A 15-year-old AIDS problem was recently solved in just three weeks using a new online game site that allows users to contribute in decoding complex proteins. Fold.it users incredibly modeled the enzyme, Mason-Pfizer monkey virus (M-PMV) retroviral protease, in a manner that matched crystalline structures observed by scientists. Fold.it was conceived and designed by University of Washington researchers Seth Cooper,…
Hannah Landecker will be giving a keynote lecture entitled “Eating and Aging” at the workshop “The History of Biogerontology” hosted by the Center for Biology & Society at Arizona State University.
UCLA life scientists and colleagues have produced one of the first high-resolution genetic maps for African American populations. A genetic map reveals the precise locations across the genome where DNA from a person’s father and mother have been stitched together through a biological process called “recombination.” This process results in new genetic combinations that are then passed on to the…
ISG Director Eric Vilain has been featured in several news reports about his latest publication, “Epigenetic Predictor of Age“. He and other UCLA scientists Sven Bocklandt, Wen Lin, Mary Sehl, Francisco Sánchez, Janet Sinsheimer and Steve Horvath have successfully predicted human ages based upon simple saliva samples. Their predictions have been shown to be accurate to within five years –…
Whole-genome sequencing has enabled doctors to provide a pair of 14-year-old twins, Alexis and Noah Beery, with a simple, highly effective treatment for a rare condition called DRD, or dopa-responsive dystonia. The tale of their cure appears in this week’s issue of the journal Science Translational Medicine. NPR covers the story
ISG Postdoctoral Scholar Sharlene Santana has been accepted to participate in the Faculty Institutes for Reforming Science Teaching (FIRST) workshop for Postdoctoral Fellows, sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF). We all congratulate Dr. Santana on this wonderful news! Description FIRST IV is designed to reform undergraduate science education through professional development of postdocs who will design an inquiry-based, student-centered undergraduate…