Dec 2010
We Remember Memorizing That
21/12/10 19:08 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Lawrence David and Eric Alm at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology developed a new phylogenomic approach called AnGST — for analyzer of gene and species trees — that they used to study the evolutionary histories of nearly 4,000 gene families and observed that genes first appearing during this Archaean expansion (between 3.33 and 2.85 billion years ago) are commonly involved in electron-transport and respiratory pathways, which was probably spurred on by the increases in toxic oxygen in the atmosphere. S. Pelech comments that such strategies can be extended towards the more ambitious goal of deducing the origins of life by focusing on the functional domains found in the proteins encoded by genes, which can then be used to elucidation of a "molecular" tree of life. Read More...
What's the Point?
17/12/10 23:19 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Hannah Waters wonder why science stories like the NASA arsenic bacterium sometimes get overhyped and "out of hand," and she concludes that researchers feel the need to be "purposeful" while doing their work as government grants with public money requires some ultimate benefit for the public. S. Pelech comments that the real value of basic research is well appreciated amongst those practitioners within the scientific community and it should be funded based solely on its own realistic merits. However, since the bulk of the grant funding for biochemistry and molecular biology research comes from government and charitable agencies that are mandated to improving human health, there is a clear obligation to work towards more practical outcomes with these particular funds. Read More...
Collins 'a Guy in a Hurry' for Translational Research
14/12/10 20:40 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, is eager to establish the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, despite the extra budgetary considerations, so that the agency can plug certain therapeutic development holes left open by pharma, such as for rare and neglected diseases. S. Pelech cautions that this proposal will most likely further exacerbate an already very difficult funding situation for basic researchers in the U.S. based on past experience of Canadian academic researchers with the creation of the Canadian Institutes for Health Research. Read More...
How Come My Gel Bands Aren't that Discrete?
08/12/10 17:21 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Bogger Jade Ed said the "same standards for good scientific practice" that research groups must adhere to when reporting results should also apply to life science vendors that are marketing products, only high-quality, accurate data should accompany the images in their ads. S. Pelech reports that when tested by Kinexus more than 80% of 3500 commercial antibodies from over 25 different vendors were determined to be either impotent (i.e. weak), non-specific ("dirty") or both. The wide dissemination of such poor reagents ultimately results in a lot of wasted time, money and effort, and is a great disservice to the scientific community. Read More...
Arsenic? Yes, Please!
04/12/10 15:26 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
NASA researchers reported that the bacterial strain GFAJ-1 of the Halomonadaceae family of Gammaproteobacteria, when grown for months in a lab mixture containing arsenic, could swap its phosphorous content out for the more poisonous element, and have proposed that arsenate may replace phosphate in DNA in early life and potentially alien life forms. S. Pelech provides a lengthy critique of these findings that challenges these assumptions and provides alternative explanations for the study's results. Read More...
Quantification Quandary
02/12/10 16:04 Filed in: GenomeWeb Daily Scan
Blogger Michael Nielsen noted that it is "very, very difficult for even the best scientists to accurately assess the value of scientific discoveries," but as a practical matter we are forced to make such evaluations in hiring scientists and judging grant applications on committees. S. Pelech points out several of the difficulties associated with measurement of scientific impact, and argues that it is time to overhaul the grant funding system to support a larger percentage of the biomedical researchers with, if need be, small grants. Read More...