Biochemists have seen the light in developing a new way to control biology at the cellular level. Researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a tool called a photocleavable protein that breaks into two pieces when exposed to light, allowing scientists to study and manipulate activity inside cells in new and different ways. The scientists first used the photocleavable protein to link cellular proteins to inhibitors in a process known as caging, preventing the cellular proteins from performing their usual function. "By shining light into the cell, we can cause the photocleavable protein to break, removing the inhibitor and uncaging the protein within the cell," lead author Robert Campbell, professor in the Department of Chemistry, said in a statement. Once the protein is uncaged, it can begin to perform its normal function inside the cell. The tool is relatively easy to use and widely applicable for other research that involves controlling processes inside a cell. According to Campbell, the power of light-sensitive proteins is that they can be used to study the inner workings of any living cell. For example, ontogenetic tools are widely used to activate brain activity in mice. "We could use the photocleavable protein to study … Continue reading →

CAPE MAY COURT HOUSE Soil biology is important to plant growth, participants learned during a Wednesday, March 1 gardening by the seasons presentation by Linda Conover, Rutgers master gardener. During the presentation, participants learned how soil biology relates to plant health and how to improve their garden by improving their soil. Additionally, Rutgers master gardeners helped identify the participants' soil. The next workshop in the gardening by the seasons series is Herbs: Folklore, Uses and Cultivation, planned from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 27 at Rutgers Cooperative Extension, 355 Courthouse - South Dennis Road, Cape May Court House. Jennifer Matthews, owner of Stone Circle Farm, will present a program that demonstrates the historic importance of herbs, how to grow herbs in a garden, how to preserve herbs, and the culinary and home uses for herbs. Workshop cost is $25 and includes dinner. For more information, call 609-465-5115, ext.607. See the original post: Gardening program shows importance of soil biology - Shore News Today … Continue reading →

In the biological sciences we seem obsessed with simple solutions and questions directed towards simple answers and neat headlines. However, biological systems are complex. Can we really expect to gain simple solutions and are we as humans even capable of fully understanding them? Here to explore this topic is guest blogger Ferdi L. Hellweger. Ferdi L. Hellweger 16 Mar 2017 Are biological systems too complex for the human brain? Pixabay The biological sciences are experiencing rapid change, including omics-scale experimental; observational and computational tools; and the migration from a reductionists to a holistic approach (systems biology). However, one thing that remains constant is that we still seek simple explanations of complex systems. We continue to operate under the assumption that the final product of our work the understanding of the system behavior is something our brains can grasp, and we can convey in a paper or discussion. Our inability to make predictions for real systems like lake ecology or human health lays bare the limitation of this approach. Other people, from car mechanics to climate scientists, have learned to delegate understanding to computers. If the goal is to make predictions of complex system behavior, biologists will have to follow suite. … Continue reading →

Researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a new method of controlling biology at the cellular level using light. The tool -- called a photocleavable protein -- breaks into two pieces when exposed to light, allowing scientists to study and manipulate activity inside cells in new and different ways. First, scientists use the photocleavable protein to link cellular proteins to inhibitors, preventing the cellular proteins from performing their usual function. This process is known as caging. "By shining light into the cell, we can cause the photocleavable protein to break, removing the inhibitor and uncaging the protein within the cell," said lead author Robert Campbell, professor in the Department of Chemistry. Once the protein is uncaged, it can start to perform its normal function inside the cell. The tool is relatively easy to use and widely applicable for other research that involves controlling processes inside a cell. The power of light-sensitive proteins, Campbell explained, is that they can be used to study the inner workings of any living cell. For example, optogenetic tools are widely used to activate brain activity in mice. "We could use the photocleavable protein to study single bacteria, yeast, human cells in the lab or … Continue reading →

Coined by African American women in 1994, the phrase reproductive justice aimed to challenge how inequality shapes peoples decisionmaking about childbearing and parenting. By making visible the web of apparently disparate policies that together form a totalizing system of containment, those of us who framed this phrase expanded the meaning of population control to recognize practices thatregardless of intentlimit reproductive options for women of color, indigenous people, immigrants, and other marginalized communities. Nonbiological public policies that have an economic impact, particularly on vulnerable women, are rarely explored in the over-simplified debates on abortion. In contrast, the reproductive justice framework highlights economic reproductive oppression. As this framework has grown in popularity and use, analysts have used reproductive justice standards to offer strong policy proposals for integrating progressive values into public health policies. Heidi Williamson, Kate Bahn, and Jamila Taylor at the Center for American Progress, for example, do just that in their new 2017 report, The Pillars of Equity: A Vision for Economic Security and Reproductive Justice. Reproductive justice is about three interconnected sets of human rights: 1) the right to have children; 2) the right not to have children; and 3) the right to parent children in safe and healthy … Continue reading →