 |
|
|||||||||||||
|
Welcome to the Biological Sciences! Join us in Celebrating Darwin's BicentennialDuring 2008–2009, Ohio State, in partnership with other higher education institutions and community organizations, is hosting a series of events celebrating science and highlighting the importance of evolutionary studies to better understanding our planet's history, human health, and the future of a biosphere confronted with unprecedented global climate change. For information on monthly events, please go to www.osu.edu/darwin/ Cells Get Two Chances to Get It Right
Michael Ibba Microbiologist Mike Ibba is senior author of a study that finds cells have two chances to fix the same mistake in their protein-making process—not just one—as had been thought. Proteins are essential to life, so avoiding mistakes during their production is critical in preventing a variety of harmful conditions that result when mutations cause damage or when cells die. READ MORE > One Carbon Storage Solution May Be As Close As Your Nearby Forest
Peter Curtis Peter Curtis, chair and professor, EEOB, has been working with other scientists on quantifying annual carbon storage capacity in upper Great Lakes forests. The researchers believe that forests help stabilize the climate and may be managed to offset greenhouse gas emissions. Quantifying the amount of carbon that forests can keep out of the atmosphere is useful in showing the value of managing forests to energy policymakers. READ MORE > Blocking Protein Leads to Fewer, Smaller Skin Cancer Tumors
Abhay Satoskar New research suggests that blocking the activity of a protein in the blood could offer powerful protection against some skin cancers. In the study, conduced by microbiologist Abhay Satoskar and his colleagues, normal mice and mice that had a genetically engineered protein deficiency were exposed to almost a year of ultraviolet light that mimics chronic sun exposure. The mice that lacked the protein developed fewer, smaller, less aggressive and less vascular skin cancer tumors than did the normal mice. READ MORE >. 
|
Technique Tricks Bacteria Into Generating Their Own Vaccine
Peng George Wang Scientists have found a way to manipulate bacteria to grow mutant sugar molecules on their cell surfaces that could be used against them as the key component in potent vaccines. Any resulting vaccines could be developed more quickly, easily and cheaply than many currently available. Most vaccines are created with polysaccharides—long strings of sugars found on the surface of bacterial cells. “We are showing for the first time that you don't have to use complicated chemical reactions to make the alteration to the polysaccharide,” said Peng George Wang, Ohio Eminent Scholar and professor of biochemistry and chemistry, senior author of the study. “All we need to do is ferment the bacteria, and then the polysaccharides that grow on the surface of the cell already incorporate the modification. Bacteria grow lots of polysaccharides—it’s similar to the way humans grow hair. But for a vaccine, you need to make the molecules more active, or energetic. In our method, we feed the bacteria these chemicals while they are growing, and these chemicals end up in the polysaccharides and that makes them more immunogenic. That’s the technique.” Wang said the approach is likely to be applicable to many different kinds of bacteria. But each type of pathogen must be tested individually. His lab will next be testing the method’s effectiveness on the pneumococcus bacteria with an exploratory $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The current vaccine is complex and expensive to produce. A less expensive way to develop the vaccine would increase its availability in the developing world, Wang said. To read more, go to http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/polysac.htm. |
484 West 12th Avenue If you have trouble accessing this page and need to request an alternative format, contact webmaster@biosci.ohio-state.edu. |
©2008, The Ohio State University College of Biological Sciences |