Seriously…

...were I not a stupid humanoid, I could be such a hawt car.

Ka-chow! ;)

M xxx

: 26 Oct 2006 23:15 |  Tags: Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read Wtf |  Comments (24) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

IQ Tests

…Are teh suck.

If I'm so smart why am I headed straight for the jaws of disaster? Eh? Stoopid test…

She says while singing loudly, sucking on a candy-cane and msn-ing carefully as she waits for her nailvarnish to dry.

Oh and revision. she does a bit of that in the gaps inbetween.

Bring it on.

M xxx

: 18 Apr 2006 16:56 |  Tags: Grrrr Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

About as useful as a…

Follow-up to Every time you miss a post… from Something Random

It's happening again. That urge to post and post and post again. Not only out of boredom and procrastination but through the sheer compulsion to underline every day of the week. I can't help it. I've made it over a week now with every day filled and I think I'm addicted. Again. Goddamn.

So in anticipation of the future piss-poor posts brought about by this sad condition I have developed this rather amazing visual warning cue. Its appearance indicates that a particular post is contributing about as much to the furthering of mankind as a chocolate teapot, and need not be read unless you seriously have nothing to do with your life or happen to be recovering from a full frontal lobotomy. Thus hopefully aiding blog browsing.

And it still keeps everything on a tea theme. (Well, excluding the dead bunnies i guess)

That is all. As revision demands my sorry ass back in the kitchen.

M xxx

_{lines... ooooh the linessss...}

: 17 Apr 2006 13:42 |  Tags: Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Seeking a second opinion

Is it just me…

… or does the guy below look like he's just finished slaughtering someone\thing before going merrily on his way and frying some potatoes to celebrate. Such a creepy smile, he's got a homicidal glint in his eyes I swear. Oh the blood, so much blood…

Mmmmmmmmm soylent potato…

M xxx

: 09 Apr 2006 21:30 |  Tags: Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (6) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Strangely comforting

Putting your appointed path ahead of any inner conflicts, you make your own rules for the benefit of all.

If my life or death I can protect you, I will.

Awwww, yay me, I have a beard, but unfortunately according to the stats I am awfully common…

M xxx

: 13 Dec 2005 19:15 |  Tags: Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (7) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Developmental Biology Tutorial No. 2 – The Making of a Vertebrate Limb.

"How is the vertebrate limb patterned?"

WARNING
If you do not wish to read about vertebrate limb development it is advised you scroll straight down to the kittens strategically placed at the bottom of the page to help you overcome the trauma of momentarily being forced to think about work.

Presentation 1

General Introduction

• Gilbert, 6^th Ed, chapter 16 (and pages 65-66 of 6^th edition but not the 7^th) Yes, this is a book and i have no links to it. It requires the use of methods other than clicking... unfortunately.


• Pattern formation: Old models out on a limb. ah, scientific humour at its best "out on a limb" indeed. Laugh? I almost died :|


• Patterning Systems—From One End of the Limb to the Other.


• The contribution of chicken embryology to the understanding of vertebrate limb development.

Presentation 2

The formation of the limb bud and the identity of the fore and hind limbs

• Vertebrate limb development - the early stages in chick and mouse.


• Roles for FGF8 in the Induction, Initiation, and Maintenance of Chick Limb Development.


• Fgf10 is essential for limb and lung formation.


• WNT Signals Control FGF-Dependent Limb Initiation and AER Induction in the Chick Embryo.


• The T-box genes Tbx4 and Tbx5 regulate limb outgrowth and identity.


• Tbx5 is required for forelimb bud formation and continued outgrowth.


• Tbx5 and Tbx4 trigger limb initiation through activation of the Wnt/Fgf signaling cascade.

(For background interest this is one of the many papers on the role of Tbx5 in genetic disease. It causes Holt-Oram syndrome: A dominantly inherited malformation syndrome with short stature, upper limb anomaly, minor craniofacial anomalies, and absence of TBX5 mutations: Report of a Thai family )

Presentation 3

Induction of the apical ectodermal ridge and limb outgrowth

Allocation to the AER

• Radical fringe positions the apical ectodermal ridge at the dorsoventral boundary of the vertebrate limb.

AER induction

• Distinct WNT Pathways Regulating AER Formation and Dorsoventral Polarity in the Chick Limb Bud.

D/V patterning of the outgrowth

• Dorsalizing signal Wnt-7a required for normal polarity of D-V and A-P axes of mouse limb. (I hope this isn't vital because I can't access more than the abstract. Anyone who can leave a link in the comments please, thanks)


• Induction of the LIM homeobox gene Lmx1 by WNT6a establishes dorsoventral pattern in the vertebrate limb.

Presentation 4

AER function, the roles of FGF's in limb outgrowth

• FGF-4 replaces the apical ectodermal ridge and directs outgrowth and patterning of the limb.


• A role for FGF-8 in the initiation and maintenance of vertebrate limb bud outgrowth.


• Fibroblast growth factor receptor 2 mediated reciprocal regulation loop between FGF8 and FGF10 is essential for limb induction.


• Fgf8 is required for outgrowth and patterning of the limbs.

Presentation 5

Development of the antero- posterior axis

• Sonic hedgehog mediates the polarizing activity of the ZPA.


• Hoxb-8 has a role in establishing early anterior-posterior polarity in chick forelimb but not hindlimb.


• Shh and Gli3 are dispensable for limb skeleton formation but regulate digit number and identity.


• Signal relay by BMP antagonism controls the SHH/FGF4 feedback loop in vertebrate limb buds.


• Gremlin is the BMP antagonist required for maintenance of Shh and Fgf signals during limb patterning.

——————

In the interest of actually making research that bit more interesting i have developed "ScopusWhacking". Woo and yay. Aim for the search to return only one research article when provided with just one surname and one other word. Usually works 1/3 of the time. At least it does in bio. God i'm bored…

——————

As promised…

Caption anybody? No prizes well, no prizes that involve the consumption of vinegar shots

M xxx

: 29 Oct 2005 17:26 |  Tags: Biochemistry Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (5) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

If Only I Liked Yellow.

Everyone elses is more green...
Life:	5
Mind:	4.1
Body:	6.6
Spirit:	5
Friends/Family:	4.1
Love:	0
Finance:	4.5
Propagate this Meme!

: 29 Oct 2005 10:17 |  Tags: Grrrr Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Development Essay 1 Resources

links to all the research papers

^{(you may need your athens account details to access them)}

Talk 1
Introduction.

Talk 2
Setting up the initial asymmetries in the embryo.

1. Early patterning of the C. elegans embryo.


2. Axis determination in _C. elegans: initiating and transducing polarity.


3. Heads or tails: Cell polarity and axis formation in the early _Caenorhabditis elegans embryo.


4. Polarization of the C. elegans zygote proceeds via distinct establishment and maintainance phases. (for pictures of localisation)

Talk 3
Skn-1 and EMS development.

1. Skn-1 a maternally expressed gene required to specify the fate of ventral blastomeres in the early _C. elegans embryos.


2. Formation of a monomeric DNA binding domain by Skn-1 bZIP and homeodomain elements.


3. The maternal gene skn-1 encodes a protein that is distributed unequally in early _C. elegans embryos.

Talk 4
Germline development pie-1 and mex-1 genes; transcriptional silencing.

1. The pie-1 and mex-1 genes and maternal control of blastomere identity in early _C. elegans embryos.


2. The PIE-1 protein and germline specification in C. elegans embryos.


3. Repression of gene expression in the embryonic germ lineage of C. elegans.


4. The C. elegans MEX-1 protein is present in germline blastomeres and is a P granule component. (only need abstract)


5. Launching the germline in Caenorhabditis elegans: regulation of gene expression in early germ cells.


6. PIE-1 is a bifunctional protein that regilates maternal and zygotic gene expression in the embryonic germ line of Caenorhabditis elegans.


7. Germ plasm: protein degradation in the soma.

Talk 5
The C. elegans maternal Notch system.

1. The maternal genes apx-1 and glp-1 and establishement of dorsal-ventral polarity in the early _C. elegans embryo.


2. Translational control of maternal glp-1 mRNA establishes asymmetry in the _C. elegans embryo.


3. Translational control of maternal glp-1 mRNA by POS-1 and its interacting protein SPN-4 in Caenorhabditis elegans.


4. An inductive interaction in 4-cell stage embryos involves APX-1 expression in the signalling cell


5. Time dependant responses to glp-1 mediated inductions in early C. elegans embryos.

.

It's taken me just over 2 (goddamn) hours to find these links.

They make me hurt all over.

I think my eyes may be bleeding
I may never smile again…

…

oooh a rabbit!!

M xxx

: 24 Oct 2005 15:18 |  Tags: Biochemistry Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (10) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Stem cells

Writing about web page http://forums.warwick.ac.uk/wf/browse/thread.jsp?fid=1299&tid=37226

WARNING: this is Biochemistry related. You have permission to run away screaming from your monitor.

ok useful sites i found:

• Activin A Maintains Pluripotency of Human Embryonic Stem Cells in the Absence of Feeder Layers
• Maintenance of Pluripotency in Human Embryonic Stem Cells Is STAT3 Independent
• In Vitro Maintenance of Highly Purified, Transplantable Hematopoietic Stem Cells
• Control of hematopoietic differentiation: Lack of specificity in signaling by cytokine receptors
• cDNA cloning of FRIL, a lectin from Dolichos lablab, that preserves hematopoietic progenitors in suspension culture
• Preserving the genetic integrity of human embryonic stem

These sites should all refer to stem cell maintainance in vitro. maybe. havn't read them in full yet

—————————

A bit on maintaining stem cells.

When used in vitro for research, it is vital that the stem cells used retain their "stemness" or "pluripotency". Without the correct stimulation the cells quicky differentiate into somatic cells, losing their "repopulating capacity"⁽¹⁾. Firstly, the normal procedure for maintaining the culture of cells is as a suspension. The cells must be kept disaggregated; This can be done manually or by nonenzymatic "CDB"(cell dissociation buffer) or enzymatic "CT"(collagenase/trypsin) cell passaging⁽²⁾. However the CT and CDB methods were found to promote the development of abnormal karyotypes in the cultured stem cells (such as trisomy - particularly of chr17 and 20)

The conclusions were that up to 15 passages with CDB/CT could be used and still mantain a high fidelity to the normal stem cell karyotype⁽²⁾.

The "cell passaging" seems to refer to the replacement to the medium in which the cells are suspended. Does anyone have a more precise definition?

"hESC"(human embryonic stem cell) cultures are generally grown in conjunction with feeder cells. These cells seem to secrete soluble factors that maintain the stem cells in their undifferentiated state – however the particular factors in question remain unidentified. "mESC"(mouse embryonic stem cells)

1. cDNA cloning of FRIL, a lectin from Dolichos lablab, that preserves hematopoietic progenitors in suspension culture

2. Activin A Maintains Pluripotency of Human Embryonic Stem Cells in the Absence of Feeder Layers

Maintenance of Pluripotency in Human Embryonic Stem Cells Is STAT3 Independent

————————-

these are the speakers for the International symposium on Germ Cells, Epigenetics and Embryonic Stem Cells. I've included mention of where they seem to be focused mostly on one specific area. (The links are just google scholar links to any of their stem cell papers)

• George Daley (Boston, USA)
  hematopoietic SCs
• Anne Ferguson-Smith (Cambridge, UK)
• Woo Suk Hwang (Seoul, Korea)
  cloned embryos
• Thomas Jenuwein (Vienna, Austria)
  chromosome related features of SCs
• Minoru Ko (Bethesda, USA)
  gene expression in SCs
• Ihor Lemischka (Princeton, USA)
• En Li (Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA)
  methylation patterns in stem cells
• Anne McLaren (Cambridge, UK)
  primordial germ cells
• Martin Pera (Melbourne, Australia)
  SC differentiation
• Jean-Paul Renard (Paris, France)
  cloning and role of chromatin
• Pierre Savatier (Lyon, France)
  growth factors and signalling
• Gerald Schatten (Pittsburgh, USA)
• Hans Schoeler (Muenster, Germany)
• Austin Smith (Edinburgh, UK)
  factors for stem cell differentiation
• Azim Surani (Cambridge, UK)
  epigenesis
• Jonathan Tilly (Boston, USA)
  SCs and mammalian oocytes
• Xiangzhong Yang (Storrs, Connecticut, USA)
  SCs and cloning bovine embryos
• Guang-Quan Zhao (Dallas, USA)

Oh and a kitten. But why kittens and stem cells?

That's right.
Because I say so. I love that answer.

*sigh* i know how it feels…

EDIT: Biochemisty is damaging to your mental health. I just found a malformed gummibear in my hairibo and caught myself thinking "I wonder what genetic defect it has? Looks like the morphogen gradient-induced cell differentiation went wrong..." AAaaarrrgggh! development overload. :s

M xxx

: 07 Oct 2005 02:18 |  Tags: Biochemistry Stuff No-One Else Will Ever Be Bored Enough To Read |  Comments (4) |  Close comments |  Report a problem