Articles by Susan Jenkins

Front Page | Smoking Out Skin Cancer; Evolution in Action; Colon Cancer Resistance Found in Traveler's Diarrhea Anne Macnamara Ah, the Irony: Colon Cancer Resistance Found in Traveler's Diarrhea Put the Imodium away, fly to an exotic location, and please drink the water. A new study--prompted by a manuscript outline on a dinner napkin--links resistance to colon cancer with "travelers' diarrhea" (G.M. Pitari et al., "Bacterial enterotoxins are associated with resistance to colon cancer,"

Images courtesy of G. Méhes, University of Pécs, Hungary "As is our pathology, so is our practice... what the pathologist thinks today, the physician does tomorrow." --Sir William Osler (1849-1919)1 A woman visits her gynecologist for her annual Pap smear. The doctor takes a cervical swab and tells the patient that the results will be back in a few days. Now the woman waits and wonders, "Could I be sick, and not even know it?" The answer will come from the doctor by way of a p

Images Courtesy of Donald E. Ingber  Cell shape and function, such as directional motility, can be controlled by culturing individual cells on µm-sized extracellular matrix islands of defined geometry created using microfabrication techniques. New motile processes, stained for F-actin (green), extend preferentially from the corners when the cell is stimulated to grow by soluble mitogens. The nucleus is stained blue. A theory has only the alternatives of being wrong or right. A mode

Courtesy of ChemoMetec For those charged with the mundane, yet critical, task of counting mammalian cells, ChemoMetec of Allerod, Denmark, offers a simple alternative to hemacytometers. Unlike some other cell counters that measure particle size, ChemoMetec's NucleoCounter™ system counts cells based on DNA fluorescence. After harvesting cells as usual, the researcher--using supplied reagents--lyses and dissolves the cells, adjusts the pH, and aspirates the stabilized nuclei into a dispo

Courtesy of BD Biosciences Clontech Palo Alto, Calif.-based BD Biosciences Clontech has expanded its family of reverse-format patient and cell-line cDNA arrays. Most arrays spot single genes, and scientists probe them with labeled mRNA or cDNA pools. But with reverse formatting, each spot represents the entire mRNA population of a given sample, explains Marcum Bell, product manager. Researchers probe these arrays one gene at a time. "It's just so different from anything else on the market," B

Image: Anne MacNamara/R. Ian Freshney Like most researchers, you probably hate tissue culture work. But, if such 'trivialities' as experimental quality and reproducibility are important to you, then you and your cells will need to come to an understanding. Perhaps a short trip through the looking glass--that is, culture flask--will be of value. What do you have to lose? It's free, and all the seats are front row center! Cast: (in order of appearance) First researcher Cells Narrator Second

Asingle human cell contains around 2,000 transcription factors, estimates Jason Li, president and CEO of Panomics in Redwood City, Calif. Their shifting alliances comprise a powerful layer of gene expression regulation, and can change depending on the specific function of the cell, micro- and macro-environmental factors, or particular experimental treatments. But standard detection methods, such as gel shifts and immunoprecipitations, permit isolation of only single molecular interactions, "on

Image: Courtesy of Metrigenix Using patented Flow-thru Chip™ (FTC) technology in a one-square-centimeter biochip, Gaithersburg, Md.-based MetriGenix automates microarray processing from spotting to analysis of final data, but does so in about one-quarter of the time of conventional flatbed microarray systems. According to product manager, Mridula Iyer, the MetriGenix 4D™ system costs about $60,000 (US), including the microfluidic biochips and cartridges, an automated hybridization

Photo: Courtesy of Patti Oprysko  HYPOXIA IN ACTION: The ductus arteriosus of a newborn baboon showing EF5 binding (red), tissue perfused by blood flow (blue) and blood vessels (green). The ductus arteriosus is an artery, which bypasses the lungs before birth and must close to allow proper oxygenation of blood by the lungs after birth. Mount Everest climber Frank Smythe stood at 27,000 feet, near the top of the world, in 1933. Later, Smythe recounted an exceptionally odd experience. He s

Volume 16 | Issue 13 | 28 | Jun. 24, 2002 Previous | Next Form and Function Finally Prove Mitchell's Proton Motive Force Perseverance, perspiration and a creative bent pay off | By Susan Jenkins The Faculty of 1000 is aWeb-based literature awareness tool published by BioMed Central. For more information visit www.facultyof1000.com. In 1961, Nobel laureate Peter Mitchell's provocative pairing of

Volume 16 | Issue 13 | 38 | Jun. 24, 2002 Previous | Next Five-Color Analysis, One Laser New detection capabilities let users perform simultaneous five-color flow cytometry | By Susan Jenkins Fullerton, Calif.-based Beckman-Coulter recently released the Cytomics™ FC 500, an automated, bench-top flow cytometer that, for the first time, allows researchers to perform five-color analyses usi

The Faculty of 1000, published by BioMed Central, is a Web-based literature awareness tool. F1000 provides a continuously updated guide to peer-reviewed papers, based on the recommendations of more than 1,400 leading scientists. In each issue, The Scientist publishes a review of some related papers highlighted by the Faculty of 1000, plus comments on new and notable research. For more information, visit www.facultyof1000.com. Homeostasis is an arguably underappreciated and powerful process t

S. Mueller et al., "Interaction of the poliovirus receptor CD155 with the dynein light chain Tctex-1 and its implication for poliovirus pathogenesis," Journal of Biological Chemistry, 277:7897-904, March 8, 2002. "This paper provides a molecular mechanism for how poliovirus hijacks cellular retrograde transport machinery to ascend along axons. A clear exposition of poliovirus pathogenesis and a testable model." —Lynn Enquist, Princeton University, US Complement Enforcement M. Budayov

A little over a year ago, BioCrystal of Westerville, Ohio, introduced the futuristically designed OptiCell™ for tissue culture.1 The 100-cm2 growth area of each OptiCell (33% more than a T-75 flask) requires only 10 ml of growth medium. Building on this invention, BioCrystal developed a fully automated Robotic Cell Culture System (RC2S) capable of processing 402 OptiCells from inoculation to harvest with almost no human intervention. "Our focus is on growing anchorage-dependent cells," say

Definition of cellular structure and function is an ongoing challenge facing the research community, with the complexity multiplying each time a scientist announces the discovery of new proteins and pathways. The need for more, and better tools is met often on purpose, but sometimes by serendipity. Although Mikhail Matz and colleagues might dispute that their isolation of a red fluorescent protein from a nonbioluminescent marine animal (Discosoma sp.) was serendipitous, their hypothesis was, at