Biomedical Beat Blog – National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Follow the process of discovery
In the 13 years since the sequencing of the human genome, the list of “omes” has proliferated. Drop us a comment with your favorite ome—we may feature it in a follow-up post next month. Have you ever collected coins, cards, toy trains, stuffed animals? Did you feel the need to complete the set? If so, …
Credit: Pablo Tsukayama, Ph.D.,Washington University School of Medicine Gautam Dantas Born: Mumbai, India Most proud of: His family, which brings him joy and pride Favorite lab tradition: OOFF! Official Optional Formal Fridays, when members of his lab can dress up, eat bread—made in the lab’s own bread machine—and drink beer and wine together at the …
Students from Connecticut to Washington State and points in between peppered our experts with questions during the recent live Cell Day web chat. They fielded questions about cell structures, microscopes and other tools, life as a scientist, and whether there are still discoveries to be made in cell biology. One of the Cell Day moderators, Jessica Faupel-Badger, …
Continue reading “You’ve Got Questions, We’ve Got Answers: Cell Day 2016”
Nearly 10 percent of the human genome is derived from the genes of viruses. Credit: Stock image. When viruses infect us, they can embed small chunks of their genetic material in our DNA. Although infrequent, the incorporation of this material into the human genome has been occurring for millions of years. As a result of …
Continue reading “Our Complicated Relationship With Viruses”
Your browser does not support iframes. The outside of every cell on Earth—from the cells in your body to single-celled microorganisms—is blanketed with a coat of carbohydrates, or sugar molecules, that extend from the cell surface, branching off and bending as they interface with the extra-cellular space. The specific patterns in which these carbohydrates are …
Continue reading “Interview With a Scientist: Laura Kiessling, Carbohydrate Scientist”
Credit: Mark Hanson. Rebecca Heald Grew up in: Greenville, Pennsylvania Studied at: Hamilton College, Rice University, Harvard Medical School Job site: University of California, Berkeley Favorite hobby: Cycling A 50-pound frog isn’t some freak of nature or a creepy Halloween prank. It’s a thought experiment conceived by Rebecca Heald, a cell biologist at the University …
Continue reading “The Science of Size: Rebecca Heald Explores Size Control in Amphibians”
Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Usman Bashir. Dictyostelium discoideum Natural habitat: Deciduous forest soil and moist leaf litter Favorite food: Bacteria Top speed: 8 micrometers per minute Like the athletes in Rio, the world’s most highly advanced microbial runners recently gathered in Charlestown, Massachusetts, to find out which ones could use chemical cues to most quickly navigate …
Continue reading “Interview With a Slime Mold: Racing for New Knowledge”
When Margaret Sedensky, now of Seattle Children’s Research Institute, started as an anesthesiology resident, she wasn’t entirely clear on how anesthetics worked. “I didn’t know, but I figured someone did,” she says. “I asked the senior resident. I asked the attending. I asked the chair. Nobody knew.” For many years, doctors called general anesthetics a …
Your browser does not support iframes. Researchers created an apparatus to study quorum sensing, a communication system that allows some bacteria to cause dangerous infections. Their findings suggest that blocking bacterial communication might lead to a new way to combat such infections. Credit: Minyoung Kevin Kim and Bonnie Bassler, Princeton University. If you’ve ever felt …
Continue reading “Cool Video: Watching Bacteria Turn Virulent”
Credit: Oscar Gonzalez (Diuk-Wasser’s husband) Maria Diuk-Wasser Hometown: Buenos Aires, Argentina Childhood dream job: Veterinarian Hobbies: Hiking and gardening with her son (age 10) and daughter (age 7) Favorite music: Salsa Worksite: Lab at Columbia University and forests in coastal New England Maria Diuk-Wasser grew up on the 10th floor of an apartment building in …
Continue reading “Ticks, Mice and Microbes—Studying Disease Spread”