apalazzo
Posts by this author
December 15, 2008
There is a lot of fear and worry in the scientific community as it is becoming more apparent that the financial crisis is impacting University endowments and state funding of public universities. Postdocs applying for faculty positions are especially nervous.
So how will science funding look in the…
December 14, 2008
Welcome to the December 14, 2008 edition of the Molecular and Cell Biology Carnival.
Below the fold, we have a great compilation of entries to share with you.
I would like to start off by reminding you that today marks the beginning of the American Society for Cell Biology's annual conference in…
December 12, 2008
At least Dr Prasher, the man who cloned the gene for GFP, is getting some recognition.
Boston Metro: This man gave away a Nobel Prize
December 11, 2008
I just read this fascinating theory that was fully explained in a review that appeared in the latest issue of Cell. This theory connects the origin of cell polarity with aging and it suggests that the centrosome may carry genetic information. Today I'll focus on the first deep connection polarity…
December 10, 2008
George Emil Palade, universally hailed as the founder of modern cell biology for his many discoveries and insights into the structure and function of eukaryotic cells, died on 7 October at the age of 95. He was pre-eminent among a small group of scientists who, in the mid-twentieth century, first…
December 9, 2008
I don't have much time today so I'll tell you a quick story and give you a collection of links.
Harvard's big endowment loss has been the main topic of conversation around the campus for the past week. For example, last Friday, my wife and I were fortunate to get two tickets to see the Emerson…
December 8, 2008
Send in your entries before the weekend using this form or by emailing me directly.
You can visit the MCB Carnival homepage by clicking on the badge/button:
December 7, 2008
Here is some info:
The world acclaimed chef of El Bulli, Ferran Adria, will discuss the fascinating relationship between modern science and modern cuisine.
Adrià , called by Gourmet "the Salvador Dalà of the kitchen," will trace the birth of molecular gastronomy, manipulating the physical and…
December 5, 2008
CNN, like most other MSM outfits have been sacrificing reporters, foreign correspondents in favor of pundits (aka political operatives), fancy gizmos (verging on a reenactment of Star Wars) and fluff. The canceling of their science journalism department is just the latest decision that underscores…
December 3, 2008
First up read yesterday's entry on Genomic Organization.
Now that you've done that, let's talk about a paper that appeared in Nature about a month ago. The article is entitled:
Stepwise chromatin remodelling by a cascade of transcription initiation of non-coding RNAs (link)
Superficially you would…
December 3, 2008
I just read a paper that features fellow science blogger Chris Patil as an author (although he would be the first to state that he was second on the author's list). The manuscript, which appeared in yesterday's edition of PLoS Biology, describes senescence-associated secretory phenotype (aka SASP…
December 2, 2008
Recently there has been a flood of press about epigenetics and non-coding RNA. What is lacking from these articles is a description of how DNA is packaged and what DNA elements such as promoters and enhancers do. Today I would like to touch upon all of these subjects with a post on how DNA is…
November 28, 2008
Our Seed Overlords alerted us bloggers to this group, and thought I would pass on the information to you.
The Research Cooperative, is a non-profit organization whose mission is to bring together researchers, science writers, research editors, translators and publishers.
Need someone to translate…
November 26, 2008
The Journal of Cell Biology is one of my usual reads. Recently they've been adding extra features to their site that I really appreciate. A few months back they started a podcast, Biobytes, and now recently they have launched Biosights, a series of on online videos about research published in JCB.…
November 25, 2008
Scienceblogs launched a new blog featuring a few of the Scienceblog regulars and a few new bloggers including Hsien-Hsien Lei, whom you might recognize as the master mind behind Eye on DNA.
The focus of this group effort is to discuss recent developements in 4 research areas: stem cells, cloning,…
November 25, 2008
Incredible video of a falling meteor as seen from Edmonton:
The meteor eventually crashed near the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. Here another video from the CBC and AP:
From CTV:
Hundreds of residents of Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba reported seeing the bright light, which was also captured…
November 25, 2008
If you like to tinker you might think that the career for you would be engineering, computer science or even an academic career in the physical sciences. However one option that may have not crossed your mind if the life sciences. Every day in the lab we try to dream up of innovative ways inorder…
November 24, 2008
I love the classics - be it Greek plays, Roman history, all of the great myths or all of the ancient philosophers that lie at the base of our western civilization. (Weren't those Atomists so prescient?) And yes, I also managed to marry a classics major. That's why I thank the FSM that I live in an…
November 23, 2008
Awesome. This is the type of video that got me hooked on biology.
A Sea Biscuit's Life from Bruno Vellutini on Vimeo.
From Bruno's Vimeo page:
This video shows the life cycle of the sea biscuit Clypeaster subdepressus and is part of my master's thesis project at the Biosciences Institute of…
November 22, 2008
I just discovered this great resource - iBioSeminars. It's a web based resource where you can watch some of the most important Cell Biologists give talks on basic research.
The website was the brainchild of Ron Vale. From the latest HHMI bulletin:
Vale, of the University of California, San…
November 22, 2008
So here I am with half an hour to spare, I'll just spew out some thoughts from an incident that occurred a couple of days ago.
I was chatting with a science writer and unfurling my usual gripes about science journalism. Very few science writers are willing to tackle ideas originating out of…
November 16, 2008
Over the last few years it has become increasing clear that gene expression is partially regulated at the mRNA level.
What do I mean by that?
In eukaryotic cells, the first step of gene expression occurs in the nucleus when regions of DNA are transcribed into RNA. These "transcripts" then…
November 14, 2008
If you were flipping through the latest issue of Cell, you may have noticed an article entitled Tough Challenges for the Next NIH Director. Yes, way at the bottom that's yours truly making some remarks about the problems of postdoc-hood and how the next NIH director may have to rethink the academic…
November 13, 2008
Traditionally, gene expression patterns were seen as mostly dependent on transcription ... yes those nasty bits of DNA that seemed to be ignored by most "science journalists". But the picture that is emerging is that transcription is looking more and more sloppy, and this "sloppyness" is built into…
November 11, 2008
If you missed it, today's NY Times Science section has been dedicated to "The Gene" a concept invented 99 years ago by Wilhelm Johanssen.
Overall, the articles were very good, however as a scientist who wants to explain basic concepts of molecular biology to the masses, I have a few problems.
First…
November 10, 2008
After a hiatus, Nature has relaunch its Pub Nights, but this time there's a twist. Here's the email that I just got from my good fiend Anna Kushnir:
What would your dream project in science be? Corie Lok, the editor of NNB and I would like to invite you to an informal evening of drinks and…
November 10, 2008
This weekend a group of postdocs and grad students got together for a spontaneous celebration.
Yes, the economy is in the tank, job prospects for even us academics are looking worse, but over the past week we've all felt a sense of relief. To quote a cliché that has never felt more true, the…
November 7, 2008
There are plenty of large mRNA agregates in cells. In the past few years, two of these structures have gained quite a bit of attention, Stress Granules (SGs) and Processing Bodies (PBs). mRNAs in SGs are loaded with 48S complex, which consists of the small ribosomal subunit, the cap binding complex…
November 7, 2008
The following was lifted from an email I sent to a friend yesterday. I've since modified it by incorporating David Brooks and Paul Krugman's columns as they clearly support my arguement that the framing wars have begun - it is a critical time and we must all continue the fight. OK here the email:…