Just a few weeks ago, the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists: Dr. Randy Schekman, Dr. Thomas Südhof, and Dr. James Rothman. These three men were rewarded for their work on a curious organism we encounter in our everyday lives. This Nobel Prize-worthy creature is yeast. It might be surprising that studies on an organism we use to ferment beer … Continue reading Yeast: Beer, bread and neurodegeneration
Presented by Amy Rohlfing, Marina Santiago, and John Santa Maria Many of us have heard of “superbugs” from the media – deadly bacteria gone wild, that are no longer responsive to antibiotic treatments. Our lecture will begin with Amy’s description of what bacteria are, what antibiotics are, and what antibiotic resistance is. We will concentrate on the antibiotic penicillin as an example in this lecture. … Continue reading Antibiotic Resistance – Super Drugs for Superbugs
The basis for the origin of new species is thought to be well-known: new species emerge when two or more subpopulations of (what was formerly) the same species become sufficiently dissimilar in their genetic makeup that they can no longer breed with each other to produce fertile offspring. According to this narrative, changes in the genetic material of an individual organism, encoded in its DNA, … Continue reading Gut Microbes and the Origin of Species
Presented by Kevin Bonham Single-celled microorganisms are everywhere, and are intimately linked to many aspects of our life. Some can cause disease, others decompose our waste, and many even help us digest our food – there are 10 times more bacteria cells in your body than human cells! But in the last few decades, scientists have been learning how to tinker with these tiny life … Continue reading Living Factories: Engineering Cells to Manufacture Molecules
Photosynthesis vs. Chemosynthesis All living things need an energy source to power the chemical reactions that sustain life. Without such an energy source there could be no life. Most organisms on this planet get their energy, directly or indirectly, from the sun. Plants, algae, and some marine bacteria carry out photosynthesis, using the sun’s energy to produce sugars necessary for their survival. These organisms are … Continue reading The Alien Worlds of Hydrothermal Vents
— With increased air travel, the emergence of infectious diseases anywhere in the world is a global concern. A recent outbreak garnering attention is the emergence of a SARS-like virus in the United Kingdom. Many symptoms of this new virus, including cough, headache, and muscle ache, are shared with other more common illnesses. However the symptoms that inspired its name are less general: a fever of over 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit (38.0 degrees Celsius) and difficult, abnormal breathing. SARS is as an acronym for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome and is caused by a cell-infiltration machine: a virus. The precise source of the new virus and its mode of transmission are still unknown, but some believe that it may be transmitted from animals due to its similarity to a known bat virus. Viruses that affect animals can occasionally be transferred to humans that come in contact with an infected animal, and this transmission of a pathogen from an animal to a human is known as zoonosis. Some common zoonotic diseases are Rabies, Malaria, Yellow Fever, and West Nile. The original SARS virus is thought to have originated in civet cats and then transferred to humans. Continue reading SARS: Past and Present
— Have you ever considered that your body is its own ecosystem? Our bodies are host to countless microbial organisms, which live in and on every conceivable part of our body and outnumber our human cells ten to one. We depend on these microbes for a variety of reasons – their colonization of our skin keeps fungi and yeast from growing on us; in our gut they help digest some of the food we eat; and in our noses they even produce antibiotics to combat harmful microbes that we inhale. While we’ve known about the existence of bacteria since the 1670s, we know surprisingly little about most of them because of the difficulty in cultivating them in a laboratory. Recently, with the cost of DNA sequencing becoming ever more affordable, researchers have bypassed the old need to cultivate organisms in order to study them: they can now sequence the DNA from entire microbial communities (known as the “microbiome”) straight out of their natural habitats. Continue reading Harnessing our Body’s Microorganisms to Combat Human Disease
Fossil fuels are running out Since the mid nineteenth century, humans have progressively mastered the discovery, extraction, and combustion of fossil fuels. Fossil fuels are the remains of organisms, mostly thick growths of plants from more than 500 million years ago, that were buried under heavy layers of sediment and slowly heated and compressed, under conditions without oxygen, into carbon-rich deposits. These are now used … Continue reading Synthetic Biology for Fuels
Presented by Max Mankin, Lauren Hartle, and Kevin Chau Continue reading Clean Energy of the Future: Solar cells, Biofuels, and Fuel Cell Catalysts
Presented by Wesley Loo, Heather Olins, and Dipti Nayak Some scientists estimate that one third of the food we eat on a daily basis has been fermented. This seminar will explain what fermentation is, how it works, and why we should care about the uncountable numbers of tiny microbes that transform basic inputs into many of our favorite foods, from beer to chocolate to yogurt. … Continue reading Living Foods: The Microbiology of Food and Drink