The T.L. Hanna High School Biology Bowl Team recently won the annual Bobby G. Wixon Biology Bowl at Clemson University.

More than 900 students took the biology merit exam, and the T.L. Hanna team came out on top in Division III.

Here are the different rankings that student can achieve: Placing in first, second or third means that a student is in the top one percent; an "honorable mention" places a student in the top three percent; a "second honorable mention" places a student in the top 10 percent.

Congratulations to the team and Richard Morand for their efforts. Here are the results for T.L. Hanna participants:

Michael Baker, first place (tie); Nicholas Royals, first place (tie); Jeanette Rodriguez, first place; Adam Schnell, second place (Biology Bowl); and Adam Schnell, third place (Biology Merit Exam).

Also, Nathan Henk, Timothy Moss, Alex Stoll, Victoria Murphree, Molly Bedenbaugh, Daniel Lippiat and Kayli Henk achieved honorable mention and Alex Rubin achieved second honorable mention.

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Hanna team wins Biology Bowl at Clemson

Plains bison are an iconic symbol of America on everything from coins to state flags. Now scientists writing in Conservation Biology are exploring how the cross-breeding of bison with domestic cattle in the late 1800s may still have unwanted effects on modern populations of the species.

"The plains bison are an iconic symbol of rugged individualism and the will to survive," said Professor James Derr from Texas A&M University. "The population crash and the spectacular recovery over the last 125 years is a classic example of the resilience of this species and the success of science based wildlife conservation."

Plains bison (Bison bison bison) once numbered in the tens of millions, but they were driven to the brink of extinction in the late 1880's during America's westward expansion. A small population of wild bison survived in Yellowstone National Park, while 5 herds remained in the hands of private ranchers. It is estimated that less than 100 surviving bison became the common ancestors of today's herds.

In some of these privately held herds, bison were crossed with domesticated cattle in an attempt to introduce the hardy bison traits into beef producing animals. While this effort failed to produce new and improved beef breeds, some hybrids were created, and with the use of molecular technologies, these scientists have discovered there remains a legacy of small amount of cattle genetic contamination in most bison herds in North America.

"Looking at the long-term recovery of the bison it is important to find out if this small amount of cattle genetics in an otherwise normal bison can really have a biological effect," said Derr. "We brought together researchers from Arizona, California, Montana and Texas to find out."

The team recorded size measurements for over 900 bison from a nutritionally harsh environment for bison on Santa Catalina Island in California and a nutritionally rich environment on a ranch in Montana.

The results revealed that bison with a particular domestic cattle genetic trait, mitochondrial DNA, were consistently smaller and lighter than animals with true bison mitochondrial DNA in both environments.

"We have found that this cattle ancestry affects phenotypic traits and most likely fitness of bison in herds which are maintained for both production and species conservation," concluded Derr. "Long term management efforts with bison, and possibly other species with a history of hybridization, must carefully consider the importance of genome integrity in order to preserve what is the foundation and essence of these species, their genomes."

More information: Derr. J, Hendrick. P, Halbert. N, Plough. L, Dobson. L, King, J , Calvin. D, Hunter. D, Cohen. N, Hedgecock. D, Phenotypic Effects of Cattle Mitochondrial DNA in American Bison, Conservation Biology, 2012, DOI: 10.1111/j.1523-1739.2012.01905.x

Journal reference: Conservation Biology

Link:
Study reveals impact of historical domestic cattle hybridization with American bison

$1M gift to endow UVa-Wise biology position Published August 7th, 2012 12:58 am

WISE -- The University of Virginia's College at Wise has received a $1 million gift from the estate of Carol Phipps Buchanan to create an endowed professorship in biology at the college.

The John C. Buchanan Professorship in Biology has been established in honor of her late husband, a former state senator and Southwest Virginia physician, the college announced Monday.

Sen. Buchanan, an alumnus of the University of Virginia, operated a general medical practice in Wise from 1971 until his death on April 15, 1991.

Sen. Buchanan represented a large portion of the region in the Virginia General Assembly. During his service in the state Senate, Buchanan sponsored the first state statute to provide workers compensation for black lung disease acquired by coal miners.

Carol Phipps Buchanan was a trustee of the Columbus Phipps Foundation, which has supported UVa-Wise in the past. She was known for her strong dedication to education. A community minded yet private person, she wanted her estate used to promote education.

"We are deeply grateful to the estate of Carol Phipps Buchanan for the generous gift," said Tami Ely, vice chancellor for development and college relations. "Endowed professorships allow us to attract and retain excellent faculty at UVa-Wise, which enhances the educational experience for our students."

The only branch campus of the University of Virginia, UVa-Wise offers Virginia's only undergraduate degree in software engineering among 29 other degrees and professional programs in the liberal arts tradition of Thomas Jefferson.

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$1M gift to endow UVa-Wise biology position

Flora Fortune, a biology teacher at Columbus High School, poses on the first day of class today with the living ecosystem she keeps on display in a classroom sink. Fortune has taught biology for 19 years. Photo by: Carmen K. Sisson/Dispatch Staff

There's always something happening below the surface in Flora Fortune's Columbus High School biology class.

After 19 years in education, a teacher develops her own style, plying facts and fun in equal measure. It's a challenge, especially in state-tested subjects like biology, because pressure to cram massive quantities of information into the school day can amp the intensity and quell the enthusiasm.

But Fortune has loved science since she was knee-high to a tadpole, growing up in Lowndes County and absorbing her father's passion for the outdoor world. By the fifth grade, she knew she wanted to be a teacher, and by the time she graduated from Motley High School in 1979, she was certain she would pursue either education or nursing as a career path.

Instead, she joined the United States Army, where she spent nearly five years and became airborne-qualified, making her possibly one of only a handful of biology teachers in the nation who can dissect a frog or parachute from a plane with equal aplomb.

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Fortune passes passion for biology on to her students

SEATTLE, Aug. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --The Journal of Cell Biology (JCB), The Rockefeller University Press and Glencoe Software are pleased to announce their next enhancements to the JCB DataViewer, the world's first system for presentation, sharing and archiving published scientific image data. Starting today, the JCB DataViewer can accept and publish very large images, made up of many individual tiles, and make them viewable online. The first example of this type of image is like none other -- an image of a whole fish embryo, made up of more than 26,000 tiled images recorded on an electron microscope. The tiles have been stitched together with newly developed software that allows thousands of tiles to be aligned rapidly and accurately. The image comprises 281 Giga pixels; displaying it in a web browser allows scientists the unprecedented opportunity to view the constituents of an organism at very high resolution. To our knowledge, this is the first time such a comprehensive, high-resolution view of an organism has been published on-line, for anyone to view and examine. Tiled images are common in many different imaging applications, including light microscopy and digital pathology, so the new JCB DataViewer technology opens the doors to these new types of data as well.

First released in December 2008, the JCB DataViewer (http://jcb-dataviewer.rupress.org) has been under continuous development to support new data types and to provide new functionality for its users. This new version of the JCB DataViewer allows authors to archive and share large tiled images and allows the scientific community to interactively browse the original data. Public availability of these datasets creates opportunities for further discovery by scientists beyond those that performed the original experiments.

The JCB DataViewer currently contains original image data associated with 261 manuscripts published in JCB, and the image data submission rate by authors is steadily increasing. Publication of tiled data will substantially increase the size of datasets hosted within the JCB DataViewer, but Glencoe Software, Inc., and JCB welcome and are prepared for the growth of this resource. Liz Williams, Executive Editor of JCB, said, "With the publication of very large tiled image arrays, JCB is very excited to be taking this next step in the development of new publishing tools to promote data sharing and discovery in the field of cell biology." Mike Rossner, Director of The Rockefeller University Press, added, "This update to the JCB DataViewer is part of our ongoing expansion of the image data formats that can be presented and shared by JCB authors."

The JCB DataViewer is based on open source software built by the Open Microscopy Environment (OME; http://openmicroscopy.org). Founded in 2000, OME builds and releases specifications and software tools for scientific image data, and its tools are used throughout the academic and commercial communities. Glencoe Software, Inc., has used OME's resources to build the JCB DataViewer and is a proud member of the OME Consortium.

Jason Swedlow, President of Glencoe Software, Inc. and co-founder of OME, said "OME and Glencoe Software are excited to be a part of this important development and milestone in scientific publishing. OME's infrastructure has many possible applications, and the whole OME team is proud of the work enabling access and sharing of very large tiled images in science."

Glencoe Software, Inc. is a member of the OME Consortium and provides commercial access to and customization of OME resources. With increasing proliferation and complexity of research image datasets and the need for secure sharing, analysis, and visualization, Glencoe Software is well placed to deliver secure, scalable solutions based on an open-source, community-driven foundation.

http://www.glencoesoftware.com

The JCB DataViewer hosts image data associated with articles published in The Journal of Cell Biology. JCB is published by The Rockefeller University Press, which also publishes The Journal of Experimental Medicine and The Journal of General Physiology. All editorial decisions on manuscripts submitted to the Press journals are made by active scientists in conjunction with in-house scientific editors. All published content is available for free six months after publication. Authors retain copyright to their publications, and third parties may reuse the content under a Creative Commons license.

http://www.rupress.org

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Glencoe Software and 'The Journal of Cell Biology' Pioneer Publishing of Massive, Ultra-Resolution Images

Scientists at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Heidelberg, Germany, have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a 3-dimensional movie of how cells 'swallow' nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study, published today in Cell, is the first to follow changes in the shape of the cell's membrane and track proteins thought to influence those changes. It also provides ample data to investigate this essential process further.

This 'swallowing', called endocytosis, is involved in a variety of crucial tasks. It is used by brain cells relaying information to each other, for instance, and is also hijacked by many viruses, which use it to invade their host's cells. When a cell is about to swallow some molecules, a dent appears in the cell's membrane, and gradually expands inwards, pinching off to form a little pouch, or vesicle, that transports molecules into the cell.

This video is not supported by your browser at this time.

Scientists at EMBL have combined the power of two kinds of microscope to produce a three-dimensional movie of how cells swallow nutrients and other molecules by engulfing them. The study is the first to follow changes in the shape of the cells membrane and track proteins thought to influence those changes. Credit: EMBL/W.Kukulski

The data used to make the video is freely available to the scientific community and will, Kaksonen and Briggs believe, provide valuable information to others trying to develop physical models of how this process works. The EMBL scientists themselves are probing the roles of individual proteins in this process, by perturbing them, and would like to extend the current work in yeast to human cells.

More information: Kukulski, W., Schorb, M., Kaksonen, M. & Briggs, J.A.B. Time-resolved electron tomography reveals how the plasma membrane is reshaped during endocytosis. Cell, 3 August 2012.

Journal reference: Cell

Provided by European Molecular Biology Laboratory

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3D movie at 'ultraresolution' shows how cell`s machinery bends membrane inwards

I dont know what theyre teaching kids these days. Let me rephrase that. I dont understand a lot of what they are teaching kids these days. At the end of the last school year I was thrust into action quizzing my daughter as she studied for her final exam in Honors Biology. Hey, always glad to lend a helping hand. But it got a little troubling after awhile.

Oh, dont worry, she was getting almost all of the answers correct. The problem was the unease I felt as I read the questions. For much of the time I didnt even understand the questions I was asking. I am pretty sure all of the words were in English but at one point I suddenly wondered if I was speaking in tongues.

So yes I am sad to say, I apparently Dont know much biology.

Still, in the immortal words of Lynyrd Skynyrd, I know a little bout it. And as it turns out, it might just be enough.

Biology A Potential Cure for the Summertime Blues

Historically, the stock market has a tendency to hit the doldrums during the summer months. And while this is a topic for another day (Note to myself), the bottom line is that since about 1950, the stock market is about breakeven during the combined months of June, July and August. Still there is often a late summer glimmer of hope offered up by biotech stocks.

Specifically, biotech stocks have shown a tendency to rally between:

-The close of the 7th trading day of August, and;

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Kaeppel's Corner: Don't Know Much Biology (but maybe just enough)

Earlier this summer I got a travel fellowship from the SynBERC Student & Postdoc Association and Practices Thrust to attend the Six Parties Symposium on Synthetic Biology. The theme of the symposium was Synthetic Biology for the Next Generation and was jointly run by the National Academies of Science and Engineering from the US, the UK, and China. The fellows were asked to write a short perspective about the symposium and how we see the field advancing in the future. Im posting my essay below, and you can see the perspectives of the other fellows here.

What is the future of synthetic biology? How do we get there? The recent Six Parties Symposium on Synthetic Biology brought together scientists, engineers, policy makers, and social scientists from the US, the UK, and China to think about the future. Panels focused on the grand challenges that we face, the potential for synthetic biology to address some of these challenges, and the toolstechnical and otherwisenecessary to see this potential through to real world applications.

Many of the presentations included timelines on vastly different scales: graphs of rising global temperatures in the past hundred years and graphs of carbon dioxide levels extrapolated out to 12,000 AD; graphs of the exponentially increasing computer processing power in the past fifty years, the exponentially decreasing cost of sequencing and synthesizing DNA in the past ten, and the rapidly increasing number of students participating in iGEM over the past five. Connecting these different timelines, harnessing growing communities and improving technologies to address complex and large-scale environmental problems is the focus of a different kind of timelinethe technology roadmaps that set out goals and timeframes for problem solving and industry development in synthetic biology.

But to advance the goals of synthetic biology, first we have to decide on what synthetic biology is, what the goals are, and what is necessary to actually reach those goals. Synthetic biology is a combination of engineering and biology, interpreted and defined in many ways but often in contrast to traditional biology fields. One of the many such definitions of synthetic biology discussed at the symposium was that synthetic biology reverses the genotype to phenotype link; while research in genetics and molecular biology aims to understand how a cells genotype leads to an observed phenotype, synthetic biology begins with a desired phenotype and seeks to design the corresponding genotype. The complexity of biological systems and the context-dependence and stochasticity inherent in how phenotypes emerge from genotypes complicate efforts to design functional synthetic networks, but also provide a useful metaphor for thinking about the futures of synthetic biology.

Like the connections between genotype and phenotype, the connections between the roadmaps and the futures that they aim to predict are complex, context-dependent and involve much more than just efficiency and technical feasibility. Indeed, the tools that synthetic biology has focused on in the past decade have always been both technical and socialprinciples like standardization are encouraged to enable streamlined engineering but also to promote collaboration and open-source development. The symposium, with talks from people working in academia, industry, IP law, environmental advocacy, law enforcement, and government foregrounded many of the issues that complicate the path from roadmaps to futures, including the politics of science funding, the economics of fossil fuels, the reward structures for academic researchers, the educational programs available for interdisciplinary training, risk assessment, regulations, media representations and public perceptions.

Given the complexity of factors influencing the funding of and research in synthetic biology, its no surprise that there are almost as many proposed futures as there are definitions and technical standards for the field (like opinions, everyone has one). As Nikolas Rose warned during a panel on social issues involved in synthetic biology, Too many roadmaps means you dont know where youre going. How can we keep from getting lost? How do we get a future that we want? Who gets to decide?

Perhaps the diversity of goals and the diversity of approaches can be a strength rather than a weakness. Synthetic biology alone cant solve any of our grand challenges, and synthetic biology cant develop in a vacuum, isolated from all non-technical factors. The range of voices and perspectives at the symposium reflect the kind of community necessary to understand problems and to craft sustainable solutions.

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Timelines, roadmaps, and tools: navigating the futures of synthetic biology

Public release date: 31-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Cody Mooneyhan cmooneyhan@faseb.org 301-634-7104 Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Scientists have found that the anti-inflammatory molecule, IL-10, may improve success rates of skin autografts (skin moved from one site of the body to another). This information provides a valuable drug target that may benefit burn and accident victims. Specifically, researchers from Portugal and Brazil show that IL-10 plays an important role in whether or not an isogenic skin graft (skin from one individual grafted into another genetically identical) is successful and that the cells responsible for this effect are from the donor skin and not from any tissue of the recipient. This finding appears in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org).

"Much work is needed to advance from mouse experiments to finding in humans," said Luciana Vieira de Moraes, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Disease Genetics Lab at Instituto Gulbenkian de Cincia in Oeiras, Portugal. "However, monitoring IL-10 levels in the graft tissue may improve therapeutic success."

To make this discovery, scientists conducted experiments using different groups of mice, some of which were genetically modified to not produce IL-10. The first group, which produced IL-10, received a tail skin graft from mice that lacked IL-10. These grafts were not accepted by the recipient. The second group that did not produce IL-10 received tail skin from donors that had IL-10. In this case grafts were accepted. These findings suggest that IL-10 is important immediately after transplantation.

"This study shows that donor skin is not a passive player in the grafting process. Indeed, immune cells in the skin play an active role in whether or not the graft is accepted or rejected by the body. While considerable work remains, these findings open the door to exploit the IL-10 pathway to aid in skin grafting procedures in a variety of clinical settings," said John Wherry, Ph.D., Deputy Editor of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology.

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The Journal of Leukocyte Biology (http://www.jleukbio.org) publishes peer-reviewed manuscripts on original investigations focusing on the cellular and molecular biology of leukocytes and on the origins, the developmental biology, biochemistry and functions of granulocytes, lymphocytes, mononuclear phagocytes and other cells involved in host defense and inflammation. The Journal of Leukocyte Biology is published by the Society for Leukocyte Biology.

Details: Tatiana Takiishi, Carlos Eduardo Tadokoro, Luiz Vicente Rizzo, and Luciana Vieira de Moraes. Early IL-10 production is essential for syngeneic graft acceptance. J Leukoc Biol. August 2012; doi:10.1189/jlb.1111569; http://www.jleukbio.org/content/92/2/259.abstract

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IL-10 from donor skin cells helps the body incorporate skin grafts

Our take: Nalini Nadkarni, a University of Utah biology professor, is highlighting the role that nature and trees play in faiths of every kind. Seen by many religions as manifestations of divine knowledge, trees have played an unassuming, yet vital role in every aspect of faith from the design of church grounds to being viewed as spiritual objects connecting the heavens to the earth. Hoping to use this information to help teach people about tree and nature conservation Nadkarni is traveling and speaking at churches to share her research findings noting that there are 328 references to trees and forests in the Bible alone.

Whether churchgoers realize it or not, the trees in their churchyards have religious roots.

Those tall, thin-branched trees on the corner of this city's Episcopal Church Center of Utah, Purple Robe Black Locusts, were probably named after a biblical reference to John the Baptist eating locusts and honey.

Nearby, the crab apple tree just outside the Episcopal Cathedral Church of St. Mark produces a small, sour fruit used by 15th-century monks to treat diarrhea, dysentery and gallstones.

And the flowers of a nearby dogwood tend to bloom around Easter.

My hope," said University of Utah biology professor Nalini Nadkarni, "is (worshippers) will realize that nature and trees are as much a part of their sacred ground and worthy of reverence as what goes on inside a cathedral or church."

Read more about The sacredness of trees on The Huffington Post.

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University of Utah biology professor wants people to notice the sacred role of trees

DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/vw2425/mass_spectrometry) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd's new book "Mass Spectrometry in Structural Biology and Biophysics. Architecture, Dynamics, and Interaction of Biomolecules" to their offering. The definitive guide to mass spectrometry techniques in biology and biophysics.

The use of mass spectrometry (MS) to study the architecture and dynamics of proteins is increasingly common within the biophysical community, and Mass Spectrometry in Structural Biology and Biophysics: Architecture, Dynamics, and Interaction of Biomolecules, Second Edition provides readers with detailed, systematic coverage of the current state of the art.

Offering an unrivalled overview of modern MS-based armamentarium that can be used to solve the most challenging problems in biophysics, structural biology, and biopharmaceuticals, the book is a practical guide to understanding the role of MS techniques in biophysical research. Designed to meet the needs of both academic and industrial researchers, it makes mass spectrometry accessible to professionals in a range of fields, including biopharmaceuticals.

This new edition has been significantly expanded and updated to include the most recent experimental methodologies and techniques, MS applications in biophysics and structural biology, methods for studying higher order structure and dynamics of proteins, an examination of other biopolymers and synthetic polymers, such as nucleic acids and oligosaccharides, and much more.

Featuring high-quality illustrations that illuminate the concepts described in the text, as well as extensive references that enable the reader to pursue further study, Mass Spectrometry in Structural Biology and Biophysics is an indispensable resource for researchers and graduate students working in biophysics, structural biology, protein chemistry, and related fields.

Key Topics Covered:

1 General Overview of Basic Concepts in Molecular Biophysics

2 Overview of Traditional Experimental Arsenal to Study Biomolecular Structure and Dynamics

3 Overview of Biological Mass Spectrometry

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Research and Markets: Mass Spectrometry in Structural Biology and Biophysics. Architecture, Dynamics, and Interaction ...

Sri Lankan students won Silver, Bronze and Merit Awards at the International Biology Olympiad 2012 concluded last week in Singapore.

The winning students at the International Olympiad 2012

Pramith Ruwanpathirana of Royal College, Colombo won a Silver Medal, Prasan Thurul Warnakula of Joseph Vaz College, Wennappuwa won a Bronze Medal and Janidu Gunarathna of Royal College, Colombo and Madhushani Rodrigo of Vishaka Vidyalaya, Colombo won Merit awards.

Over 230 pre-university Biology students and 205 Jury members from 59 countries participataed in this competition. Silver medalist Pramith Ruwanpathirana obtained the best results in the Bio Science stream based on the 2011 GCE (A/L) Examination results. Bronze medalist Prasan Thurul Warnakula is just preparing for the GCE (A/L) Examination next month. Other students intend to follow medical degree courses in Sri Lanka.

These students were selected out of 2300 students who participated in the Sri Lanka Biology Olympiad competition conducted by the Institute of Biology in collaboration with Sri Lankan Universities and the Education Ministry in September last year. Prof. Hiran Amarasekera and Prof H.G. Nandadasa from the Sri Jayawardenepura University and Prof M.J.S. Wijeratne from the Kelaniya University also participated at the International Biology Olympiad as Jury Members.

Some of the characteristics of the Science Olympiad as compared with those for sports are that these are held annually and intended for secondary schools students. The level of questions is above the standard for secondary school education in the world.

The theoretical/practical question papers are of five hours duration, each demanding persistence and determination, as well as discipline. Gold medals are awarded not only to the top achievers but to the top 10% of participants. The Olympiad also offers an opportunity for international exchange.

The Internatioal Biology Olympiad is an internationally conducted prestigious competition, in which bright students from contries all over the world compete for medals. The first intermational Olympiad was held in Eastern Europe in 1959 in Mathematics. The remaining disciplines quickly followed. Physics (1967), Chemistry (1968) and Informatics in 1989. Biology had its first Olympiad in 1990.

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Sri Lankan students win at International Olympiad 2012

Singapore, July 30, 2012 - (ACN Newswire) - By studying fruit flies, scientists at A*STAR's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB) have successfully devised a fast and cost-saving way to uncover genetic changes that have a higher potential to cause cancer. With this new approach, researchers will now be able to rapidly distinguish the range of genetic changes that are causally linked to cancer (i.e. "driver" mutations) versus those with limited impact on cancer progression. This research paves the way for doctors to design more targeted treatment against the different cancer types, based on the specific cancer-linked mutations present in the patient. This study published in the prestigious journal Genes & Development could help advance the development of personalised medicinein cancer care and treatment.

The era of genomic sequencing has generated an unparalleled wealth of information on the complexity of genetic changes that occur as cancer develops and progresses. "Many genetic changes arise in cancer cells and changes continue to accumulate during the progression of disease to metastatic cancer[1]. The current challenge is to understand which of the many genetic changes are important drivers of disease progression" said Dr. Stephen Cohen, Principal Investigator at IMCB and team leader of this paper.

Though very different in many ways, fruit flies and humans share similarities in a remarkable two-thirds of their genomes. That is to say, many of the genes found in humans are also present in the flies. Similarly, various signalling pathways involved in tumour formation are also well conserved from fruit flies to humans. In fact, previous studies have shown that about 75 percent of known human disease genes have a recognisable match in the genome offruit flies[2].

Leveraging on their genetic similarities, Dr Hector Herranz, a post-doctorate from the Dr Cohen's team developed an innovative strategy to genetically screen the whole fly genome for "cooperating" cancer genes. On their own, theseare the genes that appear to be harmless and have little or no impact on cancer. But in fact, they cooperate with other cancer genes, so that the combination causes aggressive cancer, which neither would cause alone.

In this study, the team was specifically looking for genes that could cooperate with EGFR[3] "driver" mutation, a genetic change commonly associated with breast and lung cancers in humans. SOCS5, reported in this paper, is one of the several new "cooperating" cancer genes to beidentified through this innovative approach. Most of these new-found genes have yet to be identified as cancer genes in human or mouse models.

Said Mr Xin Hong, a PhD student and the co-first author of this paper, "We were very surprised by our finding because this it the first time that the Socs gene family is found to be linked to cancer. Previously it has only been associated with immunological disorders."

Dr. Cohen added, "Though these studies are in the early stages, they are very promising. Already, there are indications that levels of SOCS5 expression are reduced in breast cancer, and patients with low levels of SOCS5 have poor prognosis."

The IMCB team is preparing to explore the use of SOCS5 as a biomarker in diagnosis forcancer.

Said Professor Wanjin Hong, Executive Director of IMCB, "This study sheds light on the complexities of cancer genetics and paves the way to accelerate development of personalised medicine in cancer care. It is a fine examples of how powerful genetic approach using the fly model can reveal molecular mechanisms underlying human cancer. More importantly, it shows how fundamental research can have far-reaching applications for potential clinical benefits."

Notes for editor: The research findings described in this media release can be found in the 15 July 2012 issue of Genes & Developmentunder the title, "Oncogenic cooperation between SOCS family proteins and EGFR identified using a Drosophila epithelial transformation model" Hector Herranz[1,5], Xin Hong[1,2,5], Nguyen Thanh Hung[3], P. Mathijs Voorhoeve[3,4] and Stephen M. Cohen[1,2,6].

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Fruit Flies Light the Way for A*STAR Scientists to Pinpoint Genetic Changes that Spell Cancer

LONDON

Two years ago, Elodie Li Yuk Lo quit her job teaching high school biology and physical education, left her family in Toronto and moved to France to train for the Olympics. In February, partner Natacha Rigobert also walked away from teaching and began the countdown to London.

These two are making history for Mauritius - as the first Olympic beach volleyball players from the tiny East African island nation.

They are enjoying the moment, high-fiving at every opportunity during practice and between points.

Word from supporters back home is that they're gaining popularity in the media and in ads now that the Olympics have begun. Rigobert's husband, professor of sports psychology Thierry Long, is coaching them during this special run.

Mariusz Prudel and Grzegorz Fijalek of Poland also are making their country's debut in a sport long dominated by just a few countries, like Australia, Brazil and the United States. Both the Polish team and the Mauritians will take to the sand for the second time during Monday's schedule.

While beach volleyball is a huge hit and one of the most popular and sexy Olympic competitions, it is still relatively new on the program since becoming a medal sport at the 1996 Atlanta Games. Still, the first-time Olympic athletes realize they play a part in educating those back home and elsewhere.

"It's amazing. We're just so happy to be here as the first team ever in our history from Mauritius," Rigobert said. "It's even more fantastic that it's beach volleyball because our island is surrounded by beautiful beaches. We hope this will bring the sport up in our country and in Africa."

The Mauritians are one of several new teams in the Olympic tournament at picturesque Horse Guards Parade after beach volleyball Olympic qualifying moved away from an all-rankings system.

Li Yuk Lo and Rigobert get their next chance in pool play in a Monday matchup with Lenka Hajeckova and Hana Klapalova of the Czech Republic after losing their Olympic opener Saturday to the Brazilian team of Juliana Silva and Larissa Franca, 21-5, 21-10.

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Mauritius beach volleyball pair make Olympic debut

Researchers reporting online on July 26 in Current Biology have for the first time shown that they can control the behavior of monkeys by using pulses of blue light to very specifically activate particular brain cells. The findings represent a key advance for optogenetics, a state-of-the-art method for making causal connections between brain activity and behavior. Based on the discovery, the researchers say that similar light-based mind control could likely also be made to work in humans for therapeutic ends.

"We are the first to show that optogenetics can alter the behavior of monkeys," says Wim Vanduffel of Massachusetts General Hospital and KU Leuven Medical School. "This opens the door to use of optogenetics at a large scale in primate research and to start developing optogenetic-based therapies for humans."

In optogenetics, neurons are made to respond to light through the insertion of light-sensitive genes derived from particular microbial organisms. Earlier studies had primarily validated this method for use in invertebrates and rodents, with only a few studies showing that optogenetics can alter activity in monkey brains on a fine scale.

In the new study, the researchers focused on neurons that control particular eye movements. Using optogenetics together with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), they showed that they could use light to activate these neurons, generating brain activity and subtle changes in eye-movement behavior.

The researchers also found that optogenetic stimulation of their focal brain region produced changes in the activity of specific neural networks located at some distance from the primary site of light activation.

The findings not only pave the way for a much more detailed understanding of how different parts of the brain control behavior, but they may also have important clinical applications in treating Parkinson's disease, addiction, depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other neurological conditions.

"Several neurological disorders can be attributed to the malfunctioning of specific cell types in very specific brain regions," Vanduffel says. "As already suggested by one of the leading researchers in optogenetics, Karl Deisseroth from Stanford University, it is important to identify the underlying neuronal circuits and the precise nature of the aberrations that lead to the neurological disorders and potentially to manipulate those malfunctioning circuits with high precision to restore them. The beauty of optogenetics is that, unlike any other method, one can affect the activity of very specific cell types, leaving others untouched."

More information: Gerits et al.: "Optogenetically-induced behavioral and functional network changes in primates." DOI:10.1016/j.cub.2012.07.023

Journal reference: Current Biology

Provided by Cell Press

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Controlling monkey brains and behavior with light

McMurry University and Texas Chiropractic College in Pasadena on Thursday signed an agreement allowing students in McMurry's Department of Biology's bachelor of science degree to go into TCC's doctor of chiropractic degree.

The agreement, which will be renegotiated in 10 years, would allow McMurry undergraduates to complete their prerequites in three years and transfer to TCC to complete the rest of their work toward their doctor of chiropractic degree. The program will begin in the fall semester.

"They (students) could, in six years, have their bachelor's from McMurry, their doctor of chiropractic, and a master's of science in fitness and human performance from the University of Houston in Clear Lake," said Dr. Larry Sharp, associate professor of biology and pre-med and pre-dental adviser at McMurry. "It's a win-win situation."

Sharp began pursuing the agreement with TCC two years ago. A chiropractor, Sharp said he wants to provide new avenues for students interested in pursuing careers in medical fields.

"It's not for the faint of heart," he said. "It's a rigorous program."

The students who would enter the program would be biology majors.

"Chiropractics is based in biology," said Sharp. "It's all about biology, biology of the body."

Sharp said the program didn't require McMurry to hire extra staff.

"With the current faculty, we can implement this program," he said.

Texas Chiropractic College is the fourth oldest chiropractic college in the United States. Provost Dr. Clay McDonald said TCC has similar agreements with other schools in Texas, plus a school in Louisiana and one in Pennsylvania. He said the strength of McMurry's science department was a determining factor in the agreement.

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Agreement allows McMurry students to work toward degree at Texas Chiropractic College

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Proteostasis Therapeutics, Inc., a company developing novel therapeutics that regulate protein homeostasis to improve outcomes for patients with neurodegenerative and orphan diseases, announced today that it has expanded its collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) to encompass an additional funded research project focused on biology and the testing of small molecule modulators of protein folding and trafficking for the treatment of cystic fibrosis (CF). This expansion follows the Companys recently announced collaboration with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation to research, develop, and commercialize therapies to treat patients with the most common mutation of the cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR), Delta F508.

This expanded collaboration will allow us to accelerate our CF program as we work to advance our most promising series to lead optimization this year, said Mark Enyedy, Chief Executive Officer of Proteostasis Therapeutics.

Working with the laboratory of William Balch, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology at TSRI, scientists at Proteostasis Therapeutics have used an integrated platform comprised of genomics, proteomics, functional assays, and medicinal chemistry to identify compounds that regulate key folding and trafficking pathways in the cell. To date, these compounds have demonstrated significant efficacy in CF-specific cellular models. Under the expanded collaboration, Proteostasis Therapeutics will provide funding for this research and will have exclusive rights to license any technology originating from the research.

We are excited to deepen our relationship with Proteostasis Therapeutics to develop novel approaches that manage the root cause of the problem of this devastating disease, added Dr. Balch.

This newly expanded collaboration will enhance the ability of Proteostasis Therapeutics to perform chaperone-based high throughput screening in multiple disease relevant cellular models to identify Proteostasis Regulators that will correct the folding, trafficking and function of Delta F508 CFTR, both alone and in combination with agents currently in development or on the market.

Dr. Balchs expertise in CF biology and protein homeostasis complements our proprietary technology for characterizing proteostasis network pathways in normal and disease states. The expansion of this collaboration further underscores our commitment to working with leading academic scientists and institutions in our focus areas in neurodegenerative and orphan diseases, stated Peter Reinhart, Chief Scientific Officer of Proteostasis Therapeutics.

About The Scripps Research Institute

The Scripps Research Institute is one of the world's largest independent, not-for-profit organizations focusing on research in the biomedical sciences. Over the past decades, Scripps Research has developed a lengthy track record of major contributions to science and health, including laying the foundation for new treatments for cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, hemophilia, and other diseases. The institute employs about 3,000 people on its campuses in La Jolla, CA, and Jupiter, FL, where its renowned scientistsincluding three Nobel laureateswork toward their next discoveries. The institute's graduate program, which awards Ph.D. degrees in biology and chemistry, ranks among the top ten of its kind in the nation. For more information, see http://www.scripps.edu.

About Proteostasis Therapeutics

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Proteostasis Therapeutics Announces Expansion of Collaboration with The Scripps Research Institute to Broaden Cystic ...

VERMILLION For over a year, faculty at the University of South Dakota have been preparing a way for students to take advantage of the Department of Biology in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Sanford School of Medicine.

The solution is a new major in Medical Biology, which is a joint undergraduate degree between the two departments, and will be offered this fall.

Executive dean of the school of medicine Ron Lindahl said the intent is to provide students who know they have a strong interest in either the medical profession the undergraduate knowledge to be most successful in a graduate program in health affairs at the medical school.

Its an official major, which will result in a Bachelor of Science degree, Lindahl said. It's targeted at students who would normally get a biology or chemistry major, who think they have a likelihood of getting into medical school. We think this major will best prepare them for medical school.

Lindahl said he and Matthew Moen, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, created a committee to develop the major.

One major advantage of the new major, is that it will focus on what the Howard Hughes program states premedical curriculum should look like going forward in the future, Moen said.

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the American Association of Medical Colleges both issued reports designed to redirect premedical education across the country in the years ahead. It's a formula that is a little bit more competency-based, Moen said.

Lindahl is hoping the new program will encourage students to stay in South Dakota after graduation, he said.

(Moen) and I have always found it ironic that other schools in the region have a program they target towards students that want to go to medical school, but the university in the state that is home to the school of medicine and is the biggest liberal arts college didn't have a program that was targeted towards that group of students, he said. It was a gap that Matt and I decided we needed to fill. Hopefully, with a different undergraduate preparation, we can keep some of them in the state.

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USD To Offer New Degree In Medical Biology

(Image credit: Erik Jacobsen/Cover Lab)

PALO ALTO, Calif., July 24 (UPI) -- Researchers in California say they've made a breakthrough in computational biology by creating the first complete computer model of an organism.

Writing in the journal Cell, researchers at Stanford University combined date from more than 900 scientific papers to account for every molecular interaction in the life cycle of Mycoplasma genitalium, the world's smallest free-living bacterium.

Modeling the entirety of an organism in a computer has been a longstanding goal for computational biology and represents a stepping-stone toward the use of computer-aided design in bioengineering and medicine, a Stanford release reported.

Biology studies in the past two decades have produced enormous amounts of cellular information, so a lack of experimental data is no longer the primary limiting factor, researchers said; instead, it's how to make sense of what is already known.

A complete computer model of an organism can clarify and illuminate data sets whose sheer size would otherwise place them outside human understanding, they said.

"You don't really understand how something works until you can reproduce it yourself," Stanford bioengineering researcher Jayodita Sanghvi said.

Mycoplasma genitalium was chosen, the researchers said, because it possesses the smallest genome of any free-living organism -- only 525 genes -- as opposed to the 4,288 of E. coli, a more traditional laboratory bacterium.

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Computer model mimics entire organism

DENVER, CO--(Marketwire -07/25/12)- The 6th Annual Algae Biomass Summit, taking place in Denver, Co. September 24-27 will showcase more than 30 presentations in its Biology track from researchers and scientists at leading companies, universities and national labs during the course of the three-day event. These sessions are designed for highly technical audiences and will do a "deep dive" into new research, breakthroughs and insights related to algae biology.

"We've attracted and recruited an incredible group of leaders whose work is key to unlocking the full potential of algae as a feedstock for fuel, food, feed and other co-products," said Phil Pienkos, Principal Group Manager, Applied Sciences for the National Bioenergy Center at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Chair of the Algae Biomass Summit. "Anyone interested in or involved in the technical aspects of algal biology will not want to miss the presentations."

Highlights among the nearly three dozen presentations include:

The Biology Track is one of four tracks, plus plenary sessions and posters, which comprise the agenda for the Algae Biomass Summit. In total, there are expected to be more than 90 live and 120 poster presentations during the Summit. The 2011 Algae Biomass Summit was attended by more than 800 stakeholders from more than 25 countries across the algae industry. Organizers are expecting an even larger turnout for this year's event.

The Summit comes at a time when industry is increasingly looking for new sources of sustainable raw materials -- feedstock -- for a wide range of end uses. Products made from algae are the natural solution to the energy, food, economic, and climate challenges facing the world today. Algae have the power to simultaneously put fuels in vehicles, recycle CO2, provide nutrition for animals and people and create jobs for millions of Americans. More information can be found at http://www.allaboutalgae.com.

The Algae Biomass Summit is produced by the Algal Biomass Organization, the trade association for the US algae industry. More information about the Summit can be found at http://www.algaebiomasssummit.org.

About the Algal Biomass OrganizationThe Algal Biomass Organization (ABO) is a 501 c(6) non-profit whose mission is to promote the development of viable commercial markets for renewable and sustainable commodities derived from algae. Its membership is comprised of people, companies and organizations across the value chain. More information about ABO, including its leadership, membership, costs, benefits and members and their affiliations, is available at the website: http://www.algalbiomass.org.

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Algae Biomass Summit to Feature Latest Breakthroughs in Algae Research