XKCD on Protein Folding
I've been meaning to mention this recent XKCD comic, which is right on target: "Someone may someday find a harder one", indeed. . ....
View ArticleElectromagnetic Production of Stem Cells? Really?
Now this is an odd paper: its subject matter is unusual, where it's published is unusual, and it's also unusual that no one seems to have noticed it. I hadn't, either. A reader sent it along to me:...
View ArticleThe Electromagnetic Field Stem Cell Authors Respond
The authors of the ACS Nano paper on using electromagnetic fields to produce stem cells have responded on PubPeer. They have a good deal to say on the issues around the images in their paper (see the...
View ArticleOxygenated Nanobubbles. For Real?
A longtime reader sent along this article, just based on the headline. "This headline triggers instant skepticism in me", he said, and I agree. "Potential to treat Alzheimer's" is both a bold and a...
View ArticleDown With the Western Blot?
A reader sends along a thought that touches on a lot of the publication scandals that have happened in molecular biology over the years. A very common feature of these is manipulation of Western blots...
View ArticleSplitting the Junk DNA Difference
A big dispute erupted in the genomics world in 2012 with the publication of the ENCODE consortium's data - and with their interpretation of it. How much of the human genome is functional? And just what...
View ArticleKnockout Models
Did you know that we already have a supply of human genetic knockout models for disease? No, they haven't been generated in an underground lab in North Korea; they're walking around everywhere as part...
View ArticleNear-Animal, Near-Human: The Future of Drug Testing?
Here's a good article on animal models in drug discovery, and their many limitations. We have moved away from studying human disease in humans,” (Elias) Zerhouni lamented to the NIH’s Scientific Review...
View ArticleCambrian Genomics Does It All
I'd like to echo this question over at Chemjobber's blog. What is Cambrian Genomics talking about? For example, see this Q&A: How do you plan to stop people from using your technology to create...
View ArticleWho Owns CRISPR?
CRISPR/Cas9 is an excellent technique for gene manipulation. Its discovery is absolutely going to be the subject of a Nobel prize; I think it's pretty much of a lock. But at the moment, there's a...
View ArticleCells In Disguise
This is a good read for anyone who's depending on cell assays to tell them something useful. Longtime cell biologists will know that there have been several upheavals over the years about misidentified...
View ArticleJ. Already Known Chem.
A reader sent along this paper, which recently appeared in JACS. He'd read it and was puzzled - not by the content of the paper, but as to "how it got into JACS". So I had a look. It's on...
View ArticleIbuprofen For a Longer Life?
Here's one that I didn't expect: a report that ibuprofen extends lifespan in model organisms. Here we show that ibuprofen increased the lifespan of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans and...
View ArticleA New Cell Assay -And What It Says About Stapled Peptides
I'm always looking out for new assays that might tell us what the heck is going on inside cells, so this paper caught my eye. The authors describe a new luciferase-based complementation assay for...
View ArticleRefold Those Proteins
Anyone who expresses and purifies proteins for a living has had to do plenty of refolding over the years. Some proteins are rock-solid rock stars - carbonic anhydrase, say. You can do most anything to...
View ArticleGene Editing Therapies Thunder Along
Here's a one-stop way to get caught up with all the therapeutic gene editing technologies out there, courtesy of Nature Medicine. Huge amounts of money are flowing into this area, because CRISPR/Cas9...
View ArticleThe Junk DNA Fight
From yesterday's New York Times Magazine, here's an excellent intro by Carl Zimmer to the Junk DNA Wars. In January, Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health, made a comment...
View Article23AndMe
Now this is quite a development: 23andMe is the personal genomics company that had a run-in with the FDA and is still trying to come to terms with the agency over the reporting of their customers'...
View ArticleIs Irisin Real?
In 2012, the Spiegelman lab at Harvard reported a new peptide hormone, irisin (derived from a known precursor, FNDC5), that seemed to be involved in (among other things) brown-fat-like energy usage and...
View ArticleHuman Gene Editing
Well, if you needed any more proof about how powerful and easy to use the CRISPR/Cas9 technique is for gene editing, take a look at today's headlines on it: A group of leading biologists on Thursday...
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