DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "Structural Biology & Molecular Modeling Techniques Market Analysis By Tools, By Application And Segment Forecasts 2014 - 2025" report to their offering. The structural biology & molecular modeling techniques market is expected to reach USD 13.1 billion by 2025 An unprecedented rise in the adoption of unhealthy lifestyles has led to an upsurge in the prevalence of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and cancer, which is presumed to propel the structural biology & molecular modeling techniques market during the forecast period. Moreover, increasing drug resistance coupled with the high drug attrition rate is engendering the requirement for extensive R&D activities, which is presumed to boost the adoption of structural biology & molecular modeling techniques in the drug discovery and development process. This is expected to serve as an efficient approach in fast tracking the development of drugs with high potency. The heightening demand for molecular modeling techniques is predominantly attributable to the significant cost reduction enabled. This is due to the fact that prediction software identifies possible adverse reactions and determines drug efficacy and toxicity in the pre-clinical stages, thereby reducing the probability of drug failure at the later stages. … Continue reading →

Research from a creek bed teaches E-town Biology students about invasives March 2, 2017 // By: E.A. Harvey // Achievements, Research and Academics Orconectes rusticus is not welcome here. Its aggressive, overproduces and upsets the balance of Lancaster County aquaculture. Native to the Ohio River basin and Kentucky, this invasive crayfish species, known for its larger claws and red body dot, wreaks havoc with native populations along the East Coast and in Europe. Rusty likely arrived in the 1960s, sloshing around in bait buckets. When they jumped the hook or unused bait was dumped, they set about reproducing. One female can carry 100 fertilized eggs. Rusty now inhabits the locales in Europe, the Great Lakes Region, areas in New England and spots along the U.S. eastern coast including the nearby Conewago Creek, where Elizabethtown College students, armed with nets and quick hands scoop them up as study subjects. In Pennsylvania, everyone seems to have picked up a crayfish, said Anya Goldina, visiting assistant professor of biology. The students actually taught me how to find them and pick them up. Goldinas students study these freshwater crustaceans for several reasons, not least of which is to track their use of pheromoneschemicals that … Continue reading →

Over the weekend, headlines out of Texas told of a transgender boy, Mack Beggs, who won a high-school state championship in the girls wrestling division. To clarify the opening sentence, let me rewrite it: A biological female taking testosterone injections to transition from female to male overpowered competitors to rack up a 560 season record and then went on to win a state championship against other girls who were not taking strength-enhancing hormones. Texas law rightfully requires individuals to compete in divisions based on the gender indicated on their birth certificate. In normal times, such a regulation would be uncontroversial. But we are not living in normal times. We are living in an era when political correctness demands that society accept, wholesale, the patent falsehood that men or boys who declare themselves to be women or girls (and vice versa) can actually be members of the opposite sex, simply based on how they interpret their own gender. Several aspects of this story raise questions. What would happen, for instance, were Beggs to face off against biological males? In that scenario, Beggs would be fighting opponents who, based on biology alone, were likely to be stronger than virtually any girl, and … Continue reading →

Fossils have plenty of stories to tell about the deep past, providing a picture of life on Earth thousands, millions and even billions of years ago. Edward Davis of the UO Museum of Natural and Cultural History will tell you that fossils are key to understanding the future particularly for managing wildlands. Davis, along with Stanford Universitys Anthony Barnosky and an international team of researchers, suggested in a review paper published in the Feb. 10 issue of the journal Science that effective conservation strategies must look to the fossil record to maintain vibrant ecosystems in the present and future. The more scientists consider past changes, the authors argued, the better they can forecast how species will respond to coming changes and how people can foster their survival. In our current context of rapid climate change, conservation efforts need to focus on enhancing the resiliency of ecosystems something we can do most effectively by preserving the processes that govern wild spaces, Davis said. The fossil record provides an important guide to those processes, which in many cases have characterized ecosystems for millions of years, regardless of the species involved. The Science paper grew out of a 2015 meeting hosted by the … Continue reading →

Clark University doctoral candidate Melishia Santiago grew up with palm trees and warm weather near sunny Atlantic beaches in Florida and Puerto Rico before coming north to Massachusetts for college. Now, she spends her time thinking about ice, specifically how climate change impacts sea-ice extent in the western Arctic Ocean. The study area for Santiago's project is in the Bering, Chukchi and western Beaufort seas. The dark blue markings indicate the sampling stations for the NSF Arctic Observing Network Distributed Biological Observatory program. Santiago is researching the effects of sea-ice extent, or how much of a given space is considered ice covered, on the biology and biogeochemistry in the ocean water column in the Bering, Chukchi and western Beaufort seas of the Pacific Arctic Region along Alaskas coast. Shes looking at how a material called colored or chromophoric dissolved organic matter (CDOM) distribution is impacting sea-ice extent. In the Arctic Ocean, dissolved organic matter results from the decay of phytoplankton, or microscopic marine plants, by photosynthesis on ocean surface waters or when land-derived organic matter is transported by rivers to coastal areas. CDOM, the fraction of dissolved organic matter you can see in natural waters, absorbs light and affects heating … Continue reading →