14-03-2012 20:48 Paul Andersen starts with a brief description of diffusion and osmosis. He then describes the diffusion demonstration and how molecules move over time. He then explains the concepts behind the osmosis lab and how potatoes are affected by increasing sucrose molarity.

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AP Biology Lab 1: Diffusion and Osmosis - Video

14-03-2012 22:16 Paul Andersen starts with a brief description of enzymes and substrates. He then explains how you can measure the rate of an enzyme mediated reaction. Catalase from yeast is used to break hydrogen peroxide down into water and oxygen. He also explains how temperature and pH could affect the rate of a reaction.

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AP Biology Lab 2: Enzyme Catalysis - Video

14-03-2012 22:42 Paul Andersen compares and contrasts mitosis and meiosis. He shows how you can count cells in various phases of mitosis to construct a cell cycle pie chart. He also explains how you can use the fungus Sordaria to calculate map units using the frequency of cross over.

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AP Biology Lab 3: Mitosis and Meiosis - Video

14-03-2012 23:03 Paul Andersen explains how pigments can be separated using chromatography. He shows how you can calculate the Rf value for each pigment. He then explains how you can measure the rate of photosynthesis using leaf chads and water containing baking soda.

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AP Biology Lab 4: Plant Pigments and Photosynthesis - Video

14-03-2012 23:24 Paul Andersen explains how a respirometer can be used to measure the respiration rate in peas, germinating peas and the worm. KOH is used to solidify CO2 produced by a respiring organism.

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AP Biology Lab 5: Cellular Respiration - Video

15-03-2012 00:29 Paul Andersen starts by defining transpiration as evaporation off of a leaf. He then describes how a potometer can be used to measure the rate of transpiration in different environments.

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AP Biology Lab 9: Transpiration - Video

15-03-2012 06:06 Paul Andersen shows you how to use a sphygmomanometer to measure the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The the describes the elements of the laboratory portion. The temperature is gradually lowered and the respiration rate of a goldfish is measured.

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AP Biology Lab 10: Physiology of the Circulatory System - Video

Synthetic biology is making strides in fields ranging from cancer research to biofuels, but not everyone is excited about its prospects. A group of 111 watchdog and other organizations are calling for a moratorium on synthetic biology research until there is more oversight and governmental regulation, reports ScienceInsider's Elizabeth Pennisi. The group released a report with specific recommendations for "managing new biological techniques for building and remaking organisms for research and commercial uses," she adds. The report calls synthetic biology "an extreme form of genetic engineering" and warns that current regulations are inadequate. Further, the group wants a ban on the use of synthetic biology to manipulate the human genome.

However, critics of the report like the Biotechnology Industry Organization's Brent Erickson, say that while the rules currently in place to regulate synthetic biology may need an upgrade, there are many safeguards in place, Pennisi adds. "[With] the shrillness of its tone and its lack of objectivity, I don't think it's really helpful to policy-makers and the public," Erickson tells Pennisi.

Daily Scan's sister publication, GenomeWeb Daily News, has more on the proposed moratorium here.

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Stop That!

The International Society for Computational Biology is asking its members to weigh in on a draft consensus curriculum for bioinformatics education.

In particular, members of ISCB's education committee are looking for ideas to increase the visibility of their efforts and involve a broader cross section of the computational biology community. The group is also seeking input on the draft curriculum and suggestions for refining it.

The recommendations included in the draft which is available here are based on responses to a survey of ISCB members conducted last spring.

Topics included in the draft curriculum had at least 10 votes among the 41 respondents to the survey. These topics fit into two broad areas: computation, mathematics, and statistics; and biology and chemistry.

Topics included under computation, mathematics, and statistics include: programming/scripting/software engineering, which had 36 votes; statistics/probability with 31 votes; databases with 24 votes; algorithm design/data structures/computation theory with 20 votes; and machine learning, which had 13 votes.

Topics under biology and chemistry include: cellular and molecular biology with 21 votes; genomics with 12 votes; basic biology with 11 votes; and evolutionary biology and genetics with 10 votes each.

In order to refine these guidelines, the committee has established three subcommittees that are responsible for summarizing curricula from existing bioinformatics programs; surveying directors of bioinformatics core facilities and biological researchers to identify the skills needed for people they hire; and reviewing bioinformatics career opportunities, the manuscript states.

Members interested in participating in ISCB's curriculum development efforts are encouraged to contact the chairs of the education committee and specify which of the three subcommittees they would like to participate in.

Comments on the curriculum blog are also welcome, ISCB said.

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ISCB Calls for Member Input on Bioinformatics Curriculum

Online Survey Seeks Public Input into Prioritizing Action

Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) March 15, 2012

The online survey asks respondents to rate a number of actions that could address ELSI issues, such as ensuring long-term effects of synthetic biology are benign, tracking public and private investment in the field, or labeling products that include synthetic biology in their manufacture. By prioritizing these potential actions, resources can be better focused on areas of public concern. The results of this anonymous survey will be analyzed and compiled into a report, which will be released in mid- to late-May 2012.

To take the survey, please visit: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dERxQ1F5b1RKX3hDTC0xVnRRaWk3Q2c6MA

This survey builds on a workshop held Nov. 8-9, 2010, at the Wilson Center in Washington, D.C. The workshop culminated in a July 2011 report, Issues Arising from Synthetic Biology: What Lies Ahead?, which identified potential challenges and pressing research needs. More information and a link to the report can be found here: http://www.synbioproject.org/events/archive/what_lies_ahead/

The workshop was sponsored by the Wilson Center, the Department of Energy, and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Following the workshop, an online survey was conducted to gather further input about which ELSI issues should be considered in the context of synthetic biology. The list of priorities in the new survey integrates the workshop-generated ideas with the post-workshop online input.

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Synthetic Biology Project

The Synthetic Biology Project is an initiative of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars supported by a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The Project aims to foster informed public and policy discourse concerning the advancement of synthetic biology. For more information, visit: http://www.synbioproject.org

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

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The Societal Impacts of Synthetic Biology

Kevin Militello, associate professor of biology, has been awarded a renewal of the Academic Research Enhancement Award grant for his project Cytosine DNA Methylation and Transcriptional Repression in African Trypanosomes.

The $387,768 award from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will provide for supplies, data, travel, a part-time research technician and stipends for student researchers over the summer.

In the first round of research, Militellos lab found a modified DNA base in Trypanosoma brucei, a parasite that carries the African sleeping sickness.

Theres been a lot of interest over the past couple years in new bases Its like a language, he said, comparing finding the new bases to finding new letters in the alphabet. Were trying to figure out what it is.

Even though its modified, its considered a new base, said senior Sarah Cantatore, a biology student researching with Militello. In biology, a small change makes a big difference.

In this round of research, Militello said that he hopes to determine which organisms have the new bases, which genes have them and what their function is.

Usually the modified base inactivates the gene, said Cantatore. No ones been able to create a vaccine against the sleeping sickness because the organism has a protein coat that rapidly changes the modified base may be involved in controlling the genes responsible for the protein coat.

According to Militello, he routinely has three to seven students in the lab.

Their data has gone into published articles even in the grant submission, he said.

With money tight, Militello said that this grant is important for student growth. There are close to 900 biology students at Geneseo and not enough research positions for everyone.

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Biology professor Kevin Militello awarded $387,768 for second round of research

More than 100 environmental policy organizations call for greater oversight and regulation of synthetic biology.

By Edyta Zielinska | March 15, 2012

On Tuesday (March 12), the environmental activist organization Friends of the Earth called for a moratorium on the release of synthetic biology organisms or products into the environment. The call came from a report put together by 111 environmental organizations from around the world.

In 2010 the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethics found that synthetic biology was still in its infancy and therefore posed few risks. While the Commission did release a list of 18 recommendations for the development and oversight of the field, many have yet to be completed, despite a 2012 deadline for some of the recommendations. Friends of the Earth, which calls synthetic biology extreme genetic engineering, prepared its report in response to the assertion that little or no government regulation was needed for this type of research.

A spokesperson for the Presidential Commission told ScienceInsider that it welcomes the new input from Friends of the Earth. But Brent Erickson from the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) told ScienceInsider that the environmental organizations report lacked objectivity and a clear understanding of synthetic biology. Its not like we dont have experience in dealing with those organisms, he said. There are a lot of safeguards in place.

In response, The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, which has been tracking the governments progress on the Commissions recommendations, put out a call for public input, launching a survey that addresses the ethical, legal, and social implications of synthetic biology.

By Jef Akst

The FDA considers making some drugs for diabetes, asthma, and other ailments available over the counter.

By Sabrina Richards

Researchers succeed in magnetizing yeast cells, providing insight into how magnetism could be genetically induced in other organisms.

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A Call to Ban Synthetic Biology

Public release date: 14-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Steven Lenhert lenhert@bio.fsu.edu 850-645-9401 Florida State University

New technology being developed at Florida State University could significantly decrease the cost of drug discovery, potentially leading to increased access to high-quality health care and cancer patients receiving personalized chemotherapy treatments.

The details, which are spelled out in a recent publication of the journal Biomaterials, outline the work of Steven Lenhert, a Florida State biology assistant professor and principal investigator on the research effort.

"Right now, cancer patients receive chemotherapy treatments that are based on the accumulated knowledge of what has worked best for people with similar cancers," Lenhert said. "This is the case because hospitals don't have the technology to test thousands of different chemotherapy mixtures on the tumor cells of an individual patient. This technology could give them access to that capability, making the treatments truly personalized and much more effective."

The key to Lenhert's invention is miniaturizing the first phase of a process used by pharmaceutical companies to discover new drugs. Right now, these companies use large, specialized laboratories to test hundreds of thousands of compounds on different cell cultures in a process known as high throughput screening. The equipment and manpower cost is substantial, even though only a tiny fraction of the compounds will ever make it to the next phase of testing.

Lenhert's technology miniaturizes that process by printing all of the compounds on a single glass surface and testing them on cells using an innovative technique involving liposome microarrays, which are basically collections of drug-containing oil drops on a surface. If fully employed in the pharmaceutical industry, this technology would make the cost of this expensive process a thousand times cheaper, creating the potential for personalized cancer treatments, lower-cost medicine and more affordable, higher-quality health care options.

"In looking at the first phase of the drug-discovery process, it struck me how, in this age of extreme miniaturization, we are still using rooms full of robots and equipment to test drug compounds," Lenhert said. "It reminded me of the early days of computers where you needed huge, room-spanning pieces of hardware to do the most mundane tasks. I said, 'There has to be a better way.'"

Lenhert's nanotechnology has been demonstrated as a proof of concept on a small scale with cells commonly grown in university laboratories. His research group is now working on scaling their technology up to the high levels needed to achieve medically relevant benefits. For personalized medicine applications, the "lab on a chip" technology could then be applied to cells obtained from patients through biopsies so doctors can determine which drugs will work on a particular patient. Depending on funding, Lenhert expects that the technology could be made commercially available after two years of development.

"We have taken an important first step in making liposome microarray technology viable for the pharmaceutical and medical industries," said Aubrey Kusi-Appiah, a graduate student in Lenhert's research group and first author on the published work. "We have established that it can be done."

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Biology researcher on verge of major breakthrough in drug creation process

Synthetic biology could boost the effectiveness of artemisinin

Flickr/Gates Foundation

More than 100 non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have called for greater international oversight of the emerging science of synthetic biology including a moratorium on the release and commercial use of synthetic organisms and their products until the potential risks are fully understood.

Synthetic biology is a broad term covering new approaches to the development of biological functions and systems that are not normally found in nature, including the design and modification of living organisms at the genetic level.

There are high hopes that the field might generate cheaper, more effective drugs, including a synthetic version of the malaria drug artemisinin, biological computers, and innovative ways of disposing of hazardous waste.

But critics are concerned about the potential risks for human health and the environment.

At a meeting in Washington D.C. hosted by Friends of the Earth (12 March) a global coalition of environmental, social, scientific and indigenous and human rights groups including several from Africa, Asia, and Latin American jointly endorsed a framework they said should guide the research and commercialisation of synthetic biology technologies.

The Principles for the Oversight of Synthetic Biology is the "first document from civil society that outlines how synthetic biology should be regulated", according to Eric Hoffman, genetic technology policy campaigner at Friends of the Earth in the United States.

Applying the precautionary principle would mean a moratorium on the release or commercial use of synthetic organisms, cells and genomes, until regulatory bodies have considered the risks and a total ban on any attempt to change the human genome, the document said.

"Any alterations to the human genome through synthetic biology particularly inheritable genetic changes are too risky and fraught with ethical concerns," it stated.

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NGOs call for international regulation of synthetic biology