A front-page story in Sunday’s Sacramento Bee, “UC Davis researcher suspended over animal care allegations,” is depressing reading for those of us who care about the importance of animal research. When animals are used in research, it has to be done the right way: humanely, thoughtfully, and following all the appropriate regulations. The hopeful side … Continue reading What Happens When Things Go Wrong?
Category: Science News
Reprogrammed frog and mouse cells win the 2012 Nobel Prize
This morning the Nobel Assembly announced that the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine will be shared by John B. Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka for their “discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent”. Animal research played a key role in the research honoured by the prize, specifically the studies of frogs … Continue reading Reprogrammed frog and mouse cells win the 2012 Nobel Prize
ERV blogs on GMO Herpes vs severe cancer pain
As gene therapy emerges as one of the hottest areas of medical research, one thing that is striking is how it employs viruses - sometimes very nasty viruses - to deliver the gene to where it is needed in the human body. Yesterday virologist Abbie Smith discussed another excellent example of this on the ERV blog … Continue reading ERV blogs on GMO Herpes vs severe cancer pain
Human embryonic stem cells restore hearing in deaf gerbils
Ever since human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) were first cultivated by Dr. James Thompson at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1998, they have been at the centre of one of the most promising, and at times controversial, areas of modern medicine. Recently hESCs have begun to live up to their early promise, as I … Continue reading Human embryonic stem cells restore hearing in deaf gerbils
Consciousness and Moral Status
A group of scientists recently gathered at the Francis Crick Memorial Conference and issued the following declaration which as been widely covered in the media: The absence of a neocortex does not appear to preclude an organism from experiencing affective states. Convergent evidence indicates that non-human animals have the neuroanatomical, neurochemical, and neurophysiological substrates of … Continue reading Consciousness and Moral Status
Public Outreach – A Toolkit for Investigators
That public outreach is an increasingly important part of the scientific life in the 21st century should be news to no-one, and this is as true of biomedical research as of any other field of scientific endeavor. Allyson Bennett has written extensively for us on this subject, highlighting both the benefits of public outreach, and … Continue reading Public Outreach – A Toolkit for Investigators
Interfacing with the nervous system: Studies in mice and rats show the way.
As fundamental scientific knowledge about how the nervous system works has increased over the past few decades, the possibility has emerged that we may one day be able to use electrical stimulation (or inhibition) to treat – even to functionally cure – conditions where it has been damaged by disease or injury. Scientists are now … Continue reading Interfacing with the nervous system: Studies in mice and rats show the way.
Understanding Cyborg Jellyfish
While I was on vacation I missed a fascinating story about how scientists at Harvard University and Caltech have created an artificial jellyfish - termed a medusoid - using rat heart cells on a silicone matrix in order to demonstrate that it is possible to reverse-engineer a muscular pump, as described in this informative report on CBC News. This … Continue reading Understanding Cyborg Jellyfish
Speaking of Research 