Two New Papers on Integrin Activation
Category: integrins
My first first-author paper and another that I contributed to shed light on the important biological process of integrin activation.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:39 AM • 1 Comments •
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A postdoc by day and a scientific activist by night, Nick Anthis isn't letting his research in protein structure and function get in the way of defending scientific and social progress.
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Recent Posts
- Two New Papers on Integrin Activation
- New Interactive 3D Molecular Images in Scientific Articles
- Health Care Reform: It's a Matter of Convenience
- 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry: The Ribosome
- Bad Math at The Weather Channel
- 2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine: Telomeres and Telomerase
- Scientific Diplomacy and the Universality of Science
- An Update from The Scientific Activist
- A Tale of Two Health Care Systems
- The Most Recent Counterfactual Attack Against the Obama Administration
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Other Stuff
biology:
2009 Nobel Prize in Medicine: Telomeres and Telomerase
Category: Nobel Prize
Three Americans, Elizabeth Blackburn, Carol Greider, and Jack Szostak, win the prize for the discovery of telomeres and telomerase.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:21 AM • 8 Comments •
Why Swine Flu Is Resistant to Adamantane Drugs
Category: structural biology
All H1N1 swine flu isolates tested to date are resistant to adamantane-based drugs. This post explains the origin of this resistance in light of what we know about the structure and function of influenza proteins.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:49 AM • 33 Comments •
THC Gives Cancer Cells the Munchies Too
Category: biology
The active ingredient in marijuana causes cancer cells to begin to degrade themselves from the inside, leading to programmed cell death.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:12 AM • 27 Comments •
Fine-Tuning Cell Adhesiveness
Category: integrins
The cell adapts to constantly changing conditions by controlling the adhesiveness of the integrins.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 3:48 PM • 1 Comments •
Where Is This "Cult of Darwinism" I've Been Hearing So Much About?
Category: evolution
I'm not sure where one finds it, but if such a thing does exist, I doubt you'll find it populated by scientists
Posted by Nick Anthis at 5:05 PM • 1 Comments •
2008 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: HIV and HPV
Category: Nobel Prize
was awarded for the discovery of HIV and the discovery that HPV causes cancer.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:10 AM • 3 Comments •
Do You Work on E. Coli?
Category: internet
If so, check out EcoliWiki.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:28 PM • 0 Comments •
E. coli, We Hardly Knew You
Category: book reviews
The often unexamined life of E. coli comes alive in Carl Zimmer's Microcosm.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 11:45 AM • 2 Comments •
Do You Want to Be Able to Crap Gold?
Category: chemistry
That might not be possible, but ingesting isotopically-enriched food would make your waste even more valuable.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:37 AM • 1 Comments •
Why Are Veins Blue?
Category: biology
Here's a hint: blood isn't blue. Ever.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:30 AM • 42 Comments •
An Integrin Is Identified as a Co-Receptor for HIV
Category: HIV/AIDS
Scientists identify the alpha-4 beta-7 integrin as a co-receptor for HIV, offering a potential new drug target.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 8:23 PM • 3 Comments •
Integrin Phosphorylation as an Off Switch for Integrin Activation
Category: Life of Nick
A tiny modification can make a big difference in proteins involved in cell adhesion and migration.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 3:30 PM • 0 Comments •
Stem Cells from Down Under
Category: stem cells
Awkward? Probably. But, menstrual blood stem cells show some early promise.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 3 Comments •
Best Headline Ever: "Creature from Hell Promises Salvation"
Category: biology
Researchers discover methane-metabolizing bacteria that thrive in extreme environments and may have implications for global warming.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 6:25 PM • 3 Comments •
Embryonic Stem Cell Debate Over; Thousands of Researchers Now Jobless
Category: stem cells
The media mangles otherwise interesting and significant stem cell findings.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:54 PM • 22 Comments •
2007 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: Knockout Mice
Category: Nobel Prize
Awarded for the knockout mouse to Mario R. Capecchi, Martin J. Evans, and Oliver Smithies
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:21 AM • 2 Comments •
Ask a ScienceBlogger: A Sun Ray a Day....
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
Although extended unprotected exposure to the sun damages your skin and eyes, a small daily dose is important for maintaining general health and wellbeing
Posted by Nick Anthis at 1:41 PM • 10 Comments •
More Trouble for the Schatten Lab, but One Potential Success
Category: stem cells
The U.S. Office of Research Integrity announced this week that it has found a former postdoc in Gerald Schatten's lab, Park Jong Hyuk, guilty of research misconduct for falsifying images in a manuscript on deriving embryonic stem cells from cloned...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:43 AM • 0 Comments •
My Second Scientific Paper: Matrix Protease Activity in Tumor Cell Invasion
Category: Life of Nick
The second paper from my undergraduate work at Texas A&M University was recently published in Molecular Cancer. The abstract can be found here, and the pdf of the full paper here. Molecular Cancer is an open access journal, so a...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:39 AM • 3 Comments •
More on Edible Cotton Seeds
Category: transgenic crops
Last month, I wrote a post about a research group at Texas A&M University that reported genetically engineering "edible cotton seeds" by using RNAi technology to stably and specifically knock out production of the gossypol toxin in the seeds of...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:39 AM • 3 Comments •
Congratulations to Daniel Rhoads
Category: blogosphere
Via A Blog Around the Clock comes news that Daniel Rhoads, who writes the informative blog Migrations (and formerly A Concerned Scientist), has successfully defended his dissertation. So, after a few minor revisions, it looks like it won't be too...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 2:57 PM • 2 Comments •
They Probably Won't Taste as Good as Cotton Candy...
Category: transgenic crops
But, a recent report in PNAS demonstrates that edible cotton seeds could be a real possibility, thanks to new transgenic crop biotechnology.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:39 AM • 1 Comments •
Social Insects: More KGB than Brady Bunch
Category: behavioral genetics
Social controls play a surprisingly large role in encouraging altruism in insect colonies, according to a paper in last week's issue of Nature.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:43 AM • 5 Comments •
The Structure of the Living Cell
Category: structural biology
Oxford's Iain Campbell discusses the past and future of structural biology.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:20 AM • 4 Comments •
My First Scientific Paper: The Stabilization of Blood Vessels by Protease Inhibitors
Category: Life of Nick
My first appearance in the peer-reviewed scientific literature provides an opportunity to learn a little bit about blood vessel development.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 10:20 AM • 7 Comments •
2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine: RNA Interference
Category: biochemistry
The 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced this morning, with one half going to Andrew Fire and the other half to Craig Mello, both for the discovery of RNA interference (RNAi). The discovery of RNAi added a...
Posted by Nick Anthis at 9:38 AM • 0 Comments •
Where Do Babies Come From? Find the Answer and More in Coming to Life
Category: book reviews
Nobel Laureate Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard's Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development is an understated primer that lays out the current state of the art of developmental biology, shocking the reader with just how much we know about how each one of us came to take our unique but fundamentally similar shapes.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 7 Comments •
Amphibian Disease Heats Up
Category: global warming
What do global warming and epidemic diseases have in common? Apparently they have a lot, at least when it comes to amphibians.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:55 AM • 0 Comments •
Absolutely Terrifying
Category: biology
Australia is a scary place now, with more creatures that can kill you than anywhere else. Apparently, though, it used to be even more terrifying, with "killer kangaroos" and "demon ducks of doom" roaming about.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:59 PM • 2 Comments •
Ask a ScienceBlogger: Cloning - Who Cares?
Category: Ask a ScienceBlogger
In 2006, cloning for cloning's sake isn't where it's at. Instead, the future of cloning lies in its applications to biomedical research. Today, that means, among other things, the prospect of using cloning to generate unique lines of embryonic stem cells.
Posted by Nick Anthis at 7:45 AM • 8 Comments •
