Science

Friday, October 23, 2015 - 07:08

Biologically-Inspired Engineering

By Hanna Starobinets
The past few years have seen an increase in robotics inspired by the natural world. These robots are designed to look and move like animals, from flying like a bird to running and jumping like a cheetah. Aside from being intriguing engineering challenges, these types of robotics could also be used as a substitute for humans in dangerous or difficult situations.
Friday, October 23, 2015 - 07:03

mtDNA Recombination: O'Farrell Lab

By Lauren Shields

Mitochondria are the powerhouses of the cell. These organelles support cellular functions through ATP production and have been implicated in diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson’s. Additionally, their function extends beyond energy.

Image of an elephant and baby elephant walking.
Thursday, October 15, 2015 - 16:18

This month in DNA repair: the elephant and the prize

By Hanna Starobinets
Increases in body size and lifespan should theoretically make an animal more prone to DNA replication errors that can produce cancer-causing mutations. African elephants, weighing up to 12,000 pounds and living up to 70 years, should be riddled with tumors, yet somehow they live long, cancer-free lives.
Image of neuron.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015 - 12:03

The Parts of the Brain

By Maxwell Coyle
Consider brains and computers. How are they similar? Both can perform complex, rational tasks. Both take inputs and make decisions. More generally, both occupy physical space, although computers increasingly less so. As part of their physical nature, both can be subdivided into parts, the organization and connectivity of which creates their function.
Wednesday, October 7, 2015 - 09:16

Tauopathies: A Neurodegenerative Disease

By Lauren Shields

Tauopathies are a spectrum of neurodegenerative diseases defined by their cellular pathology. Their name refers to the protein tau which aggregates pathologically in clumps known as fibrils.

Friday, October 2, 2015 - 15:42

Up and Down: Mars and DNA

By Hanna Starobinets
Water on Mars! And this time, it’s liquid! Salty water flows on Mars slopes – during “warm seasons” of above 10 degrees Fahrenheit – producing streaks of hydrated minerals that NASA spotted from their Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The findings were announced in a news conference on Monday, September 28, and published the same day in Nature Geoscience by Lujendra Ojha et al.
Wednesday, September 30, 2015 - 09:55

Evolution in Action

By Maxwell Coyle
In 2015, evolution is considered an older discovery, and perhaps seems dusty to a generation piqued by CRISPR gene editing, pluripotent stem cells, and the still opaque mysteries of the microbiome.
Friday, September 25, 2015 - 11:25

What Scientists Did This Summer

By Hanna Starobinets
The breast, or mammary gland, is a unique organ: it’s the only one that develops predominantly after birth – during puberty – in an organism with a fully-developed immune system. Early development trains the immune system to distinguish between “self” and “non-self” in an effort to prepare for all sorts of infectious attacks throughout life.
Thursday, May 28, 2015 - 08:56

Journal Club: Cancer Biology, Biochemistry & Cancer Biology, Infectious Disease and Immunology

By Taylor LaFlam
Reviews of journal articles covering topics of Cancer Biology, Biochemistry & Cancer Biology, Infectious Disease, and Immunology.
Thursday, May 28, 2015 - 08:51

Biomedical Science is Awesome

By Hanna Starobinets
As I sit at my lab bench, bent over an ice bucket cluttered with FACS tubes, trying to make some small discoveries of my own (and get a PhD before I’m 30?), I’m motivated by all the awesome discoveries that are helping humanity live longer and healthier lives. I’ve said before that today’s transformative technologies are driving the future toward us at a ferocious pace; I believe this is equally true of our understanding of the biology of human health and disease.