BioNews

The paper: Brady, D.C. et al. (2014) “Copper is required for oncogenic BRAF signalling and tumorigenesis.” Nature 509:492-496. doi:10.1038/nature13180 Subject areas: molecular biology Vocabulary: tumorigenesis – the process by which normal cells become tumor (cancer) cells. This usually involves a number of steps: mutations in genes that control the cell […]

The paper: Sorge, R.E. et al (2014) “Olfactory exposure to males, including men, causes stress and related analgesia in rodents.” Nature Methods. Published online 28 April 2014. doi:10.1038/Nmeth.2935 Subject areas: Animal behavior, Sex differences Vocabulary: analgesia – from Greek words meaning without pain. Analgesics are drugs that relieve pain, and […]

The paper: Leiby, N. and Marx, C.J. (2014) Metabolic Erosion Primarily Through Mutation Accumulation, and Not Tradeoffs, Drives Limited Evolution of Substrate Specificity in Escherichia coli. PLOS Biology. doi: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1001789 Subject areas: evolution, biochemistry Vocabulary: catabolism – the systematic breakdown of large or complex molecules into smaller components along with […]

The paper: Murthy, A. et al. (2014) A Crohn’s disease variant in Atg16l1 enhances its degradation by caspase 3. Nature 506:546-562. doi:10.1038/nature13044 Subject areas: cell biology Vocabulary: Autophagy – “self eating” as defined by its Greek root words. In fact, autophagy is an orderly process by which nonfunctional or unneeded […]

The paper: Scafidi, J. et al. (2014) Intranasal epidermal growth factor treatment rescues neonatal brain injury. Nature 506: 230-236. doi:10.1038/nature12880 Subject areas: neuroscience Vocabulary: oligodendrocyte – one of the non-neuronal cell types in the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord). Oligodendrocytes serve many different roles in supporting the function […]

The paper: David, L.A. et al. (2013) “Diet rapidly and reproducibly alters the human gut microbiome.” Nature. doi:10.1038/nature12820 Subject areas: Microbiology Vocabulary: microbiome –  An ecosystem of microorganisms, primarily but not necessarily exclusively bacteria. —– This article is a summary of a recent primary research paper intended for high school […]

The paper: Dang, et al. (2013) Inhibitory signalling to the Arp2/3 complex steers cell migration. Nature 503: 281-284. doi:10.1038/nature12611 Subject areas: Cell Biology Vocabulary: cytoskeleton – cells are not just completely fluid structures surrounded by a flexible membrane.  Cells must have at least some rigidity in order to generate force […]

The paper: Claes, S. et al. (2013) Anatomy of the anterolateral ligament of the knee. J. Anatomy 223: 321-328. doi:10.1111/joa.12087 Subject areas:  Anatomy Vocabulary: condyle – the round protuberance at the end of some bones, usually those that are part of a joint. —– This article is a summary of […]

The paper: Shyh-Chang, N. et al. (2013) Lin28 enhances tissue repair by reprogramming cellular metabolism. Cell 155(4):778-792. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2013.09.059 Subject areas: Cell Biology, Developmental Biology Vocabulary: oncogene – a gene that can cause cells to form a tumor.  The oncogene is a mutated form of a normal gene, so that it […]

The paper: Vincent BM, et al. (2013) Fitness trade-offs restrict the evolution of resistance to amphotericin B. PLoS Biol 11(10): e1001692. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1001692 Subject areas: microbiology, evolution Vocabulary: thrush (oral thrush) – a condition in which the fungus Candida albicans infects the mouth and throat.  It presents as velvety white lesions […]