University of Minnesota plans for next big building in biomedical district

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Posted: 4:04 pm Tue, May 8, 2012 By BRIAN JOHNSON Tags: Architectural Alliance, Biomedical Discovery District, Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, Metropolitan Mechanical Contractors, Mortenson Construction, Pete Nickel, State Designer Selection Board, University of Minnesota

The Cancer and Cardiovascular Research Building, under construction at Sixth Street Southeast and 23rd Avenue Southeast in Minneapolis, is part of the University of Minnesotas Biomedical Discovery District. The university is looking for a design team for a new $52 million microbiology building, the next big component of the Biomedical Discovery District. (Staff photo: Bill Klotz)

Researchers who are trying to learn more about microbiology and infectious diseases are moving closer to getting a new home at the University of Minnesota.

The U of M, through the State Designer Selection Board, is seeking design and engineering services for a new $52 million building that will consolidate infectious disease research efforts at the university.

The building will be the next big component of the Biomedical Discovery District, a research campus located on a former grain silo site just north of TCF Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The district received funding from a $292 million appropriation from the 2008 Legislature.

Pete Nickel, a university project manager, said a design team will be selected in late June, with soil correction work beginning as soon as July 2013.

Design team selection will set the stage for the projects pre-design phase, which will shed more light on details such as the projects cost and the size of the building.

When the building opens in three years, it will house wet and dry labs, offices and work spaces and bring together research efforts currently housed in scattered sites throughout the Minneapolis and St. Paul campuses, according to the university.

On Monday, the Legislature provided a more modest boost for bioscience research when it included $13.5 million for an expansion of the Hormel Institute, a cancer research facility in Austin, Minn. That project, which is expected to begin within the year, will add 15 labs and improve space for the Hormel Institutes International Center of Research Technology.

At full build-out, the U of Ms Biomedical Discovery District will house up to 1,260 faculty and researchers, including researchers trying to find treatments for cancer, heart disease, Alzheimers and other diseases.

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University of Minnesota plans for next big building in biomedical district

Microbiology Laboratory Technician

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Background

Oxford University has two Clinical Research Units in Viet Nam: one in Ho Chi Minh City and one in Hanoi (www.oucru.org)

Oxford University Clinical Research Unit Vietnam (OUCRU-VN) has been working in Viet Nam for 20 years on infectious diseases studies and has a well-established research program, facility and partnership with the National Hospital for Tropical Diseases (NHTD) and a network of hospitals across Viet Nam and Asia to conduct a wide range of clinical studies including clinical trials of drugs.

The Units main focus of work is in Dengue, Infections of the Central Nervous System, Respiratory Infections, Antibiotic Resistance, Influenza, HIV and Tuberculosis.

Job summary

This position is to be repsonsible for the laboratory work for our research projects requiring microbiological testing, in particular: bacterial of fungal culture, resistance testing, media preparation, and quality control.

The position is based in the clinical research laboratories of OUCRU at NHTD. Laboratory activities and responsibilities cover the whole spectrum of protocol and SOP writing, procurement, stock management, testing, reporting, data management, data analysis, maintenance and quality assurance.

Location

Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Hanoi, 6th Floor, National Hospital for Tropical Diseases, Bach Mai Hospital, 78 Giai Phong, Dong Da, Hanoi. Travel within Viet Nam or internationally will be required.

Tenure: Contract for one year on completion of 2 months probation with possibility of extension.

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Microbiology Laboratory Technician

Proteins offer clue to longevity in rats

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Credit: University of Texas Health Science Center

SAN ANTONIO, May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. researchers say they have found a clue as to why the naked mole-rat lives many years longer than any other mouse or rat -- and it's all about proteins.

Scientists at the University of Texas Health Science Center report the naked mole-rat's cellular machines for protein disposal -- called proteasome assemblies -- differ in composition from those of other, shorter-lived rodents, giving the naked mole-rat a superior ability to remove damaged proteins and maintain protein integrity.

Researchers said the strange, hairless rodents maintain exceptional levels of that integrity throughout their long and healthy life.

"More effective removal of damaged proteins within the cell would enable the animal to be able to maintain good function and is likely to contribute to its excellent maintenance of good health well into its third decade of life," researcher Rochelle Buffenstein said.

The study, conducted at the university's Barshop Institute of Longevity and Aging Studies, has been published in the journal PLoS ONE.

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Proteins offer clue to longevity in rats

Madonna’s Secret for Longevity Seen Aiding Bacteria Boom

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By Kanoko Matsuyama and Jason Gale - Tue May 08 21:34:07 GMT 2012

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Madonna performs during the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Madonna performs during the Bridgestone Super Bowl XLVI Halftime Show at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Photographer: Jamie Squire/Getty Images

Chef Mayumi Nishimura poses for a photograph at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York.

Chef Mayumi Nishimura poses for a photograph at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Chef Mayumi Nishimura shops for groceries at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York.

Chef Mayumi Nishimura shops for groceries at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

Chef Mayumi Nishimura holds a bunch of radishes for a photograph at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York.

Chef Mayumi Nishimura holds a bunch of radishes for a photograph at Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in New York. Photographer: Scott Eells/Bloomberg

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Madonna’s Secret for Longevity Seen Aiding Bacteria Boom

Not all tumor cells are equal: Huge genetic diversity found in cells shed by tumors

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ScienceDaily (May 7, 2012) The cells that slough off from a cancerous tumor into the bloodstream are a genetically diverse bunch, Stanford University School of Medicine researchers have found. Some have genes turned on that give them the potential to lodge themselves in new places, helping a cancer spread between organs. Others have completely different patterns of gene expression and might be more benign, or less likely to survive in a new tissue. Some cells may even express genes that could predict their response to a specific therapy. Even within one patient, the tumor cells that make it into circulating blood vary drastically.

The finding underscores how multiple types of treatment may be required to cure what appears outwardly as a single type of cancer, the researchers say. And it hints that the current cell-line models of human cancers, which showed patterns that differed from the tumor cells shed from human patients, need to be improved upon.

The new study, published May 7 in PLoS ONE, is the first to look at so-called circulating tumor cells one by one, rather than taking the average of many of the cells. And it's the first to show the extent of the genetic differences between such cells.

"Within a single blood draw from a single patient, we're seeing heterogeneous populations of circulating tumor cells," said senior study author Stefanie Jeffrey, MD, professor of surgery and chief of surgical oncology research.

For over a century, scientists have known that circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, are shed from tumors and move through the bloodstreams of cancer patients. And over the past five years, there's been a growing sense among many cancer researchers that these cells -- accessible by a quick blood draw -- could be the key to tracking tumors non-invasively. But separating CTCs from blood cells is hard; there can be as few as one or two CTCs in every milliliter of a person's blood, mixed among billions of other blood cells.

To make their latest discovery, Jeffrey, along with an interdisciplinary team of engineers, quantitative biologists, genome scientists and clinicians, relied on a technology they developed in 2008. Called the MagSweeper, it's a device that lets them isolate live CTCs with very high purity from patient blood samples, based on the presence of a particular protein -- EpCAM -- that's on the surface of cancer cells but not healthy blood cells.

With the goal of studying CTCs from breast cancer patients, the team first tested whether they could accurately detect the expression levels of 95 different genes in single cells from seven different cell-line models of breast cancer -- a proof of principle since they already knew the genetics of these tumors. These included four cell lines generally used by breast cancer researchers and pharmaceutical scientists worldwide and three cell lines specially generated from patients' primary tumors.

"Most researchers look at just a few genes or proteins at a time in CTCs, usually by adding fluorescent antibodies to their samples consisting of many cells," said Jeffrey. "We wanted to measure the expression of 95 genes at once and didn't want to pool our cells together, so that we could detect differences between individual tumor cells."

So once Jeffrey and her collaborators isolated CTCs using the MagSweeper, they turned to a different kind of technology: real-time PCR microfluidic chips, invented by a Stanford collaborator, Stephen Quake, PhD, professor of bioengineering. They purified genetic material from each CTC and used the high-throughput technology to measure the levels of all 95 genes at once. The results on the cell-line-derived cells were a success; the genes in the CTCs reflected the known properties of the cell-line models. So the team moved on to testing the 95 genes in CTCs from 50 human breast cancer patients -- 30 with cancer that had spread to other organs, 20 with only primary breast tumors.

"In the patients, we ended up with a subset of 31 genes that were most dominantly expressed," said Jeffrey. "And by looking at levels of those genes, we could see at least two distinct groups of circulating tumors cells." Depending on which genes they used to divide the CTCs into groups, there were as many as five groups, she said, each with different combinations of genes turned on and off. And if they'd chosen genes other than the 95 they'd picked, they likely would have seen different patterns of grouping. However, because the same individual CTCs tended to group together in multiple different analyses, these cells likely represent different types of spreading cancer cells.

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Not all tumor cells are equal: Huge genetic diversity found in cells shed by tumors

Californian GMO labeling: What would it mean for food companies?

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The Californian Right to Know campaign in support of labeling foods and ingredients produced using genetic engineering looks set for inclusion in the states November ballot, after it attracted nearly a million signatures. If enacted, what would the proposed law mean for food manufacturers?

The state has up to seven weeks to validate the 971,126 signatures. If they are validated, and voters approve the measure in November, food manufacturers could be required to label genetically modified (GM) foods and ingredients sold in California from July 1, 2014.

The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act would require such foods to be labeled in a clear and conspicuous manner, whether raw agricultural commodities or processed foods.

The bill reads that a food would deemed to be misbranded unless labeled: In the case of any processed food, in clear and conspicuous language on the front or back of the package of such food, with the words Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering or May be Partially Produced with Genetic Engineering

GMOs deemed unnatural

In addition, food labeled as natural would be deemed misbranded under the legislation if it contained genetically modified ingredients, in line with the precept of a swathe of lawsuits that have been brought against food companies in California. Currently the US Food and Drug Administration has no definition of the word natural.

The proposed legislation contains a number of exceptions, including allowances for unintentional presence of GM ingredients, and meat or milk from animals that may have eaten feed produced using genetic engineering. These would be exempt from labeling under the proposal, as is the case in European law.

Until July 2019, food products would also be exempt from labeling if a GM ingredient accounts for less than 0.5% of the foods total weight, and foods could contain up to ten such ingredients.

Industry opposition

Several major industry organizations and trade groups have set up a campaign opposing the proposition, including the California Retailers Association, Grocery Manufacturers Association, American Beverage Association, and California League of Food Processors, among others . Calling the coalition Californians Against the Costly Food Labeling Proposition, they claim that labeling GM foods and ingredients could increase food prices and mislead consumers into thinking their foods are unsafe.

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Californian GMO labeling: What would it mean for food companies?

Rape case to test limits of DNA

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THE limits of DNA analysis will be tested by a trial involving a 20-year-old rape, a deceased victim, a nomadic man and his unco-operative brother.

The District Court has heard the case against Peter Tasman Cannell centres on DNA found at the 1993 rape of a woman, 81.

Prosecutors claim there is a 600-billion-to-1 chance of anyone other than Cannell being the rapist - but they cannot exclude his brother, who has refused to provide a DNA sample.

Cannell, 41, of Victoria, has pleaded not guilty to one count each of rape and burglary.

Opening the trial yesterday, prosecutor Sandi McDonald said the charges related to an incident in Wright St, Adelaide, in October 1993.

She said the rapist unlocked the victim's door after tearing through a flyscreen and subjected her to a "traumatic" rape.

"(The victim) was later taken to hospital and remained there for about six weeks," she said.

"She sustained injuries in so many areas that it may be easier to talk about the areas that were not bruised."

The victim died of natural causes in July 1997.

Ms McDonald said police records would prove Cannell - who moves between NT, WA and Queensland - was in Adelaide at the time of the rape.

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Rape case to test limits of DNA

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Prosecutor: DNA 'more powerful than words' in 1st murder trial from 2010 Mich. stabbing spree

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FLINT, Mich. A prosecutor told jurors Tuesday that blood stains, DNA and testimony from survivors would provide enough evidence for a conviction in the first murder trial from a 2010 Michigan stabbing spree that left more than a dozen victims bleeding in Flint-area streets.

Elias Abuelazam has been in custody since he was captured at an Atlanta airport two summers ago while trying to flee to Israel, his native country. Inside his luggage and an SUV, police said they found dried blood and DNA from Arnold Minor, a 49-year-old man stabbed while walking alone after midnight.

Abuelazam "lured him close and brutally stabbed him to death, leaving him to die in a puddle of blood in a gutter on Saginaw Street," Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said in his opening remarks.

Minor was killed in August 2010, the last victim of a Flint-area stabbing streak that began a few months earlier. Abuelazam is charged with three murders and six attempted murders in Genesee County, although as many as 14 people were attacked that summer and six died.

Abuelazam, 35, is a permanent U.S. resident. Wearing a suit and tie and wire-rimmed glasses, he occasionally spoke in Arabic to defense attorney Ed Zeineh and was closely watched by three sheriff's officers while also wearing an electronic device under his pants that could zap him in case of any disturbance.

The murder case centers on Minor's death, but prosecutors are allowed to show evidence of a pattern of stabbings. Leyton told jurors that another victim's DNA also was in dried blood in Abuelazam's luggage. Some people who survived attacks are expected to testify and point to Abuelazam as the man who asked for directions or help with his SUV before plunging a knife into them.

Minor was walking when he was stabbed just south of downtown Flint. Officers who responded could only get him to say that his attacker was white, Leyton said.

"It wasn't the only clue," the prosecutor said. "He left behind something more powerful than words. He left behind his own blood. ... As he laid there in the street, soon to meet his maker, he left behind a powerful road map for investigators."

Abuelazam's attorney, Brian Morley, said he would reserve his opening statement until prosecutors rest their case. At that time, he'll reveal whether he'll offer an insanity defense.

After the prosecutor's remarks, only a handful of people watched the trial, mostly Minor's relatives. His mother, Elzora Minor, held her son's cremated remains in a box. Flint police Officer Todd Pillsbury testified that he was with Minor when an emergency medical crew arrived.

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Prosecutor: DNA 'more powerful than words' in 1st murder trial from 2010 Mich. stabbing spree

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Something from nothing: Novel genes from existing, non-coding DNA

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Understanding the creation of new genes is a primary objective in the study of genetics. There are numerous ways by which such creation can occur, but most depend on genes that are already present. In most cases, the DNA of a parent gene is copied to produce a daughter gene. Over time the daughter can evolve and may develop new functions. Another, albeit very rare, type of gene creation was not discovered until relatively recently. In this process, known as de novo gene formation, the source of the material for the new gene is not copied from another location. Instead, a previously functionless region of DNA becomes a new gene as the result of a few mutations.

The concept may be easier to grasp through the use of an analogy. Think of the human body as a machine and the bodys DNA as an instruction manual on how to build and control the machine. The sentences in this hypothetical manual represent separate genes with some machine processes described in a single sentence, while others may require several. There is a copy of this manual in almost every cell of the human body and the entire manual has to be replicated every time a new cell is produced, a process that is not immune to the occasional error. These errors, known as mutations, can affect genes to varying degrees. Some have no impact, while others may seriously disrupt a genes function. Some mutations can increase an individuals chance of survival or reproduction, and may be passed on to future generations.

Strictly speaking, genes are not arranged as conveniently as the sentences in a book. Some overlap, but most are separated by stretches of seemingly useless non-coding (junk) DNA. In keeping with the above analogy, junk DNA can be thought of as nonsensical strings of letters. De novo genes are created by mutations in this junk DNA, resulting in understandable sentences appearing in the place of random letters. The existence of de novo genes has led to debates within the scientific community, and has only recently begun to gain widespread acceptance. Their rarity has allowed them to remain elusive.

Aside from the need for the occurrence of a few mutations to produce a readable gene, the de novo gene must also be present in a cell that will give rise to the next generation; in mammals these are the sperm and egg cells. For a gene to function it must be processed by some machinery; this process is facilitated by nearby regions called promoters. Once a gene is expressed, its effect on the organism will determine whether or not it survives; a de novo gene that is disadvantageous will not survive. One that does survive, however, may remain in the gene pool and, over time, it may even evolve an important role.

So far, examples of de novo genes have only been reported in a handful of species, including yeast, fruit flies, and humans. In almost all cases, they seem to be very small and overlap with, or occur very close to, other genes. This tendency to be found in the vicinity of other genes is hardly surprising considering the requirement for an associated promoter. A novel promoter appearing at the same time as a new gene is thought to be extremely unlikely; therefore, de novo genes are far more likely to hijack the promoters of nearby genes in order to be expressed.

In our study we set out to find such genes in mice. In many ways this is potentially more informative than finding them in humans. The disadvantage of human studies is that the functions of the genes cannot be tested within a live organism, as it is morally abhorrent and legally forbidden to manipulate human DNA in such a fashion. In mice, however, tests in which selected genes are silenced or removed, revealing the genes functions and importance, are possible.

There is a large amount of genetic information on an array of different organisms in several on-line databases. Using those resources we obtained a list of genes in mice that are not found in any other species. We examined seventy possible de novo genes, but only eleven provided enough evidence to suggest that they are being expressed. In keeping with the aforementioned characteristics of de novo genes, all eleven are small and eight overlap with other genes. By comparing the DNA sequences of these genes with those in rat, guinea pig, and human we were able to determine the specific mutations that allowed the regions of non-coding DNA to become de novo genes.

Although these are not the first de novo genes to be found, they are among the first that can be manipulated and examined in a live mammal, the mouse. De novo genes seem to be far more common than was initially thought and it is expected that more will be discovered in the near future. They are likely to exist across all species of animals and plants, and throughout all stages of evolution. The fact that each de novo gene is, by definition, completely unique to a species could mean they have had vital roles in speciation. Future discoveries are likely to tell us a great deal more about the forces driving evolution.

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Something from nothing: Novel genes from existing, non-coding DNA

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DNA Links Buda Man to 2011 Attack

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San Marcos Police say DNA linked a Buda man to the attack of a woman that occurred in February 2011.

San Marcos Detectives serves warrants on James Robert Montoya on charges of aggravated kidnapping and aggravated sexual assault stemming from an attack in Sam Marcos on Feb. 8, 2011.

According to Police, Montoya was already being held at the Travis County Corrections center on a separate aggravated kidnapping and sexual assault charges committed on March 17, 2012. They say his arrest led to his identification as the suspect in the San Marcos case.

Police say he attacked a woman who had car trouble on I-35 near the Blanco River exit. He offered to drive her to the convenience store, but instead drove under the highway bridge near the river.

The victim attempted to escape but was attacked and taken back to Montoyas vehicle where he allegedly sexually assaulted. She was released and Montoya drove away, according to Police.

The victim called 911 and San Marcos Police arrived on scene. They recovered evidence and were able to enter the suspects DNA into the data base.

On May 4, San Marcos Police Department Criminal Investigation Division was informed of a match on the suspect's DNA profile to the Austin and Buda cases.

"The efforts of the Austin Police Department Sex Crimes Unit and Crime Laboratory, the Buda Police Department, and the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory led to the identification of Montoya in the San Marcos case," Dunn said. "We are extremely pleased to have received the news of a DNA match and relieved with the arrest of this dangerous offender."

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DNA Links Buda Man to 2011 Attack

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Women's Track & Field sees 19 make Academic All-Big 12 team

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Three Longhorns recorded perfect GPA's as only 11 athletes on the women's side accomplished the feat. The three were Julie Amthor (biology), Laleh Mojtabaeezamani (government) and Anne Jones (biology).

May 8, 2012

AUSTIN, Texas The University of Texas Womens Track & Field team placed 19 student-athletes on the 2012 Academic All-Big 12 team Tuesday.

Three Longhorns recorded perfect GPAs as only 11 athletes on the womens side accomplished the feat. The three were Julie Amthor (biology), Laleh Mojtabaeezamani (government) and Anne Jones (biology).

Joining those three on the first team were 13 other UT student-athletes to give them 16 first team selections. The first team honorees have a GPA of 3.2 or better. Along with the three perfect GPAs the selections included Shanay Briscoe (marketing), Danielle Dowie (nutrition, pre-med), Jessica Doyle (government), Chalonda Goodman (marketing), Marielle Hall (undergraduate studies), Jessica Harper (liberal arts), Victoria Lucas (physical culture and sport), Briana Nelson (economics), Okwukwe Okolie (exercise science), Beverly Owoyele (exercise science), Akua Sencherey (advertising), Megan Siebert (education) and Virginia Simon (Spanish).

To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of their teams scheduled contests. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in their first year of academic residence. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

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Women's Track & Field sees 19 make Academic All-Big 12 team

The Quantum Biology Conundrum

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One of the biggest questions in biology is whether the processes of life are able to exploit quantum effects to improve their lot.

Nobody questions whether living things are ultimately quantum at some level--we're all made of quantum objects called atoms and glued together by quantum forces. If you look closely enough at any biological process, you'll see quantum mechanics at work.

The question is whether nature exploits quantum mechanics to achieve things that are not possible in the ordinary, classical world.

There is a growing debate on this topic. On the one hand, evidence has begun to mount that quantum mechanics may play a role in processes such as photosynthesis, bird navigation and the sense of smell. On the other, critics say this evidence is far from conclusive and may simply show that reality always appears quantum in nature, if you look closely enough.

Today,Neill Lambert at the Japanese research institute RIKEN in Saitama and a few pals, provide a much needed review of the evidence in this area, focusing in particular on photosynthesis and bird navigation.

These guys point out that the efforts to find evidence of quantum effects in photosynthesis are largely focused on the fact that energy somehow crosses large protein molecules with an efficiency close to 100 per cent. That's hard to explain classically.

The evidence for quantum effects in bird navigation is a little more speculative but leaves less room for a classical explanation. It is based on the idea that that a weak magnetic field can influence the outcome of a certain type of chemical reaction in bird retinas involving radical ion pairs.

The details make for interesting reading.

This is an area that has gained huge attention in recent years. The promise, of course, is that if nature has found ways to exploit quantum mechanics, then it should be possible for us to copy those techniques. Think artificial photosynthesis, robotic noses and navigation systems, perhaps even artificial life.

But the alternative is just as interesting. If nature has not found a way to exploit quantum mechanics, an equally important question is: why not? Is it merely an oversight on the part of evolution or is there some other deeper reason why evolution cannot exploit quantum mechanics?

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The Quantum Biology Conundrum

What is life? Follow the bits

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Nicolle Rager Fuller / NSF

An artist's conception shows an RNA molecule, which may have served as an early form of life on Earth.

By Alan Boyle

The debate over the definition of life is getting messier and messier, but one of the pioneers on the biochemical frontier is suggesting a method to tell whether scientists are actually looking at a new form of life: Follow the bits of information that are contained in the chemistry.

"How many heritable 'bits' of information are involved, and where did they come from?" Scripps Research Institute biologist Gerald Joyce asks in an essay published today by the journal PLoS Biology. "A genetic system that contains more bits than the number that were required to initiate its operation might reasonably be considered a new form of life."

By that definition, we're not yet close to identifying alien life, in the lab or in the cosmos, Joyce told me today."The fact is, there is only one known form of life, and we're part of it. Someday, maybe there'll be something that's off the grid, but everything we know is part of the tree of life."

Joyce says that verdict applies to microbes with artificially constructed DNA, such as the bacteria that were built in a lab two years ago, as well as to the arsenic-tolerant bacteria that were at one time touted as a form of alien life. Heworries that all these claims about creating or finding alien life could backfire.

"We've had enough of these false alarms that I'm getting a little nervous that the public is going to perceive it as 'crying wolf,'" he said. "There have been enough examples that we need to just cool it a little."

Joyce applies the same rule of thumb to his own research, which focuses on RNA enzymesthat can be combined to create a synthetic genome. In the essay, he notes that the RNA enzymes can "evolve" into new forms, but contain only 24 bits of their own heritable information in the form of chemical base pairs. The molecules need another 60 bits of information that are provided at the outset and are not subject to mutation and selection.

"Thus, of the 84 total bits required for the system to replicate and evolve, only about one-fourth can be counted as part of the system's molecular memory," he writes. "The synthetic genetic system is not a new life form because it operates mostly on borrowed bits."

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What is life? Follow the bits

McNeese offers summer biochemistry internship program on alligators

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Studying alligators, chemistry and biology will be the focus of a three-week summer internship program for high school students July 16-Aug. 3 at McNeese State University.

"McNeese has one of the world's most knowledgeable and experienced Crocodilian biochemist on faculty and this is the second summer that Dr. Mark Merchant is working with high school students to investigate the immune system of American alligators," said Dr. Nikos Kiritsis, dean of the McNeese college of engineering and engineering technology.

Students, accompanied by faculty members, will explore the marshes to capture blood samples from alligators and learn about the unique immune system of these reptiles.

"Dr. Merchant grew up hunting and fishing in the swamps of Southeast Texas and Southwest Louisiana," Kiritsis said. Merchant holds a doctorate in biochemistry and biophysics from Texas A&M University and teaches biochemistry.

His current research is focused on the immune system of alligators and other crocodilians. He has traveled to many countries including Australia, Gabon, Brazil, Panama, Costa Rica, Columbia, Mexico and Belize to study the different species of wild crocodilians. He has been featured on four National Geographic and two Discovery Channel documentaries, as well as other international appearances on Korean, Japanese and Russian television. His collaboration with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department biologists was featured in the January-February issue of Texas Parks and Wildlife Magazine.

Cost for the internship program is $1,500 and includes all transportation, lab supplies, on-campus housing and meals. Day trips are scheduled to the NASA Space Center in Houston, Creole Nature Trail, Avery Island and a canoe trip on the Ouiska Chitto.

For more information, contact Kiritsis at nikosk@mcneese.edu or at 337-475-5875.

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McNeese offers summer biochemistry internship program on alligators

Government Assurances Fail to Ease Retirement Worries in Military Families, First Command Reports

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FORT WORTH, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Despite recent government assurances that the proposed overhaul of the military retirement system wont affect current servicemembers, men and women in uniform continue to worry about their future benefits.

Recent survey findings from the First Command Financial Behaviors Index reveal that the majority of middle-class military families (senior NCOs and commissioned officers in pay grades E-6 and above with household incomes of at least $50,000)are not persuaded by statements from DoD leaders and federal lawmakers that they are committed to keeping current service members under the traditional retirement plan and only change it for new personnel. When asked how discussions about grandfathering current service members has affected their feelings, 54 percent of survey respondents said they feel no change. Just 31 percent said they feel less nervous, and 15 percent said they feel more nervous.

The Index reveals that 73 percent of survey respondents feel nervous about potential changes to the traditional military retirement system, which would phase out the 20-year cliff vesting system that has defined military careers for generations. Thats about the same level of concern reported in the July Index survey.

Many middle-class military families say they will respond to the proposed changes by saving more and cutting debt. The Index reveals that 42 percent will increase the amount they put into savings. Also, 42 percent say they will work to decrease their debt levels.

As the federal government pursues defense downsizing and military budget cuts, military families will work to change their own money behaviors for the better, said Scott Spiker, CEO of First Command Financial Services, Inc. We expect saving more and paying down debt will be among the key fiscal strategies pursued by active-duty households during this period of transition and uncertainty.

About the First Command Financial Behaviors Index

Compiled by Sentient Decision Science, Inc., the First Command Financial Behaviors Index assesses trends among the American publics financial behaviors, attitudes and intentions through a monthly survey of approximately 530 U.S. consumers aged 25 to 70 with annual household incomes of at least $50,000. Results are reported quarterly. The margin of error is +/- 4.3 percent with a 95 percent level of confidence. http://www.firstcommand.com/research

About Sentient Decision Science, Inc.

Sentient Decision Science was commissioned by First Command to compile the Financial Behaviors Index. SDS is a behavioral science and consumer psychology consulting firm with special vertical expertise within the financial services industry. SDS specializes in advanced research methods and statistical analysis of behavioral and attitudinal data.

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Government Assurances Fail to Ease Retirement Worries in Military Families, First Command Reports

Science Remains a Stranger to Psychiatry's New Bible

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By Ferris Jabr*

Part 2 of a series

In the offices of psychiatrists and psychologists across the country you can find a rather hefty tome called the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM).

The current edition of the DSM, the DSM-IV, is something like a field guide to mental disorders: the book pairs each illness with a checklist of symptoms, just as a naturalists guide describes the distinctive physical features of different birds. These lists of symptoms, known as diagnostic criteria, help psychiatrists choose a disorder that most closely matches what they observe in their patients. Every few decades, the American Psychiatric Association (APA) revises the diagnostic criteria and publishes a brand new version of the DSM. The idea is to make the criteria more accurate, drawing on what psychologists and psychiatrists have learned about mental illness since the manuals last update.

The fat volume on top is still skinny on the science. Courtesy of Ferris Jabr.

In May 2013, the APA plans to publish the fifth and newest edition of the DSM, which it has been preparing for more than 11 years. On its DSM-5 Development website, the APA states that the motivation for the ongoing revisions was an agreement to expand the scientific basis for psychiatric diagnosis and classification. The website further states that over the past two decades, there has been a wealth of new information in neurology, genetics and the behavioral sciences that dramatically expands our understanding of mental illness.

In other words, the APA intended to make the DSM-5 the most scientific edition of its reference guide yet, which would be a real boon for a book that has been routinely lambasted as fiction borne out of convenience, rather than a solid clinical text grounded in research. Now, only one year away from the planned publication of the DSM-5, most psychiatrists have accepted that the APAs initial optimism about informing revisions with cutting edge science is well intentioned, but premature. Most of the proposed revisions to current DSM criteriamany of which are genuine improvementsare based not on insights from genetics and neuroscience, but rather on clinical experience, prevalence studies and plain old common sense. Indeed, many of these changes could have been made years ago. (For more on these changes, see Psychiatrys Bible Gets an Overhaul, by Ferris Jabr, Scientific American Mind, May/June 2012.)

Cutting and Collapsing Categories

Consider, for example, that the DSM-IV organizes schizophrenia into six types, all of which the APA proposes eliminating from the DSM-5. Why? Because these archaic subcategories were never grounded in empirical research in the first place; they were just what sounded good to the DSM authors of yore. In truth, these ostensible types of schizophrenia probably do not exist. Similarly, the APA is nixing three of the 10 current personality disorders, essentially acknowledging that these were never legitimate illnesses in the first place. So many people fit the criteria for more than one personality disorder simultaneously that 10 varieties become superfluous.

Likewise, the DSM-5 collapses four of the five current pervasive developmental disordersincluding autistic disorder and Aspergersinto a single category called autism spectrum disorders, because there is so much overlap in their respective criteria. None of these revisions are founded on recent revelations from genetics and neuroimaging research. Study after study has failed to discover a set of genes or unusual brain structures that reliably identifies major mental disorders. Rather, these are changes that many psychiatrists have been advocating for the past two decades based on their everyday clinical experience, studies of illness prevalence and the sense that some of the current criteria do not make sense. Despite awareness of these flaws, the APA did not get around to updating the DSM until now, the first substantial revision in 30 years.

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Science Remains a Stranger to Psychiatry's New Bible

Creepy People Leave You Cold

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60-Second Science | Mind & Brain

A socially awkward or inappropriate person can make others feel physically colder. Amy Kraft reports

May 7, 2012|

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Jack Nicholson, playing the crazed caretaker in The Shining, makes me reach for a blanket. Now a study finds that people we find, well, creepy can actually make us feel colder. The research will be published in the journal Psychological Science. [N. Pontus Leander, Tanya L. Chartrand and John A. Bargh, "You Give Me the Chills: Embodied Reactions to Inappropriate Amounts of Behavioral Mimicry"]

Researchers interviewed 40 college undergraduates. During each interaction, the experimenter was either chummy with the student or very stiff and professional. The investigator also alternated between mimicking students posturea signal of rapportand not doing anything at all.

Participants then completed a questionnaire designed to find out how hot or cold they felt. The results showed that the subjects actually felt colder when the investigator acted inappropriately or sent mixed signals.

The researchers conjecture that because the brain tries to interpret social cues and purely physical ones simultaneously, people unconsciously associate icy stares and chilly interactions with actual physical coldness.

So the next time you have to visit your doctor with the creepy receptionist, bring a sweater.

Amy Kraft

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Creepy People Leave You Cold

20 Things You Didn't Know About… Science Fraud | DISCOVER

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1 What evil lurks in the hearts of scientists? Behavioral ecologist Daniele Fanelli knows. In a meta-analysis of 18 surveys of researchers, he found only 2 percent fessed up to falsifying or manipulating data...but 14 percent said they knew a colleague who had.

2 After studying retracted biology papers published between 2000 and 2010, neurobiologist R. Grant Steen claimed that Americans were significantly more prone to commit fraud than scientists from other nations.

3 But when two curious bloggers reanalyzed Steens data, they found that Americans arent so shifty after all.

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4Chinese scientists were actually three times as likely as Americans to commit fraud. (French researchers were least likely to misbehave.)

5If caught stealing someone elses ideas, scientists have a handy defense: cryptomnesia, the idea that a person can experience a memory as a new, original thought.

6 But theres no shortage of excuses. In the 1970s the FDA investigated Francois Savery, a doctor who submitted identical data to two drug companies, claiming that they were from two different studies. When confronted, he explained that he was forced to re-create his data sets because he took the original research with him on a lake picnic and lost it when his rowboat capsized.

7 Government authorities later learned that Savery never conducted the studies in the first placeor received a medical degree.

8Even geniuses succumb to temptation. Researchers have found that Isaac Newton fudged numbers in his Principia, generally considered the greatest physics text ever written.

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20 Things You Didn't Know About... Science Fraud | DISCOVER