Monthly Archives: March 2010
Thinking Outside of the Toy Box: 4 Children’s Gizmos That Inspired Scientific Breakthroughs [Slide Show]: Scientific American Slideshows
DRAWING BOARD
To draw lines, the Etch A Sketch’s stylus scrapes aluminum powder from the underside of a glass screen. University of Pittsburgh physics professor Jeremy Levy wondered if the toy’s approach could draw and erase nanowires
golgi animation inspired by jellyfish
This is an animation I made some years ago of the golgi apperatus, a cell organelle responsible for processing and transport of cell proteins. I had the idea that the many layers would move in the cytoplasm like a jellyfish in the ocean
Denmark, Skagen, Jelly Fish on Sand Photographic Print at Art.com
(Periphylla Sp) Juvenile, Jellyfish, Deep Sea Atlantic Ocean Photographic Print by David Shale at Art.com
via art.co.uk
Colonial Jellyfish, Tablet 93, c.1899-1904 Print by Ernst Haeckel at Art.com
via art.co.uk
Ernst Haeckel, one of the foremost exponents of Darwinism created meticulus drawings of a multitude of unusual life forms so that their attributes could be easily compared
Biotech’s Glowing Breakthrough
via forbes.com
These mice are glowing because scientists inserted a gene found in certain bioluminescent jellyfish into their DNA. That gene is a recipe for a protein that glows green when hit by blue or ultraviolet light. The protein is present throughout their bodies. As a result, their skin, eyes and organs give off an eerie light. Only their fur does not glow.
Created by Tony Perry and Teru Wakayama at Advanced Cell Technology in Worcester, Mass., these mice draw attention to how powerful genetic engineering has become. They also underscore the importance of green fluorescent protein, or GFP. The glowing protein is now a widely used biological highlighter that helps scientists find and study genes more quickly. But few noticed when Osamu Shimomura, then a scientist at Princeton, discovered GFP 40 years ago.
What makes jellyfish glow
BU Professor Wins Nobel Prize in Chemistry
MED’s Shimomura Discovered What Makes Jellyfish Glow
| From Web Exclusives | By Tricia Brick
Osamu Shimomura was one of three winners of this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry. Photo courtesy of the Marine Biological Laboratory
It took more than 30 years for Osamu Shimomura to realize that his research on jellyfish would revolutionize the world of biology and another 14 for the Nobel Prize committee to recognize his contribution. Yesterday, after learning that his discovery of luminescent proteins in jellyfish had won this year’s Nobel Prize in chemistry, he told reporters what he learned from the experience.
“If you find an interesting subject, go study it,” he says. “Don’t stop. There is difficulty in any research — don’t give up until you overcome that.”
Shimomura, a School of Medicine adjunct professor of physiology and a senior scientist emeritus at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, Mass., was one of three winners of this year’s chemistry prize. The other winners were Martin Chalfie of Columbia University and Roger Y. Tsien of the University of California, San Diego, both recognized for pioneering cellular research techniques that use the proteins Shimomura identified. The three will share the $1.4 million prize, which is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.
Shimomura is credited with the discovery of green fluorescent protein, or GFP, which he observed in 1962 in the jellyfish Aequorea victoria, found off the west coast of North America. James Head, a MED professor of physiology and biophysics, recalls Shimomura’s stories of collecting the jellyfish — Shimomura began his research with 10,000 specimens — in Washington state.
“He and his wife used to spend summers at Friday Harbor and catch bucket after bucket of jellyfish,” says Head, who collaborated with Shimomura on research into the behaviors and uses of aequorin, another fluorescent protein. “In those early days, he would purify the protein directly from the jellyfish, getting small amounts of protein from bucketfuls.”
But although Shimomura pursued his studies of GFP for years, he said yesterday that he didn’t realize the potential applications of his work until 1994, when Chalfie’s research emerged. In an organism, GFP can be fused to proteins of interest to scientists, with minor effects on the organism’s behavior. Researchers can then observe the locations and movements of the studied proteins by monitoring the GFP, which remains fluorescent.
“This protein has become one of the most important tools used in contemporary bioscience,” according to yesterday’s announcement of the prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. “With the aid of GFP, researchers have developed ways to watch processes that were previously invisible, such as the development of nerve cells in the brain or how cancer cells spread.”
“These discoveries were seminal and decades ahead of their time,” says Gary Borisy, director and chief executive officer of the Marine Biological Laboratory. “They really have ushered in a revolution in cell biology.”
Since then, newer techniques have emerged, such as Tsien’s research into GFP mutations that create fluorescence in various colors, which allows researchers to track different cellular processes in one organism.
“Researchers can follow the fate of various cells with the help of GFP: nerve cell damage during Alzheimer’s disease or how insulin-producing beta cells are created in the pancreas of a growing embryo,” reads the prize announcement. “In one spectacular experiment, researchers succeeded in tagging different nerve cells in the brain of a mouse with a kaleidoscope of colors.”
Shimomura, who earned a Ph.D. in organic chemistry at Nagoya University in 1960 and began studying bioluminescence there before coming to America and joining a research team at Princeton University, says he never expected his work to change the world of cell biology.
“My subject was just discovery of a product,” he says. “I’m surprised. And I’m happy.”
Jessica Ullian can be reached at jullian@bu.edu.
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CommentsOn Saturday, 02/23/2008 at 2:38pm, Charly Brown wrote:
Rarely do we get such a great look behind the scenes! I wanted to see more. The set was amazing rich colors, imaginitive design. Wish I lived in Boston so I could see it. Kudos to the members of BU CFA for the amazing work! I’m sure we will be seeing more or Mr. Barnett and Mr. McViker.
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via bu.edu
The amazing GFP has revolutionised cell biology and has become a new artists media
tellyfish by inflatable monster (posted on Central Station)
The world’s only immortal animal
(Photo: Peter Schuchert)The turritopsis nutriculaspecies of jellyfish maybe the only animal in the world to have truly discovered the fountain ofyouth.
Since it is capable of cyclingfrom a mature adult stage to an immature polyp stage and back again, there maybe no natural limit to its life span. Scientists say the hydrozoanjellyfish is the only known animal that can repeatedly turn back the hands oftime and revert to its polyp state (its first stage of life).
The key lies in a processcalled transdifferentiation, where one type of cell is transformed into anothertype of cell. Some animals can undergo limitedtransdifferentiation and regenerate organs, such as salamanders, which canregrow limbs. Turritopsi nutricula, on the other hand, can regenerate itsentire body over and over again. Researchers are studying the jellyfish to discover how it is ableto reverse its aging process.
Because they are able to bypassdeath, the number of individuals is spiking. They’re now found in oceans aroundthe globe rather than just in their native Caribbean waters. “We are looking at a worldwide silent invasion,”says Dr. Maria Miglietta of the Smithsonian Tropical MarineInstitute.
Bryan Nelson is a regular contributor to Mother Nature Network, where a version of this post originally appeared.
via green.yahoo.com
This week is jellyfish week!
scienceArt 
