Biomedical Beat Blog – National Institute of General Medical Sciences
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Your browser does not support iframes. Scott Poethig Fields: Plant biology, cell and developmental biology, genetics Works at: University of Pennsylvania Studied at: College of Wooster, Yale University Favorite musicians: Nick Drake and Bruce Springsteen High school job: Radio D.J. Favorite book: “The Little Prince,” by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry When Scott Poethig signed up for …
Bacterial cells can be infected by viruses (shown in red and purple) and have evolved ways to defend themselves. Credit: Stock image. Like humans, bacteria can be infected by viruses and have evolved ways to defend themselves. Researchers are now adapting this bacterial “immune system” to precisely and efficiently edit genes in cells from humans …
Continue reading “Field Focus: Precision Gene Editing with CRISPR”
Credit: Janet Iwasa Janet Iwasa Fields: Cell biology and molecular animation Works at: University of Utah Raised in: Indiana and Maryland Studied at: University of California, San Francisco, and Harvard Medical School When not in the lab she’s: Keeping up with her two preschool-aged sons Something she’s proud of that she’ll never try again: Baking …
Dave Cummings Field: Environmental microbiology Works at: Point Loma Nazarene University, San Diego, Calif. Hobbies: Hiking, backpacking, fly-fishing Dream home: One that doesn’t need a lot of work Credit: Marcus Emerson, PLNU In college, as a pre-med student majoring in biology and chemistry, Dave Cummings grew frustrated with the traditional “cookbook” approach to doing labs …
Molecular structure of the three proteins in blue-green algae’s circadian clock. Credit: Johnson Lab, Vanderbilt University. Many microorganisms can sense whether it’s day or night and adjust their activity accordingly. In tiny blue-green algae, the “quartz-crystal” of the time-keeping circadian clock consists of only three proteins, making it the simplest clock found in nature. Researchers …
The image shows a comparison of the predicted binding of the substrate to the active site of HpbD (blue) with the binding sites determined experimentally by crystallography (magenta). Credit: Matt Jacobson, University of California, San Francisco; Steve Almo, Albert Einstein College of Medicine. Sequencing the genomes of almost 7,000 organisms has identified more than 40 …
Continue reading “Fitting a Piece of the Protein-Function Puzzle”
Credit: Huey Huang, Rice University. A new video, starring the toxin in bee venom, might help scientists design new drugs to combat bacterial infections. The video, by Rice University biophysicist Huey Huang , condenses 6.5 minutes into less than a minute to show how the toxin, called melittin, destroys an animal or bacterial cell. What …
Continue reading “Cool Video: How Bee Venom Toxin Kills Cells”
Galina Lepesheva Field: Biochemistry Works at: Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN Born, raised and studied in: Belarus To unwind, she: Reads, travels, spends time with her family Galina Lepesheva knows that kissing bugs are anything but romantic. When the lights get low, these blood-sucking insects begin feasting—and defecating—on the faces of their sleeping victims. Their feces …