Archive for the ‘Journal Club’ Category
A role for cannabinoids in slowing down HIV
by Suzanne on March 1, 2010
We all are very familiar with the effects of cannabinoid receptor stimulation on the body. Relaxation, pain relief, and increased appetite probably come first to mind. These psychoactive effects result from activation of the (read on...)
PARP-1 Inhibition: A Bench to Clinic Success Story?
by Alma on October 19, 2009
Recently, someone very close to me went through chemotherapy for a fairly common yet very scary cancer. One night as we were going over her treatments and how they were going to affect the rest of her body I compared our cancer (read on...)
Better Than Betaine: PCR Additives That Actually Work
by Suzanne on September 30, 2009
The problem of amplification of DNA templates containing high GC content continues to annoy researchers despite the many strategies developed to overcome this issue.
Betaine is the most common additive used to enhance (read on...)
DNA Jelly for Cell-Free Protein Synthesis
by Shoba on May 28, 2009
I had previously talked about the basics of cell-free protein synthesis and ways to improve yields from the technique. But recently I came across an article describing a technology that promises to dramatically improve the (read on...)
Evolution of Lager Yeasts
by Dan on September 15, 2008
For something a bit more on the fun side, at least if you enjoy a pint of beer now and then - a genomic-based study has reconstructed the origins by hybridization of the lager yeast Saccharomyces pastorianus, published in the (read on...)
Polarity, Diffusion, and Cellular Aging
by Dan on August 18, 2008
Two recent articles that I came across clearly illustrate ways in which cellular asymmetry is both easily established by basic factors, and provide the basis for processes like cellular polarity and aging. One cannot claim with (read on...)
Structured Digital Abstracts – Easier Literature Searching But Not Democratic
by Nick on April 24, 2008
FEBS Letters is this month carrying out an interesting experiment that could make literature searching easier for both humans and computers.
The experiment centres on Structured Digital Abstracts (SDA). SDA are extensions of the (read on...)
Genome Structure and Modularity
by Dan on March 20, 2008
A minireview recently in Genomics caught my eye with the title Coexpression, coregulation, and cofunctionality of neighboring genes in eukaryotic genomes that sounded just like a passage that I recalled from Richard Dawkins' The (read on...)
Wrapping up a Week of Just FAK
by Dan on February 8, 2008
Just Science week has been fun, reading four recent journal articles on focal adhesion kinase (FAK). It has helped me refresh myself on FAK as I got back to writing fellowship applications - although it had the added effect of (read on...)
FAK and Phosphatidyl Inositol in Cell Polarity
by Dan on February 7, 2008
After the past three days of blogging focal adhesion kinase (FAK), each focusing on an important regulator of cell adhesion dynamics and cell motility, I'm going to turn my attention to phosphatidyl inositol-3 kinase (PI3K). (read on...)
