Detecting the Silent Killer - Understanding Diabetes

Diabetes, known officially as diabetes mellitus (DM), is a common but severe long-term metabolic disease. The World Health Organization’s 2014 data indicates that about 9% of the global adult population (age > 18) suffered from this disease and more than 1.5 million people died from complications caused by diabetes. Governments and private companies invest huge amounts of money into research to fight diabetes each year.

Tagged on: Diabetes, Science, Disease, Intermediate, Advanced

Seasonal Variations in Gene Expression

A lot changes in the fall – temperatures, leaf colors, coffee flavors, sunrise time, TV shows, it's a long list. Add to this list your transcriptome. A transcriptome is the set of all RNA molecules in a cell or population of cells. The name comes from transcription, which is the first part of gene expression where information in a strand of DNA is copied into messenger RNA. The DNA information in a eukaryotic organism, e.g. the genome, is more or less constant apart from the occasional mutation. In contrast the transcriptome is in constant flux.

Tagged on: Genes, Advanced, Intermediate, Science

Visualizing DNA After Agarose Gel Electrophoresis

Electrophoresis is a technique that allows us to separate DNA, RNA or proteins into bands according to their size. For more information about this technique, be sure to check out our previous post describing electrophoresis.

Tagged on:Biotech Basics, Science, Technology, Electrophoresis, Classroom Laboratory, DNA, STEM, DNA Fragments, Beginner, Intermediate

Mutant Plants to the Rescue!

Bioremediation is a management tool that addresses environmental pollution. In bioremediation organisms remove or neutralize pollutants from a contaminated site. Often these organisms are already present at the site. For example a group of scientist from Rutgers University discovered a strain of bacteria that can breathe either oxygen or uranium in the soil of an old ore mill in Rifle Colorado.

Tagged on: Genes, Nature, Advanced, Intermediate, Bioremediation

Why is C. elegans So Popular in the Biology Laboratory?

For centuries, scientists have used model organisms from the three domains of life, bacteria, archaea, and eukaryotes, to understand biological functions. For example, the bacterium Escherichia coli, which has been studied for more than 60 years, has provided important findings in the areas of biological engineering and industrial microbiology. On the other hand, eukaryotic domain organisms like the fly Drosophila melanogaster and the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) have been widely used to study genetics and developmental biology.

Tagged on: Biotech Basics, DNA, STEM, Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, DNA Sequencing, Genes, Mutation, NSTA, Organisms, Workshop