September 29, 2016

For this week's blog, I chose this topic because I've always been fascinated by the beginning. The beginning of time, the beginning of life, the beginning of a species and how it's transformed over time. In a recent study, researchers have discovered proteins in ancient eggshells that has the information to discover DNA almost 50 times older than what they thought had been known. This could in turn provide more facts and insight to how animals and humans interacted in every-day life and why some animals became extinct while others were able to thrive in the conditions they were given and able to evolve over time. The ostrich eggshells come from well-dated sites in Tanzania and South Africa which are known for their extreme heat and harsh conditions. Originally researchers had thought that protein would not survive in the harsh conditions, but upon researching more and more shells, they actually found that it was the exact opposite. The one's in the unstable regions were the ones that survived the best and had the most protein within them. In light of this current finding, this allows them to be much more targeted in their study when looking at fossils and what exactly to look for. I'm excited to see what other information on evolution will come from these findings!


Journal: University of York. "Ancient eggshell protein breaks through DNA time barrier." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 27 September 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160927082904.htm>.

DOI: 

1. 10.7554/eLife.17092 

September 23, 2016

Recently, a group of researchers at MIT have created tiny freeze dried pellets that upon adding water can translate DNA into proteins. This can be the foundation and pave the way for on-demand production of drugs and vaccines. These pellets are capable of being stored for long periods of time at room temperature and because of their easy storage they can be used in several different aspects: military, hiking, and even be used in everyday first aid kits. Using the growing field of synthetic biology, researchers and scientists can design the cells in the pellets to perform functions that they normally do not have. With the help of synthetic biology, these pellets could be used to form vaccines and produce antibodies. Some of the pellets that they have made are ones that have small proteins that could be used as a diptheria vaccine and antimicrobial peptides that can help fight bacterial infections. They've also made one that can detect the bacterium Clostridium difficile, which is capable of producing severe inflammation of the colon. The researchers on the team have extensive plans to create and mass produce several of these pellets that can be used in every day life. Collins, one of the researchers, wants to purse integrating pellets into "smart bandages" that would detect infection and then produce the microbials needed to treat the infections. I think that these pellets can really change the future of medicine and bio-pharmaceuticals.


Research Article:
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.09.013

September 16, 2016

In last weeks blog, I wrote about home remedies and how they are being researched with a new approach: systems biology. I figured why not elaborate more on this for my next blog.

Systems biology is a type of research that focuses on the whole instead of the sum of the individual parts. it is a collaborative type of approach the combines the disciplines of several scientific fields such as: biology, computer science, engineering, bioinformatics, and physics to name a few. By using all of these disciplines researchers hope to predict how biological systems change over time depending on the conditions they are faced with. By being able to design multiscale models, scientists are able to discover "new biomarkers for disease, stratify patients based on unique genetic profiles, and target drugs and other treatments". There is a whole institute dedicated to the approach and the research of using systems biology. Institute of Systems Biology, ISB. To learn more about system's biology and how it is being used in several studies you can go to the following website which also includes an informative video describing system's biology.

https://www.systemsbiology.org/about/what-is-systems-biology/

September 9, 2016

For this weeks blog I've decided to touch base on an article I read on ScienceDaily.com, "How Chinese medicine kills cancer cells". I chose this article for one reason, I'm Hispanic, I grew up in Brownsville, which is down by the border, so I have had my fair share of home remedies. Most people I tell about how my grandmother and mother would cure a common cold, or strep throat, takes them by surprise because there isn't much medicine behind it.

I found it rather interesting and satisfying that medical professionals are now starting to investigate and test the effects of home remedies. The China Centre for the Molecular Basis of Traditional Chinese Medicine has begun to run tests and tear apart the components of the medicine at a molecular level to see how these medicines interact. It was stated that individually, they are not very effective, but when combined they are able to interact and that is when they become more useful. They've used what is called a systems biology approach. It's a way of analyzing complex biological systems that attempt to take into account all measurable aspects of the system rather than focusing on a single variable.

To read more about the article go to:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/09/160908084319.htm

Journal Reference:

1. Zhipeng Qu, Jian Cui, Yuka Harata-Lee, Thazin Nwe Aung, Qianjin Feng, Joy M. Raison, Daniel R. Kortschak, David L. Adelson. Identification of candidate anti-cancer molecular mechanisms of compound kushen injection using functional genomics. Oncotarget, 2014; DOI:10.18632/oncotarget.11788