ERIE, Pa. (AP) Mercyhurst University senior Drew Spacht grew up in a beer-loving household.

His grandfather owned a beer distributor in North East. His father has been a home brewer for 15 years.

So, when he found out his school was growing fresh hops, he did what came natural.

He found a way to make beer.

Again and again.

Spacht, a 21-year-old biology major, recently bottled his third batch of 'Hurst Pale Ale in the kitchen of his parents' Harborcreek home.

He's expecting good results.

"I liked the second batch more than the first," Spacht said. "I've tweaked the recipe a little bit each time. I'm never totally satisfied with what I do."

He describes the beer as an "inviting" medium-bodied beer with a citrus aroma.

The first beer brewed by the Mercyhurst student was distributed to school administrators and professors in spring 2011.

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Biology student at Pa.'s Mercyhurst brews own beer

George Churchhe of the beard, tall mans lope and overwhelming credentialshas hit the circuit to promote a new book: Regenesis: How Synthetic Biology Will Reinvent Nature and Ourselves. As the title explains, the book explores the field of synthetic biology, which centers on how man can program DNA to create things ranging from new fuels to seeds that grow into fully-formed houses. This subject often veers into the fanciful, and Church keeps up that tradition. Yet when he says things about bringing Neanderthals back to life, you have to take notice instead of chuckling.

For about the last 35 years, Church has been at the cutting edge of genetics and radical biology in academic and entrepreneurial settings. Today, hes the professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School, the super-sought-after adviser to more than 20 companies in genetics and synthetic biology, and co-founder of a handful of companies. Church, 58, relishes the academic side of his work and has scores of researchers doing cutting-edge stuff at his Harvard lab. That said, he likes to make sure that people see him as a man of action and not just some big brain in an ivory tower. I still do things with my own hands, he says.

Regenesis opens with some fairly fantastic notions. For one, theres talk of going all Jurassic Park on the world and bringing mammoths and other creatures back from extinction. Why would we want to do such a thing? Well, it turns out that mammoths clomped around in the tundra and stopped trees from growing and taking over vast grasslands. The increase in trees since their disappearance has contributed to warmer temperatures because the trees dont reflect light or consume carbon dioxide as well as grass. We need practical reasons as well as inspirational ones with this technology, Church says.

The thought experiment turns more intriguing when the subject of Neanderthals comes up. Church has tests running in the lab around Neanderthal cells as he tries to determine what this species might have looked and acted like. I am 3.8 percent Neanderthal, says Church, who has had his genome sequenced. One of my ancestors mated with a Neanderthal, and I am not embarrassed by that.

Church figures its only a matter of time and proven safety before people start picking out traits for their offspring and cloning entire children. Almost all technology in this area is banned until it works, Church says. In vitro fertilization was banned, and now it is immoral to deny an infertile couple their birthright to have a child produced by their bodies. At some point, someone will come up with an airtight argument as to why they should have a cloned child. At that point, cloning will be acceptable. At that point, people will already be choosing traits for their children. What politician will tell a parent that they cant spend their hard-earned money on getting an extra 50 SAT points for their child as long as its safe?

Right, but what about the Neanderthals? I cant let that one go.

We have lots of Neanderthal parts around the lab. We are creating Neanderthal cells. Lets say someone has a healthy, normal Neanderthal baby. Well, then, everyone will want to have a Neanderthal kid. Were they superstrong or supersmart? Who knows? But theres one way to find out.

While controversy often accompanies such talk, Church says hes avoided slings and arrows throughout his career. Ive been bracing for the backlash for 20 years, he says. Its important to have discussions about these complex issues early and in a rational manner before the technology gets ahead of the talk, he adds. Lets do some safety engineering first and come up with some solutions to problems, he says.

How far off is this brave new world? Well, according to Church, probably not far at all. The cheap human genome was supposed to arrive 50 years from now, he says. It arrived this year. What if a cheap Neanderthal or mammoth arrives 50 years ahead of time?

Church reckons that training seeds to grow into chairs or houses should be well within in our reach. Trees are essentially growing chairs, he says. There are lots of primates that sit and sleep in them. Thats not visionary.

Excerpt from:
Neanderthal Babies All Around: Synthetic Biology Is Closer Than You Think

ScienceDaily (Oct. 31, 2012) The puzzle about the ancestral function of toll-receptors has been solved. For more than 25 years, researchers from medicine and biology have been studying toll-receptors, revealing functions in immune defence on the one hand and developmental biology on the other. A research team from Kiel University (Germany) is now reporting that toll-receptors have primarily served to identify germs and to control bacterial colonisation of organisms -- typical immune defence functions.

The study was now published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and has implications for human medical research.

Studying cnidarians, we were able to show that toll-receptors have been involved in immune defence already in this evolutionarily old phylum and that cnidarians can therefore serve as model organisms for human immunology research," says Thomas Bosch from the Zoological Institute of Kiel University who led the project. Toll receptors exist in many animal species as well as humans. Cnidarians are convenient research objects, because they live in plain aquaria, have a simple genome, and can be examined easily in experiments. Furthermore, they live in association with few types of bacteria compared to humans. As many fundamental research questions in medicine cannot be studied directly in humans, for ethical and practical reasons, fundamental toll-receptor research can now be carried out with cnidarians instead.

With two Nobel Prizes dedicated to toll-receptor research in recent history, the topic has proven to be of major importance for science and society. In 1985, the so-called toll-receptors were first discovered as a key factor in embryonic development of the fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster). For these findings, Christiane Nsslein-Volhard, Edward Lewis und Eric Wieschaus were awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize for medicine. Toll-receptors again received much attention in science when researchers discovered a new function: in both the fruit fly as well vertebrate animals -- evolutionarily much younger than insects -- the toll-receptor helped to identify germs. Biologists Jules Hoffmann, Bruce Beutler and Ralph Steinmann received the Novel Prize for medicine for these astonishing results in 2011.

Scientifically, the subsequent question was: Which function -- regulation of embryonic development or immune defence -- was first in evolution? In order to solve this puzzle, scientists of Kiel University in cooperation with Max-Planck-Institute of Evolutionary Biology Pln studied the function of toll receptors in an evolutionarily very old group, cnidarians, that have been existing for more than 600 million years. The scientists compared morbidity and bacterial colonisation of regular and genetically modified polyps of the genus Hydra. The study resulted in strong evidence for immunobiological functioning of the toll-receptors, implying that developmental functions of the toll-receptor are characteristic of insects, which are evolutionarily much younger.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Christian-Albrechts-Universitaet zu Kiel.

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Evolutionary biology: Researchers solve toll-receptor puzzle

SAN DIEGO, Nov. 1, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Sapphire Energy, a world leader in producing crude oil from algae, and Institute for Systems Biology (ISB), the pioneers of the cross-disciplinary and integrative systems approach to research, today announced a strategic partnership to further the scientific research and development of algae biofuels. Through this partnership, the companies will focus on applying systems biology solutions to algae with the goal of significantly increasing oil yield and improving resistance to crop predators and environmental factors in order to further the advancement of commercialized algae biofuel production.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120402/SF80367LOGO)

"Sapphire is dealing with one of the most complicated problems known to humans: how to make fuel from a renewable resource," said Nitin Baliga, director of Integrative Biology at ISB."Together, we have complementary expertise that willallow us to understand, reverse engineer and rationally alter the gene networks for fuel production in algae."

"Sapphire Energy has developed the premier biotechnology platform for producing and harvesting algae which we see as having incredible biological potential," said Alex Aravanis, chief science officer (CSO) at Sapphire Energy. "By working with ISB to apply their systems biology approach, we're able to more rapidly identify genes and regulatory pathways that can increase yield and move us toward our goal of making Green Crude a market viable, crude oil alternative."

"Sapphire has embarked on one of the most exciting new technologies of our decade to produce crude oil from algae at scale," said Leroy Hood, president of Institute for Systems Biology. "By linking Sapphire's expertise in algae with ISB's cross disciplinary approach to biology, we hope to reverse engineer the gene networks in algae and create strategies that will significantly improve the yield of green oil and crop protection and reduce significantly the time to market."

Sapphire Energy produces algae crude oil, known as Green Crude, which is renewable, low carbon and can be refined using typical refinery configurations into Naphtha, diesel and kerosene (jet fuel). Today, the company has pioneered much of the science along the algae-to-energy value chain from biology, cultivation, harvest and extraction. The company recently began operating the first phase of its 300-acre commercial demonstration Green Crude Farm, also known as an Integrated Algal Bio-Refinery, in Columbus, New Mexico, in partnership with the US Department of Energy. The Green Crude Farm is expected to produce approximately 100 barrels of Green Crude per day, and be completed the end of 2014.

In addition, Sapphire Energy operates a 22-acre research and development facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, where it can swiftly develop new technology and apply it from bench to demonstration scale. In previous pilot activities, the company successfully provided Green Crude oil that was used to produce jet fuel for the first flights using algae-derived jet fuel, including a Continental Airlines 737-800 and a Japan Airlines 747-300.

ISB, a world leader in systems biology, combines the massive amounts of different kinds of data that can be generated with today's high throughput biology to build detailed genetic models of complex processes, such as crude oil production by algae. These models can then be validated and used to make predictions about how to change the algae or their environment to improve yield and overall crop performance.

About Sapphire Energy: San Diego-based Sapphire Energy is pioneering an entirely new industry Green Crude production with the potential to profoundly change America's energy and petrochemical landscape for the better. Sapphire's products and processes in this category differ significantly from other forms of biofuel because they are made solely from photosynthetic microorganisms (algae and cyanobacteria), using sunlight and CO2 as their feedstock; are not dependent on food crops or valuable farmland; do not use potable water; do not result in biodiesel or ethanol; enhance and replace petroleum-based products; are compatible with existing infrastructure; and are low carbon, renewable and scalable. Sapphire has an R&D facility in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and is currently operating the first Integrated Algal Bio-Refinery in Columbus, New Mexico. For more information, visit http://www.sapphireenergy.com or:

About ISB: The Institute for Systems Biology (ISB) is a world-renowned, non-profit research institute headquartered in Seattle that is dedicated to the study and application of systems biology. Founded in 2000,ISB seeks to unravel the mysteries of biology while identifying strategies for predicting and preventing diseases, solving energy and environmental issues, and improving K-12 science education. ISB's systems approach integrates biology, computation and technological development, enabling scientists to analyze all elements in a biological system rather than one gene or protein at a time. ISB has 11 faculty members and about 230 staff.

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Sapphire Energy and Institute of Systems Biology Partner on Commercial Algae Production

15-10-2012 13:44 Some generous (and talented!) folks came together and offered this excellent video to us to distribute. Please help us share this far and wide particularly with your friends and family in the four states voting on marriage in November as one example of articulating the case against redefining marriage. Government promotes natural marriage for a reason, permits many other relationships (including gay relationships) while prohibiting very few relationships (like incest). Please support our efforts to protect marriage! Visit and

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Marriage = Biology (Not Bigotry) - Video

17 October 2012 Last updated at 01:17 By Matt Bardo Reporter, BBC Nature

The notion of an annual flying ant day, when swarms of ants emerge and take to the air in mass mating flights, is a "myth", scientists say.

UK summer data gathered by the Society of Biology shows two peaks in flying ant appearances over one fortnight.

They mapped 6,000 flying ant sightings, made by members of the public this year, to learn about ant behaviour.

The team now hopes to repeat the study in future years so that the scientists can draw firmer conclusions.

The survey was organised by the Society of Biology with the results announced as part of Biology Week, which runs until Friday.

The main findings to be drawn from the study concern the black garden ant (Lasius niger), the most common ant species in the UK.

Some of the results have surprised the experts.

"Even over a small area emergences happened on different days, suggesting that local synchronisation is not as precise as is widely believed," said Professor Adam Hart, an ecologist at University of Gloucestershire, who presented the results of the survey at a Biology Week event.

"We found a relationship between flying ant swarms and weather conditions, which we expected, and geographical variation, which we didn't expect," he said.

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Flying ant day 'a summer myth'

Systems biology-based research vital to advancing the discovery and development of therapies.

Boston, MA (PRWEB) October 17, 2012

Key themes repeatedly heard and spoken among the attendees at the 2012 Summit were the importance of systems biology-based research and the value of collaboration. As the only brain tumor organization with both a Chief Scientific Officer and a Director of Public Policy, National Brain Tumor Society continues to partner with a wide array of organizations to gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of brain tumors, the barriers to research advancements, and the resources needed to support translational science for the development of durable therapies. Focused on creating change, National Brain Tumor Society has also used this knowledge to challenge its academic colleagues and grant recipients to approach their brain tumor research through systems biology, which provides a better understanding of genes and their mechanisms of action through an integrated view.

At the 2012 Summit, leading researchers and clinicians, as well as peers in nonprofit, government, and industry also concurred that systems biology is required to foster progress of therapeutic developments for brain tumors, as well as a better understanding of the behaviors of a wide array of other cancer genes. Knowing how they (genes) develop, interact, and change as part of a system, will enable a more predictive approach to therapy development, thus enhancing efficacy and overall success.

With a disease where over 120 different tumor types exist, and with only 4 FDA-approved treatments for adults in the last 20 years, the time is now. We can no longer try to understand brain tumors with a unilateral approach, said N. Paul TonThat, executive director of the National Brain Tumor Society. Brain tumors are deadly and there is no cure, so we have to foster collaboration and the scientific models that are poised to deliver new, durable treatments, sooner. Its our obligation to this community, and we wont rest until a cure is found, said TonThat.

Through the first phase of its Mary Catherine Calisto Systems Biology Initiative, a multiyear grant program, National Brain Tumor Society is currently supporting several multi-disciplinary research teams at leading institutions such as Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, University of California, Agios Pharmaceuticals, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, University of Alabama, University of Florida, and Brigham & Womens Hospital. Phase II will encourage an even greater team-science approach by allowing the Phase I recipients to collaborate together, and leverage their initial findings and achievements (presented at the 2012 Summit) to expedite the progress of Phase II research.

The 2012 Summit included an annual meeting, the first convening of state lead advocates, a research symposium, and the Boston Brain Tumor Walk which rallied 3,000 participants and raised over $500,000 to fund critical brain tumor research.

Sponsored by EMD Serono and The Colony Group, the event hosted distinguished speakers from the brain tumor community including Anna Barker, PhD (Transformative Healthcare Networks, Arizona State University), WK Al Yung, MD and Giulio Draetta, MD, PhD (MD Anderson Cancer Center), Dennis Berman, JD (Tocagen, Inc.), Robert Langer, Sc.D and Ernest Fraenkel, PhD (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Tyler Jacks, PhD (Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Wendy Selig, (Melanoma Research Institute), and Timothy Cloughsey, MD (University of California, Los Angeles).

National Brain Tumor Society also honored the following individuals and families for their steadfast commitment to the brain tumor community:

Margaret Foti, PhD, MD (h.c.), and chief executive officer of the American Association for Cancer Research was awarded the Founders Award in recognition of her tireless efforts and leadership to support the advancement of cancer research.

The rest is here:
National Brain Tumor Society Gathers Leaders at its 2012 Summit to Support Scientific Collaboration and Advance the ...

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Published 10/17/2012 in News

TOPEKA (AP) A veteran biology professor described public school science standards being drafted by Kansas and other states as weak, telling education officials Tuesday that they largely ignore important subjects such as zoology and human anatomy.

John Richard Schrock, a biology professor at Emporia State University, said the standards being drafted concentrate too much on ecology, evolution and molecular biology. He said adopting such guidelines in Kansas is likely to prevent students from learning enough about zoology, human anatomy, botany and microbiology.

Kansas and 25 other states are working with the National Research Council on common standards for possible adoption in their public schools, and Kansas officials involved in writing the guidelines contend the goal is to concentrate on core scientific concepts. Schrock aired his criticism during a public-comment session before the State Board of Education, and officials involved in writing the standards responded during a monthly update for the board on their work.

Past work on science standards in Kansas has been overshadowed by debates about how evolution should be taught. The state had five sets of standards in eight years starting in 1999, as evolution skeptics gained and lost state board majorities in elections. The current, evolution-friendly standards were adopted by the board in 2007, but state law requires them to be updated.

Schrock, who's taught biology at Emporia State since 1986 and is a former chairman of its biology department, favors evolution-friendly standards, but he's also long argued that the state and U.S. should require students to take more science courses and impose detailed standards.

"You can't solve a chess problem if you don't know how to play chess, and you can't repair a car if you don't know how a car works," he said during an interview. "This promotes science stupidity."

But Matt Krehbiel, the Kansas Department of Education official overseeing the state's work on the standards, said Schrock's criticism isn't justified. He said the standards won't preclude schools from teaching different scientific subjects but will promote a deeper understanding of core concepts.

A first draft of the proposed standards became public in May, and another draft is expected to be released in November. Officials expect the Kansas board to consider adopting them early next year.

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AP: Kansas officials, professor debate science standards

In a request released Sept. 14 of this year, the Office Of Naval Research sought to find proposals for "Synthetic Biology Tools for Sensing and Bioprocessing" essentially hybrid, organic inorganic "sensing" robots.

But the language can be deceiving.

Googling the first three words synthetic biology tools yields research in the field of Biofuels. Even the "bioprocessing" part of the request equates to sources of "efficient" fuels in austere conditions. As we've covered most recently, the military is under tremendous pressure to curb its consumption of traditional fossil fuels.

Along with that, it's under even more pressure to reduce casualties on the battlefield arguably the number one metric aside from monetary cost which affects public resistance to foreign military expeditions.

Sure, they're looking for inexpensive, efficient means to fuel war, but they're also looking for more efficient vehicles of war.The language farther in the proposal though makes it clear that the military is investing heavily into smart, cybernetic robots.

From the proposal:

This field is intended to serve two purposes: (1) to allow the design and engineering of organisms that possess a specific, reproducible function from a set of validated genetic parts, circuits and chassis organisms, and, (2) to allow the systematic study of the structure and function of genetic components in natural cellular/multi-cellular systems.

Interpretation: We're looking to connect organic matter, be it single celled or multi-celled, to inorganic, possibly synthetic, circuits.

The organic matter would 'sense' certain stimuli. In one case specifically, chemicals or molecules in the air that would indicate bomb-making materials kind of like a dog's nose connected to a computer.

But then the proposal takes a nasty turn for the weird and scary:

Read more:
The Military Put Out A Research Request For What Amounts To Cybernetic Organisms

Jennifer Heim and John Killpack. /Photo submitted

The students were invited to share their findings at the North Central Chapter (NCC) Conference of the International Society of Wetland Scientists (SWS) in Chesterton, Ind., in late September. Jennifer also earned a competitive travel grant to attend the conference and present their project, entitled, "Impact of Bt Corn Leaf Detritus on Aquatic Macroinvertebrates."

Jennifer developed the proposal for the project during the spring semester of her sophomore year. She chose the topic because she recognized its significance to agriculture and the health of freshwater systems.

"I've always been curious about anthropogenic effects on ecosystems, and when told to select a topic that I would be working on for three years, I knew I wanted to find something interesting that was currently impacting the environment and humans," says Jennifer. "I browsed current science journal articles and happened across one about the impact of Bt corn detritus on macroinvertebrate communities. I had heard of Bt corn before seeing that article, but didn't know much about it. After I read the article, I realized that this was something that could have serious impacts on freshwater systems near agricultural land."

Bt corn has been genetically altered to express the bacterial Bt toxin, which is poisonous to insect pests. In biology, detritus is non-living particulate organic material which can include the bodies or fragments of dead organisms. Aquatic macroinvertebrates are found in lakes, streams, ponds, marshes and puddles and help maintain the health of the water ecosystem by breaking down leaf detritus and other organic matter to perpetuate the cycling of nutrients and energy through the system.

John grew up on a farm and was relatively familiar with Bt corn and its effects on the environment. He had also previously completed an internship with the Missouri River Basin that gave him greater knowledge about macroinvertebrates and water quality. He was intrigued enough to get involved with Jennifer's project.

"When I heard that Jennifer was basing her project in these areas, I decided to join her and assist in the research project," John says. "Our hypothesis was that the presence of Bt corn leaves as a food source for aquatic macroinvertebrates will show negative environmental effects in lab and field testing when compared to non-Bt corn leaves. In our research, we found negative survivability effects on tricopteran macroinvertebrates when comparing results from Bt corn leaves verses non-Bt-corn leaves."

The research project allowed John to obtain experience in a field-based project in order to assist in his decision to pursue ecological research or a human health direction after he graduates from BVU in the spring.

Beyond the results of the research, Jennifer also learned about enduring the challenges and trials of her project.

"One of the most important things I've learned is patience and acceptance that not everything is going to work out the way you want it to on your first try," Jennifer says. "This was research, not a controlled lab exercise. With that, you're going to have to go through a lot of trial and error for things to work, and even then you cannot always expect to get the results you want to see."

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BVU students present research on environmental impact of Bt corn

Public release date: 15-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Kim Newman sciencenews@einstein.yu.edu 718-430-3101 Albert Einstein College of Medicine

October 15, 2012 (BRONX, NY) Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University has received a $3 million grant from the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research to establish the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research. The grant will fund research to translate recent laboratory and animal discoveries into therapies to slow human aging.

Aging contributes to many of the debilitating and costly diseases including cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes that burden the United States and many other countries. This complex but universal condition causes individual cells and the body as a whole to decline in function. Finding the mechanisms that underlie the aging process may lead to treatments that slow aging, prevent or limit common diseases, and allow people to live healthier, longer lives.

"Unless we find protective mechanisms to delay aging, we will not make progress against age-related diseases," said Nir Barzilai, M.D., co-director of the new center as well as director of the Institute for Aging Research, the Ingeborg and Ira Leon Rennert Chair in Aging Research, and professor of medicine and of genetics at Einstein. "With this valuable grant from the Paul F. Glenn Foundation, we hope to make significant advances toward understanding the aging process and improving human health."

"The generosity of Paul F. Glenn and his foundation is a welcome shot in the arm for aging research in the United States, which is chronically underfunded," said Jan Vijg, Ph.D., co-director of the new center, the Lola and Saul Kramer Chair in Molecular Genetics, and professor and chair of genetics and professor of ophthalmology and visual sciences at Einstein. "This grant will help Einstein to maintain its position as one of the world's leaders in this rapidly growing field."

"Paul F. Glenn has been a visionary in aging research for more than 30 years," said Ana Maria Cuervo, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the new center, the Robert and Rene Belfer Chair for the Study of Neurodegenerative Diseases, and professor of developmental and molecular biology, of anatomy and structural biology and of medicine at Einstein. "Some of us got to know him when we were still graduate students and he came to scientific conferences to see the data as it was being developed. Paul's personal approach to science has made a big difference to many of us in the field of aging research and has contributed to the career development of many young investigators."

The funding, in the form of pilot and feasibility study grants, is targeted to several specific research projects: uncovering the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that protect humans against aging and age-related diseases, testing the effectiveness of the first-generation pro-longevity therapies, and developing novel preventive and therapeutic interventions against cellular aging in humans.

###

Drs. Barzilai and Cuervo are also co-directors of Einstein's Institute for Aging Research and, together with Dr. Vijg, of the Nathan Shock Center for the Basic Biology of Aging. Both centers are funded by the National Aging Institute, part of the National Institutes for Health.

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Einstein establishes the Paul F. Glenn Center for the Biology of Human Aging Research

WSU researchers will examine food safety following a grant received by the Department of Biology Systems Engineering.

The department was recently awarded the $238,500 grant from the National Needs Fellowship to further research and train doctoral students to promote environmentally friendly means of food production, processing and storing.

The grant will allow three WSU doctoral students to acquire proper training for developing positive food engineering techniques and technologies. They will work with both corporations and U.S. federal agencies to further their studies.

This is a very important grant that both recognizes ground-breaking research in food safety and the need to educate a new generation of leaders in this area, said Howard Grimes, vice president for research and dean of the WSU graduate school.

The new grant will be used to further develop solutions for the constant conflict between providing a large enough food supply for an increasing population as well as meeting the crisis for new energy and environmental requirements, according to a WSU News release.

It is essential that we continue to develop innovative technologies, such as our new microwave that is being introduced globally as a replacement to pasteurization, and research scientists that will continue to discover new ways to keep our food healthy, Grimes said. This grant will do both.

The grant allows WSU researchers to be some of the top in the field and continue to create better technologies for the future of food sciences. It will also allow WSU to maintain its leadership on a global scale in the field of advancing innovative approaches for sustainability, according to the press release.

The three doctoral students participating in this training will be taught through not only classroom techniques, but research environments as well. The overall grant is intended to teach future leaders how to increase and advance food safety, as well as health and wellbeing in an eco-friendly way.

Juming Tang, WSU professor and one of the three researchers participating in the training, stated in the press release that the program supports WSU's vision to become a world leader in developing advanced solutions for safe food production.

The entire grant, titled Educating Food Engineers to Develop High-Performance Integrated Processing and Packaging Technologies that Enhance Food Safety & Quality, is funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Continued here:
Biology Systems Engineering nabs grant

Updated10/12/2012 05:00 AM

Students are Broadalbin-Perth High School are using 3D technology to learn. Vince Gallagher has the details.

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The shades are on during this biology class at Broadalbin-Perth High School. The reason...3D technology.

Biology teach Brian Henry said, "It's been nothing short of spectacular in regards to teaching certain elements of biology and allowing students to view it in a completely different world."

Students viewed three dimensional models and instructional videos featuring, for example, the pumping of a human heart or photosynthesis.

Henry said, "The images pop out at them. They can almost reach out and touch them, and they are completely engaged from the minute they put their glasses on to the time the bell rings, and from an education standpoint you can't ask for anything more than that."

And that seems to be the case here. Upon first look, it's obviously different than a traditional learning tool we all know - the textbook.

Student Cody Husek said, "Being handed a diagram on a piece of paper and you're expected to look at it hard and look at the ventricles, I think it's a lot easier to get something out of it when you can see it on three dimension with something like this."

Henry said, "When you throw a 3D projection out there and the animations come to life, all of a sudden those kids that weren't engaged at one point are the first ones raising their hands, what's this all about, can we do this, etc."

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State of Education: Biology students using 3D technology in the classroom

October 12, 2012 in Nation/World

Freida Frisaro Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) Word that a giant eyeball washed up on a South Florida has created a buzz on the Internet and in the marine biologycommunity.

An assistant biology professor at Florida International University in Miami on Friday said the blue eyeball may have come from a deep sea squid or a large swordfish. Heather Bracken-Grissom says she started discussing the eyeball with her colleagues as soon as they saw the pictures on theInternet.

A beachgoer found it Wednesday in PompanoBeach.

Bracken-Grissom says the lens and pupil are similar to the shape of a deep sea squids eye. She notes that the squids eyes can be as large as soccer balls and they easilydislodge.

Florida wildlife officials have sent it to a research facility in St. Petersburg fortesting.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Biology prof says eyeball may belong to big squid - Fri, 12 Oct 2012 PST

JONES COUNTY, MS (WDAM) -

South Jones High School Biology Teacher Abigail Warden will receive an award that has been a long time goal.

"State Biology Teacher of the Year. I will get an award at the National Convention for Biology Teachers," said Warden.

Two students, who were taught by Warden in the ninth grade, rememberWarden going the extra mile with all her students, making sure they excel inside and outside the classroom.

"She definitely gives the extra time. I knowI can come to her for anything, and she is actually my senior high beta club sponsor. She is really like a second mom to everyone at the school," said South Jones Senior, Molly Marshall.

"She's a teacher, but she is also your friend. She will stay afterwards. She will help you. She really puts her whole effort into making a student successful," said South Jones Senior, Neal Steinwinder.

A former student nominated Warden for the State Biology Teacher Award. Warden says the accolade drives her to work harder.

"I was humbled because there is so much more I can still learn . So much more I can still do. It makes me want to work hard for the students," said Warden.

Warden remembers what sparked her love for science and desire to teach.

"I had asixth grade teacher who was my science teacher thatI really loved.Her name was Mrs. Thomas. She was a really sweet lady," said Warden.

Read more:
South Jones Teacher awarded State Biology Teacher of the Year

Rob Carlson a principle at Biodesic, an engineering, consulting, and design firm in Seattle moderated a plenary session focused on synthetic biology at BIOs Pacific Rim Summit on Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy. The panel, Status Report: The Synthetic Biology Pathway to Innovation in Fuels and Chemicals, consisted of scientists from both the biotechnology industry and academia expressing their views on the importance of synthetic biology and discussing how the technology has evolved over time.

Todd Peterson, synthetic biology vice president at Life Technologies said, synthetic biology is based on building living systems or rebuilding those that are living. Peterson described synthetic biology as engineering life for useful purposes, based on a rapidly growing field of research and new approaches to life sciences. It impacts a broad range of industrial applications using standardized parts, engineered hosts, assembly tools, computational design tools, and analytical tools in health care, renewable energy, renewable chemicals, agriculture and bio-remediation. Like traditional recombinant DNA technology, synthetic biology further manipulates nature, enhancing, human beings or other organisms.

Carlson said economic demand will serve as a driver for continued proliferation of biotechnology. Today, in the United States, revenues from genetically modified systems contribute the equivalent of almost 2 percent of GDP, and are growing in the range of 15 to 20 percent per year. Our ability to manipulate biology to produce economically useful products is now moving along the road traveled by many other technologies in the 20thcentury.

Plastics, therapeutic drugs, biofuels and industrial chemicals are all being produced in engineered organisms. This transformation is taking place in the context of global communication, and is a push by the educated populations of China, India and other up-and-coming nations to improve their economic influence. Biological engineering, whether home-grown or practiced abroad, will soon be integrated into our society and economy as never before.

Another industrial scientist, Lori Giver, vice president from Codexis said whole genomes, integrated platforms for use with cellulosic sugars, and training enzymes to work in different conditions will lead to novel products. For example, the design of new enzymes from manipulating wild type enzymes for new mutations will lead to fatty alcohols for detergents.

Yizhi Cai, a senior scientist at John Hopkins University School of Medicine spoke aboutsaccharomyces cerevisiae, a species of yeast that has been instrumental to winemaking, baking and brewing since ancient times. He also touched on his work on reengineering the microorganism, which would fortify bread with vitamins, which he envisioned could be easily and cheaply shared among impoverished people in the form of starter dough. This presents just one way that synthetic biology can lead to a sustainable solution to a critical global health problem. As time goes on synthetic biology will continue to evolve leading to further innovation.

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The Synthetic Biology Pathway to Innovation in Fuels and Chemicals

LONDON: When John Coates was on a winning streak during his days as a trader at Deutsche Bank and Goldman Sachs, the narcotic-like high he experienced was so powerful he was determined to find out more. So after 13 years on trading floors on Wall Street he moved to the neuroscience labs of Rockefeller University in New York and of Britains Cambridge University. Here, the trader turned neuroscientist has been bent on uncovering the brain biology behind that high, what it did to him, and what its probably doing to those he left behind. What hes come up with, after several years reading up on animal studies and some interesting experiments with spit, is that risk taking is driven by a winner effect a hormonal mechanism in which each competitive victory leads to more wins. The narcotic high was as powerful as anything I have ever felt, Coates said in an interview during a medical conference in London, describing the experience of making huge profits and big bonuses at some of the worlds largest banks. And as other experts in psychiatry and neuroscience at the conference agreed, the consequences of a winner effect gone out of control can lead some to become power-corrupted politicians, cruel military dictators and even surgeons who like to play god. You become euphoric, delusional, you have less need for sleep, you have racing thoughts, an expanded appetite for risk, and less stringent requirements in the risk and reward trade-off, said Coates. Basically, you become a rogue trader. Since publishing some initial scientific studies exploring these traits in traders, Coates says he has been contacted by researchers analyzing politicians, soldiers, and even sports people who believe his work can shed light on theirs. As our research progressed, it became clear we were doing a lot more that studying the biology of financial risk taking, we were studying the biology of (all) risk taking, he said. We only have one biology, and we take it with us into whatever world were engaged in whether its the military, sports, politics or finance. With evidence of extreme consequences of the winner effect traders who turn rogue and bring down entire banks, political leaders corrupted by power who inflict cruelty on subordinates, or soldiers who become indiscriminate killing machines unchecked by the rules of conflict Coates is looking deeper. When you see this transformation take place in people, they start carrying themselves like masters of the universe. And its not a cognitive process. It isnt even about greed. Its more this feeling of consummate power, a feeling that youre dominating the world. Coates says he was increasingly struck by the fact that almost every blow-up north of a billion dollars the sort of blow-up that shakes a bank to its foundation came down to the actions of a trader at the end of a winning streak. The winning streak seems to foster excessive risk-taking, he said. Intrigued, and keen to bring his previous experience to his new role as a Cambridge research fellow in Neuroscience and Finance, Coates asked some of his former colleagues in Londons City financial district to give him some time, and some spit. Over eight consecutive business days, researchers took spit samples from 17 male traders, morning and afternoon, to measure levels of the hormone testosterone during daily trading. The results were revealing. Daily testosterone was significantly higher on days when traders made more than their one-month daily average. And on mornings when they had high testosterone levels, their profits for the rest of the day were significantly larger than when testosterone levels were low. These findings echo similar studies of animals in the wild, which also found a testosterone-driven winner effect among males who fight over territory or a mate, for example. According to Coates, they also show without doubt that risk taking in humans is a physiological and not just a cognitive activity. Within economics, theres a belief that we wander around with this supercomputer in our heads that is unaffected by the body and has the ability to calculate returns, probabilities and the optimum allocation of capital, he said. But of course the science doesnt support anything like that. Coates observations chimed with those of several other speakers at the conference, which gathered psychiatrists and neuroscientists to examine the phenomenon of hubris in public life in other words what leads people in power to become corrupted and behave in arrogant and destructive ways. Nassir Ghaemi, a professor of psychiatry at Tufts University Massachusetts, told the conference disorders like depression can often enhance political, economic and military leaders at times of crisis because depressives are more empathetic, more self critical and more realistic about the world around them. Coates suggests what goes wrong in the case of rogue traders is that the hormonal mechanism behind the winner effect becomes pathological, fostering irrational exuberance and excessive risk taking. He also said it is not enough for commentators and analysts to simply observe these activities, but argued that they should demand proper scientific studies which can provide robust answers to questions about what went wrong. What Im describing is overlooked scientific data, he told the conference. And what were seeing in the corporate world is a desperate need for science conducted in the workplace. Its going to help us understand the sources of the instability, and how to control it. Coates hypothesis is that at a certain level of rising testosterone, effective risk taking gradually turns into a biological wave of excessively risky behavior. If that is the case, it should change the way traders are managed, he said. The trouble with the banks is that their risk management systems and compensation schemes have been amplifying these biological waves, when they should be leaning against them. What they should be doing with traders on a winning streak is not forever raising their risk limits, but holding their limits constant, or even telling them to close out their positions in the middle of a winning streak and take three weeks off until their biology resets.

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Former Wall Street trader studies biology of risk-taking

A new breakthrough in cellular biology has revealed a biological fat switch that could help in the fight against the worldwide obesity epidemic, according to a study published by scientists at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute last week.

The switcha channel-shaped protein that sits in the outer membrane of human fat cellscan help prevent insulin resistance and obesity when it is blocked.

Senior author Bruce Spiegelman, a professor of cell biology at Harvard Medical School, said the implications of this research are far-extending.

The fact that there is a pathway [...]that is potentially druggable that controls these aspects of biology opens up a pretty clear possibility to develop therapeutics, he said.

According to co-author Jun Wu, an instructor at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, one-third of the worlds population suffers from obesity, but there are still no effective drugs in the United States capable of helping reduce metabolic rates.

In any animal, a high calorie diet can lead to obesity or insulin resistanceand commonly both. The diseases, especially when coupled, lead to greatly increased risk of coronary heart disease, type II diabetes and stroke.

The fat switch protein these scientists studied is predominately found in brown fat cellsa type of fat cell that is especially good at using chemical energy to generate and dissipate heat. This heat dissipation functions to prevent insulin resistance, distinguishing it as a good fat cell, according to Wu.

Through five years of experimentation, Spiegelman, Wu and their colleagues found that mice who had blocked fat switch proteins in their brown cells had an increase in their energy expenditure and decrease in insulin resistance compared to mice that did not have this block, even without putting the mice on a low-calorie diet.

Spiegelman said that the fat switch protein is from the same family of proteins as capsaicin, a protein that can be blocked by drugs to prevent the taste of spiceevidence that the fat switch could be manipulated to produce an effect in humans in a similar way.

The druggable potential for the fat switch, Spiegelman added, was one of the most exiciting finds of his work.

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Researchers Discover “Fat Switch”

Public release date: 11-Oct-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tom Vasich tmvasich@uci.edu 949-824-6455 University of California - Irvine

Irvine, Calif., Oct. 11, 2012 UC Irvine has been awarded $11.5 million over five years to further support the biologists, mathematicians, physicists, engineers and computer scientists who collaborate in pursuit of a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of complex biological systems.

The funding for the UCI Center for Complex Biological Systems comes from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, one of the National Institutes of Health, which gave the facility initial grants of $450,000 in 2002 and $14.5 million in 2007.

At the time, the UCI center was the first of its kind in California dedicated to systems biology, an emerging field of study that employs the latest technology and computational methods to examine how networks of molecules, cells, tissues and organs interact in complex, dynamic ways to produce reliable biological functions.

"Over the past decade, we've tried to take a teamwork approach to really hard biological problems, encouraging researchers from all over the sciences and engineering to work together. This award is a clear endorsement of that strategy, especially given the current funding environment," said Dr. Arthur Lander, center director and professor of developmental & cell biology and biomedical engineering.

UCI's efforts focus on "spatial dynamics," or how biological systems have evolved to control what happens not just over time, but over space (in different locations within cells, tissues and organs, for instance). In researching this, the center takes advantage of the campus's considerable strengths in computation, applied mathematics and optical biology, in which microscopes, lasers and fluorescence are used to probe cells and tissues.

Additionally, the facility regularly hosts scientific seminars and symposia; offers short courses in systems biology; provides visiting scholar and research support; and administers undergraduate, graduate and postdoctoral training programs.

Founded in 2001, the center has helped UCI garner more than $36 million in federal and private aid for research, education and outreach by teams of biologists, mathematicians, physical scientists and engineers. It's currently one of 13 National Centers for Systems Biology funded by the NIGMS.

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UCI garners $11.5 million in continued support of systems biology center

Browse > Home / News / Health program advances cancer, disease research

Julie Bird / Staff Writer

Faculty and students in the cancer biology program at the UNT Health Science Center in Fort Worth are making headway in cancer research.

The program, which started in 2007, offers both masters and doctoral degrees and allows students to research a variety of disciplines involved in cancer biology, such as drug resistance and cancer therapeutics.

The 10 students currently enrolled in the program have been involved in the research of breast cancer, pancreatic cancer, prostrate cancer and ovarian cancer.

Molecular biology and immunology professor Alakananda Basu, the programs graduate adviser, developed the program and currently supervises students research.

The cancer biology program has been highly successful in attracting talented students to join the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Basu said.

Students also participate in supervising the research of undergraduate and high school students. Savitha Sridharan is a Ph.D. student in the cancer biology program working in Basus lab. Research conducted in Basus lab has focused primarily on breast cancer but has also involved ovarian cancer.

Sridharan has been studying the resistance of breast cancer to chemotherapy, a generalized cancer treatment program, meaning it affects both cancerous and healthy cells in the body. This causes patients undergoing treatment to experience strong side effects, she said.

In order to minimize the side effects in cancer patients undergoing chemo experience, Sridharan has been researching targeted therapy, a cancer treatment method that is better at killing specific cells.

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Health program advances cancer, disease research