We’ve been having lovely sunny weather, and among other dreams of summer days and happiness, being outside has made me wonder about textures, and, specifically, why the warm summer light makes our stone campus look so soft. It’s curious to me … Continue reading
Interestingly, chemical binding on a plate in lab (think: LAL assay for endotoxins) is not the only way to determine substance concentration by fluorescence. A new assay has been developed using the largest plate well (and dilution!) in the world–the … Continue reading
I found this cool picture of a different chromophores and the various colors where they fluoresce! As we talked about in class, aromatic residues play a big part in fluorescence, and the different aromatic residues that form these chromophores … Continue reading
I’m not sure how many of you went to the concert on Friday night, but something happened there that made me think of biochemistry! Ok, it was actually AFTER the concert, which is a little better. I’m not sure how … Continue reading
Having just spent a good few weeks trying to describe biochemical concepts to the general public, I thought I would share this contest with you all: http://www.biochemistry.org/GetInvolved/ScienceCommunicationCompetition.aspx The Biochemical Society has a contest for undergrads to write a 1500 essay … Continue reading
The serotonin transporter protein (SERT) is a monoamine transporter protein that is responsible for terminating serotonin binding and then recycling the compound. Transport of serotonin into the cell is driven by higher concentration of Na+ outside the cell, which is … Continue reading
In general, anemia is a condition that occurs when a person’s blood lacks red blood cells or hemoglobin. The most common type of anemia is caused by iron deficiency, and can be treated with iron supplements. However, Thalassemia is a … Continue reading
In cell phys, we briefly talked about the biological importance of gap junctions, which are relatively small pores that connect adjacent cells. These junctions are important for biochemistry because it allows some small molecules and ions to passively diffuse from … Continue reading
In our presentation on Friday, we didn’t really have time to talk about the specifics of how dorsal ventral patterning occurs in Drosophila. The key protein in this pathway is a morphogen called Dorsal, which is responsible for activating the … Continue reading
This last week of presentations was not only extremely rewarding in the sense that it wrapped up nicely all the themes were were learning about this semester, but also because it was a great insight into the world of … Continue reading