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Science Snippet: The Power of Proteins
Some might think that protein is only important for weightlifters. In truth, all life relies on the activity of protein molecules. A single human cell contains thousands of different proteins with diverse roles, including: Actin proteins in a cell’s cytoskeleton. Credit: Xiaowei Zhuang, HHMI, Harvard University, and Nature Publishing Group. Providing structure. Proteins such as actin make up the three-dimensional cytoskeleton that gives cells structure and determines their shapes. Aiding chemical reactions. Many proteins are biological catalysts called enzymes that speed up the rate of chemical reactions by redu...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - May 3, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Molecular Structures Cellular Processes Medicines Proteins Science Snippet Source Type: blogs

Manganese: The Magical Element?
The element manganese is essential for human life. It’s aptly named after the Greek word for magic, and some mysteries surrounding its role in the body still exist today—like how our bodies absorb it, if very high or low levels can cause illness, or how it might play a role in certain diseases. Manganese is necessary for metabolism, bone formation, antioxidation, and many other important functions in the body. The element is found in strong steel, bones and enzymes, and drink cans. Credit: Compound Interest CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Click to enlarge. Making Much With Manganese Structure of the human manganese s...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 26, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Molecular Structures Cellular Processes Proteins Source Type: blogs

Career Conversations: Q & A With Polymer Chemist Frank Leibfarth
Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Frank Leibfarth. “I love that you can change the molecular-level structure of a material, then pull it, bend it, or twist it and see firsthand how the molecular changes you introduced influence its stretchiness or bendiness,” says Frank Leibfarth Ph.D., an associate professor of chemistry at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill. In an interview, Dr. Leibfarth shares with us his scientific journey, his use of chemistry to tackle challenges in human health and sustainability, and his beliefs on what makes a career in science exciting. Q: What led you to study chemistry? ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 19, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Tools and Techniques Cool Tools/Techniques Profiles Source Type: blogs

Chemistry Under the Big Top
Credit: ACES. “Our main goal is to get elementary students excited to learn about STEM, and for them to see how beautiful and relevant science can be to communities in eastern Montana,” says Amanda Obery, Ph.D., an assistant professor in elementary education at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington. Dr. Obery co-leads the Authentic Community Engagement in Science (ACES) project with Matt Queen, Ph.D., an assistant professor in biological and physical sciences at Montana State University Billings (MSUB). A Custom STEM Curriculum with a Local Emphasis ACES connects teachers and biomedical pr...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Matt Mills Tags: Being a Scientist STEM Education Profiles SEPA Training Source Type: blogs

Photo Quiz: Puzzles in Purple
To make naturally colorless biological structures easier to study, scientists often use fluorescent tags and other tools to color them. Here, we feature images with purple hues and pair them with questions to test your knowledge of basic science concepts. Visit our image and video gallery for more scientific photos, illustrations, and videos in all the colors of the rainbow. QUIZ START This post is a great supplement to Pathways: The Imaging Issue. The images in this post were captured using some of the techniques described in Pathways. Learn more in our Educator’s Corner. Other Posts You...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - April 5, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Cellular Imaging Cellular Processes Cool Images Cool Videos Quiz Source Type: blogs

In Other Words: Not All Bases Are in the Ballpark
You might first think about sports when you hear the word base, but not all bases are on the baseball diamond. In chemistry, a base is a molecule that reacts with an acid, often by accepting a proton from the acid or from water. Baking soda and dish soap are common bases. Credit: NIGMS. A Building Block for Life Bases are found throughout biological systems and in many molecules critical to life. The pH scale measures how acidic or basic (“alkaline”) liquids, such as water or blood, are. Liquids with a pH less than 7 are acidic, while liquids with a pH greater than 7 are basic. Electrolytes, like sodium, ca...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 29, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Molecular Structures DNA In Other Words RNA Source Type: blogs

Automating Cellular Image Analysis to Find Potential Medicines
Dr. Anne Carpenter. Credit: Juliana Sohn. When she started college, Anne Carpenter, Ph.D., never guessed she’d one day create software for analyzing images of cells that would help identify potential medicines and that thousands of researchers would use. She wasn’t planning to become a computational biologist, or even to focus on science at all, but she’s now an institute scientist and the senior director of the Imaging Platform at the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard in Cambridge. Starting Out in Science Before beginning her undergraduate studies at Purdue University...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 22, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Cells Tools and Techniques Bioinformatics Cellular Imaging Computational Biology Cool Tools/Techniques Profiles Source Type: blogs

Slideshow: Circles of Life
Every year on March 14, many people eat pie in honor of Pi Day. Mathematically speaking, pi (π) is the ratio of a circle’s circumference (the distance around the outside) to its diameter (the length from one side of the circle to the other, straight through the center). That means if you divide the circumference of any circle by its diameter, the solution will always be pi, which is roughly 3.14—hence March 14, or 3/14. But pi is an irrational number, which means that the numbers after the decimal point never end. With the help of computers, mathematicians have determined trillions of digits of pi. To celebrate Pi ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 14, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Molecular Structures Cellular Imaging Cool Images Microbes Research Organisms Source Type: blogs

Launching Biomedical Careers for Students Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Group of RIT U-RISE students, including Bo Allaby (standing second from the right) and Maameyaa Asiamah (kneeling in front) who are interviewed in this post. Credit: Dr. Bonnie Jacob. Scientists who are deaf and hard of hearing (DHH) are underrepresented at all career stages, especially at the Ph.D. level. To address this, the Undergraduate Research Training Initiative for Student Enhancement (U-RISE) training program for undergraduates who are deaf and hard of hearing at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, New York, has committed to lifting barriers and increasing DHH representation in science. ...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 8, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Profiles Training Source Type: blogs

Innovating Education, Outreach, and Mentorship With Organic Chemist Neil Garg
Dr. Neil Garg. Credit: Penny Jennings. “An important part of being in science is being in a community,” says Neil Garg, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and chair of the department of chemistry and biochemistry at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). That philosophy has led him to prioritize mentorship, diversity, and inclusion—while maintaining research excellence—as well as re-envisioning what it means to educate students and the public. Falling in Love With Chemistry Science was always a part of Dr. Garg’s childhood. He participated in science fairs as a kid but says he did it for the commun...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - March 1, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Profiles Training Source Type: blogs

Propelling Rare Disease Research for More Than 50 Years
Vials of samples from the NIGMS HGCR. Credit: Coriell Institute for Medical Research. The year 2022 marked 50 years since the creation of the NIGMS Human Genetic Cell Repository (HGCR) at the Coriell Institute for Medical Research in Camden, New Jersey. The NIGMS HGCR consists of cell lines and DNA samples with a focus on those from people with rare, heritable diseases. “Many rare diseases now have treatments because of the samples in the NIGMS HGCR,” says Nahid Turan, Ph.D., Coriell’s chief biobanking officer and co-principal investigator of the NIGMS HGCR. She gives the example of a rare disease advocacy group wh...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 22, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Cells Genes Injury and Illness Diseases Genomics Scientific Process Source Type: blogs

Students With Visual Impairments Empowered to Explore Chemistry Through SEPA Project
Dr. Shaw (back left) observes SEPA program students engaging with tactile graphics in his lab. Credit: Jordan Koone Students with blindness and low vision are often excluded from chemistry labs and offered few accessible representations of the subject’s imagery, which can significantly hinder their ability to learn about and participate in chemistry. Bryan Shaw, Ph.D., a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, hopes to change that through a program funded by an NIGMS Science Education Partnership Award (SEPA). His inspiration to start the program came from his son, who is visually i...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 10, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology STEM Education Uncategorized Training Source Type: blogs

Career Conversations: Q & A with Evolutionary Biologist William Ratcliff
Dr. William Ratcliff. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. William Ratcliff. “Being a researcher is special because there aren’t many jobs that allow you to spend the majority of your time thinking about the things you find the most interesting in the whole world,” says William Ratcliff, Ph.D., an associate professor of biological sciences and the director of the interdisciplinary graduate program in quantitative biosciences at Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in Atlanta. We talked with Dr. Ratcliff about his career path, research on yeast, and advice to budding scientists. Q: How did you first become intereste...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 8, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Cells Tools and Techniques Cool Tools/Techniques Evolutionary Biology Profiles Source Type: blogs

Got Calcium?
Someone’s hand moving to scroll through this blog post is possible because of a mineral that both gives bones their strength and allows muscles to move: calcium. As the most abundant mineral in our bodies, it’s essential for lots of important functions. It’s found in many foods, medicines, and dietary supplements. Calcium keeps your bones strong, allows your muscles to move, and is important for many other bodily functions. The element is found in foods, medicines, and the world around us. Credit: Compound Interest CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Click to enlarge. Committed to Critical Duties For athletes, calc...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - February 1, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Molecular Structures Cellular Processes Diseases Proteins Source Type: blogs

A Career Launched Through “Transformative” NIGMS-Funded Training Programs 
Dr. Brenda Andrade. Credit: Courtesy of Dr. Brenda Andrade. Brenda Andrade, Ph.D., assistant professor at California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA), wasn’t sure what she wanted to do when she first started community college. Through a program at her high school, she’d participated in Saturday morning science labs on the CSULA campus, and that introduction to science led her to think about pursuing some sort of scientific degree. She recalls flipping through the course catalog to the list of science classes needed to transfer to a 4-year university, and “naively going down the list and taking them.” When...
Source: Biomedical Beat Blog - National Institute of General Medical Sciences - January 25, 2023 Category: Research Authors: Chrissa Chverchko Tags: Being a Scientist Profiles Training Source Type: blogs