizing a real pattern—call it “apatternicity”). However, as Shermer notes, we don’t have a “Baloney Detection Network in the brain to distinguish between true and false patterns”—-patternicity does seem to be at work when it comes to theories of autism causation. There’s no doubt that s... Autism Vox blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1996401 Fri, 28 Nov 2008 07:02:57 +0100 1996401 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1985322&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36905&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjemmasbiologyblog.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Fsea-eagles-reintroduced.html A story about Sea eagles (Source: Jemma's Biology Blog) Jemma's Biology Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1985322 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:01:00 +0100 1985322 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1985323&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=36905&url=http%3A%2F%2Fjemmasbiologyblog.blogspot.com%2F2008%2F11%2Ftrachea-transplant.html A link to a story about the first trachea transplant. (Source: Jemma's Biology Blog) Jemma's Biology Blog blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1985323 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:59:00 +0100 1985323 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1980866&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F461387239%2Fwhat_could_be_worse_than_snake.php A loose spider on a space station. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1980866 Sat, 22 Nov 2008 01:37:21 +0100 1980866 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1974947&cid=t_103947_99_f&fid=34589&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Faetiology%2F%7E3%2F460214603%2Fnew_ebola_subtype_confirmed.php Few things can take me out of blogging hibernation (especially when the next grant deadline is Monday...) However, one of those things that I'll carve out time to write about is an interesting, hot-off-the-presses Ebola paper, and especially one describing a new strain of the virus--and there just happens to be such a paper in the new edition of PLoS Pathogens. Details after the jump... Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: Aetiology) Aetiology blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1974947 Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100 1974947 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1964090&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F454969944%2Fdistinct_rna_binding_proteins.php Over the last few years it has become increasing clear that gene expression is partially regulated at the mRNA level. What do I mean by that? In eukaryotic cells, the first step of gene expression occurs in the nucleus when regions of DNA are transcribed into RNA. These "transcripts" then encounter RNA binding proteins (RBPs), some which act to process the RNA into a mature message, others that simply bind the mRNA. The whole collection of RNA and its associated proteins is often referred to as the Ribonuclear Particle (RNP). The protein content will dictate whether the RNA is spliced, exported from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, transported to various cytoplasmic sites, translated by the ribosome into protein, or degraded. You can then imagine that in any given cell, gene expression re... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1964090 Sun, 16 Nov 2008 15:00:54 +0100 1964090 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1960788&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F451940334%2Fprotein_expression_and_3_untra.php Traditionally, gene expression patterns were seen as mostly dependent on transcription ... yes those nasty bits of DNA that seemed to be ignored by most "science journalists". But the picture that is imerging is that transcription is looking more and more sloppy, and this "sloppyness" is built into the system so that the act of transcription tends to influence the organization of that part of the genome, regardless of what is being transcribed. It also appears that processes upstream of transcription, (such as mRNA processing, mRNA export and translation) play a greater role in determining expression patterns. In a recent issue of Current Biology there's a nice example of post-transcriptional regulation of genes. In their manuscript, Merritt et al., demonstrate that in the ovaries of C. e... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1960788 Thu, 13 Nov 2008 16:20:34 +0100 1960788 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1951958&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F449739834%2F100_years_of_genetic_research.php If you missed it, today's NY Times Science section has been dedicated to "The Gene" a concept invented 99 years ago by Wilhelm Johanssen. Overall, the articles were very good, however as a scientist who wants to explain basic concepts of molecular biology to the masses, I have a few problems. First, there is a misplacement of emphasis on how information flows from DNA to phenotype. The idea that the articles try to convey is that in the old model went along theses lines: DNA contains genes, each is copied into RNAs that are then translated into a certain type of protein ... and then presto the end result is a fully formed organism. Now apparently the new model is that the DNA encodes more than genes, it has all sorts of weird stuff mostly noncoding-RNAs, and that there is mass confusion ... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1951958 Tue, 11 Nov 2008 16:57:24 +0100 1951958 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382467&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F11%2F08%2Fsilencing-growth-inhibitors-could-help-recovery-from-brain-injury%2F Silencing natural growth inhibitors may make it possible to regenerate nerves damaged by brain or spinal cord injury, finds a study from Children’s Hospital Boston. In a mouse study published in the November 7 issue of Science, researchers temporarily silenced genes that prevent mature neurons from regenerating, and caused them to recover and re-grow vigorously [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382467 Sat, 08 Nov 2008 01:43:55 +0100 2382467 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1943392&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F445696364%2Fnew_details_on_how_cytoplasmic.php There are plenty of large mRNA agregates in cells. In the past few years, two of these structures have gained quite a bit of attention, Stress Granules (SGs) and Processing Bodies (PBs). mRNAs in SGs are loaded with 48S complex, which consists of the small ribosomal subunit, the cap binding complex (aka eiF4F) and the eIF3 complex. SGs are transient structures that are formed in cells experiencing stress such as arsenite, elevated temperatures and amino acid starvation. The key step in forming these structures is the inactivation of eIF2alpha, the protein that carries the initiator tRNA-methionine to the 48S complex. mRNAs that get shuttled into SGs are thought to be stored for future use. PBs on the other hand are present in most cells constitutively (that means all the time). What's in... The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1943392 Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:25:03 +0100 1943392 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1930415&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F440510902%2Fso_my_questions_is_how_birds_i.php An Evolutionary Look at Sperm Holds Secrets of Mobility, Fertility: The fusion of sperm and egg succeeds in mammals because the sperm cells hyperactivate as they swim into the increasingly alkaline female reproductive tract. One fast-moving sperm drives on through the egg's fertilization barrier. Mammals have sperm with a tail that reacts when calcium ions enter a microscopic channel in the tail and make the sperm go into overdrive. In fact, four genes are needed to produce the so-called CatSper ion channel in the sperm tail that hypermotivates the sperm. The CatSper genes may someday be targeted in a male contraceptive: no calcium-ion channel gene = no sperm hyperactivity = no fertilization (infertility correlation to the gene blockage has been proven in mice). The interesting thing is... A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1930415 Mon, 03 Nov 2008 02:12:21 +0100 1930415 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1926430&cid=t_103947_122_f&fid=35066&url=http%3A%2F%2Fneurodudes.com%2F2008%2F11%2F02%2Fcircadian-rhythm-disruption-too-much-gaba-learning-problem%2F Norman F. Ruby, Calvin E. Hwang, Colin Wessells, Fabian Fernandez, Pei Zhang, Robert Sapolsky, and H. Craig Heller. Hippocampal-dependent learning requires a functional circadian systemPNAS 2008 105:15593-15598; published ahead of print October 1, 2008, doi:10.1073/pnas.0808259105 http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2008/october8/hamster-100808.html: The hamsters were first exposed to two hours of bright light late at night. Then the next day the researchers delayed the usual light/dark cycle by three hours. This disrupted their circadian rhythm, and made it hard for them to learn. http://www.pnas.org/content/105/40/15593: Control hamsters exhibited normal circadian modulation of performance in a delayed novel-object recognition task. By contrast, arrhythmic animals could not discrimin... neurodudes blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1926430 Sun, 02 Nov 2008 07:47:21 +0100 1926430 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2523542&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeedproxy.google.com%2F%7Er%2FYourBonesGotALittleMachine%2F%7E3%2FTwKow2laR5Y%2F Update: The videos of the talks from Synthetic Biology 4.0 are here ! Around three weeks ago I attended the Synthetic Biology 4.0 meeting in Hong Kong, hosted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I’ve taken a little time to allow all the new and exciting ideas to sink in. I really enjoyed the meeting, and while it was a little short it was an effective way to quickly sample the current developments in synthetic biology, as it stands. Some highlights Here are some summaries on a few highlight presentations. Due to parallel sessions, I couldn’t see every talk; luckily I’ll be able to catch up on those I missed once the videos appear online. Clyde Hutchison (J. Craig Venter Institute), spoke about genome construction, specifically about rebuilding the mini... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2523542 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:55:46 +0100 2523542 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1921018&cid=t_103947_132_f&fid=35021&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.pansapiens.com%2F2008%2F10%2F30%2Fsynthetic-biology-40-highlights-and-reflections%2F Around three weeks ago I attended the Synthetic Biology 4.0 meeting in Hong Kong, hosted by the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. I’ve taken a little time to allow all the new and exciting ideas to sink in. I really enjoyed the meeting, and while it was a little short it was an effective way to quickly sample the current developments in synthetic biology, as it stands. Some highlights Here are some summaries on a few highlight presentations. Due to parallel sessions, I couldn’t see every talk; luckily I’ll be able to catch up on those I missed once the videos appear online. Clyde Hutchison (J. Craig Venter Institute), spoke about genome construction, specifically about rebuilding the minimal genome on Mycoplasma genitalium by synthesis of large fragments an... Your bones got a little machine. blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1921018 Thu, 30 Oct 2008 03:55:46 +0100 1921018 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1918209&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F434656775%2Fc_elegans_embryonic_developmen.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1918209 Tue, 28 Oct 2008 13:27:40 +0100 1918209 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1924520&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35043&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Ftranscript%2F%7E3%2F437423172%2Fcombining_high_thoughput_scree.php I have a second to blog - forgive me if it's full of typos (chances are, if you read this blog on a regular basis you're use to them) but it has been a while and I need to get back into the swing of things. Last week, Jonathan Weissman came over to Harvard Medical School. I had the opportunity not only to hear him talk but also to attend a dinner with Dr Weissman and a handful of fellow postdocs. The Weissman lab has perfected a particular type of science, one that combines high throughput technologies and small reductionalist biology. This approach is the future of biomolecular science. Let's take an example. Read the rest of this post... | Read the comments on this post... (Source: The Daily Transcript) The Daily Transcript blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1924520 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 23:43:30 +0100 1924520 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1911535&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F433535014%2Fmouse_embryo_growing_video.php Mouse Embryo Growing - The funniest videos are a click away Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1911535 Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:26:15 +0100 1911535 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1908908&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F431697052%2Ffish_embryonic_development_vid.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1908908 Sat, 25 Oct 2008 13:23:55 +0100 1908908 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1907894&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F430680734%2Famphioxus_embryonic_developmen.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1907894 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 13:22:21 +0100 1907894 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382468&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F24%2Fnew-hope-for-multiple-sclerosis-sufferers%2F A drug which was developed in Cambridge and initially designed to treat a form of leukaemia has also proven effective against combating the debilitating neurological disease multiple sclerosis (MS). The study, led by researchers from the University of Cambridge, has found that alemtuzumab not only stops MS from advancing in patients with early stage active relapsing-remitting [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382468 Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:01:22 +0100 2382468 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382473&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F23%2Fgreen-tea-may-delay-onset-of-type-1-diabetes%2F A powerful antioxidant in green tea may prevent or delay the onset of type 1 diabetes, Medical College of Georgia researchers say. Researchers were testing EGCG, green tea’s predominant antioxidant, in a laboratory mouse with type 1 diabetes and primary Sjogren’s syndrome, which damages moisture-producing glands, causing dry mouth and eyes. “Our study focused on Sjogren’s [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382473 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 23:49:13 +0100 2382473 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1906399&cid=t_103947_122_f&fid=36582&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FSharpBrains%2F%7E3%2F430063963%2F If you are a blogger or read blogs often, you know that there are a good number of excellent blog carnivals focused on specific themes. If you are interested in medicine, you know what carnival to visit. Education, the same. Biology, neuroscience, nursing, birds, aging, philosophy...a variety of topics are very well covered in the blogosphere. What you probably haven't come across is a high-quality "metacarnival" or "carnival of carnivals", where you can read the best blog posts ACROSS topics, subjects, disciplines. This is why a few blog carnival "organizers" are launching next Monday a monthly rotating "MetaCarnival" to feature the most interesting posts from a variety of high-quality blog carnivals. Participating blog carnivals so far, alphabetica... SharpBrains blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1906399 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:08:52 +0100 1906399 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1906177&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F429596474%2Ftime_lapse_of_the_embryonic_de.php Time Lapse Of The Embryonic Development Of Drosophila Melanogast - Watch the top videos of the week here Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1906177 Thu, 23 Oct 2008 13:20:58 +0100 1906177 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1901985&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F428512364%2Fxenopus_embryo_development_vid.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1901985 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:19:33 +0100 1901985 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1895602&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F427439491%2Fchick_embryonic_development_vi.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1895602 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 13:18:36 +0100 1895602 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382474&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F21%2Fgene-therapy-restores-vision-to-mice-with-retinal-degeneration%2F Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers have used gene therapy to restore useful vision to mice with degeneration of the light-sensing retinal rods and cones, a common cause of human blindness. Their report, appearing in the Oct. 14 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, describes the effects of broadly expressing a light-sensitive protein in other [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382474 Tue, 21 Oct 2008 00:55:52 +0100 2382474 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1892154&cid=t_103947_154_f&fid=36427&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2FABlogAroundTheClock%2F%7E3%2F426382172%2Fcrocodile_embryo_mv_video.php Read the comments on this post... (Source: A Blog Around The Clock) A Blog Around The Clock blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1892154 Mon, 20 Oct 2008 13:17:19 +0100 1892154 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1889022&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F425175871%2Fmedicine_at_the_cutting_edge.php Yes, that's right, another Medicine 2.0 blog carnival has been posted for your enjoyment. And the host, Ivor Kovic, has done an amazingly creative and interesting thing with images from all the past hosting places..., and well, you just need to go see it yourself. Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1889022 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 05:37:08 +0100 1889022 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382477&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F19%2Fcomputer-model-reveals-cells-inner-workings%2F After spending years developing a computational model to help illuminate cell signaling pathways, a team of MIT researchers decided to see what would happen if they “broke” the model. The results, reported in the Oct. 17 issue of the journal Cell, reveal new ways in which cells process chemical information and could indicate how to maximize [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382477 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:24:21 +0100 2382477 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382478&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F19%2Fcould-dr-house-be-replaced-by-a-computer%2F Scientists know that different normal and diseased tissues behave differently. But a method that tells them just how they do so may one day give medical science a new way to fight obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other dangerous disorders of the metabolism. Until now, scientists had to rely on basic observations at the cellular level, since [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382478 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 02:09:54 +0100 2382478 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382479&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F19%2Fborder-control-study-shows-how-proteins-permit-entry-to-a-cell%2F The means by which proteins provide a ‘border control’ service, allowing cells to take up chemicals and substances from their surroundings, whilst keeping others out, is revealed in unprecedented molecular detail for the first time today (16 October) in Science Express. The scientists behind the new study have visualised the structure of a protein called Microbacterium [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382479 Sun, 19 Oct 2008 01:58:17 +0100 2382479 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382481&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F18%2Fbrains-brains%2F (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382481 Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:33:41 +0100 2382481 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=2382484&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=38577&url=http%3A%2F%2Fbiosingularity.wordpress.com%2F2008%2F10%2F18%2Fwaste-from-gut-bacteria-helps-host-control-weight%2F A single molecule in the intestinal wall, activated by the waste products from gut bacteria, plays a large role in controlling whether the host animals are lean or fatty, a research team, including scientists from UT Southwestern Medical Center, has found in a mouse study. When activated, the molecule slows the movement of food through the [...] (Source: Biosingularity) Biosingularity blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=2382484 Sat, 18 Oct 2008 21:23:24 +0100 2382484 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1889024&cid=t_103947_107_f&fid=35041&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.feedburner.com%2F%7Er%2Fscienceblogs%2Fdigitalbio%2F%7E3%2F425175872%2Fthe_cutest_pictures_in_the_wor.php I used to get e-mails from relatives that were filled with cute pictures of kittens and puppies. It's luck they didn't know about this site: http://www.zooborns.com/ These are the some of the absolutely cutest baby pictures I have ever seen! I hear Raffi songs in my head when I look at these (can you sing Baby Beluga?) Read the comments on this post... (Source: Discovering Biology in a Digital World) Discovering Biology in a Digital World blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1889024 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 23:28:42 +0100 1889024 http://www.medworm.com/index.php?rid=1883377&cid=t_103947_131_f&fid=34989&url=http%3A%2F%2Ffeeds.b5media.com%2F%7Er%2Fb5media%2FGeneticsHealth%2F%7E3%2FCafePeuTdPs%2F Genes that cause disease have been traced back to the origin of the first cell, scientists from Max Planck found. A novel method of genomic phylostratigraphy has recontructed the evolutionary origin of disease-causing genes in humans, and the results have surprising implications. Tomislav Domazet-Lošo and Diethard Tautz from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Plön (Germany) applied genomic phylostratigraphy to determine that most disease genes originated with the ‘first cell’, and other large groups of genes emerged around the appearance of multi-cellular organisms. BUT no disease-associated genes emerged after the origin of mammals. What exactly do these results mean? According to the researchers - all living things will be affected by similar g... Genetics and Health blogs http://www.medworm.com/rss/comments.php?id=1883377 Fri, 17 Oct 2008 05:56:02 +0100 1883377