Story about Oliver
Smithies, a UNC scientist who shared the 2007 Nobel Prize for
discovering how to make "knock-out" mice
|
2007: News of a new HIV
drug
Maraviroc
blocks a cell surface receptor called CCR5, which HIV can hijack to
enter cells.
|
The Inner Life of a Cell video
The
video and a short article about making it, and an extended version
with narration instead of the music.
|
 Cell cycle discoveries
Announcement
of 2001 Nobel Prize for discovering how the cell cycle is regulated |
| Beautiful
film of chromosome dynamics during mitosis, made around 1960 |
 Timelapse films of cytoskeletal dynamics
- Dynamic
instability of microtubules (in red) with the associated ER also
labeled
(green) (from the Salmon lab, at UNC)
- Nice
models of how kinesin walks along microtubules and how myosin walks
along
actin
- Films
of beads coated with actin-nucleating proteins whizzing around in cells
and cell extracts, and Listeria, Shigella and other bacteria in cells
and
cell extracts. - There are also some films here
by people who spent a little too much time in a lab. |
 Cell
communication discoveries
Nobel prizes
awarded for discoveries that
contribute to
understanding
how cells communicate:
1986: discovery
of growth-regulating signals (click on "Press Release")
1994: the
role of G proteins in signaling with an
illustrated explanation (5 pages)
1998: nitric
oxide as a signaling molecule
2000: signal
transduction in the nervous system |
 Calcium waves
Movies
showing calcium wave occurring upon fertilization of a fish
egg that
had been injected with the calcium photoprotein aequorin. Movie
of the calcium wave in a sea urchin egg.
|
Cystic Fibrosis
An interesting
Cystic Fibrosis article and further
information on the disease
|
| A
program
that can
predict the arrangement of transmembrane proteins based on sequence.
The program, described here,
uses rules deduced by biologists, and was then fine-tuned with an
artificial
intelligence algorithm, training the program using transmembrane
proteins
with known orientations. There is a similar program that can predict
where in a cell a protein will end up. Other predictions that
can be made based solely on sequence are here.
You can find sequences to try out here
-- type in the name of any protein you want (for example, to see an
example of a protein that resides in the ER lumen, enter "KDEL
containing";
the sequence is at the bottom of the
resulting page). |
| Announcement
of 1999 Nobel Prize awarded for determining how proteins get sorted to
compartments within cells |
 The
smallest known rotary motor, ATP synthase
An interesting
essay about proposing the chemiosmotic
theory, the theory that a proton gradient drives ATP synthase
Announcement
of 1997 Nobel Prize awarded in part for figuring out how ATP synthase
works
Film
from the article
that first demonstrated rotation in F1-ATPase (an enzyme that is
essentially
ATP synthase run in reverse), and an explanation
of the experiment. |
Protein
phosphorylation discoveries
The
1992 Nobel Prize announcement, for discoveries concerning
phosphorylation
and dephosphorylation of proteins as a means of regulating cellular
processes |
 Sickle Cell Anemia
Information
about sickle cell anemia and a
documentary history of the discovery of the first "molecular disease"
|
| How many genes have diseases associated with their
malfunction so far?
Click here
to see a continually-updated list of all disease genes
known (see total for phenotype description, molecular basis known), and
here
for another continually-updated count that uses different criteria. |
 World's
fastest
supercomputer
IBM's
supercomputer Blue Gene is
used to
understand protein folding.
List of fastest
supercomputers
|
 A cheap
microscope
A
computer
microscope, marketed as a toy for about $70, that's pretty good --
considering
the price. You can get an
earlier version that's pretty good too for about $30 through Ebay
auctions. Neither of these
are super high resolution, but
both will make timelapse films. Here's
what they require in your computer. |
 Henrietta Lacks
An article,
and a film
being made, about Henrietta Lacks,
the source of HeLa cells |
 Movies
of cells |
 Review of a popular
book on
cell biology, and the first
chapter |