The Futile Cycle

I have now seen molecular biology applied to Real Life.

I live in a graduate student dorm (for now), and just yesterday, the bathroom I share with other students on my floor was broken. Mainly, when water went down the sink, black, dirty water would bubble up from the shower floor drain. Gross. Luckily, flushing the toilet didn’t cause any similar problems. But by that serendipitous sewage problem, I learned that the drain of the sink fed directly into the same pipe system that the shower drain did, while the toilet drained into a separate pipe system (or it tied in further downstream of the drainage problem).

In summary, I found one way that the system broke (a mutation) that led to interesting behaviors (a phenotype), and by characterizing these behaviors, I gained a better understanding of how that system worked (a mechanism).

Molecular biology! In the real world!

Every two weeks, I look forward to my copy of Cell (yes, I’m a big dork that way). This week, I found Cell had a really surreal cover: a drawing of a phoenix.

Curious, I turned to look at the cover description. It was, to say the least, quite cheesy:

Cover art…depicts CASK kinase as the Phoenix, presumed dead in the fires of evolution, resurrecting in an unanticipated active form.

A little purple much? It was apparently drawn by the second author of the corresponding paper. A good drawing…but “cheeserific” symbolism (to quote a friend of mine).

Another cheesy cover I saw a while ago was this Nature cover, hearkening back to pulp science fiction:

Awesome retro-nerd-ness!

Sorry for the lack of posts, but alas, science (especially biology) does not wait, and things die when neglected.

Meanwhile, I have around three weeks left in my final laboratory rotation before I have to choose my thesis lab, and I’m having a hard time deciding. Coincidentally, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology just published a two-part article called “How to succeed in science: a concise guide for young biomedical scientists.”. There are some interesting tidbits in here, and it gives an interesting, biology-centric perspective on how to look on one’s career. Part I is focused on choosing a field and a lab for graduate school and post-doctoral work. Part II focuses mostly on how to generate ideas and make discoveries. I thought both were excellent reads.

I also recently found Dent Cartoons, which is the home of the famous Nine Types cartoon trilogy. Check it out; very amazingly true!

Ah, Ph.D. comics, how true it all is.

I remember my father once telling me about a time in his lab, in which the lab members were sitting around talking, disappointed that they didn’t have anything to submit to a conference. Suddenly, one of them had a great idea! He checked the time: 12 hours to go until the submissions deadline! All the lab members got together and cranked out some preliminary data. Someone rushed out, sat down, plugged out a poster abstract based on the preliminary data, and emailed it to the conference with 30 minutes left! And it was accepted!

From Uncertain Principles comes this gem of a sentence:

My opinion, in the end, is that a lot of what people find objectionable about fraternities and sororities is not an inherent property of the organizations, but rather an emergent property of large groups of 18-22 year old Americans.

Since when do universities write press releases for review articles? Is it really necessary?

Today I was emailing data to myself with Gmail from the lab computer when I found this amusing advertisement:

Yes, we’re all looking for that option that won’t get away! Or maybe it means, the first unambiguous option! I also like how it doesn’t even say what the “option” is for, or what “activating” stem cells really means.

As I was studying like mad for my prokaryotic molecular genetics final exam, I found an (alas) engrossing anecdotal essay from Seymour Benzer, called Adventures in the rII Region, which contains the following rather amusing story.

Seymour Benzer, who died just one and a half months ago, was one of the giants of early molecular biology. He was one of the first geneticists to show that genes weren’t indivisible subunits on DNA (like beads on a string), but rather linear “regions” of DNA, which he called cistrons. Many consider his mapping of mutations within individual genes to be one of the most elegant and amazing achievements of early molecular biology.

When he first showed Delbruck (his mentor and another giant back in the day) his manuscript, apparently Delbruck commented, “Delusions of grandeur.” Benzer follows:

Delbruck knocked the paper so badly that not until a visit to Caltech the following spring did I dare to approach him with another version. He submitted it to the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and it contained an appropriate acknowledgement of his “moderating influence.”

Tough love, indeed!

There are all sorts of anecdotes in that essay that a pleasure to read, about the entire molecular biology revolution of the mid-20th century, and the close relationships of the biggest players of the time. Some of those scientists were probably more than a little crazy! Check it out!

Here are even more extraordinarily amusing videos, the first courtesy of Harvard grad students and the second two from Princeton’s grad students:

For context in the next video, Trudi Schupbach is an extraordinarily nice lady, head of the Princeton Molecular Biology department’s admissions committee:

Via evolgen, check out this music video, entitled “Scientists for Better PCR”: