Canadian Neurobiology Grad

jtotheizzoe: If you haven’t seen the new comic at The Oatmeal:...

Thu, 11 Apr 2013 22:24:40 -0400

If you haven’t seen the new comic at The Oatmeal: “Why the mantis shrimp is my new favorite animal”, then check it out. Because that is one bad mofo crustacean.

With fists of fanatical fury and the most advanced vision system on the planet, I feel like the mantis shrimp is just evolution’s warning to us all: “Keep your shit under control, or else I’ll make this thing rhino-sized in a heartbeat.”

Radiolab featured this little guy’s amazing vision in an episode on colors last year. And Ed Yong was into mantis shrimp before they were cool, so go check out his great articles about their superpowers.

Mother Nature comes up with some crazy and cool things =)

jtotheizzoe: Seeing the Brain With New CLARITY A new brain...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:58:35 -0400

jtotheizzoe:

Seeing the Brain With New CLARITY

A new brain imaging technique called CLARITY allows neural structures to be reconstructed in three dimensions better than ever before. It does so by turning the brain “transparent”.

Truly understanding the inner workings of the brain means studying not only how individual neurons function, but also how they are wired together. Even with techniques like the beautiful “brainbow”, untangling spaghetti-like long-range connections has proven difficult.

Stanford University neuroscientists have taken a step in that direction with their new CLARITY method. Neurons and other cells are normally labeled by sticking fluorescent tags on various proteins and other molecules that a researcher wants to study. That way we can literally see where and how they function. But looking into a three-dimensional brain is like peering into murky water: the fatty cell membranes and neuron sheaths just get in the way.

The Stanford researchers immobilized these mouse brains in a gel, then washed away all the murky muck. This left all the connections and proteins in their right place, free to be labeled in a clear block of brain Jell-O.

For more: Head over to Nature News to read more, and be sure to watch their great, detailed video to find out more about how it was done. If you’re interested, here’s the research paper in this week’s Nature.

This is the technique described in the New York Times article I posted below. It looks so cool! I wonder if I’ll be able to work it into my thesis at some point… ;)

corgiaddict: You don’t need to study.. you need a corgi!...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:56:31 -0400

corgiaddict:

You don’t need to study.. you need a corgi! ^_^

Follow Buster at bustercorgi.tumblr.com :)

Haha, oh if only it were that simple =)

New technique for studying the brain!

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 19:01:53 -0400

NYTimes: Brains as Clear as Jell-O for Scientists to Explore http://nyti.ms/10Vcmtb

laughingsquid: AsapScience on Why You Should Stop Using the...

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 06:00:50 -0400

laughingsquid:

AsapScience on Why You Should Stop Using the Snooze Button

Hmm, I’m definitely guilty of hitting the snooze button a ton…

scinerds: PhD Comics has a great video about the research...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 19:58:47 -0400

scinerds:

PhD Comics has a great video about the research process… all explained in 2 minutes…

“I’m not trying to solve a puzzle, I’m trying to open the box and find the pieces.”

In Medical First, a Baby With H.I.V. Is Deemed Cured

Mon, 04 Mar 2013 00:02:09 -0500

In Medical First, a Baby With H.I.V. Is Deemed Cured:

Doctors announced on Sunday that a baby had been cured of anH.I.V. infection for the first time, a startling development that could change how infected newborns are treated and sharply reduce the number of children living with the virus that causes AIDS.
The baby, born in rural Mississippi, was treated aggressively with antiretroviral drugs starting around 30 hours after birth, something that is not usually done. If further study shows this works in other babies, it will almost certainly be recommended globally.

neurosciencestuff: Japan’s Robot Suit Gets Global Safety...

Sun, 03 Mar 2013 16:23:34 -0500

neurosciencestuff:

Japan’s Robot Suit Gets Global Safety Certificate

A robot suit that can help the elderly or disabled get around was given its global safety certificate in Japan on Wednesday, paving the way for its worldwide rollout.

The Hybrid Assistive Limb, or HAL, is a power-assisted pair of legs developed by Japanese robot maker Cyberdyne, which has also developed similar robot arms.

A quality assurance body issued the certificate based on a draft version of an international safety standard for personal robots that is expected to be approved later this year, the ministry for the economy, trade and industry said.

The metal-and-plastic exoskeleton has become the first nursing-care robot certified under the draft standard, a ministry official said.

Battery-powered HAL, which detects muscle impulses to anticipate and support the user’s body movements, is designed to help the elderly with mobility or help hospital or nursing carers to lift patients.

Cyberdyne, based in Tsukuba, northeast of Tokyo, has so far leased some 330 suits to 150 hospitals, welfare and other facilities in Japan since 2010, at 178,000 yen ($1,950) per suit per year.

“It is very significant that Japan has obtained this certification before others in the world,” said Yoshiyuki Sankai, the head of Cyberdyne.

The company is unrelated to the firm of the same name responsible for the cyborg assassin played by Arnold Schwarzenegger in the 1984 film “The Terminator”.

“This is a first step forward for Japan, the great robot nation, to send our message to the world about robots of the future,” said Sankai, who is also a professor at Tsukuba University.

A different version of HAL — coincidentally the name of the evil supercomputer in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” — has been developed for workers who need to wear heavy radiation protection as part of the clean-up at the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant.

Industrial robots have long been used in Japan, and robo-suits are gradually making inroads into hospitals and retirement homes.

But critics say the government has been slow in creating a safety framework for such robots in a country whose rapidly-ageing population is expected to enjoy ever longer lives.

"You have many lives...Use them!"

Wed, 06 Feb 2013 00:15:00 -0500

"You have many lives...Use them!":

New York City's Community Biolab - For anyone who has ever wanted to tinker with the world of biology!

Wed, 16 Jan 2013 21:22:33 -0500

New York City's Community Biolab - For anyone who has ever wanted to tinker with the world of biology!:

Genspace is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting citizen science and access to biotechnology. Since 2009 we have served the greater New York area by providing educational outreach, cultural events, and a platform for science innovation at the grassroots level.

In December 2010 we opened the first-ever community biotechnology laboratory, a Biosafety Level One facility in Brooklyn, New York, where we offer hands-on courses to the public, provide extracurricular experiences for students, and encourage scientific entrepreneurship, particularly in the fields of molecular and synthetic biology. As a community-based lab, we offer members the unique opportunity to work on their own projects and experience the joy and wonder of science firsthand.

#overlyhonestmethods - Imgur

Sat, 12 Jan 2013 01:57:00 -0500

#overlyhonestmethods - Imgur:

#overlyhonestmethods is a trending hashtag on Twitter, which features the lighter side of science methodology.

The Myth of the Well-Rounded Scientist - Science Careers - Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers

Wed, 09 Jan 2013 21:59:37 -0500

The Myth of the Well-Rounded Scientist - Science Careers - Biotech, Pharmaceutical, Faculty, Postdoc jobs on Science Careers:

There is, of course, something to be said for deep focus on your subject. Mathematician Paul Erdős famously spent 19 hours a day doing math, and he may be the most prolific mathematician who ever lived. For him, scrapbooking or fantasy football wouldn’t have been a much-needed mental “reset”; it would only have wasted valuable math time.

But for the rest of us, outside interests keep us sharp. We’re more productive, more creative. We’re happier.

Drugs Aim to Make Several Types of Cancer Self-Destruct

Sun, 23 Dec 2012 21:27:15 -0500

Drugs Aim to Make Several Types of Cancer Self-Destruct:

Three pharmaceutical firms are trying to restore a mechanism that normally tells cells to die if their DNA is badly damaged, an approach that might work against half of all cancers.

AFTER EXAMS

Fri, 14 Dec 2012 00:26:20 -0500

whatshouldwecallgradschool:

Yep, this is how I felt today. First semester of grad school, done!

For Lesser Crimes, Rethinking Life Behind Bars

Wed, 12 Dec 2012 11:37:00 -0500

For Lesser Crimes, Rethinking Life Behind Bars:

An interesting article with some striking statistics about incarceration rates in the US. Politicians love to tout “tough crime policies,” but are they targeting the right areas and actually making us safer?

Many scholars say mandatory sentencing policies lock up nonviolent, low-level offenders for too long and are no longer a cost-effective way to reduce crime in the United States.
Longer sentences undoubtedly keep criminals off the streets. But researchers question whether this incapacitation effect, as it is known, provides enough benefits to justify the costs, especially when drug dealers are involved. Locking up a rapist makes the streets safer by removing one predator, but locking up a low-level drug dealer creates a job opening that is quickly filled because so many candidates are available.

[…]
Nonetheless, the United States, with less than 5 percent of the world’s population, still has nearly a quarter of the world’s prisoners.”

In Girl’s Last Hope, Altered Immune Cells Beat Leukemia

Mon, 10 Dec 2012 16:00:00 -0500

In Girl’s Last Hope, Altered Immune Cells Beat Leukemia:

Emma Whitehead, 7, has been in full remission for months after scientists used a disabled form of H.I.V. to reprogram her immune system to kill cancer cells.

nationalpost: After having jaw, teeth, tongue and nerve tissue...

Thu, 06 Dec 2012 01:03:55 -0500

nationalpost:

After having jaw, teeth, tongue and nerve tissue replaced, face transplant recipient regains speech
Fifteen years ago, Richard Lee Norris was shot in the face in a gun accident. He lost his nose, lips and most of the movement in his mouth.

He was horribly disfigured, and he spent most of the next decade and a half in hiding, venturing out only occasionally at night in a cap and a surgical mask.

Today, after receiving the most comprehensive face transplant to date, he says he’s able to walk past people without a second look. (University of Maryland Medical Center / Getty images)

The wonders of modern medicine :)

‘Terminator’ arm is world’s most advanced...

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 23:26:22 -0500

‘Terminator’ arm is world’s most advanced prosthetic limb (by jonmillsswns)

Pretty amazing stuff! The prosthetic limb is able to respond to signals from the man’s upper arm, and moves very much like a normal limb.

Photo

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 00:21:00 -0400

The Crack Team That Removes and Preserves People's Brains Just Hours After They Die

Sat, 20 Oct 2012 17:33:27 -0400

The Crack Team That Removes and Preserves People's Brains Just Hours After They Die:

The article features the Brain and Body Donation Program of the Banner Sun Health Research Institute, which is “widely considered the world’s preeminent brain bank.”

As a budding neuroscience graduate student, I think this is great! While animal models can help us understand the molecular mechanisms of disease, but at the end of the day, we need to be able to verify that the discoveries we make in animals are applicable to humans as well, and this will be an invaluable resource to researchers. Thank you to the people who generously donate their brains/bodies and make this all possible!