] "Ordinary biological processes, they say, are simply
] glorified computational algorithms, or sets of
] instructions for operating on data. But instead of
] crunching binary numbers (0 and 1), the DNA computer uses
] base-four math, as it were--A, C, G, and T."

Interesting article on DNA computing. Requires free registration, but its worth it, and you won't get spammed. I promise.

The Scientist :: Coding with Life's Code, Nov. 25, 2002

_The Common Thread_ is at once a compelling history and an impassioned call for ethical responsibility in scientific research. As the boundaries between science and big business increasingly blur, and researchers race to patent medical discoveries, the international community needs to find a common protocol for the protection of the wider human interest. This extraordinary enterprise is a glimpse of our shared human heritage, offering hope for future research and a fresh outlook on our understanding of ourselves.

This book chronicles the early history of the Human Genome Project and Craig Venter's 1998 decision to exit the Project and go proprietary.

[Christmas gift idea - Nano]

The Common Thread: A Story of Science, Politics, Ethics, and the Human Genome

"The Baylor College of Medicine Search Launcher is an on-going project to organize molecular biology-related search and analysis services available on the WWW by function by providing a single point-of-entry for related searches (e.g., a single page for launching protein sequence searches using standard parameters). "

yay for bioinformatics

Welcome to the BCM Search Launcher

"Doctors running souped-up MRI machines may now be able to predict outcomes for chemotherapy -- before they prescribe the caustic treatment to their patients with cancer. "

I really hope this, or something like this, will be used routinely in the future. Chemotherapy is a very crude attempt at killing cancer. Its like saying, "Hey, we are going to give you something very toxic to your body. We are hoping it will kill the cancer before it kills you. Good luck!" Hopefully in the future, we can circumvent chemo entirely and use something more cell specific, rather than something that kills any dividing cells in the body. For now, to be able to test to see whether the chemo will work or not on a patient-specific basis is a very good thing.

Wired News: Specialized Scan Could Nix Chemo

Presented by the UMDNJ Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Newark Division

Show up at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (on South Orange Ave in Newark) to attend a free one-day symposium. The keynote speaker will be Eric Drexler, founder of the Foresight Institute. Lecture topics include:

Nanotechnology and the Future of Medicine
Structural DNA Nanotechnology
Making Things Move Using Nanotechnology - Nanomagnets
Tumor Therapy with Actinium-225 Labeled Nanogenerators

[Uhhh....I really, really, really want to go to this. If only it wasn't all the way in NJ. My fall break starts the next day. wow.-Nano]

Nanotechnology in Biomedical Research

"The BioAccelerator is one piece of a broader effort by Virginia to secure a foothold in biotech, which in the Washington region has long been anchored in Maryland. Economic development officials hope to leverage Northern Virginia's abundance of IT companies to create a breeding ground for bioinformatics startups. Frost & Sullivan estimates bioinformatics sales will exceed $2 billion worldwide this year. "

Bioinformatics rocks. Science geeks + Computer geeks = bleeding edge technology

TechNews.com - Make Room for Bioinformatics

"Gov. Gray Davis signed legislation Sunday to allow embryonic stem cell research in the state, a direct contradiction of federal limits on the research...The move will attract "the best and the brightest" researchers to California, said Larry Goldstein, a professor at University of California San Diego, and halt the migration of stem cell researchers to other countries where it is permitted. "

This is a very interesting move by California's government. There will be alot of bleeding edge research coming out of California with this in effect (not that that is a change from the norm). Yet another reason why UCSF is moving higher and higher on my potential graduate school list.

Calif. Defies Bush on Stem Cells

"Mac Dónaill argues that the nucleotides' pairings are a kind of code. Each hydrogen bond has two components: chemical groups called donors and acceptors. If we denote a donor as 1 and an acceptor as 0, then C encodes the pattern 100, and G is 011.
In other words, each nucleotide can be represented as a short sequence of binary code, like the 1's and 0's used to record information in computers.
There is one more element in this code. A and G belong to a class of molecule called purines, and T and C are pyrimidines. Each pairing involves a purine and a pyrimidine. We can denote a purine by 0 and a pyrimidine by 1. Then C becomes 100,1 and G is 011,0.
Represented in this way, says Mac Dónaill, the permissible combinations of A,C,T and G correspond to what computer scientists call a parity code. Each nucleotide has an even number of 1's - it is said to have an even parity.
This makes it easier to spot errors such as non-natural nucleotides. If the error changes any one digit in a nucleotide, its parity changes from even to odd. Odd-parity nucleotides are clearly wrong. "

DNA codes own error correction

If scientists have been able to create glowing green hair by merging jellyfish DNA with that of the mice, would it be possible for a "Real Genius" such as nanochick to create Warez, the Glowing Pumpkin?

[This is the same story I memed the other day (only this is yahoo's version) but I just had to meme this because of Do|emites description...it made me smile:) - Nano]

Yahoo! News - Green Glowing Mice May Mean Gene Therapy for Hair

Researchers have created a "biological pacemaker" in guinea pigs by slipping a gene into their hearts -- a first step in what could lead to alternatives to the electronic devices now implanted in hundreds of thousands of people each year.

This is really neat work

Researchers Create 'Biological Pacemaker'