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Sandra Porter

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March 15, 2009
"Digital biology," as I use the phrase, refers to the idea of using digital information for doing biology. This digital information comes from multiple sources such as DNA sequences, protein sequences, DNA hybridization, molecular structures, analytical chemistry, biomarkers, images, GIS, and…
March 4, 2009
A friend of mine; serial entrepreneur, and former president of Genetic Systems; Joe Ashley, told me once that starting a business is an unnatural act. Now that I've done it, I agree. Even with my multiple back-up plans, possible grants, and part-time activities, my stomach still hurts and my…
February 9, 2009
Have you ever wondered how to find things in the NCBI databases? Maybe you tried to find something but didn't know how it was spelled. Or maybe you tried to use a common name like "pig" or "deer" to find information in a database, not knowing that all the organism names are in Latin. Or perhaps…
February 4, 2009
The auditorium could have been empty as I focused on the slide overhead. Questions formed out the mist, and my heart pounded as I took a deep breath and began to my raise my hand. "Da da da dah!  Da da da dah, da da da da da da da dah!!"  Oh, NO!  The theme song from Indiana Jones!  Coming…
February 2, 2009
A long-sought goal in genetics has been to develop therapies that can use correctly functioning genes to replace genes with defects. If we had the technology to predictably modify our genomes, we would have the ability to cure many diseases instead of having to place people on medications for…
January 19, 2009
One of the newfangled ideas that's popped up in education in the past few years has been notion that more interactive methods of teaching will lead to better results. There's an appealing logic to this notion. Figure 1. A traditional lecture may not be the ideal way to transfer information…
January 13, 2009
Since I'm an adjunct faculty member at a couple of community colleges, I'm able to delete most of my e-mail with barely a glance. But this one made my jaw drop! Dear Educators: Alliance Library System and LearningTimes are pleased to announce an exciting conference featuring science and virtual…
January 12, 2009
The 2009 Summer Research Experience for Undergraduates in Environmental Microbiology at UNLV is now accepting applications. This NSF supported program provides undergraduates with an opportunity to perform independent research under the guidance of a faculty mentor. Students will collaborate with…
January 12, 2009
On a quiet corner in Seattle's Pioneer Square, in the former Cadillac Hotel, sits the Klondike Gold Rush national park. Inside the park, are photographs and exhibits to help visitors learn about the Klondike gold rush of 1987 and the role Seattle played in outfitting the stampeders. Figure 1.…
January 9, 2009
The HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology is a non-profit organization that opened it's doors in April, 2008. One of the great things about this institute is it's commitment to sharing biotech knowledge with the surrounding community. For the general public, HudsonAlpha has a ongoing written…
January 8, 2009
AIDS, to me, is such a scary horrible disease that it seems that all of us would naturally support a cure and work together stop it from spreading. I even forced my family to watch a movie on AIDS over the holidays. (And the Band Played On, based on a book with same title by Randy Shilts, who…
January 8, 2009
My husband brought this fantastic book home from the ASHG* that I think many of you will find interesting. The book is: Making the Right Moves A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty, published in 2006 by the Burroughs Wellcome Fund and the Howard Hughes Medical…
January 7, 2009
Teachertube looks and works much like YouTube, but you're much less likely to run across videos that Not Safe For the Classroom. All of these videos are made by students and teachers. According to the Dallas News, there are 54,000 videos on the site already and 800,00 visitors every day. I…
January 7, 2009
Last fall, this blog got nominated for the 2008 Edublog awards, in the Best resource sharing category. I was a bit distracted in December so this information came and passed without any acknowledgement. Now, I would like to thank whoever nominated Discovering Biology in a Digital World. I'm…
January 7, 2009
I don't know if any DIY biologists are looking for projects, but I think engineering yeast with a gene to detect heavy metals might be a good DIY biology project and I have some ideas for how to do this. What are the advantages of using yeast and working on this kind of problem? This could have a…
January 6, 2009
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…
January 6, 2009
Science education faculty don't get no respect At least that's a strong conclusion from a paper in the December 19th issue of Science (1). According to the article almost 40% of the 59 science education specialists, surveyed in the California University system, were "seriously considering leaving…
January 5, 2009
Some of the things that are attracting people to DIY biology are: the idea of doing science with others for fun the possibility of doing something that might be beneficial to society being part of larger movement All of those notions appeal to me and since I've been involved with biotech for many…
January 4, 2009
My oldest daughter's favorite sweatshirt is one from the Seattle Children's Theatre Drama School, with the motto, "What's your motivation?" I was reminded of motivation the other day, as I talked about projects with the DIY biology group. It's pretty clear that you can't pick a project without…
January 3, 2009
This afternoon, I attended the first meeting of a DIY biology group in Seattle, after a kind invitation from one of the founders.   DIY, for those of you new to the acronym, stands for "Do It Yourself."   But, you say, there are lots of people who do biology on their own. Some people keep pets.…
January 2, 2009
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…
January 2, 2009
Mosquito-borne diseases, like Dengue and Malaria, are serious problems in many parts of the world. While some people are working on treatments for mosquito-carried disease, others are looking at ways to treat the mosquitoes. Figure 1. Image of Aedes aegypti from the Public Health Library tags…
January 1, 2009
I made this video last night with a Flip Cam Mino. There are some kind of wild trippy effects. Sometimes it even looks like there's popcorn shooting out the top of the space needle. It was sure fun! Happy New Year everyone! technorati tags: fireworks, Seattle, New Year's Eve, Space Needle
January 1, 2009
The other day, one of my commenters stated that "a well-informed sixth-grader should be able to distinguish between MRSA and E. coli". Here's a nutrient agar plate with some of the bacteria that we isolated from a local creek last fall. We identified our bacteria by sequencing the 16S ribosomal…
December 29, 2008
Cloning the gene for green fluorescent protein is fun. Lots of fun. Cloners have put the GFP gene into rabbits, plants, cats, fish, and worms, and made mutants that code for proteins in every color of the fluorescent rainbow. Teachers like GFP so much that every year, high school students…
November 30, 2008
Getting kids involved in science, outside of the classroom. A conversation with a friend last night reminded me of some posts I wrote earlier about helping scientists connect to programs for helping students. My friend, as a parent, approached this idea, of connecting scientists with students, from…
November 30, 2008
The grocery store magazine covers all say that home made gifts are big this year. So I thought, some of you might like to channel your inner Martha Stewart and make gifts with a science theme. Reposted in honor of the holiday and the economy. I'm here to help to you make a merry mug with one of…
November 29, 2008
It's a long, long, weekend; perfect for going outside and doing a few loud, messy experiments. Cooking-intensive holidays always remind me how much fun it is to do a bit of chemistry, especially when it comes to food. If you watched the video that I posted on Thanksgiving, you've probably been…
November 28, 2008
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…
November 28, 2008
Would you recognize your leftovers when they're magnified? Would you know turkey if you saw it at 40X? Make a guess and click an image to see the answer. Reposted from DigitalBio's greatest hit collection technorati tags: Thanksgiving, food science, microscopy Copyright Sandra…