Tag: Biology

Art Gallery, Images

Branched synaptic arbor in fillet

The Drosophila neuromuscular junction is a beautiful and yet powerful model synapse for in vivo studies of development, physiology, cell biology and plasticity. This illustration by Saskia Van Vactor shows a field of ventral longitudinal body wall muscles in red, as if stained with phalloidin to highlight filamentous actin, the main protein building block of muscle. Against this background, several branches of intersegmental nerve extend … Continue reading Branched synaptic arbor in fillet

Leave a comment
Art Gallery, Images

The Brain is a Series of Tubes

The brain is made of up billions of neurons and even more connections between neurons. We can get an idea of how neurons are connected across the human brain using a type of brain scan called diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI). How does dMRI work? It actually measures the direction that water moves throughout the brain. Sometimes, water can move in all directions equally easily – like … Continue reading The Brain is a Series of Tubes

1 Comment
Art Gallery, Images

Retinal Corona

Image contributed by Yu Wang, a third year graduate student at Harvard Medical School. Glial cells support the proper function of neuronal cell types and are also responsible for cleaning up cell debris such as leftover neurotransmitter molecules (what neurons use to communicate with each other). Certain types of glia, called microglia, function as the first line of defense in immune-privileged places such as the … Continue reading Retinal Corona

Leave a comment
Blog

Streamlined 473-Gene Bacteria May Lead to Discoveries, Biochemical Production

Scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute have created a fast-growing bacterial cell with a nearly-minimal number of genes necessary for survival – just 473 in total. These genes were entirely synthesized – not transplanted from a grown organism – and the creation of such a cell may allow big steps forward in gene function identification and efficient mass-production of biological molecules. Continue reading Streamlined 473-Gene Bacteria May Lead to Discoveries, Biochemical Production

Leave a comment
Seminars

Skin Deep: Illuminating our body’s immune defenses

Presented by Vinidhra Mani The skin is our first barrier to entry of pathogens. The tightly regulated immune system in our skin provides us with a robust arsenal to combat potential invaders, yet also has checkpoints to ensure that the battlefields don’t harm our own bodies in return. How does immunity in the skin protect us? How can we bolster our barrier defenses through vaccination … Continue reading Skin Deep: Illuminating our body’s immune defenses

Leave a comment
Art Gallery, Images, Videos

Tubular

These images show cross sections of the different compartments of the developing gut in a chick embryo: esophagus (top), small intestine (middle), and large intestine (bottom), at days 6, 8, 10, and 14 (left to right). As the chick develops, the shape of the gut changes from a simple tube to a more complex form with specific surface folding patterns. The way the surface is … Continue reading Tubular

1 Comment
Blog

Brain tricks to make food taste sweeter: How to transform taste perception and why it matters

by Jessleen K. Kanwal figures by Brad Wierbowski Imagine for a moment that you are unable to taste or smell anything.  For many patients undergoing chemotherapy, this is an everyday reality of their daily fight against cancer.  Chemotherapy kills fast-growing cells in the body in an effort to eradicate tumors.  Taste receptor cells located on our tongue are also fast-growing, regenerating every 2 weeks.  Thus, … Continue reading Brain tricks to make food taste sweeter: How to transform taste perception and why it matters

12 Comments
Art Gallery, Images, Videos

Cytoskeleton Four Ways

This Bovine Pulmonary Artery Endothelial (BPAE) cell is stained to show two components of the cytoskeleton – microtubules in green, and actin filaments in red (in the top right panel). The cell is a crowded place, so one of the functions of the cytoskeleton is to act as a highway along which cellular components can be moved to the proper part of the cell. This … Continue reading Cytoskeleton Four Ways

Leave a comment
Blog

Reproduce or Bust?!: Bringing Reproducibility Back to Center Stage

by Steph Guerra figures by Krissy Lyon Reproducibility in science is not very sexy. Because our scientific culture generally rewards innovation over cautiousness, replicating a study conducted by others will not get a researcher a publication in a high-end journal, a splashy headline in a newspaper, or a large funding grant from the government. In fact, only an estimated 0.15% of all published results are … Continue reading Reproduce or Bust?!: Bringing Reproducibility Back to Center Stage

1 Comment
Blog

Identifying a Role for Genetics in Obesity

Understanding the genetic contribution to obesity has been difficult. Your DNA contains billions of positions that together specify the instructions your body follows, such as when to burn more energy, when to store energy as fat, and the size of your appetite. Recent attempts to understand what regions of DNA encode instructions about fat storage and appetite control have pointed to one region, the FTO … Continue reading Identifying a Role for Genetics in Obesity

Leave a comment