microbe

Physiology 2016

dr. dolittle — Fri, 05 Aug 2016 17:04:34 +0000

Physiology 2016

I am very excited to report that the American Physiological Society in partnership with the The Physiological Society held a joint meeting from July 29-31 in Dublin, Ireland. The keynote lectures were given by Dr. Jerry Friedman from Rockefeller University and Dr. W Jon Lederer from the University of Maryland.

Dr. Friedman spoke about his research on obesity and how genetic factors might play a role. In fact, his team was responsible for discovering the obesity (ob) gene in mice in 1994 and identifying the similar gene in humans. The gene encodes the now iconic hormone leptin, which is responsible for signaling the brain to lower food intake thereby preventing weight gain. When this gene is inhibited, mice become obese (see image above).

Dr. W Jon Lederer spoke about his discovery of the role of calcium signaling in the heart and its importance for maintaining a normal cardiac rhythm in addition to his more recent work understanding mitochondrial function in the heart.

Other Seminars of Interest:

Dr. Laura Bennet (University of Auckland) presented her research examining the effects of fetal exposure to low oxygen environments and infections as well as her work towards developing potential treatments or ways to identify babies at risk of such exposures. Although her lab is not studying Zika virus, research such as hers is very important in understanding and treating diseases that can affect the developing fetus.

Several other scientists spoke in a session entitled "Animal models of sleep: from 100 billion to 302 neurons." In this session, sleep physiology of c. elegans and zebrafish as well as humans was discussed. The purpose was to explore what is known about sleep physiology for animals that have fewer neurons and less complex brains than humans. Using simpler animals models allows researchers to develop common themes for understanding the mechanisms associated with sleep and may lead to new therapies for sleep disorders.

Another session focused on the physiological effects of being inactive. Physical inactivity is associated with diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Scientists in this session discussed possible ways to prevent health risks arising from physical inactivity as well as gaps in our current knowledge about the implications of physical inactivity.

Other researchers discussed how the microbes living in our gut can impact our health.

You can watch a video of the Plenary lecture presented by Dr. Bert Sakmann (Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Germany) about neural networks in the brain that was filmed during the conference. Be sure to skip forward to 7:32 minutes in the video for the start of the content.

dr. dolittle Fri, 08/05/2016 - 13:04

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Life Science

calcium

fetal development

leptin

Experimental Biology Day 4

dr. dolittle — Fri, 02 May 2014 00:06:29 +0000

Experimental Biology Day 4

Day 4 of the meeting turned out to be pretty exciting for a comparative physiologist as well.

The first session that I went to was called "RNASEQ approaches to understanding extreme physiological adaptations." Considering the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology section business and dinner meeting was the night before, I was impressed at my ability to make it to an 8:00am session the following morning.

The first seminar from Dr. Brooke C Harrison (Univ. Colorado, Boulder) was on "Extreme cardiac growth and metabolism in the Burmese python after feeding." He spoke about how the cells of the heart become larger as opposed to developing more cells after a meal. His research focused on characterizing the transcriptome (the RNA that can be translated into proteins) of the heart to determine which genes are up or downregulated with feeding that may cause this cardiac hypertrophy (growth).

Dr. Matthew Andrews (Univ. Minnesota, Duluth) gave a seminar entitled, "Genes that control hibernation in mammals," which was interesting as he spoke about how thirteen-lined ground squirrels (shown below) are "fat burning machines." His research focused on the brown adipose tissue found in these animals and how it changes with hibernation.

Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteen-lined_ground_squirrel

I also attended the Robert M. Berne Distinguished Lectureship of the APS Cardiovascular Section. This year's recipient of the award was Dr. Virend Somers, MD, PhD (Mayo Clinic). His research on the effects of sleep apnea was really interesting. He mentioned that the sympathetic nervous system of people with sleep apnea essentially runs on overdrive even while awake, which is similar to what happens in people with heart failure. He also discussed Brugada syndrome, which is a disease characterized by sudden cardiac death usually around the 4th decade in life. This part of his talk caught my attention as we lost a family member awhile back from a sudden heart attack and he was only in his 40's. These patients usually have arrhythmias while they are sleeping which may make them more prone to death from a heart attack.

Props to Dr. Somers for also mentioned sea lions in his talk, which are amazing divers that can stay underwater for 30-40 minutes without air (as mentioned in the prior post). The animals reduce their heart rate and shunt blood away from non-essential organs to protect the heart and brain.

The Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section also had their Distinguished Lectureship, the August Krogh Lectureship. This year's recipient of this prestigious award is Dr. Hannah Carey (Univ. Wisconsin, School of Vet. Med, Madison) who spoke about "Hibernation, guts, and microbes: bringing symbiosis into animal physiology." Dr. Carey gave such an inspiring talk about her journey as a scientist. She also presented work in her laboratory on characterizing the gut microbiota in hibernating animals (thirteen-lined ground squirrels). It is so fascinating to hear about how our gut microbes interact with us.

She had also mentioned that the use of antibiotics early in life is associated with increased body fat as antibiotics change the microbiota in the gut. This is why many doctors recommend taking probiotics while taking antibiotics.

dr. dolittle Thu, 05/01/2014 - 20:06

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Knowing how our brains work and how is amazing, more blogs should be done to give further understanding on this topic

What's your state microbe?

cagapakis — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:49:20 +0000

What's your state microbe?

Wisconsin lawmakers just passed a bill to name Lactobacillus lactis, the bacteria that turns milk into cheese, into its official state microbe! What microbe do you think best represents your state? I think Massachusetts' state microbe should be E. coli, not for the gross make you sick part of course, but because of the importance of the biotech industry to Massachusetts and the importance of the lowly E. coli to biotech. Add your vote for your state microbe in the comments!

cagapakis Mon, 02/01/2010 - 10:49

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Ha! I love it. California's should definitely be Ralstonia metallidurans - the bacteria that precipitates gold!

Agree-great idea! Nauvoo, IL is known for its wine and blue cheese, so even though it wouldn't necessarily count for the entire state of Illinois, I would say Penicillium roqueforti and Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

For Oregon, I suggest giardia lamblia. It's why I ran out of water hiking the North Umpqua last summer.

Alaska should definitely take Alcanivorax borkumensis. Oil consuming AND a sweet name.

Metaclorine for Califorina! Because our senate is as stupid as the Jedi order!

Have I been out of Baltimore for too long to vote Maryland's state bug as Chlamydia trachomatis?

... No, no! It's because of the science! ... I swear! ...

http://www.genomeweb.com/um-baltimore-wins-122m-chlamydia-studies

nice, It's why I ran out of water hiking the North Umpqua last summer.

RI = Mycoplasma, the only bacterium that will fit in that state.

Friday Flash Fun: Microbe Kombat

sciencepunk — Fri, 08 May 2009 04:27:19 +0000

Friday Flash Fun: Microbe Kombat

Not content with sapping our productivity with the Space Game, Armor Games have released another little science-themed gem in Microbe Kombat. The premise is simple - guide your microbe through the primordial ooze, eat proteins, and engulf smaller microbes. There are two broad strategies: keep eating protein until you're the biggest bully on the block, or keep dividing until you swarm out the enemy. Both have their pros and cons - dividing will make you and your daughter cells more vulnerable to macrophages, but many small microbes will out-compete a single large one in scavenging proteins. A delicate balance between the two is needed to win. There are also various mutations to be won - increased speed, apoptosis, growth - and viruses that will infect you and negate those bonuses.

It's fast-paced, difficult, and it took me ten minutes just to reach level four. Better mutations seem to be unlocked on later levels, so perhaps this is a game to revisit now and again to slowly progress. Otherwise this micro-management game can be even more frustrating than trying to infect Madagascar.

sciencepunk Fri, 05/08/2009 - 00:27

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You've failed to link microbe wars :(

Ha, I am full of fail. Link added.

Well, if its any consolation, I spent a good 5 minutes trying to find the link. Ended up mousing over every word just to be sure I didn't make an ass of myself.

Pandemic 2 was fun. You could make a Night of the Living Dead parasite with it :)
Not good for points but (for me) very high on the how lets have fun scale.
Necrosis, Ataxia, Insanity, Dementia (for an I am Legend you also need Hypersensitivity). Optional Hemorrhaging, Sores, cysts, Boils,

Hurray! Just spent 20 minutes on this game after following the link - and I finished all the levels. So it's worth sticking with it!

I can decide whether this is sad or awesome. On the whole, I am think i'll probably go for awesome.

And i've just tried playing it, yes it is awesome!

Game is super fun! I will play it during boring hours at work. Microbe Wars rule the game world:)

Isolated for millions of years, the microbes behind Antarctica's "Blood Falls"

sciencepunk — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 03:06:59 +0000

Isolated for millions of years, the microbes behind Antarctica's "Blood Falls"

Scientists have discovered new species of iron-breathing microbes that have lived isolated under an Antarctic glacier for millions of years. The microbes are responsible for the landmark blood-red frozen waterfall at Taylor Glacier.

Researchers theorise that the microbes were trapped by the advancing glacier which eventually sealed them inside their habitat. The microbes have persisted in an extreme environment with no light, no oxygen, extreme cold, and high salinity. They are able to survive by liberating iron from the bedrock with the aid of a sulphur catalyst .

The trapped pool is thought to lie several hundred metres below the surface of the glacier, some four kilometres from Blood Falls. Scientists have only been able to study the microbes indirectly by sampling rare trickles of effluence at the Falls.

sciencepunk Thu, 04/16/2009 - 23:06

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It's the Earthblood, I tell you!

It is the blood of Mother Nature spilling forth from the wounds inflicted upon her by man! ;-)

It's a thoroughly fascinating find. So the floors of those Antarctic valleys rose up over a million years ago, trapping a pool of fjordal seawater, which was then encapsulated by a glacier flowing over the top.

Anything and everything is possible. Next stop, Europa.

It's certainly providing an interesting option for Francis Collins' next hiking trip.