Sunday, October 30, 2016

Dedicated to Susan Lindquist

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/30/science/susan-lindquist-scientist-who-made-genetic-discoveries-using-yeast-dies-at-67.html?_r=0 This is the obit of Susan Lindquist, a personal hero of mine, who did extremely important work on protein folding and diseases resulting from improper protein folding. She used yeast cells to stdu neurodegenerative diseases.





http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2016/10/30/new-study-further-proves-why-anti-vaccination-thinking-is-deadly/#5ef6918c5de2  This is an article from Forbes about a new measles study on SSPE (Subacute-Sclerosing Pan Encephalitis) which someone who has had measles can contract and is fatal 100% of the time. Normally it shows up in 1 out of 100,000 but it has increased in infants and children who contract measles before vaccination. This is another effect of the anti-vaxx movement.




http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47392/title/FDA-Approves-Clinical-Trials-to-Test-Cuban-Cancer-Vaccine/  The FDA is poised to begin clinical trials of the Cuban NSSLC lung cancer vaccine. It is to be combined with an FDA approved immunotherapy called Opdivo. The vaccine is called CIMAvax.




http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/47289/title/Immune-System-Maintains-Brain-Health/ This is an article from The Scientist about the immune system and the brain. Findings have shown that mice without T-cells don't perform cognitive functions as well as those with intact immune systems. This work was done in 2004 at the U of Virginia and has heralded a wave of research on the connections between immune cells and the brain.Michal Schwartz at the Weitzmann Institute has founded a company to test antibodies against T-cell checkpoints as therapy for Alzheimers Disease.




http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/11/video-how-cram-your-entire-genome-tiny-nucleus Video from Science magazine showing compaction of DNA into nucleus.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/11/watch-these-ticklish-rats-laugh-and-jump-joy  This is an article from Science magazine about research that shows that rats are ticklish. There is a tickle center in the mammalian brain that when stimulated causes rats to "chortle". This work was done at Humboldt University in Berlin and published in Science.
https://youtu.be/KnHtxknPVvg