Searching for a Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes

Searching for a Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes

A blue circle is the international symbol for diabetes Diabetes is a condition in which the pancreas becomes unable to regulate the amount of the hormone insulin in the bloodstream. Without insulin, the body is unable to control the amount of glucose in the body (i.e....
Prions and Memory in Drosophila

Prions and Memory in Drosophila

Prions are proteins that can fold in multiple, structurally distinct ways. These folds can be transferred to other prions, and this propagation results in diseases that act like bacterial infections. In addition to scrapie and CJD (a human disease that causes brain...
Using Protein Purifiers in Chromatography Refigerators

Using Protein Purifiers in Chromatography Refigerators

Since the 1960’s, High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) has been used to separate, identify, and quantify components in mixtures. The mixture to be analyzed is pushed through a column containing a packing material (the stationary phase, usually silica or...
Selfish DNA in C. elegans

Selfish DNA in C. elegans

Genes are the driver for all developmental functions. These strips of DNA code for everything required for biological life to function. The human genome totals over 20,000 protein-coding genes, and there are estimated to be over 5 million protein-coding genes across...
Can Plants “Hear” Dangerous Vibrations?

Can Plants “Hear” Dangerous Vibrations?

Studying the effects that the vibrations from sound waves have on plants is not a new area of science. For decades, scientists have been studying the effects of music on the growth and germination of various plants. Some studies show a correlation with plant growth...
Searching for a Vaccine for Type 1 Diabetes

Fertility and Germline Stem Cell Transplants in Mice

For many couples, conceiving a child can be a long and difficult process. The CDC estimates that 6.7% of married women aged 15-44 are infertile, meaning that they have not been able to get pregnant in over 12 months of attempting.  Further, 12.1% of women aged...