Anesthetics have been used in surgery since the mid-1800s, but their exact mechanisms of action continue to be the subject of intense investigation. Past studies have suggested they block neurotransmitter receptors postsynaptically. Now a new study, published January 9 in … Continue reading
Journal Club
Highlighting recently published papers selected by Academy members
Category Archives: Biochemistry
Journal Club: New clues in the mystery of the mechanism of general anesthetics
Journal Club: Enzyme helps to speedily create a key chemical bond in the lab, suggesting synthetic chemistry applications
With just a few chemical tweaks, cellular enzymes can turn some of the most common amino acids into unique compounds that possess antimicrobial or medicinal properties. But in the lab, it’s much harder to derive these molecules when using conventional … Continue reading
Journal Club: New technique lights up the connectome, tracking signals across neuronal populations
Neuroscientists still possess an incomplete understanding of how different neurons interface and communicate throughout the brain’s wiring diagram, called the connectome. In a recent eLife article, Caltech molecular neurobiologist Carlos Lois and colleagues introduce a new tool to screen for such … Continue reading
Journal Club: Cooler temperatures might make some mosquitoes better dengue spreaders
Migrating mosquitoes that carry diseases from the tropics to cooler climes might be better at spreading disease in their new, cooler home, according to a recent study in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Researchers from Yale University in … Continue reading
Journal Club: New tool predicts which compounds taste bitter
Humans have 25 different taste receptors that register a range of bitter chemical compounds in everything from coffee and beer to dark chocolate and medicine. And yet, while humans can easily recognize bitterness, predicting whether a chemical compound will taste … Continue reading
Journal Club: New roles found for protein key to neurotransmission
Scientists know many of the proteins that make neurotransmission possible, but they don’t have a handle on how all the pieces work together. “As someone who has studied the synapse for a long time, I still find it frustrating … Continue reading
Journal Club: CRISPR elucidates genetic basis of social behavior in ants
Drosophila has been a workhorse of genetics for roughly a century. But as a solitary insect, it hasn’t allowed researchers to investigate the genetic basis of complex social behavior in ants and bees. Now, a pair of studies published today in … Continue reading
Journal Club: Antarctic cyanobacteria show no changes due to warming—yet
Captain Robert Scott’s Antarctic Discovery expedition took place over 100 years ago—and yet its participants recently racked up another contribution to science. Thanks to the samples of bacterial mats they collected from polar ponds—samples that were pressed, dried, and stored … Continue reading
Journal Club: Mutation helps Zika virus evolve to more easily infect mosquitoes, spread infection
Scientists discovered the Zika virus over half a century ago. But it wasn’t until recent outbreaks in French Polynesia and South America that the mosquito-borne virus, now associated with Guillain-Barre syndrome in adults and microcephaly in newborn babies, reached epidemic … Continue reading