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Is your spit making you fat?
One of the central pursuits of modern human genetics is to move beyond genomic correlation. That is, to demonstrate experimentally why a specific genetic variant may be associated with a disease. New work in Nature Genetics from an international team lead by Philippe Froguel at Imperial College in London does just this – demonstrating an […]
Viral Evolution
By Mubasher Ahmed, Genetics ‘15 Viral evolution is an emerging field in biology that has great implications for human health. T7 is a phage virus, meaning it infects bacteria, and is a powerful model system in evolutionary virology. In a recent experiment, a team of biologists sought to understand the degree to which genetic elements […]
The hunter-gatherer gut microbiome
By: Jenny Cade, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ‘15 In a paper published in Nature Communications on April 15, researchers profiled the gut microbiota of a group of hunter-gatherers in Tanzania known as the Hadza. They compared the results to those of people living in Italy, and found that the two groups have very different species […]
Origin of the Y Chromosome
By Marisa Sanchez, Molecular and Cellular Biology ‘15 The genomes of male and female mammals differ by one chromosome. The Y chromosome is only present in males, and is responsible for initiating the physiological and morphological differences between the sexes. This has not always been the case though; at one point, the X and Y […]
“No Ecosystem is an Island”
By Daniel Friedman, Genetics ’14 For years, ecologists have modeled the biodiversity of natural forests as if they were oceanic islands, adrift in an unlivable sea of humanity. However, research published in April in Nature by C. Mendenhall et al. suggest that this is not the most accurate or predictive way to think about these pockets […]
Green Tea Can Improve Your Memory
By Marisa Sanchez, Molecular and Cellular Biology ’15 Green tea has been said to have several health benefits including helping prevent certain types of cancer and inflammation. In a new study done by Dr. Beglinger and Dr. Borgwardt at the University of Basel in Switzerland, they have found that green tea extract enhances cognitive functions, […]
Lab Engineered Cartilage used in Nose Reconstruction
By Ashley Chang, Genetics ’15 Researchers at the University of Basel in Switzerland have successfully used lab-engineered cartilage for nose reconstruction. This study was conducted on five patients between ages 76 and 88 who had significant nasal damage after skin cancer surgery. One year after the replacement, all of them note significant improvement in the […]
Grass-fed or grain-fed?
By Jenny Cade, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology ’15 Eating grass-fed beef and pasture-raised chicken is the eco-friendly thing to do–right? Maybe not, according to a recent paper published in the Proceedings in the National Academy of Science. The study proposes that intensifying livestock production by transitioning from pure grazing to mixed systems–where animals are fed […]
“The Eukaryotic Ribosome”
This is a submission from UC Davis CBS Professor Sean Burgess. It comes from a future publication that relates the human quest to visualize the inner workings of the cell, molecular biology, with the quest to visualize the interior of the mind, art. Title: The Eukaryotic Ribosome Caption: The basic mechanism of ribosome based-protein synthesis is conserved […]
Fecundity Decrease in Drosophila simulans in the absence of Wolbachia
By: Jack Taylor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology ’15 Sponsor: Michael Turelli, Ph.D. Ecology and Evolution Many species of arthropods host Wolbachia, maternally transmitted bacteria that often influence host reproduction. This manipulation of host reproduction has contributed to Wolbachia becoming a normally-present infection of many Drosophila simulans. The Y36 isofemale line, a population of Drosophila simulans […]