Topics: Biology, Biotechnology, COVID-19, DNA, Existentialism, Research The coronavirus sports a luxurious sugar coat. “It’s striking,” thought Rommie Amaro, staring at her computer simulation of one of the trademark spike proteins of SARS-CoV-2, which stick out from the virus’s surface. It was swathed in sugar molecules, known as glycans. “When you see it with allContinue reading “The Anatomy of Delta…”
Category Archives: DNA
Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…
Topics: Biology, DNA, Evolution, Research In her laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, Miki Ebisuya has built a clock without cogs, springs, or numbers. This clock doesn’t tick. It is made of genes and proteins, and it keeps time in a layer of cells that Ebisuya’s team has grown in its lab. This biological clock is tiny,Continue reading “Elephants, Mice, and Clocks…”
VOC…
Topics: Biology, COVID-19, DNA, Research Variant Reported cases in US Number of Jurisdictions Reporting B.1.1.7 16,275 52 B.1.351 386 36 P.1 356 25 Source: CDC Download Accessible Data [XLS – 738 B] CDC is closely monitoring these variants of concern (VOC). These variants have mutations in the virus genome that alter the characteristics and cause theContinue reading “VOC…”
Women’s History Month, and CRISPR…
Topics: Biology, Chemistry, DNA, Nobel Prize, Research, Women in Science This year’s (2020) Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to two scientists who transformed an obscure bacterial immune mechanism, commonly called CRISPR, into a tool that can simply and cheaply edit the genomes of everything from wheat to mosquitoes to humans. The award went jointlyContinue reading “Women’s History Month, and CRISPR…”
Our Flexible Molecule…
Topics: Biology, DNA, Physics, Polymer Science, Research DNA molecules are not fixed objects – they are constantly getting broken up and glued back together to adopt new shapes. Davide Michieletto explains how this process can be harnessed to create a new generation of “topologically active” materials. Call me naïve, but until a few years ago I hadContinue reading “Our Flexible Molecule…”
