#24 Biochemistry Gluconeogenesis Lecture for BB 450/550 Fall 2011 – Video

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23-11-2011 18:54 A lecture by Kevin Ahern of Oregon State University to his BB 450/550 class. See the full course at oregonstate.edu This course can be taken for credit (wherever you live) via OSU's ecampus. For details, see ecampus.oregonstate.edu Download Metabolic Melodies at http://www.davincipress.com Related courses include BB 350 - oregonstate.edu BB 451 - oregonstate.edu BB 100 - oregonstate.edu Topics covered include gluconeogenesis, glucose synthesis, anabolism, mitochondria, energy, ATP, GTP, pyruvate carboxylase, PEPCK, FBPase 1, fructose 1-6 bisphosphatase, glucose-6-phosphatase, G6Pase, regulation, Cori cycle, liver, muscle

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#24 Biochemistry Gluconeogenesis Lecture for BB 450/550 Fall 2011 - Video

ENZYMES — biochemistry from nature – Video

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19-08-2011 04:53 Nature friendly bleaching, low energy mechanical pulping and control of extractives are examples of some enzyme-based applications which have successfully been implemented into industrial use. At VTT, you can create fit-for-purpose enzymes, as well as screen and test enzymatic solutions. For more information, please, contact: Jaakko Pere, Senior Scientist, Structure and modification of renewable materials +358 20 722 5148, firstname.lastname@vtt.fi For the companies in the value chains of forest, printed media and packaging, VTT offers ForestTech web site platform. Read more and register at http://www.vtt.fi/foresttech

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ENZYMES -- biochemistry from nature - Video

Research and Markets: Essentials of Medical Biochemistry. With Clinical Cases

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fc33c1/essentials_of_medi) has announced the addition of Elsevier Science and Technology's new report "Essentials of Medical Biochemistry. With Clinical Cases" to their offering.

Expert biochemist R.V. Bhagavan's new work condenses his successful Medical Biochemistry texts along with numerous case studies, to act as an extensive review and reference guide for both students and experts alike. The research-driven content includes four-color illustrations throughout to develop an understanding of the events and processes that are occurring at both the molecular and macrolecular levels of physiologic regulation, clinical effects, and interactions. Using thorough introductions, end of chapter reviews, fact-filled tables, and related multiple-choice questions, Bhagavan provides the reader with the most condensed yet detailed biochemistry overview available. More than a quick survey, this comprehensive text includes USMLE sample exams from Bhagavan himself, a previous coauthor.

Clinical focus emphasizing relevant physiologic and pathophysiologic biochemical concepts Interactive multiple-choice questions to prep for USMLE exams Clinical case studies for understanding basic science, diagnosis, and treatment of human diseases Instructional overview figures, flowcharts, and tables to enhance understanding

Key Topics Covered:

1. Cells - Structures and Functions

2. Water, Acids, Bases, and Buffers

3. Amino Acids

4. Three-Dimensional Structure of Proteins

5. Energetics of Biological Systems

6. Enzymes and Enzyme Regulation

7. Clinical Enzymology and Biomarkers of Tissue Injury

8. Simple Carbohydrates

9. Heteropolysaccharides I: Glycoconjugates, Glycoproteins and Glycolipids

10. Connective Tissue: Fibrous and Non-Fibrous Proteins and Proteoglycans

11. Gastroentestinal Digestion and Absorption

12. Carbohydrate Metabolism I: Glycolysis and TCA Cycle

13. Electron Transport Chain, Oxidative Phosphorylation, and Other Oxygen-consuming Systems

14. Carbohydrate Metabolism II: Gluconeogenesis, Glycogen Synthesis and Breakdown, and Alternative Pathways

15. Protein and Amino Acid Metabolism

16. Lipids I: Fatty Acids and Eicosanoids

17. Lipids II: Phospholipids, Glycosphingolipids, and Cholesterol

18. Lipids III: Plasma Lipoproteins

19. Contractile Systems

20. Perturbations of Energy Metabolism: Obesity and Diabetes Mellitus

21. Structure and properties of DNA

22. DNA Replication, Repair, and Mutagenesis

23. RNA and Protein Synthesis

24. Regulation of Gene Expression

25. Nucleotide Metabolism

26. Hemoglobin

27. Metabolism of Iron and Heme

28. Endocrine Metabolism I: Introduction and Signal Transduction

29. Endocrine Metabolism II: Hypothalamus and Pituitary

30. Endocrine Metabolism III: Adrenal Glands

31. Endocrine Metabolism IV: Thyroid Gland

32. Endocrine Metabolism V: Reproductive System

33. Immunology

34. Biochemistry of Hemostasis

35. Mineral Metabolism

36. Vitamin Metabolism

37. Water, Electrolytes, and Acid-Base Balance

38. Case Studies

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fc33c1/essentials_of_medi

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Research and Markets: Essentials of Medical Biochemistry. With Clinical Cases

Florida State Chemist to Receive Prestigious Award for Rising Faculty Stars

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Newswise — Michael Shatruk, an assistant professor in Florida State University’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry who is working to develop new magnetic materials, has been awarded the prestigious ExxonMobil Solid State Chemistry Faculty Fellowship for 2012 by the American Chemical Society’s Division of Inorganic Chemistry.

Each year since 1979, the American Chemical Society has awarded the fellowship to a young scientist who has made substantial contributions to the discipline of solid-state chemistry and has the potential to emerge as a leader in the field.

“It is wonderful to see a younger faculty member like Dr. Shatruk receiving national recognition for his research,” said Kirby Kemper, vice president for Research at Florida State. “He is a credit to Florida State University and is our first faculty member to receive this distinction.”

In his research, Shatruk manipulates the atomic and electronic structures of materials to induce a desired magnetic behavior. His work could one day aid in the development of a new generation of energy-efficient devices, such as electric vehicles and magnetic refrigerators.

“In part, this award was given to Dr. Shatruk based on these research implications, but primarily for the deep chemical and physical insights that he brings to the field of magnetic materials development,” said Timothy Logan, chairman of Florida State’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “This award places him in the same class as some of the leading scientists in this field nationwide. We are extremely proud of his accomplishments and look forward to many more exciting developments from this research.”

The award also will raise the profile of Florida State’s entire solid-state chemistry group, Logan said.

Shatruk will receive the fellowship, which includes a $10,000 stipend, during the American Chemical Society’s fall 2012 national meeting in Philadelphia.

“I am very honored to receive the ExxonMobil Award from the ACS Division of Inorganic Chemistry and to join the ranks of previous winners, many of whom were my inspiration to become a chemistry professor,” Shatruk said. “It is one of the most highly coveted distinctions for a junior faculty member working on solid-state chemistry, and I’ve dreamt of this fellowship ever since I began my independent research here at Florida State. It is very rewarding to realize that my peers recognized the importance of our work and the value of contributions made by my research group to the field of solid-state chemistry.”

Shatruk joined the faculty of Florida State after two post-doctoral fellowships, one at Texas A&M University from 2003 to 2007, and the other at Cornell University from 2001 to 2003. Shatruk earned a doctorate from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia, in 2000.

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Florida State Chemist to Receive Prestigious Award for Rising Faculty Stars

Gareth Denyer wins Life Technologies Education Award

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23 February 2012

Associate Professor Gareth Denyer, from the School of Molecular Bioscience, has won the 2012 Invitrogen Life Technologies Education Award from the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.

TheInvitrogenLife Technologies Education Award recognises outstanding achievement in education in biochemistry or molecular biology, especially innovation and creativity in education.

Associate Professor Denyerwill receive his award at theComBio conferenceto be held on 23-27 September 2012 at the Adelaide Convention Centre. As part of the award, he will give the main presentation of the Education Symposium at ComBio.

"I'm very humbled to win the Life Technologies Education Award and feel somewhat guilty to get the award because I think that there are several people in my School who are better teachers than me!" said Associate Professor Denyer.

"The buzz that I get from teaching comes from helping students who are struggling. To be the person that enables a student to finally understand a concept that has troubled them for perhaps years is an amazing thing."

Winning the award for his excellent teaching based on his philosophy of focusing on practical teaching outcomes and a minimum of teaching jargon, Associate Professor Denyer is passionate about being creative and experimenting with his teaching. He shows leadership in designing courses, administration and, most recently, the introduction of electronic lab notebooks and student portfolios.

"My teaching philosophy has been shaped by several people who have inspired me and provided guidance along the way in my career, including academics at the University of Oxford where I completed my undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, and here at the University of Sydney, where I have worked for more than 20 years," said Associate Professor Denyer.

"I've been inspired by the various ways that these academics provide a sensitive and inspiring education, so I find the modern trend of judging teachers largely by scholarship and pedagogic research unfortunate. I am passionate about judging teachers by how well they teach.

"Therefore, I am really grateful to theAustralian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biologyfor choosing me for the Education Award and I hope it will encourage others who want to enjoy and be effective in their teaching to do so through creativity, experimentation and reflection."

In his presentation at the Education Symposium at ComBio, Associate Professor Denyer will present on his most recent teaching innovations, including the ePortolio/eNotebook, the classes that he and colleagues have set up to build students' confidence in criticising the research literature, the anti-plagiarism solutions that they use in exams and the narrated meta-lectures which provide commentaries on lectures similar to the producer commentaries that come with a movie DVD.

As part of the Invitrogen Life Technologies Education Award, he will also be sent to an international conference of his choice with a significant focus on education.

"I am hoping to attend the conference associated with the ePortfolio system that we are using as a surrogate electronic Lab Notebook. I hope to be able to convince the authors of that software to make changes that will enable the ePortolio system to work as a modern eNotebook which can be used in many other disciplines and even in the real research lab environment."

Read moreabout the Invitrogen Life Technologies Education Award and other Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology awards on the Australian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology website.

Media enquiries: Katynna Gill, 02 9351 6997, katynna.gill@sydney.edu.au

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Gareth Denyer wins Life Technologies Education Award

Chemistry Professor Tao Xu receives CAREER Grant from National Science Foundation

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DeKALB (NIU) -- NIU Professor Tao Xu, who has developed a promising nanoscience research program in solar energy conversion, is now getting a big boost from the National Science Foundation.

NSF has awarded the chemistry and biochemistry professor with a prestigious Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) grant of $400,000 over the next five years in support of his research and teaching efforts.

CAREER awards support junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research.

“This award is a tribute to the quality and productivity of Dr. Xu and his research group,” said Jon Carnahan, chair of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. “We’re very proud of Tao’s accomplishment.”

Xu also is affiliated with NIU’s Institute for Nano Science, Engineering, and Technology. His research group is working to develop potential solar cells of the future.

“Because of environmental concerns related to nuclear and fossil-fuel-based energy, people are demanding clean alternative energies that can help build up our power grids,” Xu said. “Solar cells are quite safe, but we need to enhance their overall efficiency and affordability. To accomplish this, our group is trying to gain a better understanding of the fundamental processes at work in solar cells.”

The trick is to create cells that are good at both trapping light and generating electricity.

Thick solar cells have properties that are beneficial for capturing light but are inefficient for extraction of electricity and cost more for materials. Thin cells use fewer materials and efficiently generate electricity but are less effective at catching light. Through a nanotechnology process of folding material within the cell, Xu is hoping to create thin cells that are also excellent light catchers.

Xu’s group also is developing novel, environmentally friendly materials that use sunlight as an energy source to burn away organic pollutants from wastewater. The scientists have published a number of journal articles on the topic. Xu hopes the technique could be used for purification of sewage or even oil-contaminated water.

“The CAREER award is a big encouragement for my entire research group, which includes graduate students, undergraduates and research scholars who have been working so hard and intelligently on this project in the past years,” Xu said.

With the new funding, Xu hopes to expand his ongoing research collaboration with Argonne National Laboratory to include more NIU students.

“Energy science is Argonne’s core research area, and I see broadening the collaboration as an effective way to train the next generation of scientists,” Xu said. “NIU students will be exposed to Argonne’s world-class research environment and involved in frontline research projects at a young age. They will also benefit from exposure to scientific teamwork, cutting-edge facilities, cross-disciplinary knowledge and critical-thinking and problem-solving methodologies.”

Xu is the second faculty member in the chemistry and biochemistry department to win a CAREER award from NSF in recent years. Professor James Horn was awarded the grant in 2010 for his research on proteins.

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Chemistry Professor Tao Xu receives CAREER Grant from National Science Foundation

Cougar wins research award

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Annie Pally was awarded for her mouse model of autism in the Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students.

Emily Chambers/The Daily Cougar

An Honors biochemistry junior Annie Pally was one of 20 UH students awarded at the 11th annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students in November.

With a double minor in business administration and Honors Medicine & Society, Pally received the award for her mouse model of autism, which analyzes potential methods of preventing abnormal cognitive and intellectual development.

“I’ve always been curious to see the underlying story behind scientific discoveries, to see how exactly … we develop our current understanding of science and why we perceive certain things to be the way they are,” Pally said. “Research allows for a complete independence of thought and stresses the importance of questioning both the known and unknown.”

Her research explored the effects of blocking the central cholesterol pathway, where intermediates are believed to cause the hyper-activation of a protein responsible for regular cognitive development. This hyper-activity is linked with Fragile X Syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder tied to autism and the most common form of inherited intellectual disability.

“Fragile X Syndrome results from the absence of Fragile X Mental Retardation Proteins, which under normal conditions is expressed in many tissues, and is particularly abundant in the brain,” Pally said . “(A correlation was found) between a lack of FMRP and the hyper-activation of a protein essential for neuronal development and brain function in the Fragile X mouse model.”

She presented her results at the conference, which held almost 1,500 students also presenting research projects. She received the poster award for her work while learning more about various other scientific studies.

“The conference provided an opportunity to interact with fellow undergraduates across the nation,” she said. “I got to learn more about the various types of groundbreaking research and understand more about their motivation to pursue research.”

This project was funded by a scholarship from the National Fragile X Foundation and the William and Enid Rosen Research Fund. It is a continuation of Pally’s previous work in Gunter P. Eckert’s lab at the University of Frankfurt in Germany through a summer internship with the DAAD-Research Internships in Science and Engineering program.

“That experience was truly better than I could have ever imagined. It was the best of both worlds, combining my love for science with a love for travel and (my) taste for adventure,” she said. “It was a refreshing immersion into a completely different lifestyle and environment from both a cultural and scientific perspective.”

Pally received a lot of support from her family, friends and research advisors. Her mentor, assistant professor of pharmacology MariVi Tejada-Simon, saw this as an opportunity to involve Pally in hands-on laboratory research and allow her to explore her interest in the field.

“I like to give undergraduates the opportunity to either realize they like research or realize that research is just not for them,” Tejada-Simon said. “I commit myself to guiding students through the issues they are going to encounter when they dedicate their life to science in terms of research.”

The chance to experiment with this research project seemed to do just what Tejada-Simon was hoping for. It allowed Pally to find self-confirmation for her interest in the field of research and invest in a plan to continue with it.

“Often times, the most rewarding experiences are those that are most unexpected. I am very grateful to everyone who made this opportunity possible,” Pally said. “I hope to pursue a future in the medical field; in particular, the clinical correlate of pediatric neurodevelopmental disorders.”

news@thedailycougar.com

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Cougar wins research award

Bite-Sized Biochemistry #39 – Nucleotide Metabolism I – Video

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03-08-2011 13:32 Lecture by Kevin Ahern of Oregon State University discussing Biochemistry Basics in BB 451. See the full course at oregonstate.edu This course can be taken for credit (wherever you live) via OSU's ecampus. For details, see ecampus.oregonstate.edu Download Metabolic Melodies at http://www.davincipress.com Related courses include BB 350 - oregonstate.edu BB 450 - oregonstate.edu BB 100 - oregonstate.edu Nucleotide Metabolism 1. Nucleotides consist of a) sugar, b) nitrogenous base, and c) phosphate 2. Nucleosides consist of aa) sugar and b) nitrogenous base 3. The sugars of nucleosides and nucleotides are either ribose (found in ribonucleotides of RNA) or deoxyribose (found in deoxyribonucleotides of DNA). 4. The nitrogenous bases found in nucleotides include adenine (purine), guanine (purine), thymine (pyrimidine), cytosine (pyrimidine), and uracil (pyrimidine). 5. The bases adenine, guanine, and cytosine are found in both ribonucleotides and deoxyribonucleotides. Thymine is almost always found in deoxyribonucleotides. Uracil is found primarily in ribonucleotides and rarely in DNA, but does appear as a deoxyribonucleotide intermediate in thymidine metabolism. 6. Ribonucleotides are the building blocks of RNA and deoxyribonucleotides are the building blocks of DNA. 7. Nucleotides and nucleosides are made in cells by two general mechanisms - salvage pathways (use breakdown products of other nucleotides/nucleosides) or de novo pathways (synthesize nucleotides/nucleosides from scratch ...

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Bite-Sized Biochemistry #39 - Nucleotide Metabolism I - Video

Research and Markets: Pathophysiology, Pharmacology and Biochemistry of Dyskinesia

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DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ad0c22/pathophysiology_p) has announced the addition of Elsevier Science and Technology's new report "Pathophysiology, pharmacology and biochemistry of dyskinesia" to their offering.

Published since 1959, International Review of Neurobiology is a well-known series appealing to neuroscientists, clinicians, psychologists, physiologists, and pharmacologists. Led by an internationally renowned editorial board, this important serial publishes both eclectic volumes made up of timely reviews and thematic volumes that focus on recent progress in a specific area of neurobiology research. This volume reviews existing theories and current research surrounding the movement disorder Dyskinesia. Key Features

Leading authors review state-of-the-art in their field of investigation and provide their views and perspectives for future research Chapters are extensively referenced to provide readers with a comprehensive list of resources on the topics covered All chapters include comprehensive background information and are written in a clear form that is also accessible to the non-specialist

Topics Covered:

An introduction to dyskinesia: the clinical spectrum L-dopa induced dyskinesia - clinical presentation, genetics and treatment Experimental models of LID Mechanisms underlying LID Novel approaches to therapy Surgical approaches to LID Tardive dyskinesia - clinical presentation and treatment Epidemiology and risk factors for TD Genetics of TD Heon Experimental models of TD Surgical approaches to TD Huntington's chorea - clinical presentation and treatment Genetics and pathology of HD Pathogenic mechanisms in HD Experimental models of HD and novel therapeutic approaches Cell based treatments for HD Clinical phenomenology of dystonia Genetics and pharmacological treatment of dystonia Experimental models of dystonia Surgical treatment of dystonia

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/ad0c22/pathophysiology_p

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Research and Markets: Pathophysiology, Pharmacology and Biochemistry of Dyskinesia

New research on origins of life credits long-dead Canadian

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An international team of researchers advancing a new theory about the primordial soup that gave rise to life has paid homage to the "brilliance" of a long-dead Canadian scientist whose insights in the 1920s presciently framed this century's search for the ultimate origin of species.

German biochemist Armen Mulkidjanian led a group of Russian and American researchers that presents evidence in the latest issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that life began in shallow pools of condensed vapour near active volcanoes — an idea that runs counter to the prevailing view of an oceanic origin for organic matter, but echoes 19th-century scientist Charles Darwin's famous notion that "some warm little pond" was probably the wellspring of all living things.

However, the new study specifically credits another scientific legend — Ontario-born biochemist Archibald Macallum, founding chairman of the National Research Council of Canada — for a landmark 1926 paper in which he argued that a potassium-rich pool of water would have been crucial in generating those first stirrings of life.

Researchers know that somehow, about 3.7 billion years ago, lifeless minerals became fortuitously mixed in a fluid environment just as some unidentified but necessary energy source — perhaps lightning or the sun, perhaps hydrothermal vents in the sea or volcanic heat on the land — triggered chemical reactions that led to the formation of elemental fatty acids and then to the primitive, unicellular organisms from which all plants and animals eventually evolved.

Mulkidjanian and his team built their research on the premise that the cells of all living things today — by virtue of what they call the "chemistry conservation principle" — preserve vital information about the geological conditions in which life began near the dawn of Earth's history.

As it happens, the same concept was articulated eloquently by Macallum more than 85 years ago, in an article he published in the April 1926 edition of the journal Physiological Reviews.

"The cell," Macallum wrote at the time, "has endowments transmitted from a past almost as remote as the origin of life on earth." The existence of such "paleochemical" traces within living cells, he added, could give biologists — like their colleagues in the field of geology — a window into the primeval conditions on the planet, and foster a new understanding that the "serried ages of the earth's history do not sleep in stone alone."

The paper on cell origins was just one of many highlights in Macallum's stellar scientific career. Born near London, Ont., in 1858, he was not only the founding chair of the NRC — the Canadian government's main science agency — he also served as the inaugural chair in biochemistry for both the University of Toronto and McGill University before his death in 1934.

Mulkidjanian told Postmedia News that he stumbled onto Macallum's 1926 paper late in the preparation of his team's PNAS study, but quickly realized that the Canadian scientist had anticipated several of the key issues still facing 21st-century scientists engaged in origins-of-life research.

"Because of Macallum's brilliance, we have decided to give all the credits to this great scientist, although we had learned about his work in the very last moment," said Mulkidjanian.

Among the central puzzles to be solved is why — if organisms today mimic the chemical conditions of life's beginnings — there's more potassium than sodium in living cells, yet more sodium than potassium in sea water, traditionally seen as the likeliest incubator of life.

Macallum "was the first researcher to frame this question," said Mulkidjanian, adding that in order to "explain the prevalence of potassium over sodium within cells," the Canadian theorized "that the primordial ocean contained much more dissolved potassium than sodium."

Modern science, however, has discounted that possibility, creating a serious knowledge gap for those who cling to the idea that life began in the ocean.

But in their paper, Mulkidjanian and his team propose that "geothermal ponds" in which key mineral ingredients are concentrated and animated by volcanic activity would have served as ideal "hatcheries" for life — and with the required chemical predominance of potassium over sodium.

"In sum, we have addressed the same problem which Macallum had addressed first," said Mulkidjanian. "We, however, suggest a quite different solution."

The team's research is generating debate already in the scientific community, with at least one leading researcher questioning the validity of the "chemistry conservation principle" but another — Harvard Medical School professor Jack Szostak, the McGill-educated winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize for physiology — offering qualified support.

"If there is a reason that a high potassium/sodium ratio is biochemically a good thing, then a pre-biotic scenario that provided such a ratio might have been more favourable for the origin or early evolution of life," Szostak told Scientific American this week in commenting on the Mulkidjanian-led study. "But we can't rule out an origin in a low potassium environment followed by (evolutionary) selection for high internal potassium."

However, Szostak added: "I do not think the oceans were a favourable environment for the origin of life," pointing to how the lower salt content of freshwater would have been more conducive to creating the fatty-acid precursors of living cells.

"The accumulation of organic compounds in ponds is also easier to imagine than in the ocean," Szostak stated, "and geothermally active areas provide numerous advantages, as expressed by the authors."

rboswell@postmedia.com

© Copyright (c) Postmedia News

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New research on origins of life credits long-dead Canadian

Student to research link between heart disease in women and secondhand smoke

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Senior biochemistry major Tuyen Tran recently received a $3,000 research scholarship to aid him in his studies on how exposure to secondhand smoke may increase the risk of heart disease for women.

This research project will focus primarily on heart disease among women because, according to his statistical research papers, Tran explained that women tend to have a higher rate of heart disease than men.

Tran moved to the U.S. in 2004 from Vietnam with his family, and didn't speak any English at the time.

He began studying biology during his junior year at Golden West College, and transferred to Cal State Long Beach in 2009.

Tran's desire to become a researcher started at the age of 20, when his father died of cancer.

"I want to find the reason why we have the disease and the source of the reason," Tran said.

Tran's research will be conducted with the use of recombinant plasmid, a gene in vitro, from a rat to see how the smoke affects it.

Since a plasmid is a circular piece of DNA separated from chromosomal DNA that may be used in isolated "test tube" experiments, no live rodents will be used or harmed for Tran's research.

Tran said that he learned from his readings that secondhand smoke could expose people to the same conditions as primary smokers even though they aren't inhaling it directly.

"I think the reason why is because they inhale the smoke from many people, not just one cigarette," Tran said.

Tran explained that if someone walks across campus and passes several smokers, then they could be inhaling smoke from several different types of cigarettes.

He will conduct his research with his mentor Vasanthy Narayanaswami, assistant professor of biochemistry.

Tran has also received a lot of support from his family for his research.

"Sometimes I have to spend a lot of time at the lab, but they still understand and still support me," Tran said.

He said he wants to become a researcher and medical practitioner in pathology, the study and diagnosis of a disease.

He also said this project will give him the research experience necessary to be competitive for graduate school.

"I'm very excited and look forward to working on this project," Tran said. "I really want to find out why smoke relates to heart disease — it's very interesting."

Tran was one of only 11 students awarded the Howell-CSUPERB Research Scholar Award.

CSUPERB (CSU Program for Education and Research in Biotechnology) partnered with the Doris A. Howell Foundation for Women's Health Research to fund promising undergraduate student research projects in topics related to women's health.

 

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Student to research link between heart disease in women and secondhand smoke

Bite-Sized Biochemistry #47 – Transcription III / Translation I – Video

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03-08-2011 14:15 Lecture by Kevin Ahern of Oregon State University discussing Biochemistry Basics in BB 451. See the full course at oregonstate.edu This course can be taken for credit (wherever you live) via OSU's ecampus. For details, see ecampus.oregonstate.edu Download Metabolic Melodies at http://www.davincipress.com Related courses include BB 350 - oregonstate.edu BB 450 - oregonstate.edu BB 100 - oregonstate.edu Transcription (continued) 1. A third modification to eukaryotic mRNAs that occurs is called editing. In editing, a base is chemically changed or added to an existing mRNA. Trypanosomes are unusual in inserting the base 'U' in multiple places in many mRNAs. Doing so is essential to getting the code right for making many of their proteins. 2. A more common editing modification that occurs in human cells is that involved with the Apo B-100 / Apo B-48 protein. Both proteins are coded by the same gene. (Note that I got the two proteins backwards in the lecture. What follows is correct) This lipoprotein is found in chylomicrons (Apo B-48) and liver cells (Apo B-100). Liver cells lack an RNA editing enzyme that intestinal cells have. The editing enzyme converts a C in a CAA sequence in the coding region of the gene to a U, making the stop codon UAA. 3. Splicing is the fourth modification that happens to eukaryotic mRNAs. Splicing also occurs to tRNAs and rRNAs in eukaryotes. Splicing involves removal of internal sequences from RNA followed by joining of ends. The removed sequences are ...

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Bite-Sized Biochemistry #47 - Transcription III / Translation I - Video

Bite-Sized Biochemistry #23 – Glycolysis III/Gluconeogenesis (Carbohydrate Metabolism) – Video

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03-08-2011 12:09 (11/22/10) Lecture by Kevin Ahern of Oregon State University discussing Biochemistry Basics in BB 450. See the full course at oregonstate.edu This course can be taken for credit (wherever you live) via OSU's ecampus. For details, see ecampus.oregonstate.edu Download Metabolic Melodies at http://www.davincipress.com Related courses include BB 350 - oregonstate.edu BB 450 - oregonstate.edu BB 100 - oregonstate.edu Glycolysis II/III 1. Deficiency of the enzyme lactase leads to lactose intolerance 2. Regulation of glycolysis is controlled by three enzymes - hexokinase, PFK, and pyruvate kinase. Hexokinase's regulation is a bit complicated and is controlled partly by availability of substrate. 3. PFK is very unusual in being negatively regulated by a molecule (ATP) that is also a substrate. This is possible because the enzyme has an allosteric binding site for ATP in addition to the substrate binding site and the Km for the allosteric site is higher than the substrate binding site. 4. Pyruvate kinase is regulated both allosterically and by covalent modification (phosphorylation/dephosphorylation). Phosphorylation of the enzyme by a protein kinase turns the enzyme activity down, whereas F1,6BP acts as an allosteric activator. This activation is known as feedforward activation. 5. Feed forward activation is rare in metabolism. It is a term used to describe a metabolic product (such as F1,6BP above) that ACTIVATES an enzyme that catalyzes a reaction further ahead of it in a metabolic ...

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Bite-Sized Biochemistry #23 - Glycolysis III/Gluconeogenesis (Carbohydrate Metabolism) - Video

Teacher ratio condition for PG courses

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Muzaffarpur, Feb. 16: Health minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey has said the state government was exploring the possibilities to start postgraduate courses in disciplines that have sufficient teacher strength at Sri Krishna Medical College and Hospital (SKMCH).

Choubey, who reviewed the ongoing health schemes with senior officials of Tirhut and Saran divisions last night, said the government was not averse to postgraduate courses, but SKMCH would be allowed to start courses in departments that have sufficient teachers.

In 2010, the Centre had allowed SKMCH to start postgraduate courses in 12 subjects. It provided Rs 6 crore to SKMCH for infrastructure development before introducing the postgraduate courses. But as things stand now, the heads of the departments of those courses, in which the postgraduate classes were scheduled to start, sat over the proposal allegedly to scuttle the move.

SKMCH principal D.K. Sinha had complained about the "lethargic approach" of the heads of various departments and sought immediate intervention of the government.

Choubey discussed the issue at length with the superintendent of SKMCH, G.K. Thakur, Sinha and other senior doctors. The minister said: "SKMCH would soon start postgraduate classes in medicine, surgery, preventive and social medicine, biochemistry, microbiology, pharmacology and pathology." The minister admitted that SKMCH was in a tight spot to start postgraduate courses for want of teachers. On the encephalitis breakout in Muzaffarpur and Gaya, the health minister said the state is leaving no stone unturned to control its surge and is prepared to prevent it.

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Teacher ratio condition for PG courses

Why we're making a map of the brain

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Allan Jones: A map of the brain

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Allan Jones: We understand very little about how the brain works He says his organization is trying to unravel the secrets of this incredibly complex organ The institute is mapping activity in the human brain as a tool for researchers He says the work's practical benefits may include developing and understanding drugs

Editor's note: Allan Jones is chief executive of the Allen Institute for Brain Science. He holds a bachelor's of science in biology from Duke University and a Ph.D. in genetics and developmental biology from Washington University School of Medicine. He spoke at the TED Global conference in Edinburgh, Scotland, last year. TED is a nonprofit dedicated to "Ideas worth spreading," which it makes available through talks posted on its website.

(CNN) -- The brain is one of the last great frontiers of science. For all it does for us -- driving our thoughts, actions, perceptions and making us who we are -- we understand very little about how it works, its underlying biochemistry.

We know a fair amount about what parts of the brain are involved in particular functions from studies that track blood flow to reveal the locations of brain activity during certain behaviors or processes. We know that the back of the brain, the cerebellum, keeps us upright and is involved in coordinated movement.

We know that the sides of the brain, the temporal cortex, is involved in primary auditory processing, allowing us to hear words and send them into higher language processing centers. And we know the area toward the front of the brain is where complex thought and decision-making occur.

But taking a deeper look into the brain, beyond these broad areas of function, there is a great deal that is far less understood. The brain is incredibly complex, with about 86 billion nerve cells, called neurons, forming about 100 trillion connections, all working in concert to drive our thoughts, emotions, reactions and interactions with the world around us.

Each neuron is largely unique, driven by fundamental properties of its underlying biochemistry -- proteins controlling everything the nervous system has to do. All these proteins are encoded by our genome, comprising roughly 25,000 genes encoded in our DNA. The nature and activity of a given neuron is dictated by which of these 25,000 genes are turned on and to what level.

TED.com: A light switch for neurons

How does it all work? What are the roles of each neuron and how are they connected to our ultimate experience with the world? To answer these questions, we are seeking to understand which of our 25,000 genes are turned on in the brain, and where.

To this end, we have created a free online resource accessible to anyone, anywhere, anytime: the Allen Human Brain Atlas. The brain mapping process is complex and visually captivating, starting with a fresh, whole brain in the lab through to the molecular magnets that detect activity, or expression, of individual genes, and the subsequent informatics used to render this information into a meaningful piece of software that can be used to analyze the brain in more detail than we have ever had access to.

In 2006 we completed a map of the mouse brain. The mouse is the most common model for studying the mammalian brain, with the same basic parts and organization. The Allen Mouse Brain Atlas is used every day by thousands of scientists around the world. Creating this atlas put us in the unique position to tackle the challenges inherent in mapping the human brain.

Our laboratory receives fresh human brains that satisfy strict criteria -- no history of neurologic or psychiatric disease, no drug or alcohol abuse, and no brain damage occurring at death, among other criteria. We collect 3-D, MRI-based images of each whole brain to serve as a "scaffolding" from which we later map the gene expression information. Brains must be evaluated, imaged and frozen within 24 hours after death to preserve the signal we need to measure.

The brain is then sliced very thinly — 25 micrometers thick, thinner than a human hair — and sections are transferred to microscope slides, which are stained and analyzed for clusters and distributions of brain cells that provide a reference, kind of like a rough road map, to identify distinct regions in the brain.

TED.com: How to re-engineer a brain

We then take samples from each of these distinct regions (more than 1,000 of them), purify the RNA -- the signal indicating if a gene is turned on -- and obtain a readout of the level of activity of each gene for each area.

This method gives us roughly 50 million data points for each human brain. We put all that together into a single interactive database with meaningful search and visualization tools that are all freely available online at human.brain-map.org.

The goal is that this database will speed discovery, launching us into a new era of understanding of the human brain. Direct applications will be fruitful in areas like drug discovery, enhancing efficacy and reducing side effects of drugs for mental illness and disease. Further, we can start to connect the "what" to the "where" of gene expression in the brain, elucidating common pathways and beginning to unravel the mysteries of the inner workings of the brain's underlying biochemistry.

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The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Allan Jones.

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Why we're making a map of the brain

Plants that shut out bacterial invaders

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I have a soft-spot for plant biology. In my final year at university, having exhausted all of the bacteria-related biochemistry lectures, I took a bacteria-related lecture course with the plants department. It was a smaller department, and seemed a lot friendlier and nicer. Also the biscuits in the tea-room were cheaper.

So I do like to write about plants every now and again, and it isn’t a very difficult task because like every other multicellular organism on the planet, plants also suffer from bacterial infections. Unlike humans, they don’t have a blood stream to carry immune cells around, so they instead rely on bombarding bacteria with nasty chemicals, quickly killing off any parts of the plant that get infected and acquiring a kind of plant resistance to stop attacks occurring again. (The three links are to a mini-series on plant immunology on my old blog.)

However in plants, as in humans, prevention is much better than cure and so the plant has all sorts of mechanisms to stop bacteria getting inside and causing infections in the first place. Plants have openings in their leaves called stomata which are used to control water levels inside the plant cells. The stomata open up to release moisture and close to retain it. They aren’t massive holes, but they can be seen with a light microscope and identified fairly easily by your average 16 year old (I remember looking at them during my AS levels!)

A stoma! The two curved things surrounding it are the two cells that control the opening. The small oval-shaped middle bit is the stoma - a hole in the cells covering the leaf. Image credit below.

As stomata are basically a hole from the inside of the plant to the great bacteria-ridden outdoors, it is important that they remain well-regulated. Plants can recognise bits of bacteria and when they do they can change internal conditions to close up the stomata, bolting the doors to prevent bacteria getting in. By sensing parts of bacteria such as (say) flagella, proteins are activated that change the concentrations of salts inside the cells surrounding the stomata, and cause them loose their curved shape and come together, effectively closing off the opening.

When plants were infected with the bacterial strain of Pseudomonas syringae the stomata closed up within 1-2 hours of infection, which for a plant is fairly rapid. However around 3-4 hours later the stomata started opening up again, and it wasn’t due to a bacterial protein, but a plant one. The protein in question was LecRK-V.5 and plants without the gene for this protein developed fewer disease symptoms and contained lower levels of internal bacteria than the non-mutated wild-types. The figure below shows the wild-type leaves at the top, with more disease symptoms than the healthier mutants below.

Figure from ref. 1

As stomatal opening is only one factor in the antibacterial plant response, the researchers then explored whether LecRK-V.5 was affecting any other responses. The main one being the production of dangerous Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) which are often produced to damage invading bacteria. Both wild-type and LecRK-knockout-mutant plants showed no difference in levels of ROS, LecRK-V.5 only seems to affect the stomata.

The point about ROS also gives a clue as to just why the plant chooses to activate this protein following infection, seemingly making it easier for bacteria to gain access to the interior. In the mutant plant cells, with no LecRK-V.5, high levels of ROS started building up in the cells surrounding the stomata. ROS are dangerous to any cell they come into contact with, so by dampening down the response to bacterial infection around 4 hours following entry, the plant might be saving itself from being damaged by its own immune response. If the infection is still spreading after four hours, it may be more prudent for the plant to abandon the dead tissue and try and salvage what’s left. Leaves are not desperately important to plants after all, they can always grow more!

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Ref 1:Desclos-Theveniau, M., Arnaud, D., Huang, T., Lin, G., Chen, W., Lin, Y., & Zimmerli, L. (2012). The Arabidopsis Lectin Receptor Kinase LecRK-V.5 Represses Stomatal Immunity Induced by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato DC3000 PLoS Pathogens, 8 (2) DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1002513

Ref 2: Nicaise, V., Roux, M., & Zipfel, C. (2009). Recent Advances in PAMP-Triggered Immunity against Bacteria: Pattern Recognition Receptors Watch over and Raise the Alarm PLANT PHYSIOLOGY, 150 (4), 1638-1647 DOI: 10.1104/pp.109.139709

Credit for image 1.

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Plants that shut out bacterial invaders