Category Archives: Biology

Big visions for cell biology prompted Paul Allen to launch the Allen Institute for Cell Science, and new director Rick Horwitz explains its new way of seeing cells. Cell biologist Rick Horwitz will be the first director of the Allen Institute of Cell Science in Seattle, moving from his faculty job at the University of Virginia. We have not been seeing cells as they really are, says Rick Horwitz, and it is time for that to change. Traditional laboratories focus on one or two aspects of cells, and not on the way the hundreds of different pieces of molecular machinery within the cell affect one another. To improve that perspective, Horwitz is leaving his cell biology lab at the University of Virginia to become the inaugural director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle. The enterprise is being started today with a gift of $100 million from philanthropist Paul Allen, and will join the Allen Institute for Brain Science. Horwitz says the institute will kick off a large project, the Allen Cell Observatory, creating animated models of cells combined with an enormous database of cell parts that allows users to zoom into the genes and proteins that make … Continue reading →

Big visions for cell biology prompted Paul Allen to launch the Allen Institute for Cell Science, and new director Rick Horwitz explains its new way of seeing cells. Cell biologist Rick Horwitz will be the first director of the Allen Institute of Cell Science in Seattle, moving from his faculty job at the University of Virginia. We have not been seeing cells as they really are, says Rick Horwitz, and it is time for that to change. Traditional laboratories focus on one or two aspects of cells, and not on the way the hundreds of different pieces of molecular machinery within the cell affect one another. To improve that perspective, Horwitz is leaving his cell biology lab at the University of Virginia to become the inaugural director of the Allen Institute for Cell Science in Seattle. The enterprise is being started today with a gift of $100 million from philanthropist Paul Allen, and will join the Allen Institute for Brain Science. Horwitz says the institute will kick off a large project, the Allen Cell Observatory, creating animated models of cells combined with an enormous database of cell parts that allows users to zoom into the genes and proteins that make … Continue reading →

Allen Institute Paul Allens latest philanthropic endeavour will be modelled on his successful brain institute. Billionaire businessman and philanthropist Paul Allen plans to pump US$100million into investigating the most basic unit of life the cell. The Allen Institute for Cell Science, which was launched on 8 December, will be modelled on the Microsoft co-founders Allen Institute for Brain Science in Seattle, Washington, which since 2003 has spent hundreds of millions of dollars creating a series of brain atlases that have become go-to portals for neuroscientists interested in where particular genes are active or how distant neurons communicate. As its first project, the latest Allen institute will develop an analogous cell observatory that will display how a cells working parts, such as ribosomes, microtubules and mitochondria, interact and operate over time, says executive director Rick Horwitz. He has shuttered his cell-biology laboratory at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville to lead the institute, also in Seattle, Washington. It will take a global view of the myriad activities inside cells. The 70 or so scientific staff who will join the institute will work together on the overall goals of the observatory rather than on their own interests. Its going to be much … Continue reading →

Published December 08, 2014 Given more information about the biology of a mental disorder, doctors and therapists react with less empathy for the patient, a new study finds. The study didn't involve real patients - only short descriptions of fictional cases. Still, it found that psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers expressed less empathy for patients with conditions explained as biological rather than psychological. The findings challenge the notion that biological explanations of mental illness boost compassion for millions of Americans who suffer from psychological conditions. Our study demonstrates an example of the downside of the trend toward increasingly biological conceptualizations of mental health, lead author Matthew Lebowitz told Reuters Health. Overemphasizing this idea that people with mental disorders have something fundamentally wrong with their brains can be dehumanizing, he said. Lebowitz, a psychology graduate student at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, and his colleagues asked 343 U.S. clinicians to read fictional stories about mental health patients paired with explanations based wholly or partly on either genetics and neurobiology, or on childhood experiences and stressful life circumstances. The vignettes described people with social phobias, schizophrenia, depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. In one, for example, the biological explanation for a college students … Continue reading →

Digital Biology and Open Science: the Coming Revolution | Stephen Larson | TEDxVienna This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. What if we could better understand all of life by playing with virtual replicas inside computers the... By: TEDx Talks … Continue reading →

Born Master( Black Biology Tuesdays): "The melanin dominant individual" During a Civilization class at Allah School in Mecca, Born Master builds on the toxic environment that melanin dominant people have to survive in. By: Allah's School in Mecca … Continue reading →

Pioneer of DNA Fingerprinting in the country, Lalji Singh headed the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), and later moved to the Banaras Hindu University (BHU) as the Vice-Chancellor. After completing his three-year term with BHU, he is back in the city to pursue his interest and passion in science by setting up the Genome Foundation. Universities in the country have to change, improve infrastructure and adopt global style else they face the risk of slipping into oblivion, Dr. Lalji Singh tells T. Lalith Singh, in an interview with The Hindu. How was your experience heading BHU? Banaras Hindu University was my alma mater. I call it a university for the talented poor. I did my B.Sc. and M.Sc. free of cost there, and when I was asked to serve as the V-C, I took it as an opportunity to give back whatever I can. The institution made me what I am today. What are the issues faced by our universities? The threat for universities in the country is real. Some private universities are really good with appropriate infrastructure and teaching standards, but they do not have research. Our varsities, mainly the State-run ones, are in a bad shape. … Continue reading →

Steven Pinker on How the Mind Works: Cognitive Science, Evolutionary Biology (1997) How the Mind Works is a 1997 book by Canadian-American cognitive scientist Steven Pinker. The book attempts to explain some of the human mind's poorly unders... By: Remember This … Continue reading →

The Career-Focused Biology Program at Clarkson University Clarkson University makes careers a priority for biology majors. It's about the return on your investment. You want your education to pay off in four years w... By: Clarkson University … Continue reading →

A Closer Look At The Biology Of Body Art Catalyst: Tattoos Tattoos are trending across the world Subscribe to Journeyman for daily uploads: http://www.youtube.com/journeymanpictures. Go to the Journeyman Science playlist: https://www... By: Journeyman Pictures … Continue reading →