“Teaching biology course inspiring - Columbus Dispatch” plus 3 more |
- Teaching biology course inspiring - Columbus Dispatch
- Bay Path College biology professor Gina Semprebon uses teeth to help ... - Union-News & Sunday Republican
- Washington Biology Students Take Part In DNA Lab - Post-Journal
- NewCath grad busy on TV - Cincinnati.com
| Teaching biology course inspiring - Columbus Dispatch Posted: 08 Nov 2009 05:33 AM PST
|
Earlier this year, several scientists at the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital joined me in teaching a graduate-level course in developmental biology at the Ohio State Uni versity College of Medicine.
Developmental biology is the branch of science that deals with molecular, cellular and three-dimensional events that control formation of the body. It is one of the most rapidly advancing fields in biomedical research. Many animal species have proved valuable for these studies, ranging from fruit flies to frogs and mice. The applicability of these animal studies to human development is absolutely remarkable. The course we taught at Ohio State was new and all of us had to design fresh lectures and study the newest scientific literature to make sure we were fully abreast of the latest in this fascinating field. Doing so caused a great deal of unexpected reflection for me. I will not divulge all the complex sentiments and nuances of my introspection, but simply summarize as follows: The process of development is truly spectacular and aweinspiring! An illustrative observation is the remarkable process of liver development, which in humans begins in the first few weeks of life as a fetus. Developmental biologists have found that the liver begins under control of specific genes that are turned on at exactly the right time in precisely the right place on the under surface of the upper small intestine. Further formation of the liver is critically dependent on the presence of genes in the cardiac mesenchyme, a primitive type of tissue that ultimately condenses and coalesces to form the beating heart. In other words, heart formation induces liver formation. No heart, no liver. In adult life, of course, these organs are in the chest cavity and the abdominal cavity respectively, and have very different functions. What a remarkable surprise that these very different vital organs are so intimately related in their early development. The importance of knowing these early developmental associations is clear. Every year, thousands of adults and children with liver failure die in the United States waiting for liver donation. One potential future solution for an organ shortage is to engineer a human liver in a bioreactor, a complex artificial system that supports growth of cells and tissues in three dimensions. Such an effort likely will not be successful without knowing that heart-related genes and other factors are needed to induce liver formation. Although this is futuristic, it is squarely within the spectrum of possibilities in the next decade. I am certain of one thing, though. We will not soon be able to bioengineer a human organ with the incredible fidelity and precision with which these developmental events occur in the human. There are literally thousands of potential points at which the process could go wrong. The perfection of developmental biology is truly the most impressive engineering feats one can possibly contemplate. What an extraordinary opportunity and privilege for scientists to unravel the phenomenal secrets of developmental biology. Dr. John Barnard is president of the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital.
This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| Posted: 08 Nov 2009 01:44 AM PST By Stan FreemanNovember 07, 2009, 2:00PM
A professor of biology and chair of the department of science and mathematics at Bay Path College, she is a specialist in telling what ancient animals – human and otherwise – ate based on the shape of their teeth and the irregularities on them. Semprebon was among the co-authors of a landmark series of papers in a special edition of the journal Science published in October and devoted to "Ardi," the 4.4 million-year-old skeleton of a female human-like primate, Ardipithecus ramidus, discovered in Africa. The issue included 11 papers by 47 authors from 10 countries The earliest known skeleton of a potential human ancestor, Ardi was assembled from bone and tooth fragments painstakingly uncovered in the arid lands along the Awash River in Ethiopia, starting in 1992. She is more than a million years older than "Lucy," discovered in Ethiopia in 1974. At 3.2 million years old, Lucy has been celebrated until now as the earliest known skeleton of a human ancestor. Semprebon said she was asked to take part in the analysis of Ardi-related remains only a year and a half ago. By analyzing the teeth of other mammals found in the same area, the project's directors hoped she could help describe the kind of world Ardi inhabited. "I actually didn't look at Ardi. I looked at the teeth of the large mammals found in the same layers of rock, which represented the same time and place as Ardi. There were quite a few. Basically, the teeth told me a story," she said. The shape of teeth as well as the dents and striations and other irregularities on them give clues to diet, she said. "When you eat only fruit, the cusps on the molars are very rounded. The teeth have to deal with seeds and harder substances. So it wears them down. Eating something like grass, which is abrasive, also wears down teeth," she said. "But if you're in a closed forest of all trees, you tend to get sharp pointed cusps," Semprebon explained. "Leaves are soft and they don't do much to teeth. Eating meat also doesn't wear down teeth very much. You tend to get some fairly sharp ridges to slice through meat. You would have teeth more like a saber-toothed cat or a shark." However, with the mammals examined from Ardi's time, mostly antelope and monkeys, the character of the teeth indicate "a variety of foods," Semprebon said. "We didn't find foods like you would find on an open grasslands. What we found said it was mainly wooded habitat," she said. And that was the major surprise of their findings, she said. Scientists have long believed humans began to develop from apes when Africa turned to grasslands and apes were forced to come down from trees and forage and survive on the ground. To survive, they evolved to walk upright. One theory is that they needed to see over the grass to spot predators. Another is that moving on two legs to get to the next safe destination was faster while carrying young or food. However, Semprebon's paper, which had nearly two dozen co-authors, concluded that Ardi's environment was likely made up of fresh water springs and patches of dense forests that included fig and hackberry trees and that Ardi and hominids like her were likely omnivorous eaters of plants, nuts and small mammals. But they were not as big consumers of fruits as are living chimps and gorillas. They probably fed in trees and on the ground. Semprebon also serves as a principal investigator in paleoecology research for the National Science Foundation's Revealing Hominid Origins Initiative Program. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. | |
| Washington Biology Students Take Part In DNA Lab - Post-Journal Posted: 07 Nov 2009 08:36 PM PST DNA is invisible to the naked eye - right? Students in Kay Eklum's eighth-grade biology class at George Washington Middle School had the chance to see DNA strands with their own two eyes Thursday, thanks to the help of Dr. Mike Darwin Yerky of Cornell University. Yerky, of the Cornell Institute for Biology Teachers, visited the class to work with students on a daylong lesson in DNA profiling. Students learned how to analyze DNA samples using a method called gel electrophoresis as they simulated a DNA profile in a mock paternity test. ''Students are creating DNA fingerprints,'' Ms. Eklum said. ''They are analyzing DNA from a baby, a mother and a suspected father ... and making conclusions about the mom and the dad.'' Yerky said that the advanced-level training not only provides students with the skills needed to perform such a delicate procedure, but it helps them learn procedures that will aid them in future lab exercises. ''They learn lab techniques that they can use for all kinds of other labs,'' Yerky said. ''All these little skills are part of today's lab environment when you have a job or go to universities.'' CIBT is funded through a grant from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Ms. Eklum said, though the Washington Parent-Teacher Organization funded Yerky's overnight stay in the city. The professor visited Ms. Eklum's classroom once before, in 2004, running a different genetics lab, the teacher said. ''He brings all the equipment and offers his expertise to our students, which is phenomenal,'' she said. Gel electrophoresis separates DNA using electricity, capturing it in a gel-like substance that allows researchers to see it with the naked eye. Comparing the strands of DNA from the three subjects in the experiment, students were able to see the similarities between the baby's DNA and the mother's, which then allowed them to come to conclusions about the third DNA's connection or lack thereof. ''Most people wouldn't be able to do this,'' student Bernadette Smith said about the experience. ''I didn't even think about doing this before, but I like it.'' Classmate Jacob Johnson agreed, saying the opportunity has sparked his interest in DNA. ''It's cool to know how to do this,'' he said. ''And it's cool having someone from one of the top 10 universities come in to teach you.'' Yerky analyzed the students' gel electrophoresis results at the end of the day, helping them compare the strands as they made their decisions about paternity. All four groups in Ms. Eklum's class not only properly created the gels and viewed the DNA, he said, but they also all came to the correct conclusion about the father's identity - something he said he doesn't often see, even at higher grade levels. ''This is usually what I do with high school students - and they beat them,'' Yerky said. ''It's amazing. They did a great job.'' While the day in the lab was lengthy for the students in the class, their teacher said it was an opportunity they relished. ''Our kids are very fortunate,'' Ms. Eklum said. ''They've been in the lab all day today, and it's been an intense long day of learning, and really fun too.'' This content has passed through fivefilters.org. | |
| NewCath grad busy on TV - Cincinnati.com Posted: 08 Nov 2009 05:33 AM PST With a role on "House" Monday (8 p.m., Fox), and a part on ABC's "The Middle," "the past three weeks have been crazy," says Fort Thomas native Rachael Marie Wagenlander. The 18-year-old daughter of Clay and Rhonda Wagenlander has lived most of the last three years in Hollywood pursuing acting, yet was able to graduate in May from Newport Central Catholic High School. On "House," she plays Brianna, a friend of a girl who gets sick after a group of teens attend a rock concert. On Oct. 28, she debuted on "The Middle" as Sophie, the girlfriend of Axl (Charlie McDermott). He tossed his football jersey to her at school, and she later met Axl's mom (Patricia Heaton) at a block party. Sophie, a recurring character, could appear again on ABC's sitcom, she says. She also plays the girlfriend in "Jack and Janet Save the Planet," a Disney Channel sitcom pilot which could become a cable series next fall. Between auditions, Rachael Marie attends Pasadena City College with a goal of transferring to UCLA as a marine biology major. "I love marine biology. I didn't want to study acting, because I think acting is going to work out for me," she says. Janson moves to weekend sportsAfter working weekdays 25 years at WCPO-TV, sports anchor Dennis Janson has moved to the weekend shift. Janson, 59, will work Friday-Tuesday through December at Channel 9 to help sports director John Popovich cover the first-place Bengals and nationally ranked University of Cincinnati Bearcats football team. And why not double-team sports when you have the most experience? DJ and Popo have 62 years covering sports here: DJ since 1977 at Channel 12, before jumping to Channel 9 in 1984; Popo since 1979 at Channel 9. Popovich will work Wednesday-Sunday, and fill in for Janson Wednesday and Thursday, says Bob Morford, news director. 'Reds Hot Stove League' returns on WLW-AMAnd this one belongs to the Reds fans: The weekly "Reds Hot Stove League" call-in show returns 6:05 p.m. Tuesday on WLW-AM (700), since the World Series has ended. This content has passed through fivefilters.org. |
| You are subscribed to email updates from Biology - Bing News To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
0 comments:
Post a Comment