Biology Research

[Neo]

Hey, is anyone conducting bio research? I myself am doing some research on prostate cancer -- trying to demonstrate FAS as a metabolic oncogene.

Please tell me about your projects and I think we can learn from one another.

Currently we are using transgenic mice in hopes to see a positive phenotype. FAS is mostly responsible for synthesizing phospholipids but also short fatty acids in general. The hypothesis is that in cancer, the proliferating cells require more phosopholipid synthesis for their membranes and therefore there is overexpression of fatty acid synthase (FAS) in prostate cancer.

 

[iansmith]

My master thesis title is "Acquisition of haemoglobin-bound iron by Histophilus somni"

Iron is an essential nutrient for virtually all living organism. Ferric and ferrous ions have great redox potential and ferrous (Fe2+) and ferric (Fe3+) is used by organisms to their benefit as a cofactor of many enzymes and as a component of the respiratory chain. The problem is that iron is not readily available at normal pH and in the present of oxygen. Iron is also toxic when it interacts with reative oxygen species. To counter these problems mammals have evolved serveral iron binding proteins. Therefore mammals tissues is poor in iron and cannot support the growth of any pathogens. Bacteria have solve this problem by evolving numerous strategies such as siderophores, transferrin receptors and haem and haemoglobin receptors.

My research is to look at haemoglobin receptor. I had to characterize the ability of H. somni to acquire iron from Hb. My project included sequencing of the potential genes, identifying the protein receponsible for the ability, doing growth curves and to look at the regulation of the gene(s).

My PhD project should be the "characterization of two components regulatory systems in Streptococcus mutants".

 

[Neo]

Very interesting. Do you know Richard Feynman? He won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on QED...the idea of antiparticles traveling backward in time.

Anyway, he wrote this:
“The internal machinery of life, the chemistry of the parts, is
something beautiful. And it turns out that all life is interconnected with all
other life. There is a part of chlorophyll, an important chemical in the
oxygen processes in plants, that has a kind of square pattern; it is a rather
pretty ring called a benzine ring. And far removed from the plants are
animals like ourselves, and in our oxygen containing systems, in the blood,
the hemoglobin, there are the same interesting and peculiar square rings.
There is iron in the center of them instead of magnesium, so they are not
green but red, but they are the same rings."

 

[Neo]

My master thesis title is "Acquisition of haemoglobin-bound iron by Histophilus somni"

My PhD project should be the "characterization of two components regulatory systems in Streptococcus mutants".

So you are aiming for a PhD in molecular biology? Where are you doing research right now? I'm currently an undergrad doing research at Harvard aiming for a MD. I want to ultimately become a physician-scientist.

 

[iansmith]

My undergrades and master was done at McGill University. My PhD will be done at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

 

[Neo]

Are you familiar with the NCI SPORE Investigators Workshop? I recently presented at the 12th Workshop at the Marriott Waterfront in Baltimore, MD.