Category Archives: Microbiology

Recent discovery of a food allergy candidate gene on chromosome 5q22.1

By mdunn | Published: March 9, 2010
Allergies are a broad category of disorders that all have one common trait, immune reactions to normally non-harmful substances. They are chronic diseases (ranked 5th on the list among chronic diseases in the US) that can dramatically degrade the lifestyle of those affected depending on the degree of severity. About 55% of the population has an [...]
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Visualize the Unbelievably Small Scale of the Cell (and other Biological Structures)

By jyaron | Published: November 11, 2009
Single cells are small. Really, REALLY small. When you read that a suspended cell is approximately 10-15 microns in diameter it all seems fine and well; you’ll write it down or take note of it, then move along. However, if you stop to think about how small 10-15 microns is, it begins to baffle your [...]
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First Synthetic Cellulosome In Yeast Created

By jyaron | Published: November 2, 2009
ScienceDaily (Nov. 2, 2009) — A team of researchers led by University of California, Riverside (UCR) Professor of Chemical Engineering Wilfred Chen has constructed for the first time a synthetic cellulosome in yeast, which is much more ethanol-tolerant than the bacteria in which these structures are normally found. Share/Save
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New Fluorescence Microscopy Techniques Directly Image Drug Delivery

By jyaron | Published: October 31, 2009
X Sunney Wei and others at Harvard University recently demonstrated a new technique for stimulated emission microscopy that allows high resolution imaging of generally non-fluorescent chromophores (such as drugs). This imaging technique relies on pumped laser sources and new techniques for obtaining the fluorescent emission streams. Use of this sort of microscopy could lead to [...]
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BioImage of the Week #2

By jyaron | Published: October 19, 2009
The BioImage for this week comes to us from GPMatthews’ personal website. The site contains a large collection of fascinating images and articles, particularly on the pages that contain images of diatoms. These unicellular organisms are like biology’s snowflakes and often offer some of the most interesting and complex patterns that can be visualized under [...]
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BioImage of the Week #1

By jyaron | Published: October 12, 2009
The image above is featured from Cornell University’s Life Sciences Core Laboratories Center. It is a gorgeous image of a bovine pulmonary artery endothelial cells taken with laser scanning confocal microscopy techniques. The cell is stained with a three dye system showing: Tubulin: BODIPY FL-labelled tubulin antibody Actin: Texas Red-X phalloidin Nucleus/Chromosomes: Texas Red-X phalloidin This gorgeous image illustrates [...]
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Neurons May Be Up To 50% More Efficient Than Previously Thought

By jyaron | Published: October 5, 2009
A recent publication in Nature has suggested that rather than being only 30% efficient, neurons, the workhorse cells of our brains, may be acting at up to 70-80% efficiency. This has heavy implications, considering that neurons consume approximately 20% of our body’s consumed energy. The question must now be asked: what exactly are those little [...]
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36 Beautiful and Amazing Biology-themed T-Shirts

By jyaron | Published: September 11, 2009
What better way to celebrate your love of biology than to wear it proudly for everyone to see? Here is a collection of 36 beautiful, clever, and hilarious biology-themed t-shirts. The rest of the shirts after the break. Share/Save
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Cancer Motility Mechanisms Observed

By jyaron | Published: September 9, 2009
A new study out of Harvard Medical suggests that cancer cells have an intrinsic ability to mechanistically move through channels such as blood vessels as they make their way through the body and leave tumors. The study, published in Integrative Biology, uses a variety of microchannels and chemicals to treat the cells to a different [...]
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5 Great Online Tools for Biologists

By jyaron | Published: August 9, 2009
Biology (and its related fields) are less and less frequently sciences that must only be studied in the field. There are a great number of resources online that can aid biologists and researchers in expanding the productivity of their research. Here are 5 great online tools for biologists and researchers. 1. BLAST Database The NCBI BLAST [...]
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