Category Archives: Biology

MUN BIOLOGY MUN BIOLOGY. By: MUN BIOLOGY … Continue reading →

Crowdfunding for Synthetic Biology Lab Are you a science enthusiast or bitcoin enthusiast or both, help me set up a laboratory of Synthetic Biology funded 100% with bitcoins! For donations 12XrUoP8H27G98rDrD7kPowXQxwyQpKTev. By: Cientista Zueiro … Continue reading →

Shadows of the Forest - Biology of Woodland Caribou Shadows of the Forest was created by the Manitoba Model Forest. This short excerpt covers the biology of Woodland caribou and what has contributed to their threatened status. By: Caribou Patrol … Continue reading →

Contact Information Available for logged-in reporters only Newswise The Venus Flytrap is a fascinating plant with two leaf jaws that sense when an insect approaches and quickly snap shut, trapping the insect for a meal. The carnivorous plant is one of natures clearest examples of biology and mechanics working together to sustain life. Four doctoral students at Washington University in St. Louis will have the opportunity to take a closer look at this intersection under a five-year, $921,040 grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. Philip V. Bayly, PhD, the Lilyan and E. Lisle Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering and chair of the Department of Mechanical Engineering & Materials Science, will lead the grant to train four doctoral students in mechanobiology, a developing field that focuses on how forces and changes in cell or tissue mechanical properties contribute to growth, structure and health. More than 25 faculty members from across the university will serve as mentors to the four students. This training grant is unique because we have pure biologists from the Department of Biology, as well as biologists in the School of Medicine who apply biology to medicine, Bayly says. … Continue reading →

Computational Biology using Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi In this video from ISC'14, Christian Blau from the Max Planck Institute and Greg Johnson from Intel describe their demonstration of Computational Biology using Intel Xeon and Intel Xeon Phi. By: RichReport … Continue reading →

Bone Shapes - Drawn and Defined Bone shapes - drawn, defined and discussed! The Human Body is a complex, amazing biological machine.'Human Biology Explained' is a YouTube video series that uses simple drawings to illustrate,... By: Human Biology Explained … Continue reading →

Eric Alm, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology The human microbiome in heath and disease Eric Alm, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology Systems Biology the Microbiome | April 15 16, 2012 Institute for Systems Biology Presents... By: Institute Systems Biology … Continue reading →

Session 4: Systems Biology Health (Panel Discussion) Session 4: Systems Biology Health (Panel Discussion) - Session Chair: Eric Alm, PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology - Peter Turnbaugh, PhD, Harvard FAS Center for Systems Biology -... By: Institute Systems Biology … Continue reading →

See Inside A subterranean species that seems to be cancer-proof is providing promising clues on how we might prevent the disease in humans The naked mole rat has been extensively studied, but no cancer has ever been spotted in this species. PHOTOTAKE/ALAMY There is a lot not to envy about the life of the naked mole rat: imagine passing your days in a stuffy, pitch-black system of tunnels two or three metres underground with 100 of your closest relatives. But there is one thing that humans might covet: as far as anyone knows, the animal never gets cancer. Native to the Horn of Africa, this small rodent (Heterocephalus glaber) is neither a mole nor a rat; it is actually more closely related to porcupines and guinea pigs. The animal's pale-pink, wrinkled skin is nearly hairless, the better to slip through those narrow burrows. But there is yet another more compelling fact: in all the thousands of naked mole rats that have lived and died in research labs and zoos over the past several decades, not a single instance of spontaneous cancer has been recorded1. So far, the animal provides little more than a footnote to the vast body of cancer … Continue reading →

2 hours ago Every high school biology student knows the structure of DNA is a double helix, but after DNA is converted into RNA, parts of RNA also commonly fold into the same spiral staircase shape. In a literal scientific twist, researchers are finding examples of a third strand that wraps itself around RNA like a snake, a structure rarely found in nature. Researchers recently have discovered evidence of a triple helix forming at the end of MALAT1, a strand of RNA that does not code for proteins. Yale postdoctoral fellow Jessica Brown and her colleagues working in the labs of Joan A. Steitz and Thomas A. Steitz describe the bonds that maintain the structure of a rare triple helix. This extra strand of RNA, which is seen in the accompanying movie, prevents degradation of MALAT1. The formation of a triple helix explains how MALAT1 accumulates to very high levels in cancer cells, allowing MALAT1 to promote metastasis of lung cancer and likely other cancers. The work is published in the journal Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. Explore further: DNA double helix measurements More information: "Structural insights into the stabilization of MALAT1 noncoding RNA by a bipartite triple helix." Jessica … Continue reading →