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It was the Spring of 1994, and the National Hockey League playoffs were heading for a dramatic finish. The Eastern Conference semi-final featured the New York Rangers and the New Jersey Devils. The Devils were ahead three games to two in the seven-game series, and appeared to be destined for victory. The next game was in the Devils’ home arena, in front of a sold-out crowd of their rabid supporters.

The captain of the Rangers was the power forward Mark Messier, a threat to score or level an opponent whenever he was on the ice.… Read the rest “Why Junk Food makes us fat”

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One of the most tantalizing aspects of cancer biology is this: that the normal immune system often recognizes growing tumors, and even targets them for destruction, but then is silenced. This story is about how to wake it up and mobilize it to greater anti-tumor activity. It is a story that reaches back a hundred years, to the innovative work of an esteemed German biochemist. It was his conviction that he had identified a key feature of cancer that would provide an opening for its treatment.… Read the rest “Cancer Therapy: Old is New Again”

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(Vials of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine).

The coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, the cause of COVID-19, has quickly spread and caused devastation throughout the world. The medical science community has responded vigorously, with better treatments, recommended changes in social behavior, and, of particular importance, effective vaccination programs. Of the immunization protocols that have been developed, the novel mRNA-based vaccines have captured the scientific spotlight; they are the first mRNA vaccines to be licensed for human use.

A new way to immunize

In principle, the mechanism by which mRNA vaccines create immunity to SARS-CoV-2 is straightforward.… Read the rest “A BRIEF HISTORY OF MESSENGER RNA”

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This post falls into the category of “Molecular Gastronomy”. That term may be a bit silly, since everything about food is molecular. But when it comes to food there’s usually something to be said for taking a look under the hood. This will be about cooking a hamburger that’s better than what you get at your favourite fast food joint. So if you don’t eat meat, and don’t even want to read about eating meat, exit now.… Read the rest “The Science of Better Burgers”

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In April 2017 I published a post titled “Why is there so much talk about Epigenetics?”. I think I did a pretty decent job explaining what Epigenetics is, and why it is such a critically important part of biology. The gist is, that the regulated output of our genomic information depends on Epigenetics. This is achieved by specific chemical groups and protein along the chromosomes that control their expression into the proteins and other products needed for the life of a particular cell.… Read the rest “Why there is so much talk about Epigenetics”

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Dr. Brian Druker and Ms. LaDonna Lopossa, one of the earliest patients to benefit from Gleevec

Rob Schick is the Branch Manger of the Baird Wealth Management Group in Portland, Oregon. Most people would probably consider him lucky. For starters, Portland is one of the most desirable cities in the United States to live in. He and his wife have three grown children, one of whom works at the same company. In addition to his success in business, Rob Schick’s efforts on behalf of the Knight Cancer Institute, where he has helped raise millions of dollars for research, were nationally recognized in 2015 by a National Community Service Award from the Invest in Others Foundation.… Read the rest “Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: A Molecular Solution”

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It’s a good idea to look critically at any powerful new technology, and the creation of genetically-modified organisms, GMOs, is no exception. Like any new technology, it might have unanticipated, deleterious consequences that outweigh any benefit. Many criticisms of GMO have of course been raised, as a brief interrogation of the internet will show. But unfortunately, the criticisms of GMOs we hear most often are not the most important ones, and the ones that are most important are often not heard clearly.… Read the rest “GMO”

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Some people have a hard time keeping to the conventional clock. They strongly prefer to sleep and stay up late. Some people show the opposite behaviour; they wake up very early, but are ready for bed well before the late evening news. Although there may be exceptions (teenagers and jazz musicians come to mind), both kinds of behaviour are often related to a changed circadian rhythm. Late sleepers are referred to as “delayed phase” in their circadian rhythm, while those who are exceptionally early to bed – early to rise are said to have “Familial Advanced Sleep Phase Syndrome” (FASPS).… Read the rest “Circadian Rhythm II – Us”

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If, like most of us, you carry more weight than you wish you did, you may have wondered, from time to time, how much that extra poundage affects your health. This has been intensively studied over the past decades. Generally, studies compare health outcomes at different values of Body Mass Index (BMI), which is a useful way to describe body type. BMI is the ratio of weight to the square of height, in metric units.… Read the rest “You can eat fat, but don’t get fat”

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(Microscopic image of C. elegans with Nomarski DIC optics: by permission, Prof. Sander van den Heuvel, Developmental Biology, Universiteit Utrecht. About 200x lifesize.)

How long can we expect to live in the future? The longest recorded human life is that of a French woman, Jeanne Calment, who died aged 122 and a half, in 1997. The eighth oldest, and currently oldest living person, is an Italian woman named Emma Morano, who will be 117 on November 29, 2016.… Read the rest “Life Expectancy II: It’s in the Genes”