AQA Additional Science Biology Diffusion Video 2 for Mrs W's course. Watch, make notes and do the quiz before the deadline. By: Emma Wilkinson … Continue reading →

An Intro to Yale's Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology (PEB) This is a brief overview of Yale's Integrated Graduate Program in Physical and Engineering Biology, also called PEB. By: Yale PEB … Continue reading →

Michael Jewett - Establishing cell free biology for the production of therapeutics, materials, and c Watch on LabRoots at http://labroots.com/user/webinars/details/id/315 Imagine a world in which we could adapt biology to manufacture any therapeutic, material, or chemical from renewable resources,... By: LabRoots … Continue reading →

A Touch of Cloth 3 - Chemistry, Biology a scene from A Touch of Cloth s03e02 after Natasha was''murdered'' By: alice storm … Continue reading →

Peter Godfrey-SmithsPhilosophy of Biology (Princeton University Press), may not sound like the kind of book even science enthusiasts want to crack open for pleasure, but its a great way to get up to speed on all the issues that working biologists love to debate amongst themselves. Godfrey-Smith is a professor in the Philosophy Program at City University of New York. His more academic books include, Darwinian Populations and Natural Selection (Oxford University Press), and Theory and Reality: An Introduction to the Philosophy of Science (University of Chicago Press). His main areas of interest include the philosophy of mind and pragmatism. In just 200 pages, Philosophy of Biology includes short, succinct chapters on mechanisms and models, natural selection, genes, adaptation and function, species and the Tree of Life, evolution and social behavior, and information. But as I mentioned in my last post, the question for many science geeks is: why even bother with a book on philosophy at alllet alone the philosophy of science? What good is it? So, I asked Scott Carson, an associate professor of philosophy at Ohio State University, what he tells his students at the start of each semester. Carsons main areas of interest are the history … Continue reading →

Researchers at the Department of Biology at Maynooth University have made a significant breakthrough in the study of the human pathogenic fungus, Aspergillus fumigatus. The fungus, which severely affects some cancer patients, produces a toxic molecule, gliotoxin. The toxin causes disease in immune-compromised patients such as cancer sufferers and is also a major issue in food safety. The researchers had previously discovered that the toxin actually damages the fungus itself, but that the production of the toxin stimulates repeat production (a positive feedback loop). The scientists have now discovered that a new molecule (GtmA) shuts down the mechanism causing the repeat production. This type of molecular off-switch has never been seen before in biology, and may form the basis of a therapy to treat aspergillus infection in patients. Discussing the breakthrough, Professor Sean Doyle, Department of Biology, Maynooth University, said he believed the breakthrough could form the basis of treatment for patients in the future. This is a major breakthrough because if we can discover exactly how toxin production is switched off in one fungal species, this will provide insights into how we can do it in other human, animal and plant disease-causing fungi. This might form the basis of … Continue reading →