Creativity exercise

Because of luciferase, aequorin, fluorescent proteins and their thousand derivative reporter genes, we are used to consider the light as the result of a transcriptional event. However, creativity sometimes implies to exchange the causes with consequences in order to re-invent the panel of available tools. So, what would occur with light-activated transcription? Andrew Hires, on its beautiful Brain Windows, offer us a journal club. Enjoy it.

090130_Journal_Club

View more presentations from AndrewHires.

just another luciferase-cell line followed in vivo

At JoVE is available another step-by-step protocol movie regarding Endothelial cells derived from stem cells for treatment of ischemia (hindlimb). The movie protocol includes:

• Differentiation of murine ESCs into endothelial cells;
• Construction of the Double Fusion Reporter Gene and Lentiviral Transduction;
• Transplantation of ESC-derived endothelial cells to the ischemic hindlimb;
• Bioluminescence imaging of ESC-derived endothelial cells in vivo.

From: Jove.com

banana molecular imaging is blue

Darwin was not aware of reporter genes. Sometimes you broke your head in engineering, designing, conceptualizing the perfect molecular assay to monitor a biological process. You ask yourself whether a genetically-based approach would be better than a probe-based approach with fluorophores or whatever. You are so trapped in your commitment to hack the original system with that smart molecular sensor, that you miss to consider simplicity.

from Flickr: (C) DEAN

Bernhard Kräutler and co-workers at the University of Innsbruck in Austria, discovered that because of chlorophyll breakdown, there is a blue luminescence in ripening bananas under UV light. No molecular approaches to estimate the degree of ripening, just observation (at UV light). Interestingly, not all animals see in the same spectral range, and a fruit color determines which species can see it ripening (birds and insects can see ultraviolet light, primates cannot). Next time I'm going to the grocery, I'll bring the transilluminator.

Simone Moser, Thomas Müller, Marc-Olivier Ebert, Steffen Jockusch, Nicholas J. Turro, Bernhard Kräutler (2008). Blue Luminescence of Ripening Bananas Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 47 (46), 8954-8957 DOI: 10.1002/anie.200803189

cAMP assay slideshared

As we learned in 2008, genetically encoded assays can be designed to monitor virtually each molecular mechanism inside a cell and, with appropriate transgenesis schemes, inside organisms. With the advent of 2.0 Age, communication on biosensor development is not confined to classic journal sites, but became digged also on social media like the youtube for molecular protocols. Recently, advances in assay development appeared even at "the best place to share powerpoint presentations". Look for example this overview of a luciferase-based cAMP Assay from Promega at Slideshare.

GloSensor cAMP Assay Overview

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: gpcr luciferase)

[guest post] Molecular Gastronomy – AKA Applied Biochemistry @ Home

Cooking is an art – you need to know instinctively the amount of spices and salt to add, the amount of time it takes to cook certain foods, and the kinds of temperatures you need for optimal taste. Or so I thought, until I heard about molecular gastronomy. This field engineers a meeting and establishes common ground between science and cooking, where one is applied to the other to enhance taste and presentation. For those of us who think that cooking is just a matter of adding a pinch of salt and using the right amount of water, it’s a wakeup call to open our eyes to a world beyond the kitchen, a world where biochemistry is applied in the home to create cuisine worthy of a king.
Take the simple act of boiling an egg – almost all of us who cook know that all you need is water, heat and an egg, and when you let the egg boil in a pan for 10 minutes, it’s likely to be done. But molecular gastronomy goes beyond the boiling process to see how the yolk can be perfectly centralized – it normally floats to the top since it contains fat as opposed to the albumen’s protein and water. Molecular gastronomist Hervé This is of the opinion that the boiling point of water, 112 degrees Fahrenheit, is way too high to boil an egg. When an egg is cooked, its proteins uncoil into strands that form meshes that trap water. When the temperature is higher than required, too many egg proteins bind and cause dense meshes, and this means that the egg feels dry and rubbery. So now you understand why those eggs seemed so insipid when you boiled them? According to This, An ideally cooked egg is one that’s boiled at 153 degrees Fahrenheit.
Molecular gastronomy is an emerging science; one that some people feel is frivolous because it is being used to enhance the way food is cooked. But the scientists who have devoted their lives to this cause throw off criticism like water off a duck’s back – they are in this field to study how the process of cooking changes the molecular structure of food. And if the study serves to improve taste and add to good health, who’s complaining?

This article is contributed by Sarah Scrafford, who regularly writes on the topic of Ultrasound Tech Programs. She invites your questions, comments and freelancing job inquiries at her email address: sarah.scrafford25@gmail.com.

Murphy's law in manuscript publication

Do you recognize the Murphy's law in the publish or perish pipeline? There are three symptoms you should be aware:

1) your original draft was initially rejected from your PI citing Samuel Johnson:

Your manuscript is both good and original; but the part that is good is not original, and the part that is original is not good.

2) your second proof was rejected from the [Science|Nature|Cell] editorial board

Your manuscript is of insufficient immediate interest to our broader readership to justify its publication.

3) the third proof was rejected from that anonymous reviewer of the Journal of Molecular Proctology:

The results are chancy and they lack any theoretical interest