Telomeres: Telling Tails
Telomeres protect chromosome ends and help stabilize the genome. Throughout human life and in aging, telomeres often erode down, eventually causing cells to malfunction or die. The highly regulated cellular enzyme telomerase adds telomeric DNA to tel....
More details | Watch nowThe Killer Defence
Immune surveillance by virus-specific CD8+ cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTLs), or killer T cells, has long been known to be central to the control of acute infections and some cancers, though the role of CTL memory in the rapid recall of immune protectio....
More details | Watch nowMinimizing a Bacterial Genome by Global Design and Synthesis
In 2010, we chemically synthesized the 1078 Kb Mycoplasma mycoides genome and transplanted it into a recipient cell cytoplasm to create a 'synthetic cell', JCVI-syn1.0 (Science, 329, 52-56, 2010). We identified several hundred non-essential genes by ....
More details | Watch nowRole of Nitric Oxide and Cyclic GMP in Cell Signaling and Drug Development
Nitric oxide research has grown rapidly with about 150,000 research publications describing its biological effects. It is an important messenger molecule that affects most tissues and biological processes. Many effects of nitric oxide are mediated by....
More details | Watch nowIon Channels: Their Discovery, their Function and their Role in Diseases
The concept of bioelectricity emerged in the late 18th century, based on the experiments of Galvani and Volta. Sixty years ago, Hodgkin and Huxley showed that the nerve impulse is a result of permeability changes of the nerve membrane. This raised th....
More details | Watch nowThe Origins of Cellular Life
The complexity of modern biological life has long made it difficult to understand how life could emerge spontaneously from the chemistry of the early earth. We are attempting to synthesize simple artificial cells in order to discover plausible pathwa....
More details | Watch nowThe Origin of Reversible Protein Phosphorylation as a Regulatory Mechanism
Reversible protein phosphorylation can be considered one of the most prevalent mechanism by which eukaryotic cellular events are regulated. It is directly involved in numerous pathological conditions, and bacterial and viral diseases. This process wa....
More details | Watch nowA Crime against Humanity
When Monsanto first tried to introduce GMO seeds into Europe there was a backlash by the Green parties and their political allies, who feared that American agro-business was about to take over their food supply. Thus began a massive campaign not agai....
More details | Watch nowFinding Mutations that Affect Immunity
Beginning with an exception to normal function caused by a genetic aberration, one may hope to find at least one protein with non-redundant function in a certain biological process. This approach permitted the identification of the receptor for bacte....
More details | Watch nowInsight into the Laws of Nature for Biological Evolution
Both evolutionary biology and genetics have their roots 150 years ago in work with phenotypic variants of plants and animals. In contrast, microbial genetics originating as recently as the 1940s, rapidly revealed that filamentous DNA molecules are th....
More details | Watch nowFrom Proto-oncogenes to Precision Oncology
The diagnosis, classification, and treatment of human cancers are being transformed by scientific discoveries that were strongly influenced by the discovery of the c-src proto-oncogene, as described in the lecture by Michael Bishop. The path to this ....
More details | Watch nowTickling Worms – Surprises from Basic Research
Research, at least my research, has never been linear. I have found that my lab and I often double back on problems after years of inactivity or go off in entirely new directions as dictated by the work and people's interests This lack of direction r....
More details | Watch nowHow to Model the Action of Complex Biological Systems on a Molecular Level
Despite the enormous advances in structural studies of biological systems we are frequently left without a clear structure function correlation and cannot fully describe how different systems actually work. This introduces a major challenge for compu....
More details | Watch nowPhysical perspective on cytoplasmic streaming
Professor Ray Goldstein FRS is the Schlumberger Professor of Complex Physical Systems at the University of Cambridge. Here he describes a biological example of topological inversion, with relevance to engineering problems in human technology.
More details | Watch now2014 3MT Competition Finals: Resistance Training & Protein Supplementation on Body Composition in Breast Cancer Survivors
Generating the Fuel of Life
The lecture will be devoted to the topic of how the biological world supplies itself with energy to make biology work, and what medical consequences ensue when the energy supply chain in our bodies is damaged or defective. We derive our energy from ....
More details | Watch nowBiological Evolution in the Context of Cosmic Evolution and of Cultural Evolution
After reconsidering the very long time periods in cosmic evolution, we will focus our attention to the evolutionary development of living organisms on our planet Earth. The genetic variants (mutations), which are occasionally produced, are alteratio....
More details | Watch nowStructural Biology and its Translation into Practice and Business: My Experience
As a student in the early 1960s, I had the privilege to attend winter seminars organized by my mentor, W. Hoppe, and by M. Perutz, which took place in a small guesthouse in the Bavarian-Austrian Alps. The entire community of a handful of protein cry....
More details | Watch nowA Personal View of the History of Nuclear Magnetic Resonance in Biology and Medicine
In 1952, Felix Bloch and Edward Purcell were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the description of the phenomenon of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Over the years, NMR has been used in a wide range of fundamental studies in physics, and in the....
More details | Watch nowSynthetic Biology for Genetic Engineering in the 21st Century
Synthetic biologists seek to design, build, and test novel biological systems. We have chemically synthesized a bacterial genome (Mycoplsama mycoides, 1078Kb) and brought it to life by transplantation into the cytoplasm of a related species. We are....
More details | Watch nowThe Revolution of Personalized Medicine: Are We Going to Cure All Diseases and at What Price?
Many important drugs such as penicillin, aspirin, or digitalis, were discovered by serendipity - some by curious researchers who accidentally noted a "strange" phenomenon, and some by isolation of active ingredients form plants known for centuries to....
More details | Watch nowMultiscale Simulations of the Functions of Biological Molecules
Despite enormous advances in structural studies of biological systems we are frequently left without a clear structure-function correlation and cannot fully describe how different systems actually work. This introduces a major challenge for computer....
More details | Watch nowGFP and After
Since its introduction as a biological marker, the Aequorea victoria Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) has had a strong impact in biology, being used in an ever-increasing variety of ways. I will review a bit of the history of GFP and show how having ....
More details | Watch nowAtmosphere Climate and Chemistry in the Anthropocene
Despite their relatively small mass, 10-5% of the earth biosphere as a whole, generations of ambitious 'homo sapiens' have already played a major and increasing role in changing basic properties of the atmosphere and the earth's surface. Human activ....
More details | Watch nowNanomaterials as growth effectors and imaging agents in rice plants and its scope in plant science
Ramya talks about the ways in which nanomaterials can affect rice-plant growth and also be used for imaging purposes. This talk was part of her PhD thesis defence.
More details | Watch nowProspects of extremophiles and sulfated polysaccharides in bionanotechnology and biomedicine
During his PhD thesis defence lecture, Sreejith looks at some novel prospects for biomedicine.
More details | Watch nowInvestigating the ribosome inactivating protein-curcin, as a protent therapeutic candidate in nano-drug delivery systems
During the defence of his doctoral thesis, Mohamed describes his work and investigation of curcin, the ribosome-inactivating protein and the ways it may be used in the treatment of cancer.
More details | Watch nowSynthesis and characterization of targeted nano-regulators as potential therapeutic agents for controlling Alzheimer’s disease
In her PhD dissertation lecture, Anila describes the use of nano-particles in the treatment of Alzheimer's Disease.
More details | Watch nowDevelopment of electrical and electrochemical biosensors based on aptamer-conjugated carbon nanotubes and glucose oxidase immobilized carbon nanotubes
Saino describes her success in developing electrochemical biosensors during her PhD course at Toyo University.
More details | Watch nowGenetics, epigenetics and disease
The human genome sequence has been available for more than a decade, but its significance is still not fully understood. While most human genes have been identified, there is much to learn about the DNA signals that control them. This lecture describ....
More details | Watch nowMolecular chaperones: how cells stop proteins from misbehaving
Proteins are the action molecules of all cells, and to function properly, protein chains must fold and assemble correctly. But each chain of every protein runs the risk that it will combine with one or more identical chains to form nonfunctional aggr....
More details | Watch nowFrom bears’ winter-sleep to advanced antibiotics
Professor Ada Yonath, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel. To facilitate instant recovery of active life once bears wake up from their winter sleep, nature provides ingenious mechanism based on periodic packing of their ribosomes, the cellular ma....
More details | Watch nowFinding patterns in genes and proteins: decoding the logic of molecular interactions
Dr Sarah Teichmann is based at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology at the University of Cambridge. In the post-genomic era, high-throughput methods are providing us with a deluge of data about genes and proteins. What knowledge about biology do....
More details | Watch nowRegenerating organs and other small challenges
A disagreeable side effect of longer life-spans is the failure of one part of the body – the knees, for example – before the body as a whole is ready to surrender. The search for replacement body parts has fueled the highly interdisciplinary fiel....
More details | Watch nowUsing polymers to reduce bacteria in wounds
A research group provide details of their work in helping wounds to heal by developing polymers that will reduce the bacterial infections
More details | Watch nowTisue Engineering of the Cleft Palate
Overview of research that seeks to find a better intervention to correct a cleft palate
More details | Watch nowTissue engineering
The challenge of tissue-engineering - a repair material for use in pelvic floor surgery
More details | Watch nowThe social life of cells
Using polymers to detect bacteria
Making bacteria glow to aid healing
Breast Cancer Susceptibility Gene BRCA2
BRAC2 is a tumor suppressor gene. Its protein product interacts with other proteins to assist regulation of DNA repair, transcription and cell cycle checkpoints. BRAC2 gene disruption may lead to protein truncation, mutations and loss of function. Ce....
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