VistaGen Therapeutics and the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) have signed a license for human embryonic stem cell patents for the development and commercialization of stem cell-based research tools.
VistaGen, a biotechnology company based in South San Francisco, is one of the world's leading companies focused on using the power of stem cell technology to transform the ways drugs are discovered and tested. WARF is the private, non-profit patenting and licensing organization for the University of Wisconsin-Madison, one of the top-ranked public research universities in the U.S.
The licensed patents result from the research of stem cell pioneer James Thompson of the University of Wisconsin Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center and director of regenerative biology at the new Morgridge Institute for Research. The license will accelerate VistaGen's commercial programs focused on providing customized, next-generation, stem cell-based predictive toxicology and drug discovery screening assays to increase preclinical research and development (R&D) productivity for the pharmaceutical industry.
"This agreement with WARF is another critical step in our strategy to become a 'one-stop-shop' for the world's premier stem cell differentiation systems," says Ralph Snodgrass, VistaGen's CEO. "It enhances our fundamental expertise for capturing the value of human embryonic stem cell biology for predictive toxicology, drug discovery screening and drug development. When combined with our strong stem cell-based intellectual property estate, the key terms of the new license provide a strong foundation to support our commercial programs focused on high-end R&D services, strategic discovery collaborations and enabling licenses."
"We are very pleased to have signed a licensing agreement with VistaGen," says Andy DeTienne, WARF's licensing manager for stem cell technologies. "VistaGen's approach to the commercialization of human embryonic stem cell technologies as next-generation tools for drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical industry strongly complements our ongoing efforts to support growth of the human ES cell industry." He notes this licensing agreement with VistaGen demonstrates that commercial interest in human embryonic stem cells remains strong.
In 2009, VistaGen expects to launch a new era of R&D productivity in the pharmaceutical industry, an era driven by clinically relevant, commercially scalable, human biology-based screening systems capable of predicting the safety and efficacy of new drugs in ways never before possible. The company plans to use predictive information from its stem cell-based "Clinical Trials in a Test Tube™" to increase the efficiency of identifying effective drug candidates and reduce clinical trial failures, especially failures due to heart or liver toxicity. VistaGen expects its next-generation stem cell-based human systems biology platform to dramatically enhance the pharmaceutical industry's ability to deliver innovative drugs for some of the world's most challenging diseases and conditions.
WARF was established in 1925 as the world's first university-based technology transfer office. WARF supports world-class research at the university by protecting the intellectual property of its faculty, staff and students, and licensing their discoveries to companies for commercial use to benefit humankind. Through WARF's work, university research benefits the public by bringing resources back to the university to continue the cycle of investment, research and invention. WARF has completed 35 varied licensing agreements for stem cell technologies with 27 companies to date.
Source: Janet L. Kelly
University of Wisconsin-Madison
воскресенье, 31 июля 2011 г.
четверг, 28 июля 2011 г.
Promising Antimicrobial Attacks Virus, Stimulates Immune System
A promising antimicrobial agent already known to kill bacteria can also kill viruses and stimulate the innate immune system, according to researchers at National Jewish Health. In a paper appearing online June 4 in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Michael Howell, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pediatrics, and his colleagues demonstrated that the synthetic compound CSA-13 can kill vaccinia virus in cell cultures and in mice. Additionally, they showed that CSA-13 stimulates cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins.
"This compound is demonstrating broad effectiveness," said Dr. Howell. "While our experiments were designed to test its ability to attack the vaccinia virus, its immune-stimulating ability was a surprising observation."
CSA-13 is one of a class of compounds known as ceragenins, which were developed by Brigham Young University Professor Paul Savage to mimic antimicrobial proteins that occur naturally in the body. The ceragenins are smaller than antimicrobial proteins, and are not as vulnerable to degradation in the body. They have previously been shown to be effective against a variety of bacterial species.
Dr. Howell and his colleagues wanted to learn if CSA-13 could fight vaccinia virus infections. Vaccinia virus is closely related to the organism that causes smallpox and is used in smallpox vaccines. However, millions of people in the United States who have had eczema are susceptible to a serious and potentially fatal complication of the vaccination, known as eczema vaccinatum, which occurs when the vaccinia virus infects the skin. Dr. Howell is part of a team, led by Professor of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Donald Leung, MD, PhD, that is seeking protection against this complication so that eczema patients could receive the vaccination in case of a bioterrorist attack with smallpox.
CSA-13 demonstrated effectiveness against vaccinia in three different tests. When CSA-13 and vaccinia virus were directly incubated together, the CSA-13 killed more than 96% of the virus at a 25 micromolar concentration. When CSA-13 was added to cells infected with vaccinia, it both reduced vaccinia virus gene expression and allowed more of the infected cells to survive. Finally, the researchers infected immune-compromised mice with vaccinia virus, then applied CSA-13 onto their skin. The CSA-13 reduced the number of skin lesions caused by vaccinia virus.
"These experiments definitively showed for the first time CSA-13 can effectively fight vaccinia virus infections," said senior author Dr. Leung.
Within their experiments, the researchers found that, in addition to directly killing the virus, CSA-13 also stimulated cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins, LL-37 and HBD-3. Dr. Howell and colleagues have previously shown that these antimicrobial proteins also exhibit antiviral activity against vaccinia virus.
"We knew from our plaque assays, that CSA-13 was directly killing the virus," said Dr. Howell. "But these experiments show that it also stimulates cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins, which contribute to its disease-fighting capabilities. Our next step is to learn how CSA-13 stimulates cells' own innate immune defenses."
This research was funded entirely by the National Institutes of Health.
Source:
Adam Dormuth
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
"This compound is demonstrating broad effectiveness," said Dr. Howell. "While our experiments were designed to test its ability to attack the vaccinia virus, its immune-stimulating ability was a surprising observation."
CSA-13 is one of a class of compounds known as ceragenins, which were developed by Brigham Young University Professor Paul Savage to mimic antimicrobial proteins that occur naturally in the body. The ceragenins are smaller than antimicrobial proteins, and are not as vulnerable to degradation in the body. They have previously been shown to be effective against a variety of bacterial species.
Dr. Howell and his colleagues wanted to learn if CSA-13 could fight vaccinia virus infections. Vaccinia virus is closely related to the organism that causes smallpox and is used in smallpox vaccines. However, millions of people in the United States who have had eczema are susceptible to a serious and potentially fatal complication of the vaccination, known as eczema vaccinatum, which occurs when the vaccinia virus infects the skin. Dr. Howell is part of a team, led by Professor of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Donald Leung, MD, PhD, that is seeking protection against this complication so that eczema patients could receive the vaccination in case of a bioterrorist attack with smallpox.
CSA-13 demonstrated effectiveness against vaccinia in three different tests. When CSA-13 and vaccinia virus were directly incubated together, the CSA-13 killed more than 96% of the virus at a 25 micromolar concentration. When CSA-13 was added to cells infected with vaccinia, it both reduced vaccinia virus gene expression and allowed more of the infected cells to survive. Finally, the researchers infected immune-compromised mice with vaccinia virus, then applied CSA-13 onto their skin. The CSA-13 reduced the number of skin lesions caused by vaccinia virus.
"These experiments definitively showed for the first time CSA-13 can effectively fight vaccinia virus infections," said senior author Dr. Leung.
Within their experiments, the researchers found that, in addition to directly killing the virus, CSA-13 also stimulated cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins, LL-37 and HBD-3. Dr. Howell and colleagues have previously shown that these antimicrobial proteins also exhibit antiviral activity against vaccinia virus.
"We knew from our plaque assays, that CSA-13 was directly killing the virus," said Dr. Howell. "But these experiments show that it also stimulates cells to produce their own antimicrobial proteins, which contribute to its disease-fighting capabilities. Our next step is to learn how CSA-13 stimulates cells' own innate immune defenses."
This research was funded entirely by the National Institutes of Health.
Source:
Adam Dormuth
National Jewish Medical and Research Center
понедельник, 25 июля 2011 г.
Multinational Project Develops Robotic Rats To Aid In Rescue Missions
A new initiative, bringing together nine research groups from seven countries, including teams of robotics and brain researchers from Europe, the USA and Israel, has recently been set up with the aim of imitating nature.
Based on principles of active sensing adopted widely in the animal kingdom, the multinational team is developing innovative touch technologies, including a 'whiskered' robotic rat. The whiskered robot will be able to quickly locate, identify and capture moving objects. 'The use of touch in the design of artificial intelligence systems has been largely overlooked, until now,' says Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Neurobiology Department, whose research team is one of the groups participating in the multinational project.
'In nocturnal creatures, or those that inhabit poorly-lit places, the use of touch is widely preferred to vision as a primary means of learning and receiving physical information about their surrounding environment.' One such animal that employs this method is the rat. Several groups of the international consortium are investigating the ways in which rats use their bristly whiskers to explore their environment, and how the brain processes such information. 'If we succeed in understanding what makes an animal's sense of touch so efficient, we will be able to develop robots imitating this feature, and put them to effective use.'
What is the whisker's 'secret?" Why is the sense of touch through a rat's whiskers much more efficient than that of the average person's finger tips? The consortium's teams have provided some insights into these questions. One explanation concerns the way in which the sensory system works: Whiskers actively sweep back and forth repetitively, accumulating information about its surrounding environment. The sensing begins in the neurons at the whiskers' bases, which then fire signals off to the brain. Moreover, experiments have shown that the way in which a rat uses its whiskers is context-dependent. The seemingly simple act of feeling out a 3-D object, for example, requires three different types of code, each encoding a different dimension - the horizontal, the vertical, and the radial (distance from the whisker base). The horizontal plane, for instance, is encoded in the precise timing of neural signals relative to the whisking motion. The vertical, i.e., the object height, is encoded by the vertical spacing of the whiskers, which are arranged grid-like on either side of the snout. The radial plane, on the other hand, is encoded in the number of times the neurons fire: The closer an object is to the rat's snout, the higher the number of neuron-signaling spikes.
The consortium's research also suggest that the signals travel from the whiskers through parallel pathways that function within parallel closed feedback loops, constantly monitoring the signals they receive and changing their responses accordingly. The researchers believe that it is the complex interactions between the feedback loops that are responsible for the rich and accurate control of movement, but at the same time, it poses an engineering challenge when trying to build artificial systems based on this concept.
'In order to investigate the role of feedback loops further,' says Prof. David Golomb of Ben Gurion University, Israel, whose research team is one of the groups participating in the multinational project, 'consortium members will implement theoretical methods and calculations from theoretical physics and applied mathematics in order to develop and research models that describe the complicated neural processes that control active sensing'. The models are based on experimental observations, and are expected to be tested by experimental consortium teams.
Ahissar: 'The aim of this research is to help gain a better understanding of the brain on the one hand, and advance technology on the other. That is to say, researchers can use robots as an experimental tool, by building a brain-like system, step-by-step, gaining insights into the workings of the brain's inside components. With regard to technological applications, we suggest that it is the multiple closed feedback loops that are the key features giving biological systems an advantage over robotic systems. Therefore, implementing this biological knowledge will hopefully allow robotics researchers to build machines that are more efficient, which can be used in rescue missions, as well as search missions under conditions of restricted visibility'. In this way, basic research conducted on animals can contribute to the well-being of humans, other than for medicinal purposes.
The BIOTACT project, which is funded primarily by the EC Seventh Research Framework Programme, includes participation by scientists from universities, research institutes and high tech companies from Britain (two groups), Israel (two groups), Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and the USA.
Prof. Ehud Ahissar's research is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases. Prof. Ahissar is the incumbent of the Helen Diller Family Professorial Chair in Neurobiology
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,600 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.
Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/
Source: Yivsam Azgad
Weizmann Institute of Science
Based on principles of active sensing adopted widely in the animal kingdom, the multinational team is developing innovative touch technologies, including a 'whiskered' robotic rat. The whiskered robot will be able to quickly locate, identify and capture moving objects. 'The use of touch in the design of artificial intelligence systems has been largely overlooked, until now,' says Prof. Ehud Ahissar of the Weizmann Institute of Science's Neurobiology Department, whose research team is one of the groups participating in the multinational project.
'In nocturnal creatures, or those that inhabit poorly-lit places, the use of touch is widely preferred to vision as a primary means of learning and receiving physical information about their surrounding environment.' One such animal that employs this method is the rat. Several groups of the international consortium are investigating the ways in which rats use their bristly whiskers to explore their environment, and how the brain processes such information. 'If we succeed in understanding what makes an animal's sense of touch so efficient, we will be able to develop robots imitating this feature, and put them to effective use.'
What is the whisker's 'secret?" Why is the sense of touch through a rat's whiskers much more efficient than that of the average person's finger tips? The consortium's teams have provided some insights into these questions. One explanation concerns the way in which the sensory system works: Whiskers actively sweep back and forth repetitively, accumulating information about its surrounding environment. The sensing begins in the neurons at the whiskers' bases, which then fire signals off to the brain. Moreover, experiments have shown that the way in which a rat uses its whiskers is context-dependent. The seemingly simple act of feeling out a 3-D object, for example, requires three different types of code, each encoding a different dimension - the horizontal, the vertical, and the radial (distance from the whisker base). The horizontal plane, for instance, is encoded in the precise timing of neural signals relative to the whisking motion. The vertical, i.e., the object height, is encoded by the vertical spacing of the whiskers, which are arranged grid-like on either side of the snout. The radial plane, on the other hand, is encoded in the number of times the neurons fire: The closer an object is to the rat's snout, the higher the number of neuron-signaling spikes.
The consortium's research also suggest that the signals travel from the whiskers through parallel pathways that function within parallel closed feedback loops, constantly monitoring the signals they receive and changing their responses accordingly. The researchers believe that it is the complex interactions between the feedback loops that are responsible for the rich and accurate control of movement, but at the same time, it poses an engineering challenge when trying to build artificial systems based on this concept.
'In order to investigate the role of feedback loops further,' says Prof. David Golomb of Ben Gurion University, Israel, whose research team is one of the groups participating in the multinational project, 'consortium members will implement theoretical methods and calculations from theoretical physics and applied mathematics in order to develop and research models that describe the complicated neural processes that control active sensing'. The models are based on experimental observations, and are expected to be tested by experimental consortium teams.
Ahissar: 'The aim of this research is to help gain a better understanding of the brain on the one hand, and advance technology on the other. That is to say, researchers can use robots as an experimental tool, by building a brain-like system, step-by-step, gaining insights into the workings of the brain's inside components. With regard to technological applications, we suggest that it is the multiple closed feedback loops that are the key features giving biological systems an advantage over robotic systems. Therefore, implementing this biological knowledge will hopefully allow robotics researchers to build machines that are more efficient, which can be used in rescue missions, as well as search missions under conditions of restricted visibility'. In this way, basic research conducted on animals can contribute to the well-being of humans, other than for medicinal purposes.
The BIOTACT project, which is funded primarily by the EC Seventh Research Framework Programme, includes participation by scientists from universities, research institutes and high tech companies from Britain (two groups), Israel (two groups), Switzerland, Italy, France, Germany and the USA.
Prof. Ehud Ahissar's research is supported by the Nella and Leon Benoziyo Center for Neurological Diseases. Prof. Ahissar is the incumbent of the Helen Diller Family Professorial Chair in Neurobiology
The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,600 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.
Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/
Source: Yivsam Azgad
Weizmann Institute of Science
пятница, 22 июля 2011 г.
New Function For The Protein Bcl-xL: It Prevents Bone Breakdown
In blood cells, the protein Bcl-xL has a well-characterized role in preventing cell death by a process known as apoptosis. However, its function(s) in osteoclasts, cells that slowly breakdown bone (a process known as resorption), has not been determined. In addressing this issue, Sakae Tanaka and colleagues, at The University of Tokyo, Japan, have discovered that not only does Bcl-xL prevent osteoclast apoptosis in mice, it also negatively regulates the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts.
To determine the function of Bcl-xL in osteoclasts, the researchers generated mice lacking Bcl-xL only in osteoclasts. As in blood cells, Bcl-xL was shown to promote the survival of osteoclasts. Unexpectedly, however, the mutant mice exhibited marked osteopenia at one year of age. Further analysis indicated that the reduced bone mass was caused by increased osteoclast-mediated bone resorption and identified a potential underlying mechanism. Specifically, Bcl-xL was found to decrease the production of extracellular matrix proteins, which bind cell surface integrin molecules, leading to the activation of c-Src signaling pathways that are already known to promote osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. Thus, in the absence of Bcl-xL, increased production of extracellular matrix proteins leads to increased osteoclast-mediated bone resorption.
TITLE: The antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL negatively regulates the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts in mice
Source:
Karen Honey
Journal of Clinical Investigation
To determine the function of Bcl-xL in osteoclasts, the researchers generated mice lacking Bcl-xL only in osteoclasts. As in blood cells, Bcl-xL was shown to promote the survival of osteoclasts. Unexpectedly, however, the mutant mice exhibited marked osteopenia at one year of age. Further analysis indicated that the reduced bone mass was caused by increased osteoclast-mediated bone resorption and identified a potential underlying mechanism. Specifically, Bcl-xL was found to decrease the production of extracellular matrix proteins, which bind cell surface integrin molecules, leading to the activation of c-Src signaling pathways that are already known to promote osteoclast-mediated bone resorption. Thus, in the absence of Bcl-xL, increased production of extracellular matrix proteins leads to increased osteoclast-mediated bone resorption.
TITLE: The antiapoptotic protein Bcl-xL negatively regulates the bone-resorbing activity of osteoclasts in mice
Source:
Karen Honey
Journal of Clinical Investigation
вторник, 19 июля 2011 г.
A Re-review Of Peer Review: Leading Journal Looks To End The 'review Nightmare'
Every scientific researcher has asked themselves the question at some stage in their professional career: Why has the paper I submitted to be peer reviewed disappeared into the ether?
Scientists, like most people, desire immediate results. In the case of peer review, researchers want to learn whether their paper has been accepted or rejected as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the review process rarely seems to work in this manner, even with the enhancements that the Internet has bought.
The primary source of frustration for authors is peer reviewers who insist on time-consuming and sometimes iterative re-review that makes little difference to the eventual validity or quality of the final research paper. For that reason, Journal of Biology is today embarking on an experimental policy of allowing authors to opt out of re-review in an effort to dramatically speed up the publication process.
Led by Miranda Robertson, the newly appointed Editor of Journal of Biology and a former Biology Editor at Nature, the new policy will see all research papers submitted to Journal of Biology first screened by a member of the Editorial Board for suitability of inclusion into the journal. If any of the reviewers then has suggestions or demands revisions, including the addition of data, authors will be asked to respond to the referees and revise the manuscript.
However, under the new experimental policy, the authors will then be able to decide whether or not they wish the referees to look at their manuscripts again.
Where authors opt out of re-review their responses and the editors will carefully scrutinize revised manuscripts and if it is clear that substantive issues have not been addressed then the manuscript may be rejected. Otherwise it will be published, with an accompanying minireview in which any flaws in the paper may be highlighted.
The decision to launch this experiment was taken after consultation with members of the Editorial Board, who were in general emphatically supportive of this new policy. 'Something surely needs to be done about the review nightmare that so many people face' said Editorial Board Member, Arthur Lander, University of California San Diego'…what is in the paper is fundamentally the responsibility of the authors, not of the reviewers' added Robert Horvitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Nobel Laureate.
Speaking of the launch of the policy, Miranda Robertson said 'Of course journals must do their best to ensure that the research they publish is valid, but the primary function of a journal editor is to promote the dissemination of research results, not to obstruct it. I hope this experiment will show that referees, authors and journals can work together to accelerate the publication of important research.'
Journal of Biology is an international journal that publishes biological research articles of exceptional interest, together with associated commentary. Original research articles that are accepted for publication are published in full on the web within two weeks, are immediately made freely available to all. Articles from the full spectrum of biology are appropriate for consideration, provided they are of outstanding interest and importance.
Journal of Biology
BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
BioMed Central
Scientists, like most people, desire immediate results. In the case of peer review, researchers want to learn whether their paper has been accepted or rejected as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the review process rarely seems to work in this manner, even with the enhancements that the Internet has bought.
The primary source of frustration for authors is peer reviewers who insist on time-consuming and sometimes iterative re-review that makes little difference to the eventual validity or quality of the final research paper. For that reason, Journal of Biology is today embarking on an experimental policy of allowing authors to opt out of re-review in an effort to dramatically speed up the publication process.
Led by Miranda Robertson, the newly appointed Editor of Journal of Biology and a former Biology Editor at Nature, the new policy will see all research papers submitted to Journal of Biology first screened by a member of the Editorial Board for suitability of inclusion into the journal. If any of the reviewers then has suggestions or demands revisions, including the addition of data, authors will be asked to respond to the referees and revise the manuscript.
However, under the new experimental policy, the authors will then be able to decide whether or not they wish the referees to look at their manuscripts again.
Where authors opt out of re-review their responses and the editors will carefully scrutinize revised manuscripts and if it is clear that substantive issues have not been addressed then the manuscript may be rejected. Otherwise it will be published, with an accompanying minireview in which any flaws in the paper may be highlighted.
The decision to launch this experiment was taken after consultation with members of the Editorial Board, who were in general emphatically supportive of this new policy. 'Something surely needs to be done about the review nightmare that so many people face' said Editorial Board Member, Arthur Lander, University of California San Diego'…what is in the paper is fundamentally the responsibility of the authors, not of the reviewers' added Robert Horvitz, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Nobel Laureate.
Speaking of the launch of the policy, Miranda Robertson said 'Of course journals must do their best to ensure that the research they publish is valid, but the primary function of a journal editor is to promote the dissemination of research results, not to obstruct it. I hope this experiment will show that referees, authors and journals can work together to accelerate the publication of important research.'
Journal of Biology is an international journal that publishes biological research articles of exceptional interest, together with associated commentary. Original research articles that are accepted for publication are published in full on the web within two weeks, are immediately made freely available to all. Articles from the full spectrum of biology are appropriate for consideration, provided they are of outstanding interest and importance.
Journal of Biology
BioMed Central is an STM (Science, Technology and Medicine) publisher which has pioneered the open access publishing model. All peer-reviewed research articles published by BioMed Central are made immediately and freely accessible online, and are licensed to allow redistribution and reuse. BioMed Central is part of Springer Science+Business Media, a leading global publisher in the STM sector.
BioMed Central
суббота, 16 июля 2011 г.
DNA Found To Leak Into Preservatives In Mescal 'Worm' Test
Just because you don't swallow the worm at the bottom of a bottle of mescal doesn't mean you have avoided the essential worminess of the potent Mexican liquor, according to scientists at the University of Guelph.
Researchers from U of G's Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) have discovered that mescal itself contains the DNA of the agave butterfly caterpillar - the famously tasty "worm" that many avoid consuming. Their findings will appear in the March issue of BioTechniques, which is available online now.
The BIO researchers set out to test a hypothesis that DNA from a preserved specimen can leak into its preservative liquid. As part of their study, they tested a sample of liquid from a bottle of mescal. The liquor was found to contain DNA, which they amplified and sequenced to obtain a DNA barcode - telltale genetic material that identifies species of living things.
Comparing the sample to thousands of records of Lepidoptera DNA barcodes stored in the Barcode of Life Data Systems database at Guelph confirmed that the mescal liquid contained DNA related to the agave's family.
"This is a surprising result," said research team member Mehrdad Hajibabaei, Assistant Professor, BIO and Department of Integrative Biology. He noted that mescal contains only 40 per cent ethanol and potentially many impurities that can degrade DNA.
"Showing that the DNA of a preserved specimen can be obtained from the preservative liquid introduces a range of important possibilities," Hajibabaei said. "We can develop inexpensive, high-throughput, field-friendly and non-invasive genetic analysis protocols for situations where the original tissue cannot be touched or when there is simply no sample left for analysis."
The scientists also successfully identified other "fresh" specimens contained in preservative ethanol - including whole insects (caddisflies and mayflies) and plant leaves - as well as seven preserved specimens collected seven to 10 years earlier.
The study is part of the technology development phase of the International Barcode of Life Project (iBOL). Based at U of G, it's the largest biodiversity genomics project ever undertaken. More than 200 scientists from 25 countries are creating DNA barcode reference library for all life, developing new technologies to access it and applying DNA barcoding in economically, socially and environmentally beneficial ways.
The full study is available online at biotechniques/
Source:
John Chenery
International Barcode of Life
Researchers from U of G's Biodiversity Institute of Ontario (BIO) have discovered that mescal itself contains the DNA of the agave butterfly caterpillar - the famously tasty "worm" that many avoid consuming. Their findings will appear in the March issue of BioTechniques, which is available online now.
The BIO researchers set out to test a hypothesis that DNA from a preserved specimen can leak into its preservative liquid. As part of their study, they tested a sample of liquid from a bottle of mescal. The liquor was found to contain DNA, which they amplified and sequenced to obtain a DNA barcode - telltale genetic material that identifies species of living things.
Comparing the sample to thousands of records of Lepidoptera DNA barcodes stored in the Barcode of Life Data Systems database at Guelph confirmed that the mescal liquid contained DNA related to the agave's family.
"This is a surprising result," said research team member Mehrdad Hajibabaei, Assistant Professor, BIO and Department of Integrative Biology. He noted that mescal contains only 40 per cent ethanol and potentially many impurities that can degrade DNA.
"Showing that the DNA of a preserved specimen can be obtained from the preservative liquid introduces a range of important possibilities," Hajibabaei said. "We can develop inexpensive, high-throughput, field-friendly and non-invasive genetic analysis protocols for situations where the original tissue cannot be touched or when there is simply no sample left for analysis."
The scientists also successfully identified other "fresh" specimens contained in preservative ethanol - including whole insects (caddisflies and mayflies) and plant leaves - as well as seven preserved specimens collected seven to 10 years earlier.
The study is part of the technology development phase of the International Barcode of Life Project (iBOL). Based at U of G, it's the largest biodiversity genomics project ever undertaken. More than 200 scientists from 25 countries are creating DNA barcode reference library for all life, developing new technologies to access it and applying DNA barcoding in economically, socially and environmentally beneficial ways.
The full study is available online at biotechniques/
Source:
John Chenery
International Barcode of Life
среда, 13 июля 2011 г.
Variations In Strength Of Fruit-Fly Immune System
A fruit fly's immune system can tell time, researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have found, and how hard it punches back against infections depends on whether the fly is snoozing or cruising. The discovery could have implications for human health, too.
Working with jerry-rigged, light-bulb-laden shoeboxes to manipulate the flies' daily cycle and with syringes small enough to inject measured amounts of germs into the wee winged ones, the investigators have shown that the insects' immune response waxes and wanes with the diurnal oscillations called circadian rhythms.
Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of David Schneider, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology, held in San Francisco.
Insects do not have the advanced artillery that characterizes vertebrate immune systems - antibody-secreting B-cells, and killer and helper T-cells that precisely target specific pathogens for attack. But they do share with vertebrate organisms a primitive, but critical, rough-and-ready response to unwanted microbes: the innate immune system. This all-important first line of defense, without which we wouldn't survive an infection for the week or two it takes for our more-sophisticated antibodies and T-cells to kick into high gear, whirls into action at once, based on its ability to recognize generic patterns that distinguish microbial pests.
One feature of the fruit fly's innate immune system is the presence of circulatory cells called phagocytes that, like our own white blood cells, engulf and digest bacteria. In their new research, Shirasu-Hiza and Schneider have found that phagocytes' activity oscillates throughout the day.
Like the mosquito, platypus and whitetail deer, fruit flies are crepuscular - they are most active at dawn and dusk, tend to roam a bit during the daytime, and engage in what passes for sleep during the nighttime. (Flies don't have eyelids, so it's hard to tell if they're really asleep. Researchers instead characterize cyclical patterns of rest and activity in terms of the number of movements per five-minute cycle.)
Shirasu-Hiza flummoxed flies into a 12-hour circadian-rhythm phase shift by raising them in shoeboxes, wired by Schneider with timers that controlled batteries of light bulbs. This enabled the researchers to infect two sets of flies (from "nighttime" or "daytime" shoeboxes) in a single experimental session. This Shirasu-Hiza did, using syringes fashioned from glass capillary tubes heated and then stretched so that they were extremely thin, but still hollow. Armed with these syringes - which are powered by a machine called a "Picospritzer" - she spent hours on end in a dark room lit only by a red bulb (red light doesn't seem to perturb the daily rhythms of the flies) while injecting, one by one, multiple hundreds of tiny, week-old male flies (half of them sleeping, the other half awake) per session with precise volumes of solutions containing different pathogenic bacteria.
In previously published research, when Shirasu-Hiza and her colleagues had infected normal flies with measured doses of two noted human pathogens, Streptococcus pneumoniae or Listeria monocytogenes, the sickened flies' circadian rhythms were disturbed. They stumbled around more randomly, and stood still for relatively shorter periods. Moreover, genetic mutants lacking circadian cycles of rest and activity died more quickly on infection with these pathogens than normal flies did.
In the new round of experiments, the researchers observed that, consistent with those earlier findings, the activity of phagocytes in normal fruit flies oscillates with their circadian rhythms. Flies infected with S. pneumonia or L. monocytogenes during resting periods ("nighttime") also survive significantly longer than those infected during active periods ("daytime"). Further, by injecting fluorescently labeled dead bacteria into flies at different points in their circadian cycle, the investigators could see increased phagocyte function at night for those two pathogens: there was an increase in the number of bacteria ingested by phagocytes in flies infected during resting versus active phases. Likewise, circadian-mutant flies "trapped" in the active phase had decreased phagocyte function, demonstrating that phagocyte activity is subject to regulation by circadian proteins whose activity, in turn, is disrupted by these mutations.
Strangely, though, infecting the flies with a third bacterial pathogen, Burkholderia cepacia, produced the opposite result. Circadian-mutant flies coped better with the infection than did normal flies, suggesting that in this case, a disrupted circadian rhythm might actually be good for the flies.
That poses an intellectual challenge, Schneider said: "If a sick fruit fly were to walk into my office, and it were infected with Burkholderia, I would know that I should deprive it of sleep. But I don't know the rules for people. In hospitals, nurses and orderlies are going in and out all the time, and you never get any sleep. Is that good, or bad? There are probably conditions where that's going to make things much worse. But maybe there are some conditions where it's actually better for you to have your sleep continuously interrupted. We're trying to figure out the rules for the fly, and hopefully someone else can translate it into human biology: Do they put you in a quiet room, or do they keep coming in and fiddling with your IV on purpose?"
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at mednews.stanford.
Source: Bruce Goldman
Stanford University Medical Center
Working with jerry-rigged, light-bulb-laden shoeboxes to manipulate the flies' daily cycle and with syringes small enough to inject measured amounts of germs into the wee winged ones, the investigators have shown that the insects' immune response waxes and wanes with the diurnal oscillations called circadian rhythms.
Mimi Shirasu-Hiza, PhD, a postdoctoral scholar in the laboratory of David Schneider, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology, presented the findings at the annual meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology, held in San Francisco.
Insects do not have the advanced artillery that characterizes vertebrate immune systems - antibody-secreting B-cells, and killer and helper T-cells that precisely target specific pathogens for attack. But they do share with vertebrate organisms a primitive, but critical, rough-and-ready response to unwanted microbes: the innate immune system. This all-important first line of defense, without which we wouldn't survive an infection for the week or two it takes for our more-sophisticated antibodies and T-cells to kick into high gear, whirls into action at once, based on its ability to recognize generic patterns that distinguish microbial pests.
One feature of the fruit fly's innate immune system is the presence of circulatory cells called phagocytes that, like our own white blood cells, engulf and digest bacteria. In their new research, Shirasu-Hiza and Schneider have found that phagocytes' activity oscillates throughout the day.
Like the mosquito, platypus and whitetail deer, fruit flies are crepuscular - they are most active at dawn and dusk, tend to roam a bit during the daytime, and engage in what passes for sleep during the nighttime. (Flies don't have eyelids, so it's hard to tell if they're really asleep. Researchers instead characterize cyclical patterns of rest and activity in terms of the number of movements per five-minute cycle.)
Shirasu-Hiza flummoxed flies into a 12-hour circadian-rhythm phase shift by raising them in shoeboxes, wired by Schneider with timers that controlled batteries of light bulbs. This enabled the researchers to infect two sets of flies (from "nighttime" or "daytime" shoeboxes) in a single experimental session. This Shirasu-Hiza did, using syringes fashioned from glass capillary tubes heated and then stretched so that they were extremely thin, but still hollow. Armed with these syringes - which are powered by a machine called a "Picospritzer" - she spent hours on end in a dark room lit only by a red bulb (red light doesn't seem to perturb the daily rhythms of the flies) while injecting, one by one, multiple hundreds of tiny, week-old male flies (half of them sleeping, the other half awake) per session with precise volumes of solutions containing different pathogenic bacteria.
In previously published research, when Shirasu-Hiza and her colleagues had infected normal flies with measured doses of two noted human pathogens, Streptococcus pneumoniae or Listeria monocytogenes, the sickened flies' circadian rhythms were disturbed. They stumbled around more randomly, and stood still for relatively shorter periods. Moreover, genetic mutants lacking circadian cycles of rest and activity died more quickly on infection with these pathogens than normal flies did.
In the new round of experiments, the researchers observed that, consistent with those earlier findings, the activity of phagocytes in normal fruit flies oscillates with their circadian rhythms. Flies infected with S. pneumonia or L. monocytogenes during resting periods ("nighttime") also survive significantly longer than those infected during active periods ("daytime"). Further, by injecting fluorescently labeled dead bacteria into flies at different points in their circadian cycle, the investigators could see increased phagocyte function at night for those two pathogens: there was an increase in the number of bacteria ingested by phagocytes in flies infected during resting versus active phases. Likewise, circadian-mutant flies "trapped" in the active phase had decreased phagocyte function, demonstrating that phagocyte activity is subject to regulation by circadian proteins whose activity, in turn, is disrupted by these mutations.
Strangely, though, infecting the flies with a third bacterial pathogen, Burkholderia cepacia, produced the opposite result. Circadian-mutant flies coped better with the infection than did normal flies, suggesting that in this case, a disrupted circadian rhythm might actually be good for the flies.
That poses an intellectual challenge, Schneider said: "If a sick fruit fly were to walk into my office, and it were infected with Burkholderia, I would know that I should deprive it of sleep. But I don't know the rules for people. In hospitals, nurses and orderlies are going in and out all the time, and you never get any sleep. Is that good, or bad? There are probably conditions where that's going to make things much worse. But maybe there are some conditions where it's actually better for you to have your sleep continuously interrupted. We're trying to figure out the rules for the fly, and hopefully someone else can translate it into human biology: Do they put you in a quiet room, or do they keep coming in and fiddling with your IV on purpose?"
The work was funded by the National Institutes of Health.
Stanford University Medical Center integrates research, medical education and patient care at its three institutions - Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford Hospital & Clinics and Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. For more information, please visit the Web site of the medical center's Office of Communication & Public Affairs at mednews.stanford.
Source: Bruce Goldman
Stanford University Medical Center
воскресенье, 10 июля 2011 г.
A Rapid New Process For Fabricating Microstructures From Protein
In an advance in microfabrication technology, scientists report development of a new method for rapidly engineering complex micro-scale patterns and three-dimensional microstructures from biocompatible protein.
Jason B. Shear and Bryan Kaehr describe using the laser technique to fabricate detailed shapes - such as the silhouette of a housefly and the State of Texas - by condensing (or crosslinking) proteins in solution into a solid matrix. Their study is scheduled for the Feb. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication. The researchers also used the process to fabricate minute 3-D structures, including 1- and 2-story microcontainers that were used to trap, incubate and grow as few as a single living bacterium into colonies. Such traps could have a variety of uses, including studying the formation of biofilms, which are the source of human health concerns.
The technique, mask-directed multiphoton lithography, is modeled after the photolithography processes widely used to transfer electronic circuits onto a semiconductor wafer by projecting light through a pattern or "mask." However, the new method uses a special laser to scan objects or patterns printed on transparency film with an ordinary desktop printer. The silhouette ultimately is refocused into the protein solution using the objective lens of a microscope. Because protein molecules must be extremely close to the laser focus to undergo crosslinking into solid material, this method allows structures to be created with complex 3-D shapes. The process takes only minutes, researchers report.
CONTACT:
Jason B. Shear, Ph.D.
University of Texas
Austin, Texas 78712
ACS News Service weekly PressPac
The American Chemical Society - the world's largest scientific society - is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
Contact: Michael Woods
American Chemical Society
Jason B. Shear and Bryan Kaehr describe using the laser technique to fabricate detailed shapes - such as the silhouette of a housefly and the State of Texas - by condensing (or crosslinking) proteins in solution into a solid matrix. Their study is scheduled for the Feb. 28 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society, a weekly publication. The researchers also used the process to fabricate minute 3-D structures, including 1- and 2-story microcontainers that were used to trap, incubate and grow as few as a single living bacterium into colonies. Such traps could have a variety of uses, including studying the formation of biofilms, which are the source of human health concerns.
The technique, mask-directed multiphoton lithography, is modeled after the photolithography processes widely used to transfer electronic circuits onto a semiconductor wafer by projecting light through a pattern or "mask." However, the new method uses a special laser to scan objects or patterns printed on transparency film with an ordinary desktop printer. The silhouette ultimately is refocused into the protein solution using the objective lens of a microscope. Because protein molecules must be extremely close to the laser focus to undergo crosslinking into solid material, this method allows structures to be created with complex 3-D shapes. The process takes only minutes, researchers report.
CONTACT:
Jason B. Shear, Ph.D.
University of Texas
Austin, Texas 78712
ACS News Service weekly PressPac
The American Chemical Society - the world's largest scientific society - is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.
Contact: Michael Woods
American Chemical Society
четверг, 7 июля 2011 г.
Japan U.N. Summit Must Recognise Health Values Of Biodiversity
Thousands of decision makers will gather in the city of Nagoya, Japan, from 18th to 29th October for the 10th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity. This meeting may represent the last clear chance to halt the pace of global ecosystem change and the ongoing decline in the world's biodiversity, which have increased the risk of disease epidemics and natural disasters, deepened food insecurity in the developing world, and seen the disappearance of species of potential significance to medicine and medical science.
In 2002, the global community committed to a "significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss" by 2010. In the European Union, a more ambitious target to halt biodiversity loss by 2010 was set. These targets have largely not been met, and the social and economic consequences of species declines and environmental degradation are mounting to a significant threat to public health systems worldwide. For example, the 2010 target was seen as an essential component in achieving many elements of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (addressing critical health and poverty issues by the year 2015). However, damage to ecosystems which protect vulnerable populations from the full effects of natural disasters, or provide traditional medicines which millions of people rely, inhibit progress towards sustainable development and the delivery of universal primary health care. Impacts on biodiversity also facilitate the emergence and spread of infectious diseases including Ebola, SARS and avian influenza, and create barriers to current efforts to fight other major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Biodiversity loss also deepens poverty and wipes out important nutritional resources, compromising efforts to enhance community health.
On the table in Nagoya is a revised strategy with twenty new targets which aim to halt the biodiversity crisis including greater protection of fish stocks, halving or halting the loss and degradation of natural habitats, greater protection of land and marine areas, and phasing out economic incentives that lead to biodiversity loss.
"You cannot have sustainable development without sustainable health care systems, and that depends upon biodiversity," says Miranda di Camillo, programme officer for Public Health Strategies with the COHAB Initiative Secretariat. "The U.N. meeting in Nagoya is a critically important opportunity to address future health threats and tackle current health risks caused by biodiversity loss. The Convention on Biological Diversity is not simply about protecting wildlife and natural resources; it is about securing the ecosystem goods and services which are fundamental to human health and well-being. Many of the benefits we gain from biodiversity cannot be replaced, or would be too expensive to even try to replicate. For example, when the living library of natural compounds from living species that is the foundation for future medical research disappears, where do you go?"
In order to reduce many emerging health threats, governments must make certain that the negotiations at Nagoya succeed in reaching a consensus on decisive action over the next decade. The COHAB Initiative is also calling for greater appreciation at the Nagoya meeting of the need to integrate biodiversity into the policies and actions of the health sector, with health practitioners and organisations recognised as essential partners in the preservation of life on Earth. For their part, health care practitioners and policy makers need to play a greater part in biodiversity conservation, but also need to be afforded greater involvement in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the outputs from Nagoya. There must be a cross-sector commitment to ensure that adequate financial mechanisms are in place so that the costs of addressing the biodiversity crisis are met. "The current economic situation may make that difficult," says the COHAB Secretariat's executive director, Conor Kretsch, "but the alternative - which is letting biodiversity loss continue as if our health had no connection to the health of the planet - will be vastly more expensive in human and monetary terms. No of us can afford to let that happen."
Notes
The COHAB Initiative (Co-operation on Health and Biodiversity) is an international programme of work established to address the gaps in awareness, policy and action on the links between human health and well-being and the conservation of biological diversity. Set up in 2007, COHAB works with U.N. agencies, other intergovernmental organisations and NGOs to help highlight the links between biodiversity and human health issues, and has helped raise to bring public health linkages into the discussions of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Secretariat of the COHAB Initiative is based in Galway, Ireland.
Source:
COHAB Initiative
In 2002, the global community committed to a "significant reduction in the rate of biodiversity loss" by 2010. In the European Union, a more ambitious target to halt biodiversity loss by 2010 was set. These targets have largely not been met, and the social and economic consequences of species declines and environmental degradation are mounting to a significant threat to public health systems worldwide. For example, the 2010 target was seen as an essential component in achieving many elements of the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (addressing critical health and poverty issues by the year 2015). However, damage to ecosystems which protect vulnerable populations from the full effects of natural disasters, or provide traditional medicines which millions of people rely, inhibit progress towards sustainable development and the delivery of universal primary health care. Impacts on biodiversity also facilitate the emergence and spread of infectious diseases including Ebola, SARS and avian influenza, and create barriers to current efforts to fight other major diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. Biodiversity loss also deepens poverty and wipes out important nutritional resources, compromising efforts to enhance community health.
On the table in Nagoya is a revised strategy with twenty new targets which aim to halt the biodiversity crisis including greater protection of fish stocks, halving or halting the loss and degradation of natural habitats, greater protection of land and marine areas, and phasing out economic incentives that lead to biodiversity loss.
"You cannot have sustainable development without sustainable health care systems, and that depends upon biodiversity," says Miranda di Camillo, programme officer for Public Health Strategies with the COHAB Initiative Secretariat. "The U.N. meeting in Nagoya is a critically important opportunity to address future health threats and tackle current health risks caused by biodiversity loss. The Convention on Biological Diversity is not simply about protecting wildlife and natural resources; it is about securing the ecosystem goods and services which are fundamental to human health and well-being. Many of the benefits we gain from biodiversity cannot be replaced, or would be too expensive to even try to replicate. For example, when the living library of natural compounds from living species that is the foundation for future medical research disappears, where do you go?"
In order to reduce many emerging health threats, governments must make certain that the negotiations at Nagoya succeed in reaching a consensus on decisive action over the next decade. The COHAB Initiative is also calling for greater appreciation at the Nagoya meeting of the need to integrate biodiversity into the policies and actions of the health sector, with health practitioners and organisations recognised as essential partners in the preservation of life on Earth. For their part, health care practitioners and policy makers need to play a greater part in biodiversity conservation, but also need to be afforded greater involvement in implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity and the outputs from Nagoya. There must be a cross-sector commitment to ensure that adequate financial mechanisms are in place so that the costs of addressing the biodiversity crisis are met. "The current economic situation may make that difficult," says the COHAB Secretariat's executive director, Conor Kretsch, "but the alternative - which is letting biodiversity loss continue as if our health had no connection to the health of the planet - will be vastly more expensive in human and monetary terms. No of us can afford to let that happen."
Notes
The COHAB Initiative (Co-operation on Health and Biodiversity) is an international programme of work established to address the gaps in awareness, policy and action on the links between human health and well-being and the conservation of biological diversity. Set up in 2007, COHAB works with U.N. agencies, other intergovernmental organisations and NGOs to help highlight the links between biodiversity and human health issues, and has helped raise to bring public health linkages into the discussions of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
The Secretariat of the COHAB Initiative is based in Galway, Ireland.
Source:
COHAB Initiative
понедельник, 4 июля 2011 г.
How To Teach About Evolution In A Biomedical Context?
Three of America's best known voices in the debate about evolution in the teaching of science will meet to discuss the issue on Sunday, April 29, 2007 in Washington, DC. The symposium, entitled Teaching About Evolution in a Biomedical Context, is part of the 120th annual meeting of the American Physiological Society (APS; The-APS). The APS, founded in 1887, is one of the nation's oldest scholarly societies for scientists. The Society, with 10,500 members, publishes 11 peer-reviewed scientific journals each month.
The panel is comprised of the following:
Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph.D.: Dr. Krauss is Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications and an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology. His studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to the origin of all mass in the universe.
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.: Dr. Scott is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc. (NCSE), a non-profit organization located in Oakland, CA, and affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Scott has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution debate for more than 20 years. Her organization opposes the teaching of religious views in science classes in America's public schools and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology.
Randolph M. Nesse, MD: Dr. Nesse is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is noted for his work on evolutionary psychology and Darwinian medicine. Darwinian medicine seeks to find evolutionary explanations for vulnerabilities to disease.
Jon F. Harrison, Ph.D.: Dr. Harrison, a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University's School of Life Sciences, will moderate the panel. Dr. Harrison's research centers on the mechanisms and evolution of physiological responses of insects to environmental change.
The goal of this symposium is to help educators, parents, and lawmakers to understand the importance of the study of evolution to biomedical research, and to enhance the integration of evolution and biomedical science in the classroom.
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American Physiological Society has been an integral part of this scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887.
The American Physiological Society (APS) has been an integral part of the scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887. Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease.
The-APS
The APS annual meeting is part of the Experimental Biology 2007 (EB '07) gathering and is being held April 28 - May 2, 2007 at the Washington, DC Convention Center.
The panel is comprised of the following:
Lawrence M. Krauss, Ph.D.: Dr. Krauss is Professor of Astronomy and Director of the Center for Education and Research in Cosmology and Astrophysics at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH. He is the author of more than 200 scientific publications and an internationally known theoretical physicist with wide research interests, including the interface between elementary particle physics and cosmology. His studies include the early universe, the nature of dark matter, general relativity and neutrino astrophysics. He has investigated questions ranging from the nature of exploding stars to the origin of all mass in the universe.
Eugenie C. Scott, Ph.D.: Dr. Scott is the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education, Inc. (NCSE), a non-profit organization located in Oakland, CA, and affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Dr. Scott has been both a researcher and an activist in the creationism/evolution debate for more than 20 years. Her organization opposes the teaching of religious views in science classes in America's public schools and defends the teaching of evolutionary biology.
Randolph M. Nesse, MD: Dr. Nesse is a professor of psychology at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and professor of psychiatry at the University of Michigan Medical School. He is noted for his work on evolutionary psychology and Darwinian medicine. Darwinian medicine seeks to find evolutionary explanations for vulnerabilities to disease.
Jon F. Harrison, Ph.D.: Dr. Harrison, a Professor and Associate Director in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University's School of Life Sciences, will moderate the panel. Dr. Harrison's research centers on the mechanisms and evolution of physiological responses of insects to environmental change.
The goal of this symposium is to help educators, parents, and lawmakers to understand the importance of the study of evolution to biomedical research, and to enhance the integration of evolution and biomedical science in the classroom.
Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease. The American Physiological Society has been an integral part of this scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887.
The American Physiological Society (APS) has been an integral part of the scientific discovery process since it was established in 1887. Physiology is the study of how molecules, cells, tissues and organs function to create health or disease.
The-APS
The APS annual meeting is part of the Experimental Biology 2007 (EB '07) gathering and is being held April 28 - May 2, 2007 at the Washington, DC Convention Center.
пятница, 1 июля 2011 г.
Annual Meeting Of The American Society Of Biomechanics Sept. 6-9
The Virginia Tech-Wake Forest School of Biomedical Engineering is hosting the 2006 annual meeting of the American Society of Biomechanics.
Beginning with a keynote presentation on the Mechanics of Engineered Heart Tissue by Michael Sacks of the University of Pittsburgh, the conference offers about 150 presentations and more than 100 poster sessions on topics ranging from osteoarthritis and aging to imaging in biomechanics and advances in sports equipment.
For more information and a full program, visit eurekalert/pub_releases/2006-08/cpe.vt/asb/index.html
Contact: Liz Crumbley
Virginia Tech
Beginning with a keynote presentation on the Mechanics of Engineered Heart Tissue by Michael Sacks of the University of Pittsburgh, the conference offers about 150 presentations and more than 100 poster sessions on topics ranging from osteoarthritis and aging to imaging in biomechanics and advances in sports equipment.
For more information and a full program, visit eurekalert/pub_releases/2006-08/cpe.vt/asb/index.html
Contact: Liz Crumbley
Virginia Tech
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