“Regulus Therapeutics to host educational webinar about microRNA ... - News-Medical.Net” plus 4 more |
- Regulus Therapeutics to host educational webinar about microRNA ... - News-Medical.Net
- URG biology prof publishes works in national journals - Gallipolis Daily Tribune
- Mechanism Allows Cells To Change State - Redorbit.com
- Build Teen Confidence in Immunology? There's an App for That - Medagadget.com
- Video games take bigger role in education - canada.com
| Regulus Therapeutics to host educational webinar about microRNA ... - News-Medical.Net Posted: 10 Dec 2009 01:20 AM PST Regulus Therapeutics Inc., founded by Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), and Isis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ISIS), unveiled plans for an educational webinar about microRNA biology that will highlight several recent exciting discoveries in the field and showcase the therapeutic strategies based on microRNA. The webinar, scheduled for 3:00 p.m. EST on Monday, December 14, 2009, will feature two leading researchers in the field of microRNA biology:
The discussion will be moderated by Kleanthis G. Xanthopoulos, Ph.D., President and CEO of Regulus Therapeutics Inc, a company leading the development of a novel class of high impact medicines that target microRNA. "The body of knowledge about microRNA is growing exponentially, and there have been several significant advances in the field over the last twelve months," said Dr. Xanthopoulos. "This educational webinar, geared toward scientists, members of the media, and the investment community, will serve as an update on the latest discoveries, as well as provide insight into how they might be translated into the medicines of tomorrow." http://www.regulusrx.com/fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger |
| URG biology prof publishes works in national journals - Gallipolis Daily Tribune Posted: 09 Dec 2009 11:25 PM PST RIO GRANDE — Research by University of Rio Grande faculty member Rob Hopkins is being published in several highly-respected scientific journals, and the work he is doing may eventually help to slow or stop the spread of diseases that cause problems for fish and other animals. Hopkins, who lives near Jackson, is an assistant professor of biology at Rio Grande. He has been published in seven journal articles already this year, he is working on additional articles, and he is also doing peer reviews of articles by scientists from around the world. He also has been asked to give numerous presentations on his research work, and has received several awards and honors for his research projects. As a Rio Grande faculty member, he dedicates most of his time to teaching, and he is using his research to better help his students. In his research, Hopkins often works on environmental science projects. One research project, for example, considered how climate changes and land use affect how different types of fish move from one area to another. One main purpose of this work, Hopkins explained, is to study how amphibious diseases spread from one body of water to another. As part of his research work, he puts together models that can simulate how the fish move and how diseases spread. An article that Hopkins wrote for "Landscape Ecology," for example, looked at the "Use of landscape patterns metrics and multiple spatial scales in aquatic species distribution models." An article he wrote with B.M. Burr for "Ecological Modeling," looked at "Modeling freshwater fish distributions using multiscale landscape data: A case study of six narrow range endemics." Another article, which he wrote with M.D. Burns, B.M. Burr and L.J. Hopman for the "Journal of the Kentucky Academy of Sciences," is titled "Building a centralized database for Kentucky fishes: Progress and future applications." An additional article, which he wrote with G.E. Padgett-Flohr for "Diseases of Aquatic Organisms," is titled "Batrachochytrum dendrobatidis, a novel pathogen approaching endemism in central California." For the research work for these and other articles, Hopkins has traveled to several different areas, and he also did some research in natural history museums. The research has several purposes, including looking at how to stop the spreading of some diseases that affect fish and other animals. His articles and findings have been well-received, and Hopkins talks regularly with other experts in his field. He is also asked to peer review articles by other environmental scientists from around the country often before they are printed in the scientific journals. In his current research projects, Hopkins is involving students at Rio Grande in order to give them experience with this type of research. The research will be valuable to them as they advance in their academic and professional careers, and Hopkins said he is pleased with the work completed by the Rio Grande students. He also hopes to involve additional Rio Grande students in future years and continue to expand the research opportunities available to the students. (On the Web: www.rio.edu) fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger |
| Mechanism Allows Cells To Change State - Redorbit.com Posted: 10 Dec 2009 06:35 AM PST Posted on: Thursday, 10 December 2009, 08:40 CST By looking at yeast cells, Jeffrey Laney, assistant professor of biology, has figured out one way in which cells can transform themselves: a cellular "machine" removes a regulatory "lid." Details are published online in Nature Cell Biology. Cells are not static. They can transform themselves over time — but change can have dangerous implications. Benign cells, for example, can suddenly change into cancerous ones. That's one reason why scientists are trying to figure out why and how cells can shed their old identity and take on a new one. If they can figure out how this happens, researchers may better understand why many different cells — such as stem cells or cells that become cancerous — transform. That, in turn, could someday allow scientists to control the transformative process in a way that might help treat a wide range of diseases. Jeffrey Laney, assistant professor of biology at Brown University, has identified one way this change takes place by looking at Saccharomyces cerevisae, a common yeast used to make beer and bread. Laney found that a cellular "machine" removes a regulatory "lid" from genes in the cell, so the cell can change its state. Details are published online in Nature Cell Biology, with a print version to come. "We have known that cells shed their old identity. What we didn't know is how that mechanism occurred," said Laney, the paper's lead author and a researcher in the Department of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry. The finding could shed new light on many different biological transitions, Laney said, where cells change or evolve as part of their normal functioning. To conduct the study, Laney and his lab tracked the cellular change that takes place in baker's yeast. Specifically, they looked at the organism as its "a" cells switched to "alpha" cells in order to self-fertilize. (The process would be analogous to an egg becoming a sperm). Laney's team found that a regulatory protein "sits" on genes inside the cell, capping those genes — turning them off — and managing the cell's identify as a result. Another regulatory molecule can pull that protein off the genes, allowing the genes to be switched on and to transform the cell from the "a" type into the "alpha" type. Although the genes Laney's lab studied do not exist in humans, the idea of cellular change by changing a gene expression state from on to off, or off to on, is considered universal in all cells. Understanding how this process happens normally will allow scientists to gain insight into pathological situations when the cell transformation process goes wrong, Laney said. Alexander Wilcox, a postdoctoral research associate, is a co-author of the paper. Laney received funding for the study from the National Institutes of Health and from a March of Dimes Basil O'Connor Starter Scholar Research Award. --- Image Caption: A mechanism for change - Common yeast cells like these are able to change from the "a" to the "alpha" type by removing a protein that prevents certain genes from being expressed. Understanding that mechanism could lead to new interventions in pathologies where the cell transformation process goes wrong. Credit: Jeffrey Laney / Brown University --- On the Net: fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger |
| Build Teen Confidence in Immunology? There's an App for That - Medagadget.com Posted: 10 Dec 2009 05:59 AM PST Thursday, December 10, 2009
The mission in Immune Attack is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. In the game environment, proteins, molecules and cells behave as they do in nature... Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS will discuss the results from the ongoing evaluation of Immune Attack. Hmmm... We're not sure why they're reporting results in terms of "player confidence" rather than "student learning" -- unless for some reason they didn't examine the student knowledge or performance, or they did and players didn't do better than traditional learners. Still, confidence is a valuable commodity, shown to improve health and fight off infection. Maybe Dr. Stegman is subtly giving clues on how to win the game. Free game download : Immune Attack Press release: Immune Attack Sheds Light on the Molecular World Click the "Post" button only once! fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger |
| Video games take bigger role in education - canada.com Posted: 10 Dec 2009 06:49 AM PST RALEIGH, North Carolina (Reuters) - Teachers trying to get students interested in molecular biology or space now have a new tool -- video games. As more children grow up playing video games, educators are partnering with game developers and scientists to create new interactive experiences for the classroom. A trio of new games were developed to make subjects like world culture, molecular biology and space exploration more accessible and fun for young minds. According to a new "Kids and Gaming 2009" report from The NPD Group, among all children in the United States aged 2-17, 82 percent, or 55.7 million, are currently gamers. Of these gamers, 9.7 million are aged 2-5, representing the smallest segment, while 12.4 million are aged 9-11, making up the largest segment. Just as kids have embraced music videogames like Activision's "Guitar Hero 5" and MTV Games' "The Beatles: Rock Band" and sports games like Electronic Arts' "Madden NFL 10" and "FIFA 10," educators and researchers are hoping games like "Immune Attack," "Discover Babylon," and Virtual Heroes' "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond" will engage and educate youngsters. The Federation of American Scientists (FAS) game developer Escape Hatch Entertainment created "Immune Attack" to plunge 7th through 12th graders into the microscopic world of immune system proteins and cells. The goal of the game is to save a patient suffering from a bacterial infection. Along the way, players gain an understanding of cellular biology and molecular science. "This is a first-person shooter in which the objects you need to activate with your ray gun are proteins on the interior surface of the veins," explained Melanie Ann Stegman, PhD, a program manager at FAS. "This integration of molecular science with the game took a big collaboration between scientists at Brown and our game designer." Stegman said data from kids who played the game show that they're picking up much more than just vocabulary. Students are learning intuitively how the cellular world works, including complex concepts like the functions of Monocytes and the molecular interactions among human complement factors and bacterial surface proteins. A sequel is already in development for next year. "As long as games are designed to be engaging, exciting and competitive I think they can be easily tailored toward educational purposes," said Tad Raudman, a science instructor at University Preparatory School in Redding, California, whose students played "Immune Attack." "Approximately 10 percent of lifetime learning happens in the formal (K-12)educational setting. If games are played several hours a week on average, they can have a significant outcome on learning in both formal and informal settings." The FAS also worked with UCLA's Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative and the Walters Art Museum to create "Discover Babylon," a game aimed at 8 to 12 year-olds that teaches about the significance of Mesopotamia in world culture using library and museum objects. "Quality videogames are very important in education because they reach some students who otherwise could not be taught," said Clara J. Heyder, physiology and pathology teacher at Bayside High School in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Cideogames encompass visual, auditory and kinesthetic learning which are very important for learning." On January 18, serious games developer ARA/Virtual Heroes will release a free downloadable prototype game called "MoonBase Alpha," which has been designed in conjunction with NASA engineers and astronauts to teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) education to students across the United States. The first-person perspective game thrusts players 30 years into the future and requires players to team up and use real match and scientific thinking to overcome challenges that astronauts might one day face. "MoonBase Alpha" is a free predecessor to a new massively-multiplayer online game, "Astronaut: Moon, Mars & Beyond," which will be released later in 2010. Jerry Heneghan, founder and CEO of ARA/Virtual Heroes, said the game will be an immersive platform, allowing multiple curriculum modules for teachers to incorporate the game into learning about science, technology, engineering and math for both the classroom and at home. "Students can pick a role like a roboticist, science officer, commander, or space engineer and work as a team on missions to perform experiments, solve space problems, and save the colonies from a myriad of potentially catastrophic situations," he said. (Editing by Belinda Goldsmith) fivefilters.org featured article: Normalising the crime of the century by John Pilger |
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