Category Archives: Biology

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- In a unanimous vote, the Board of Trustees of the Center for Infectious Disease Research (CID Research) appointed John Aitchison, professor and chief science officer, as president and director. Aitchison will amplify the world recognition of the Centers research and vision. CID Research is renowned for cutting-edge research with an impact that will increase exponentially with John, a leader who cares deeply about the humanitarian side of science along with the success of the Center and the people who work here, says Board of Trustees Chairman Irwin Goverman. We are excited about his vision for the future. Aitchison has held key leadership roles at CID Research since 2011. He is internationally recognized as a pioneer of the systems biology approach combining computational and high-throughput biology, most recently applying this to infectious disease. Aitchisons activity in the scientific community is extensive, including teaching, editorial and advisory roles with international universities, journals, research institutes and biotech companies. I am confident in Johns vision and ability to ensure our Center continues its forty-year tradition of innovation and impact in infectious disease research, says Kenneth Stuart, CID Research founder and professor. I am honored by the Boards confidence and for the opportunity … Continue reading →

Douglas Emlen University of Montana Biology Professor Doug Emlens 2014 book, Animal Weapons, The Evolution of Battle has been adapted by the BBC into a documentary starring Emlen, called Natures Wildest Weapons, Horns, Tusks and Antlers. Ive spent a lot of years trying to explain why some animals have these extraordinary weapons, Emlen said. The same conditions in all these species lead to an arms race with bigger and bigger weapons, so whether youre talking about elk, or tusks in elephants, or horns on beetles, or claws on fiddler crabs, the story comes out to be pretty much always the same. Emlen said the concepts in his book also dovetailed into another species, man. I ended up stumbling on the fact that the story is also the same in the military arms race, he said. So, the same kind of phenomena explains arms races and military technologies as for extreme weapons like antlers and tusks. Emlen said the BBC contacted him and spent a great deal of time following him around and filming his work. They wanted to put together a documentary that followed me as I try to explain these crazy extreme weapons, he continued. They came out in … Continue reading →

At the beginning of my scientific career, I was captivated by the ability of organic chemists to synthesize molecules. I soon realised, however, that the effort involved was often incredible, especially when you wanted to have control over the stereochemistry of complex molecules. Luckily for me, I also learned that there was another way to make these molecules, using Natures machinery. Nature has been synthesizing molecules and materials for billions of years, and Darwinian evolution has produced an immense array of beautiful biocatalysts (enzymes) that can assemble breathtaking structures. Scientists working in the fields of biocatalysis and synthetic biology exploit the power of these natural catalysts to find greener and easier routes for chemical synthesis. The problem is that, even though Nature has gifted us with many biocatalysts, they are not always suitable for exactly what we would like them to do. Hence, the importance of being able to engineer them, evolve their functions to match what we need. If today we are able to easily engineer enzymes in the laboratory, we owe this in large part to the work of Professor Frances Arnold: the mother of directed evolution. Prof. Arnold is an engineer and a biochemist, and a Dickinson … Continue reading →

From the clown fish to leopards, skin colour patterns in animals arise from microscopic interactions among coloured cells that obey equations discovered by the mathematician Alan Turing. Today, researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE), Switzerland, and SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics report in the journal Nature that a southwestern European lizard slowly acquires its intricate adult skin colour by changing the colour of individual skin scales using an esoteric computational system invented in 1948 by another mathematician: John von Neumann. The Swiss team shows that the 3D geometry of the lizards skin scales causes the Turing mechanism to transform into the von Neumann computing system, allowing biology-driven research to link, for the first time, the work of these two mathematical giants. Newswise A multidisciplinary team of biologists, physicists and computer scientists lead by Michel Milinkovitch, professor at the Department of Genetics and Evolution of the UNIGE Faculty of Science, Switzerland and Group Leader at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, realised that the brown juvenile ocellated lizard (Timon lepidus) gradually transforms its skin colour as it ages to reach an intricate adult labyrinthine pattern where each scale is either green or black. This observation is at odd with the … Continue reading →

The idea of sleep is supposed to evoke feelings of peace, relaxation, and refreshment, but when expert Mary Carskadon talks about teen sleep in school districts with early start times, she uses far less comfortable words. Social policy clashes with what we see from the biology, says Carskadon, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, in a release. For teens, when they have not gotten enough sleep and they have to get up too early, they are crushed in the morning. Over decades of study, Carskadon has shown that two systems that regulate sleep, circadian rhythms and sleep pressure, both change as children grow up. While they still need the same amount of sleep throughout childhoodideally 9 to 10 hoursolder kids naturally become inclined to go to sleep later (as their circadian rhythms skew later). That means they become biologically predisposed to sleep later, too, to fully relieve that sleep pressureor biological need to sleep. Yet society frequently requires that they wake early. They are incredibly sleepy from the sleep pressure, but also they have to be at school at a time when their circadian system wants them to be asleep, … Continue reading →

Google the phrase war on science and youll come up with an almost endless list of links. Yes, science by definition that most non-political of pursuits is a glowing political hot button these days, with a reported majority of scientists weighing in on one side of issues like climate change, stem cell research and creationism and Republicans and social conservatives weighing in on the other. By many accounts, scientists are in a state of alarm caused by Trump administration efforts to drastically cut funds for research of all kinds, and especially research funded by federal agencies like NASA, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health. So if there is a war on science, the time has come to march, right? Thats what many scientists, and students of science, now believe, including members of the Marine Biology Society at Northwest Missouri State University. The group, which is advised by Assistant Professor of Biology Peter Adam, will hold a local edition of the March for Science beginning at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 22. The procession will begin at the Memorial Bell Tower on the Northwest campus. Plans call for participants to walk north from the tower, east on Seventh … Continue reading →

Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News Inflammation-sensing Gut Bacteria Brought to You by Synthetic Biology Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News New research may eventually lead to orally ingestible bacteria for monitoring gut health and diseasewith the ultimate goal being the development of a home inflammation test. Listen now for more details! Read more from the original source: Inflammation-sensing Gut Bacteria Brought to You by Synthetic Biology - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News … Continue reading →

CORPUS CHRISTI - Manuel Andres Soto is proud of his heritage. The Texas A&M University-Kingsville associate professor of biology will spoke openly about the care and loving he received from his parents and extended family and bragged about his upbringing as a tool that helped shape his destiny. Soto, called Andy, is also not afraid to brag about his humble beginnings in a South Texas Colonia in the farming community of Edroy, Texas, about 40 miles from Corpus Christi heading north on I-37. A Colonia is a community that lacks some of the most basic living necessities such as potable water and sewer systems, electricity, paved roads and safe and sanitary housing, Soto explains. But, he wasnt poor. The riches he received in that Colonia allowed him to earn bachelors and masters degrees in biology from Texas A&M University-Kingsville and later a doctorate from Gulf Coast Research Laboratory at the University of Southern Mississippi. Now, Soto tells all about his experiences in a new book titled simply, Life in a South Texas Colonia. The book also features Sotos original art depicting his experiences in the Colonia. Soto explained his book and art work at a reading and book-signing event at … Continue reading →

Current Tools Traditional approaches and tools available for the risk assessment of safe and efficacious drugs have been based on measuring the parent drug in plasmaboth in animal models and humans. This often does not provide a sufficient level of information to the scientist. It is recognized that most drug targets are not in plasma, and determining the relevant tissue distribution of not only the parent drug but also its metabolites would provide much greater understanding of pharmacology and toxicology. The current best practice methods of quantitative whole body autoradiography (QWBA) and liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS) put the emphasis on tissues rather than plasma, but still fall short of providing the complete picture. Both techniques have challenges. QWBA is the technique of choice for determining drug distribution,1 and the data generated is often primarily provided in new drug regulatory submissions. The technique, however, presents a composite of the total radioactivity present and cannot distinguish parent drug from metabolite. Thus it has severe limitations for researchers looking for insight into biochemical pathways and mechanisms. LC-MS analysis is performed on extracts from tissue homogenates. This type of analysis does not elucidate any spatial information and, just as importantly, can be misleading. For … Continue reading →

Contact: Sasha Steinberg STARKVILLE, Miss.Three Mississippi State students who conducted faculty-guided research projects throughout the current school year recently took top awards at the 10th annual MSU Biological Sciences Undergraduate Research Program Symposium. Sponsored by the universitys biological sciences department, the symposium provided 22 undergraduates the opportunity to showcase research projects they conducted during the fall 2016 and spring 2017 semesters. Three of those students, as well as their respective mentors, received special awards. First-, second- and third-place winners each garnered Downer Undergraduate Research Awards that honor Professor Emeritus Donald N. Downer of Starkville, a former longtime department head. The honorees include: FIRSTAnna C. Jackson, a senior biological sciences major from Starkville. Her project Please Do Not Feed the Animals: An Analysis of the Effect of Anthropogenic Stresses on Mating Behaviors Displayed by Sister Isles Rock Iguanas was completed under the guidance of MSU Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Mark Welch. SECONDAaron W. Albee, a sophomore microbiology major from Starkville. His project Impact of Occidiofungin on Morphological Switching in C. albicans was completed under the guidance of MSU Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Donna Gordon. THIRDPeter G. Kooienga, a junior microbiology major from Ocean Springs. His project OUIWING TRUUM N.G. … Continue reading →