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Cellular Footprints: Tracing How Cells Move
An engineered cell (green) in a fruit fly follicle (red), or egg case, leaves a trail of fluorescent material as it moves across a fruit fly egg chamber, allowing scientists to trace its path and measure how long it took to complete its journey. Credit: David Bilder, University of California, Berkeley. Cells are the basis of the living world. Our cells make up the tissues and organs of our bodies. Bacteria are also cells, living sometimes alone and sometimes in groups called biofilms. We think of cells mostly as staying in one spot, quietly doing their work. But in many situations, cells move, often very quickly. For exam...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 4, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Kathryn Calkins Tags: Cell Biology Bacteria Biofilms Cells Cellular Imaging Source Type: blogs

Genomic Gymnastics of a Single-Celled Ciliate and How It Relates to Humans
Credit: Denise Applewhite. Laura Landweber Grew up in: Princeton, New Jersey Job site: Columbia University, New York City Favorite food: Dark chocolate and dark leafy greens Favorite music: 1940’s style big band jazz Favorite hobby: Swing dancing If I weren’t a scientist I would be a: Chocolatier (see “Experiments in Chocolate” sidebar at bottom of story) One day last fall, molecular biologist Laura Landweber surveyed the Princeton University lab where she’d worked for 22 years. She and her team members had spent many hours that day laboriously affixing yellow Post-it notes to the laboratory e...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 28, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Being a Scientist Genetics Cells Cellular Processes Cool Creatures DNA Genomics Research Organisms RNA Source Type: blogs

Have Nucleus, Will Travel (in Three Dimensions)
These two human cells are nearly identical, except that the cell on the left had its nucleus (dyed red) removed. The structures dyed green are protein strands that give cells their shape and coherence. Credit: David Graham, UNC-Chapel Hill. Both of the cells above can scoot across a microscope slide equally well. But when it comes to moving in 3D, the one without the red blob in the center (the nucleus) stalls out. That’s sort of like an Olympic speed skater who wouldn’t be able to perform even a single leap in a figure skating competition. Scientists have known for some time that the nucleus is involved in moving cell...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 20, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Cell Biology Cells Cellular Processes DNA Nucleus Source Type: blogs

Carole LaBonne: Neural Crest Cells and the Rise of the Vertebrates
 The stunning pigmentation of tigers, the massive jaws of sharks, and the hyper-acute vision of eagles. These and other remarkable features of higher organisms (vertebrates) derive from a small group of powerful cells, called neural crest cells, that arose more than 500 million years ago. Molecular biologist Carole LaBonne of Northwestern University in Illinois studies how neural crest cells help give rise to these important vertebrate structures throughout development. Very early during embryonic development, stem cells differentiate into different layers: mesoderm, endoderm, and ectoderm. Each of these layers then giv...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 8, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Cell Biology Development Source Type: blogs

Computational Geneticist Discusses Genetics of Storytelling at Sundance Film Festival
About 10 years ago, University of Utah geneticist Mark Yandell developed a software platform called VAAST (Variant Annotation, Analysis & Search Tool) to identify rare genes. VAAST, which was funded by NHGRI, was instrumental in pinpointing the genetic cause of a mystery disease that killed four boys across two generations in an Ogden, UT family. NIGMS has been supporting Yandell’s creation of the next generation of his software, called VAAST 2, for the past few years. The new version incorporates models of how genetic sequences are conserved among different species to improve accuracy with which benign genetic seque...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 1, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Computers in Biology Genetics Source Type: blogs

What Zombie Ants Are Teaching Us About Fungal Infections: Q & A with Entomologists David Hughes and Maridel Fredericksen
  I can still remember that giddy feeling I had seven years ago, when I first read about the “zombie ant.” The story was gruesome and fascinating, and it was everywhere. Even friends and family who aren’t so interested in science knew the basics: in a tropical forest somewhere there’s a fungus that infects an ant and somehow takes control of the ant’s brain, forcing it to leave its colony, crawl up a big leaf, bite down and wait for the sweet relief of death. A grotesque stalk then sprouts from the poor creature’s head, from which fungal spores rain down to infect a new batch of ants. A fungal fruiting b...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 21, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Computers in Biology Cell Biology Cellular Processes Electron Microscopy Infection Source Type: blogs

Interview With a Scientist: Joel Kralj, Electromicist
Every one of our thoughts, emotions, sensations, and movements arise from changes in the flow of electricity in the brain. Disruptions to the normal flow of electricity within and between cells is a hallmark of many diseases, especially neurological and cardiac diseases. The source of electricity within nerve cells (i.e., neurons) is the separation of charge, referred to as voltage, across neuronal membranes. In the past, scientists weren’t able to identify all the molecules that control neuronal voltage. They simply lacked the tools. Now, University of Colorado biologist Joel Kralj has developed a way to overcome this h...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 13, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Being a Scientist Cell Biology Genetics Bacteria Biofilm Source Type: blogs

Feeling Out Bacteria ’s Sense of Touch
Our sense of touch provides us with bits of information about our surroundings that inform the decisions we make. When we touch something, our nervous system transmits signals through nerve endings that feed information to our brain. This enables us to sense the stimulus and take the appropriate action, like drawing back quickly when we touch a hot stovetop. Bacteria are single cells and lack a nervous system. But like us, they rely on their “sense” of touch to make decisions—or at least change their behavior. For example, bacteria’s sense of touch is believed to trigger the cells to form colonies, called biofilms,...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 5, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Kathryn Calkins Tags: Cell Biology Bacteria Biofilms Cellular Processes Source Type: blogs

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Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 22, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Stephanie Older Tags: Uncategorized Source Type: blogs

Two NIGMS MARC Scholars Receive Prestigious Rhodes Scholarship
Oxford University. Credit: Andrew Shiva, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA. MARC U-STAR Scholars Jasmine Brown and Naomi Mburu were among 32 Americans to recently receive the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford University in England. Rhodes Scholars are chosen for their academic and research achievements, as well as their commitment to others and leadership potential. As current MARC U-STAR Scholars, Brown and Mburu are part of an NIGMS research training program for undergraduate junior and senior honor students. MARC is designed to increase the number of people from groups underrepresented in biomedical sciences by prepari...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 12, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Juli Rose Tags: Being a Scientist Training Source Type: blogs

The changing needs of a cell: No Membrane? No Problem!
Russian nesting dolls. Credit: iStock. How “membrane-less” organelles help with key cellular functions Scientists have long known that animal and plant cells have specialized subdivisions called organelles.  These organelles are surrounded by a semi-permeable barrier, called a membrane, that both organizes the organelles and insulates them from the rest of the cell’s mix of proteins, salt, and water.  This set-up helps to make cells efficient and productive, aiding in energy production and other specialized functions. But, because of their semi-permeable membranes, organelles can’t regroup and reform in respons...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 3, 2018 Category: Research Authors: Kathryn Calkins Tags: Cell Biology Cells Cellular Processes Nucleolus Organelles Proteins RNA Source Type: blogs

Zebrafish Scrapbook
Name: Danio rerio Hometown: Freshwater ponds and rivers of India, Nepal, and neighboring countries Occupation: Research Long-term goal: Solving the basic mysteries of life Work site: More than 600 science labs worldwide That’s me and some other zebrafish, swimming in a tank in one of the more than 600 labs around the world that use us to study embryo development, genetics, and all kinds of human diseases. Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Azul. Apart from the tell-tale stripes that give me my nickname, zebrafish, I look a lot like your standard minnow swimming in the shallows of any pond, lake, or river. But I like to think I...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - December 7, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Beth Azar Tags: Genetics Research Organisms; Cool Creatures; Regeneration Source Type: blogs

“Selfish” Gene Enhances Own Transmission at Expense of Organism’s Fertility
These glowing images of yeast (Schizosaccharomyces kambucha) reproductive cells show an example of a selfish gene at work. Here, the selfish gene boosts its chances of being passed to the next generation by producing both a toxin (stained cyan) and an antitoxin (stained magenta). Cells with a copy of the selfish gene are protected by the antitoxin, left and bottom ovals. Those without the selfish gene are destroyed by the toxin. Scientists suspect that selfish genes could be operating throughout many organisms’ genomes, possibly having a major impact on how genetic material is inherited over generations. Credit: Image co...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - November 21, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Kathryn Calkins Tags: Genetics DNA Evolutionary Biology Genes Source Type: blogs

Taking the Guesswork Out of Pain Management
How do you measure pain? A patient’s furrowed brow, a child’s cries or tears—all are signs of pain. But what if the patient suffers from severe dementia and can’t describe what she is feeling or is a young child who can’t yet talk? Caregivers can help read the signs of pain, but their interpretations may differ greatly from patient to patient, because people have different ways of showing discomfort. And when the patient is unconscious, such as during surgery or while in intensive care, the caregiving team has even fewer ways to measure pain. Patients can point to one of the faces on this subjective pain scale ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - November 7, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Barbara Vann Tags: Pharmacology Anesthesiology Medicines Pain Source Type: blogs

Sepsis: The Body ’s Deadly Response to Infection
Your browser does not support iframes. Although not as well-known as other medical conditions, sepsis kills more people in the United States than AIDS, breast cancer, or prostate cancer combined. Sepsis is body-wide inflammation, usually triggered by an overwhelming immune response to infection. Though doctors and medical staff are well-aware of the condition—it is involved in 1 in 10 hospital deaths—the condition is notoriously hard to diagnose. In this video, sepsis expert Sarah Dunsmore, a program director with the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), describes what sepsis is and how to recognize ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - November 2, 2017 Category: Research Authors: Chris Palmer Tags: Physical Trauma and Sepsis Source Type: blogs