Discovering Biology in a Digital World™

DNA sequencing-based immunoprofiling quantitatively measures AR diversity in samples by determining the sequences of V(D)J junctions. AR receptor diversity is vast due to a combinatorial rearrangement process that inserts a variable number of random DNA bases at each junction. In the sequencing process V(D)J junctions are amplified with V and J gene specific primers and, to be quantitative, differences in amplification rates that are due to primer sequences must be factored into each assay.

Last week I attended my first NSF ATE PI meeting. As a contributing member of Digital World Biology's ATE project entitled " A Bridge to Bio-Link's Future ," I participated in the conference by preparing and staffing our booth in the first evening's showcase.

As a brief background, the NSF (National Science Foundation) ATE (Advanced Technology Eduction) program celebrated its 25 th anniversary this year. ATE's mission is to support innovations in technical ... Read more

Cytochrome C oxidase is a molecule that none of us air-breathing creatures can live without. It's also really interesting. This protein complex is a dimer of two smaller complexes. Each of the smaller complexes contains 13 different proteins and two heme groups.

The two heme groups are both part of the cytochrome c oxidase subunit I protein. The DNA sequence of this protein is used for many types of DNA barcoding.

We created the structure collection feature in Molecule World because I knew it would be useful in teaching my courses. A request from the Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota taught us structure collections could be useful in other ways, too.

The Weisman Art Museum collaborated with neuroscientists at the University of Minnesota and Ricardo Martinez Murillo, a neuroscientist in Spain, to produce the traveling Beautiful Brain exhibit featuring the drawings of Santiago Ramón y Cajal. Cajal is considered the father ... Read more