Immunizations For Fish
Most of us are pretty familiar with the concept of immunizations to help safeguard us against disease by giving our bodies a heads up, jump starting our immune system so it will know how to respond when it encounters disease. But now, researchers have successfully immunized fish against the Ich, the white spot disease.
The LA Times reported on the new research, which was presented recently at the American Chemical Society annual meeting. Ich kills 50-100% of fish that it infects, by affecting their breathing and making them lethargic. The disease is characterized by white patches that appear on a fish’s body. It is common in farm fish that are grown in close quarters.
The researchers (from the US Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service) developed two forms of the vaccine. First, the vaccine was created in the form of a shot, like a typical vaccine administered to a person, but the approach proved difficult to administer to hundreds of small fish. The researchers then developed a bath containing the vaccine that showed a 60% success rate at protecting the fish from Ich.
The researchers still have to overcome the obstacle of how to grow enough of the parasite for the demand (there is a huge volume of fish farms, each containing hundreds to thousands of fish). But for now, the mere fact that researchers have found a way to adapt a human technology for a lesser organism is particularly interesting.
Looks Like A Fish, But Its An Octopus
I found this interesting article in the BBC today about an octopus in Borneo that exhibits mimicry of certain fish. Researchers used a genetic analysis to study the behavior of the Indonesian Mimic Octopus (I know clever name, right?) What they found was that the octopus evolved the ability to mimic toxic fish, sea snakes, and other predators to help ward off its own.
Probably the most well known example of mimicry is in butterflies that exhibit the coloring or markings of other toxic species to keep themselves from being eaten by birds. Of course, I have an article about this: Genetic Hotspots Solve Mimicry Mystery from BioTechniques.
Is That A Tiger In Your Purse, Or Are You Just Scamming Security?
You’ve got all your liquids and gels in 3oz. bottles sealed in a clear plastic bag, you’ve stowed all your electronics in the same place for easy scanning, you’ve removed your laptop from its case, and taken off your shoes, now all thats left is the small issue of the tiger cub in your bag, and you’ll be ready for take off.
The BBC recently reported on a woman in Bangkok who tried to board a plane with a tranquilized tiger cub in her checked bag. She placed the cub in among stuffed tiger toys to try to hide it. Needless to say the live tiger cub showed up when the bag was scanned, and the woman was arrested for attempted animal smuggling. She was trying to take it to Iran.
Really? It astounds me how brazen some criminals are. Its a sad state of affairs when criminals think so little of the authorities that they attempt such things. I have to think that this woman can’t be the first to ever smuggle an animal in her luggage. What I’d like to know is what can be done about it?
I know I keep relating current issues to past articles I’ve written, but this incident reminded me of an article from earlier this year on using genetics to crack down on chimpanzee trafficking in Africa. Essentially, the researchers genetically map the animals rescued from poachers to determine their family lines, and definitively say what regions that poachers are getting the animals from, to give the authorities a better idea of where to increase their presence.
Yale Lab Heist Story Continues
Over the summer I reported on a story out of Yale University about a researcher who was accused of stealing laboratory equipment as part of his divorce proceedings. The New Haven Register originally reported the story, and it was slanted at best because they only based their story on public record (police reports, the divorce proceedings) and the opinion of the researcher’s ex-wife.
I did a follow up to the Register story, and got the researcher to comment easily. He replied to my email right away and thanked me for the opportunity to get his side of the story. According to him, no other news source had ever contacted him directly for an interview. So I find the Register and The Yale Daily’s News’ claims that he didn’t return repeated requests for an interview sort of suspect. I think they tried to contact him… but his Yale contacts are long defunct. His gmail is available on the web very easily if you search his name.
But anyway, the Yale Daily News did a follow up on the story based on the Register and they do mention BioTechniques and a quote that the researcher gave me, so that is sort of cool.
The Yale Daily News:
http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/08/27/yale-scientist-suspected-stealing-lab-equipment/
The New Haven Register:
http://www.nhregister.com/articles/2010/06/29/news/new_haven/aa1_tue_nelars062910.txt
My BioTechniques Story:
http://www.biotechniques.com/news/22K-worth-of-lab-equipment-seized-from-former-Yale-researchers-home/biotechniques-299798.html?autnID=288841
Wheat Genome Adds to Available Draft Sequences
Scientists have released the draft sequence of the wheat genome. There are new draft sequences being released all the time as genome sequencing capabilities have increased. While they are all important because they increase researchers’ overall knowledge of the organisms that have been sequenced and how all organisms interact and are interrelated, some sequences have a far greater impact than others.
I’ve written about a few genome sequences that were released in the last year for BioTechniques, but I thought the wheat genome was worth mentioning because of the obvious impact it will have on the food industry. Whenever a staple crop is sequenced it adds to researchers abilities to tackle issues like world hunger by making super foods, but that is an issue which is controversial in and of itself. The more we learn, the more we can do. But just because we can make genetically modified foods that thrive in unconventional climates, should we?
Also just a note about why it is called a draft sequence and not just the sequence: every genome that is sequenced starts as a draft, when researchers sequence a genome there are parts of it that they either don’t understand the function of, or that they haven’t been able to unravel. So, the working genome that researchers use is a draft, it is what researchers will use compare their own sequencing work with that organism, to check for accuracy. But it is just a draft, drafts can be amended later if need be. Essentially, it goes back to the main nature of scientific exploration: researchers are constantly building on their knowledge base, which is why most scientific findings are left open to be improved upon as researchers learn even more.
Draft sequences I’ve reported on in the last year:
Horse Genome
Corn Genome
Hydra Genome
HIV Genome
King Tut’s Genome
Top Ten Invasive Species
My mom (who gets all of her news from AOL, we’ll forgive her though) sent me this article about the top ten invasive species in the United States. The species were ranked based on the financial impact they have on the United States each year, but I think invasive species are interesting because of the environmental questions they raise.
What constitutes a truly natural environment?
Are all invasive species bad?
How do ecosystems interplay with each other?
How do humans affect wildlife through other organisms?
What kind of legacy has the presence of humans left the world?
Things to think about, if you like that sort of thing.
The Battle Over Stem Cells
Stem cells have always been a controversial issue, but for a while it seemed that the Obama administration had brought some kind of direction to the issue by allowing federal funding of research based on embryonic stem cells. But recently, stem cells have been back in the news because a US district court filed suit to block the Obama administration’s attempts to provide more funding for embryonic stem cell research.
Reporting on the issue by the BBC has been informative. I think giving the hard facts of the story in a way that doesn’t entertain the emotional components and personally held beliefs (on either side) is really necessary. I think their reporting on the issue does just that.
One component of the story that I do want to comment on is the argument that limiting federal funding for embryonic stem cell research won’t be detrimental to the research. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is the largest funding organization in the United States. The amount of funding that private institutes can provide is completely dwarfed by the NIH.
Restricting funding on embryonic stem cell research in the United States will be detrimental to our progress, that is why under the Bush administration we lost researchers to other countries in Europe and Asia where that research is supported. The research that took place during those years is indicative of what we’ll accomplish under a new ban. Personally, I am glad the White House is fighting this. When religious beliefs start to take a role in shaping policy it can become incredibly dicey.
I do think that adult stem cell research has value, and research into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells has made tremendous progress, but researchers do still need to study pluripotency and iPS cells aren’t an adequate model yet. I don’t think you can replace one avenue of research with another, they just aren’t the same no matter how much we might wish that they were because it would eliminate the ethical issues.
Here are a few highlights of articles that I wrote for BioTechniques recently on Stem Cell research:
Vatican to support international intestinal stem cell consortium
Induced pluripotent stem cells create first living animal
The shape of things to come: helping stem cells shape their future
iPS cells still fall short of embryonic capabilities
Are iPS cells a thing of the past?
Wisconsin & Writing
Today I ran a bunch of errands around the UW Campus. I got my student ID, got my bus pass, set up a bank account, got groceries, found my classes etc. According to my Mom my ID picture makes me look homeless. I guess its a winner. Today was my family’s last full day here, they leave for the airport tomorrow at 4pm. I’m really glad they came out here to help me get settled but I think it will be good for me to just wander around a little by myself to get my bearings.
Tomorrow my article on genome wide association studies and technologies for finding rare variants is due for BioTechniques. I’m still waiting on one last interview, so fingers crossed that will come through tomorrow morning. Otherwise, I’m not sure what I’ll do, quote from papers probably. I did get four other interviews so its not terrible, but they asked for five so I’d really like to deliver. Its not my best work, but given that I only had two weeks, and that I moved and have been with my family non-stop for one week of that I’m proud of myself for the progress I’ve made.
In other science writing news, Harvard recently found Marc Hauser guilty of misconduct. I mentioned in an earlier post that the New York Times had reported on the alleged misconduct. I thought their reporting on the case was relatively balanced, so I figured it was worth mentioning.
Junk DNA & A Wisconsin Update
I saw this article in the New York Times today, and it got me thinking about how misleading the concept of “junk DNA” is for the general public. It isn’t really a good descriptive term because junk signifies that the DNA isn’t needed, when really researchers just don’t yet know what that DNA does. It isn’t part of the exome (part of the genome that codes for proteins – which make all the substances of your body) but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t have a role. I think its a term that people should avoid using because I think it causes more confusion than it does good.
In other news, today was my first full day in Wisconsin. I saw my apartment and met my roommate Francis, and she seems really awesome so that was exciting. I spent all day waiting for my boxes to come from UPS (which arrived at 6:45pm and ripped open, of course) but they finally came so that made me happy. Tomorrow we’ll try to actually set up the apartment since my stuff is literally just dumped out all over the place. There is a definite lack of storage so we’ll have to try to fix that, but overall the apartment is really nice and in a great location.
Hello, Wisconsin
Today I flew with my family to Wisconsin where I’ll be starting grad school in a little over a week. The flight was less than stellar, but we made it ok, and the airlines even managed to get all my luggage here in one piece. We didn’t get a chance to do much, but we did drive around Madison a little bit to show my brother the city (he’s never been here but I visited with my parents in March).
Tomorrow we’ll actually see about setting up my apartment, which is in a really awesome location. Its only a block from the Journalism/Communications department. I’m thinking that will be really nice during the Wisconsin Winter. Tomorrow I also get to meet my new roommate, the apartment building matched us up so we’ve never met. She moved into the apartment on Sunday when the lease started, so I’m excited to get to the apartment and start settling in myself.