apalazzo | December 15, 2008There is a lot of fear and worry in the scientific community as it is becoming more apparent that the financial crisis is impacting University endowments and state funding of public universities. Postdocs applying for faculty positions are especially nervous.
So how will science funding look in the next few years? There are rumours circulating that the NIH will receive a huge boost as part of the stimulus package. But these are just rumors. Here is some info from Zerhouni, the current NIH director who will be stepping down in the near future:
Nature:What solution do you see to the NIH…
apalazzo | December 14, 2008Welcome 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.
I would like to start off by reminding you that today marks the beginning of the American Society for Cell Biology's annual conference in San Francisco. Although I won't be there, biowrites, the new blog over at the Journal of Cell Biology, will be covering the main events, so check it out.
Next, Charles Daney who blogs at Science and Reason writes about Non-coding RNA and gene expression. The post covers a recent publication by Kouji…
apalazzo | December 12, 2008At least Dr Prasher, the man who cloned the gene for GFP, is getting some recognition.
Boston Metro: This man gave away a Nobel Prize
apalazzo | December 11, 2008I 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…
apalazzo | December 10, 2008George Emil Palade, universally hailed as the founder of modern cell biology for his many discoveries and insights into the structure and function of eukaryotic cells, died on 7 October at the age of 95. He was pre-eminent among a small group of scientists who, in the mid-twentieth century, first used the electron microscope to study cell structure, developed and refined techniques necessary to observe cells, and introduced methods that permitted the isolation and biochemical characterization of many cell structures.
...
Palade was a formidable scientist and a rigorous scholar. He was a man…
apalazzo | December 9, 2008I don't have much time today so I'll tell you a quick story and give you a collection of links.
Harvard's big endowment loss has been the main topic of conversation around the campus for the past week. For example, last Friday, my wife and I were fortunate to get two tickets to see the Emerson Quartet perform at the NEC. Next to us one of our companions for the night, a professor who gave us his extra tickets, was joking about how Harvard could save money by firing certain individuals and turning the Harvard owned Alston property into a theme park. At that moment a lady sitting right in front…
apalazzo | December 8, 2008Send in your entries before the weekend using this form or by emailing me directly.
You can visit the MCB Carnival homepage by clicking on the badge/button:
apalazzo | December 7, 2008Here is some info:
The world acclaimed chef of El Bulli, Ferran Adria, will discuss the fascinating relationship between modern science and modern cuisine.
Adrià , called by Gourmet "the Salvador Dalà of the kitchen," will trace the birth of molecular gastronomy, manipulating the physical and chemical processes of cooking, and then discuss his own adventures in what he calls "molecular cooking."
In particular, he will explore the use of hydrocolloids, or "gums" that enable a delicate fruit puree to be transformed into a dense gel, and deconstruct techniques like sferificacion, creating a…
apalazzo | December 5, 2008CNN, like most other MSM outfits have been sacrificing reporters, foreign correspondents in favor of pundits (aka political operatives), fancy gizmos (verging on a reenactment of Star Wars) and fluff. The canceling of their science journalism department is just the latest decision that underscores the decay of private-sponsored journalism in this country. Is it the MSM's fault or does it say something about the whims and wishes of the general public?
Sad. PZ says it best.
apalazzo | December 3, 2008First 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…
apalazzo | December 3, 2008I 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…
apalazzo | December 2, 2008Recently 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?
Well in our cells, DNA is wrapped around highly conserved…
apalazzo | November 28, 2008Our Seed Overlords alerted us bloggers to this group, and thought I would pass on the information to you.
The Research Cooperative, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring together researchers, science writers, research editors, translators and publishers.
Need someone to translate your manuscript? or just a proofreader? Want to write a book and need an agent? Or need some help with an illustration? Then this is the site for you.
Visit the Research Cooperative at http://cooperative.ning.com/. And don't forget to register and create your own profile, here's mine.
apalazzo | November 26, 2008The Journal of Cell Biology is one of my usual reads. Recently they've been adding extra features to their site that I really appreciate. A few months back they started a podcast, Biobytes, and now recently they have launched Biosights, a series of on online videos about research published in JCB.
Incidentally the first clip from Biosights is on Allan Hall's latest paper describing how Cdc42, one of the coolest G-proteins in the cell, controls the axis of the mitotic spindle. (Yes Polarity - that same topic that I was telling you about a couple of days back.)
Here is the first eddition of…
apalazzo | November 25, 2008Scienceblogs launched a new blog featuring a few of the Scienceblog regulars and a few new bloggers including Hsien-Hsien Lei, whom you might recognize as the master mind behind Eye on DNA.
The focus of this group effort is to discuss recent developements in 4 research areas: stem cells, cloning, biodefense, and genetically modified organisms.
apalazzo | November 25, 2008Incredible video of a falling meteor as seen from Edmonton:
The meteor eventually crashed near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Here another video from the CBC and AP:
From CTV:
Hundreds of residents of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba reported seeing the bright light, which was also captured on security cameras.
The stunning images show the sky light up as a bright point of light blazes into view, then disappears over the horizon.
Paul Delaney, an astronomer from York University, said the object was a meteor that was "cruising through the upper atmosphere, giving us a wonderful…
apalazzo | November 25, 2008If you like to tinker you might think that the career for you would be engineering, computer science or even an academic career in the physical sciences. However one option that may have not crossed your mind if the life sciences. Every day in the lab we try to dream up of innovative ways inorder to tease apart the molecular components of life, whether it be "bucket biochemistry", microinjecting cells, or constructing new genes inorder to test our current hypothesis. We tinker with life.
So what type of activities do we enjoy we don't play around in the lab? Well the following video was taken…
apalazzo | November 24, 2008I love the classics - be it Greek plays, Roman history, all of the great myths or all of the ancient philosophers that lie at the base of our western civilization. (Weren't those Atomists so prescient?) And yes, I also managed to marry a classics major. That's why I thank the FSM that I live in an age where you can obtain all this information for free and downloadable onto your iPod.
So what's out there?
Well a few months back I was in despair (along with hundreds of others) about the apparent downfall of the History of Rome Podcast. Well over the weekend Mike Duncan, just like Cincinnatus,…
apalazzo | November 23, 2008Awesome. This is the type of video that got me hooked on biology.
A Sea Biscuit's Life from Bruno Vellutini on Vimeo.
From Bruno's Vimeo page:
This video shows the life cycle of the sea biscuit Clypeaster subdepressus and is part of my master's thesis project at the Biosciences Institute of University of São Paulo.
We collected adults from sand beds of São Sebastião Channel (São Sebastião, SP, Brazil) and induced gamete release (eggs and sperm). We did the fertilization in vitro and followed the embryonic development in the laboratory, under light microscopy. Embryos become swimming…
apalazzo | November 22, 2008I just discovered this great resource - iBioSeminars. It's a web based resource where you can watch some of the most important Cell Biologists give talks on basic research.
The website was the brainchild of Ron Vale. From the latest HHMI bulletin:
Vale, of the University of California, San Francisco, also wants to illuminate the colorful side of science, though not quite as literally. His approach: online seminars that reveal scientific fact as well as the not-necessarily smooth process of discovery, the links between fields, and the more personal side of science.
One of the inspirations…