Whether the pursuit is commercially motivated or purely academic, engineering a novel biological catalyst is an enticing challenge. High-resolution protein structure analysis allows for rational alteration of enzyme function, yet many useful enzyme variants are the product of well-designed selection schemes or screening strategies. Enzyme...
The origin of energy-conserving organelles, the mitochondria of all aerobic eukaryotes and the plastids of plants and algae, is commonly thought to be the result of endosymbiosis, where a primitive eukaryote engulfed a respiring α-proteobacterium or a phototrophic cyanobacterium, respectively. While present-day heterotrophic...
The current demand for the development of techniques for controlled genetic manipulations is driven by the anatomical and physiological complexity of the brain and by the need for experimental models that can address this complexity through selective manipulation of defined components of the system: specific neuronal populations or selected...
Epigenetics is the study of both heritable and non-heritable changes in the regulation of gene activity and expression that occur without an alteration in the DNA sequence. This dynamic and rapidly developing discipline is making its impact across the biomedical sciences, in particular in toxicology where epigenetic differences can...
This is the story of a few human genes and how we discovered what these genes do. We each have around 25,000 genes, but the genes in this story are those that vary the most from person to person. These genes--called compatibility genes--are, in effect, a molecular signature that distinguishes each of us as individuals. Davis tells the...
Ossifi cation of the posterior longitudinal ligament (OPLL) is no longer only a Japanese
disease. In 2004, 18 papers on OPLL and related conditions were published, and 7 of
those were from countries other than Japan. Major textbooks on spine surgery, such
as The Spine, The Cervical Spine, and Spine Surgery, have devoted chapters to...
In Polyadenylation: Methods and Protocols, expert researchers in the field detail many of the protocols which are now commonly used to study polyadenylation. Focusing on recent advances in the fast-moving polyadenylation filed, that has recently been recognized as a key contributor to the complexity of mammalian gene expression....
The fourth edition of Gene H. Golub and Charles F. Van Loan's classic is an essential reference for computational scientists and engineers in addition to researchers in the numerical linear algebra community. Anyone whose work requires the solution to a matrix problem and an appreciation of its mathematical properties will find this book...
Inventors at Work: The Minds and Motivation Behind Modern Inventions is a collection of interviews with inventors of famous products, innovations, and technologies that have made life easier or even changed the way we live. All of these scientists, engineers, wild-eyed geniuses, and amateur technologists have dedicated their...
A comprehensive and authoritative review of the most important scientific and clinically relevant topics today in ligaments, tendons, and capsular biology, including their biomechanics and surgical reconstruction. The authors review the basic science of tendons in the hand and shoulder ligaments, the current clinical status of the shoulder...
Leading expert physicians and investigators from around the world review the state-of-the-art in the management of squamous cell head and neck cancer, with emphasis on coordinating different treatment modalities. The authors address several surgical issues, including laser-based surgery, larynx preservation approaches, salvage surgery, and...
The current year (2004) marks the Silver Anniversary of the discovery of the p53 tumor suppressor. The emerging ?eld ?rst considered p53 as a viral antigen and then as an oncogene that cooperates with activated ras in transforming primary cells in culture. Fueling the concept of p53 acting as a transforming factor, p53 expression was markedly...
