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 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 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 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 nowGenetic Engineering
Helix – Episode 9 – Autism
This episode covers the symptoms and theorized causes of the Autism Spectrum Disorders.
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 8 – Wilson Disease
This episode outlines details about Wilson disease, a rare disorder involving the amounts of copper in the body, and the negative effects on vision and different organs.
More details | Watch nowGreen Fluorescent Protein: Lighting up Life
The accidental discovery of this wonderful tool has changed the face of biology.
More details | Watch nowThe End of Disease
Understanding the Cell cycle
Helix – Episode 7 – Hemophilia
Helix – Episode 6 – Sickle Cell Disease
In this episode of Helix, Patricia Martin outlines the symptoms and causes of sickle cell disease (also referred to as sickle cell anemia), a hemoglobin-affecting disorder.
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 5 – Down Syndrome
In this episode of Helix, Patricia Martin covers the very common and well-known chromosomal condition, Down syndrome.
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 4 – Klinefelter Syndrome
In this episode of Helix, Patricia Martin outlines the symptoms and complications associated with Klinefelter syndrome, which is related to Turner syndrome.
More details | Watch nowNatural Selection and the Future of Life
In his lecture Professor Christian Rene de DuvŽ gives a rough overview on the history of life starting about 3.5 billion years ago with the first cells up to the appearance of the first primates 70 million years ago, and he states that all organisms....
More details | Watch nowOn the Genetic Basis of Morphological Evolution
Darwin's theory of evolution states that variation of the shape and pattern of the adults rather than the embryos are the basis for natural selection. In order to understand how morphological variation arises, it is important to identify the genes th....
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 nowInheritance from Teratomas
The techniques and concepts that have resulted in the identification and isolation of embryonic stem cells have come from studies with mouse teratocarcinomas. Embryonic stem cells isolated from normal mouse embryos may be grown in tissue culture and....
More details | Watch nowGenes and Proteins that Control Secretion and Autophagy
The broad outlines of the secretory pathway were established by pioneering EM and cell fractionation experiments conducted by George Palade in the 1960s. Beginning in the mid 1970s and early 80s, my laboratory isolated a series of conditionally leth....
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 nowCultural Values of Scientific Knowledge
The acquisition of scientific knowledge largely depends on the availability of appropriate research approaches and methodologies. Novel scientific knowledge represents cultural values. On the one hand, it enriches our world-view with impacts on o....
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 3 – Turner Syndrome
In this episode of Helix, Patricia Martin covers the chromosomal condition Turner syndrome. Patricia gives a quick lesson on the symptoms and treatments associated with this congenital disorder.
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 2 – Tay-Sachs Disease
In this episode of Helix, Patricia Martin outlines the symptoms and complications associated with the terminal illness Tay-Sachs disease.
More details | Watch nowHelix – Episode 1 – Genetics
Helix is an educational series covering genetic disorders, brought to you by Patricia Martin and powered by GEOSET Studios. In this first episode, Patricia primes young learners on modern genetic theory before diving into the exciting field of geneti....
More details | Watch nowFrancis Crick: anti-vitalist activist
In the course of his scientific career, Francis Crick changed research fields several times. In almost 30 years at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, he worked on protein crystallography, molecular genetics, developmental cell biol....
More details | Watch nowOptogenetics
Richard Rogers, undergraduate at Florida State University, explains some of the exciting and novel research he has taken part in.
More details | Watch nowEpigenetics, Diet and Cancer Prevention
How genes can be switched on and off by environmental effects and how this affects the development of cancers.
More details | Watch nowGenetic fingerprinting: past, present and future
Alec Jeffreys presents the origins of DNA fingerprinting through to the latest developments and their social impact
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 nowCloning
Why is cloning such hot science? What are the potential benefits? And are there other ways of achieving them? What are stem cells, and why do many scientists say that embryonic cells are required for this work?
More details | Watch nowInbreeding in an isolated population of animals
Jennifer talks about recent research detailing the effects of inbreeding on an isolated animal population and shows how this affects our ideas about breeding domestic animals.
More details | Watch nowNobel Lives
An audience with Nobel prize winners John Sulston FRS and Sydney Brenner FRS, who talk to Sarah Montague of BBC Radio 4's Today Programme, about their lives in science and their visions for the future.
More details | Watch nowThe Role of the Royal Society in the Battle over Mendelism
The early years of the twentieth century saw one of the most ferocious controversies in the whole history of biology, over Gregor Mendel's experiments in pea hybridization and their significance for the scientific study of inheritance. On one side, t....
More details | Watch nowOur genomes, our history
Genetic differences between humans reflect the fundamental processes, such as mutation, recombination and natural selection, which have influenced our evolutionary history. Now that we can chart the genomes of many individuals, we are finding many su....
More details | Watch nowOrigin of Life on Earth: Abiogenesis
This presentation portrays a general overview of the theory of abiogenesis and its conceptual history. From the theory of spontaneous generation to biogenesis to the modern-day abiogenesis, the changing perception of the origin of life is discussed.....
More details | Watch nowPharmaco-genomics
This is a brief presentation discussing the emerging field of pharmaco-genomics. It explains how understanding the human genome can lead to better drug therapy in the future including tailor-made drugs for individuals.
More details | Watch nowThe Science of Love
A brief look into the physical, biological, chemical and behavioral attributes that humanity shares with other members of the animal kingdom focusing on studies done on Jamaican dancers, Belding's ground squirrels, human MHC and others.
More details | Watch nowGenetic fingerprinting and beyond
Professor Jeffreys will describe how DNA typing can be used to solve casework and will review the latest developments, including the creation of major national DNA databases that are proving extraordinarily effective in the fight against crime.
More details | Watch nowThe Music of Life
This event at Sheffield University formed part of a series on Arts-Science Encounters. Stories from The Music of Life related by Denis Noble are interwoven with performances of relevant pieces of classical guitar music by the world-class performer, C....
More details | Watch nowMitochondrial DNA Testing
Engineered zinc finger proteins and gene expression
It has long been the goal of molecular biologists to design DNA binding proteins for the specific control of gene expression. The zinc finger design, discovered by Sir Aaron Klug 20 years ago, is ideally suited for such purposes, discriminating betwe....
More details | Watch nowBeyond the human genome project
Dr Lander and his colleagues have developed many of the key tools and generated many of the key information resources for modern mammalian genomics. Their work includes mapping and sequencing of the human, mouse, and other genomes. He was elected a m....
More details | Watch nowGenes, worms and the new genetics
A surprising finding over the past 20 years is that all animals have many of the same genes and that they use them in similar ways to grow and develop. These similarities mean that much of what is learned about what genes do in simple animals such as....
More details | Watch nowBehaving badly
Are environment, or genetics, more to blame when a human being turns to a life of crime? What does it mean to be criminally insane? And how effectively can a criminal tendency be treated with drugs? What different lights can literature and science sh....
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