Gordon's Living Site

Draft of Biotech Course Promotional Powerpoint

I've cut a first draft of a promotional powerpoint for my biotech course this fall. Still some bugs in it, but I've got to quit before I slap this computer silly! Download Promotional PPT

Death Receptors

Death receptors sounds kind of Darth Vaderish doesn't it? There really is such a thing! Various cells in our bodies have receptors on the cell membrane that bind certain intercellular signal molecules and respond by dying. A few examples include breast tissue after nursing ends, the uterus following childbirth and the weblike membrane between the fingers of a developing fetus. One signal known as tumor necrosis factor (TNF) can bind to cancerous cells and induce apoptosis (the 2nd p is silent). This is a protective function so that most cancerous cells die without us ever knowing they were present. T lymphocytes (T cells) can bind to virally infected cells and induce apoptosis as well. I've attached an article on apoptosis in PDF format. Makes for interesting reading if you're into that sort of thing.Download Apoptosis

More progress on an Alzeimer's cure

Alzheimer's is a devastating disease that leads to thousands of deaths annually. I can't think of anything more destructive of one's dignity. It effects an increasingly greater percentage of people as they age. Recently, they've been finding that Alzheimer's may be related to the manufacture of a particular group of fatty acids in the brain. Using genetically engineered mice as a tool, they've shown that by downregulating the activity of the enzyme phospholipase A2 (PLA2), they reduce the signs of Alzeimer's. PLA2 is a diverse group of enzymes that catalyzes the synthesis of arachidonic acid and other eicosanoids including prostaglandins and leukotrienes. Many of these substances signal the inflammatory response. In some circles, it is believed that Alzeimer's and other brain injuries are the result of inflammation. Here's two interesting information resources for this: BBC News and Wikipedia.

Cool scifi-like photo

Well, they fired up the Large Hadron without causing a black hole for the earth to fall into. It worked for a few days until they had a problem with one of the internal transformers that caused it to melt down. Amazes me the thing worked the first time they fired it up. Here's a photo I found showing the inside of part of the collector. Looks cool enough for a scifi flick doesn't it?

2008 Visualization Challenge Winners

Every year, the National Science Foundation and the journal Science sponsor a scientific art competition. Some of the photography, posters, videos and interactive media are phenomenal. Artistic creations pale in comparison to what nature offers. I've posted a few of the winners here. For a slide show jump to: http://www.sciencemag.org/vis2008/.

"The Glass Forest" is by Mario De Stefano at The Second University of Naples.   The pictures is of one species of the diatom Licmophora ehrenbergii clinging to the marine invertebrate Eudendrium racemosum.

How about Squid Suckers: The Little Monsters That Feed the Beast.The creaters, Jessica d;. Schiffman and Caroline L. Schauer of Drexel University took what appear to be scanning electron micrographs of the suckers of a squid and took some liberty with the colorization.

Zoom into the Human Bloodstream. this illustration by Linda Nye and the Exploratorium Visualization Laboratory gives an unique perspective on the blood cell doesn't it? 

I had never heard of ion-abrasion scanning electron microscopy until now. That is the technique used by Donald Bliss and Sriram Subramaniam of the National Library of Medicine to create this image of a melanoma cell. The microscope sends beams of gallium ions across the surface of a cell to abrade away 20 nanometers at a time. Each instance is then scanned and uploaded to a computer to create a composite image.

A freelance artist, Colleen Champ used microscopic images created by Dennis Kunkel to create this image of 3 beetles enjoying tea at a butterfly wing table. Alice in Wonderland was the inspiration.

A Window Into Life is a super cool video. Here's a screenshot from the video. Created by Travis Vermilye and Kenneth Eward, it shows lots of images to emphasize some of the research being done at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. Here are some events and the timepoints when they occur:

mRNA synthesis	0 => 0:48
Post-transcriptional modification	0:51
Nuclear pore	1:13
RER and translation	1:24
Transport to the Golgi	1:51
Transport from Golgi to membrane	1:58 => 2:15
Membrane channel	2:18
Cilia	2:25
Neuron	2:29
Skeletal muscle cells	2:41
Neuromuscular junction	2:46
Actin/Myosin interaction	2:50 => 3:08
Early embryo	3:09
Implantation	3:16
Differentiation	3:21
Eye development	3:35
Just awesome	4:09

The Inner Life of the Cell

I ran across this Flash video a couple of years ago showing some of the things going on inside of a cell. I've probably watched it more than a hundred times because I find it absolutely fascinating. If I was to do it all over again (and still wasn't smart enough to do something more lucrative) I would've studied cell biology. The shear complexity of what goes on in a single cell is nearly beyond comprehension. I've been doing a lot of background reading and note taking for a book I'm writing on reproductive physiology and it just keeps getting more complex. So many peptides and proteins have multiple functions in so many different tissues. Some days, I feel like my head is a clapper inside of a bell going bong, bong, bong! I think God just pulled everything out of the cabinet, ran it through a blender and poured it into a mold and called it human. Here's some teaser photos of what's in the video:
The first photo is a centriole. It plays a role as an "anchor" for microtubules during cell division or as "anchors" for microtubules in cilia or a flagella.

The second image shows two proteins on the surface of adjacent cells. The interaction of these two proteins results in signals transduced from one cell to the other and causing a reaction.

The third image is my favorite. When you see it in the video, it looks like Garlfields pet dog Odie! This is Kinesin, a motor protein. It binds to one structure in the cell such as a vesicle and then "walks" it down a microtubule. Everything in the cell has a specific location and role, and it is critical that everything be in it's place. Kinesin plays an important role in this. Here's the link to the video: http://www.studiodaily.com/main/searchlist/6850.html and here's a link to a blog describing more of what's going on: http://sparkleberrysprings.com/innerlifeofcell.html

Nutrition Information

I have my 2nd semester Anatomy and Physiology students do an exercise every semester when I lecture on nutrition. When you only give one or two lectures, you're really limited in what knowledge you can share. So, I created an exercise to at least give them the tools they need to find nutrition information if they ever want to or need to. It's simple really, I just give them the website and ask them to turn in a one-page paper giving the nutrient values of their favorite food.

The best source I know is at the National Library of Agriculture. The simple website address is: www.nutrition.gov. From here, you can find dietary guidelines, look up nutrition information and lots of info on dietary supplements (most of which, I think, is a crop of BS).

Reality TV for real

We all know how bad reality sucks. Who really gives a frack which bimbo knocks the other one off the stupid log.

For REAL Reality TV go to www.or-live.com. Watch live as some poor schmuck goes under the knife and see if they survive. For Real!!

Loss of ice in the polar north

Here's a video from LiveScience on the effects of global warming on the polar ice cap: http://www.livescience.com/common/media/video.php?videoRef=080404-sea-ice.

New Orleans HAPS Dissection Pics

While at HAPS, we attended a human anatomy dissection lecture. They let us take pictures of several human organs at the end. I've posted all my pics here as well as a key. Hopefully, you can print out and read the key.