William Astbury

William Thomas Astbury is considered to be one of the fathers of molecular and structural biology, and was born on February 12, 1898 in Longton, England. Once he completed high school he earned enough scholarships to attend Cambridge. Unfortunately during his time at Cambridge he had to serve in WWI with the Royal Army Medical Corps, but was able to go back to finish his degree in physics at Cambridge. In 1928 he earned a lecturer position at the University of Leeds in Textile Physics, and he finished his career out at Leeds.

Some of Astbury’s most important contributions include the three papers he wrote on the Structure of Hair, Wool, and Related Fibers, the study of the Denaturation of Proteins, and his Diffraction Studies of Bacterial Flagellae. Most people know of Rosalind Franklin as the person who provided the famous Photo 51, which was an X-ray diffraction image of DNA, which Watson and Crick used for their discovery of the DNA double helix. What most people don’t know is that Astbury had actually taken a very similar picture of DNA a year previously. Astbury began his X-ray studies with the structure of biological fibers. From his picture he was not able to accurately predict the proper structure of DNA, but Franklin, Watson, and Crick used his insights to help with her work. Another major discovery of his was that he determined that one of the major contributing factors for stabilizing protein structures was the mainchain-mainchain hydrogen bonds.

A fun fact about William Astbury is that from his interest in fibers, he had a coat made from protein fibers from monkey-nuts (peanuts). He did this to explain how basic insights of biological molecules’ structure can have a major impact on new industries. This is just an example that showed Astbury’s enthusiasm and imagination for learning and teaching. He was known for his cheerfulness and easygoing demeanor, which made him an excellent lecturer.

Resources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Astbury

http://crosstalk.cell.com/blog/william-t-astbury-father-of-molecular-biology-monkeynut-coat-owner

http://www.iucr.org/publ/50yearsofxraydiffraction/full-text/astbury

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/sep/17/william-astbury-forgotten-hero-of-dnas-discovery

            

Zinc Found to Help With Autism

            According to a new study from the University of Aukland, the cellular changes that the brain undergoes from genetic mutations such as autism can be reversed by zinc. Autism is from a genetic mutation that begins at the cellular level that results in changes in behavior. So why did they decide to use zinc? Zinc is considered to be a very important factor in the synthesis of both DNA and proteins. It has been found that autistic children have a zinc deficiency, which is critical because zinc is needed for children to help them grow and develop. In this study, the protein of interest was Shank3, which is located in the brain and has association with disorders like autism and schizophrenia.

From the team’s research Shank3 was found to be an important factor of signaling system that is zinc-sensitive and can regulate how the brain cells can communicate. Even though the Shank3 gene has autism-associated genes that impair communication with brain cells, the ability to respond to the addition of zinc is not affected. So when zinc is added brain cell communication can be increased when it was previously weakened by changes to Shank3 that were autism associated. Environmental and dietary factors can change the protein’s signaling system, which causes the ability to control the nerve cell function of the brain to decrease. What is next for this research? The team hopes to further study what the affect of dietary zinc supplements has on autistic behaviors. I am really excited to see where this research goes in the future, for I believe that autism awareness and research is very important

References:

http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-08-zinc-reverse-brain-cell-autism.html

http://www.wellnessresources.com/health/articles/zinc_and_autism_the_missing_link_for_brain_cell_communication/

Fireflies Helping with Medical Diagnostics

            As kids it is always fun to go out in your backyard and try to catch fireflies, but now they are also being used to help in the medical field. There are times when doctors need to be able to quickly identify if their patient has tumor cells in their body, but most methods take a lot of time. So could there be a faster, easier, and cheaper way to detect such things? The light from fireflies is that way. The enzyme from fireflies that causes them to illuminate can now be used as a cheap and effective detection system.

            The enzyme luciferase is what causes the fireflies to glow. A lab at EPFL figured out that by adding a small chemical tag to the luciferase enzyme it is able to detect a target protein. The tag originally acts as if it is a switch that is able to block the light from illuminating. The tag continues to block the light until the tag is able to locate the target protein. Once this happens the tag will attach to the protein of interest and remove the block from the luciferase, causing the luciferase to light up. When the luciferase illuminates it is visible to the naked eye, which means it is able to eliminate the need for expensive and complicated readout devices.

            The hardest part is designing the appropriate tag that can recognize the target protein of interest. This method can be a very useful tool to create biosensor proteins for many different targets.

Reference:

http://phys.org/news/2015-07-fireflies-medical-diagnostics.html

Figuring Out the Genes of Peanut Allergies

            Food allergies have been rapidly growing all over the world, with about two to ten percent of children being affected in the United States. This growth in food allergies has become a major health problem due to the fact that they can potentially be life threatening, as well as their impact in the medical and economic fields. The three most common food allergies in the United States are peanut, egg, and milk.  Peanut allergies are considered to be one of the most fatal food allergies that are often life-long.

            A research team at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health began researching the idea that genes could factor into food allergies. The team has discovered a region in the human genome that is associated with children’s peanut allergies in the United States. DNA samples of 1, 315 children and then 1,444 of their biological parents were collected. Most of the children being tested had some type of food allergy. The team scanned about 1 million different gene markers throughout the entire human genome to try and find which genes if any contribute to food allergies. The team discovered that on chromosome six, which is the region that has genes like HLA-DQ and HLA-DR, is linked to peanut allergies. This region of HLA-DQ and HLA-DR accounted for 20% of all of the peanut allergies in this study.

Not everyone that had these mutations developed a peanut allergy, which confused the team. They then theorized that epigenetic changes could also be a factor. An epigenetic change is when a methyl group attaches to the DNA, which causes the gene expression to be altered but not the underlying code. So they concluded that the level of DNA methylation determines if the peanut allergy will develop in people with the susceptibility. These levels can be altered by environmental factors such as in-utero or the first couple years of life. If these factors could be identified this could lead to being able to discover treatment or prevention plans.

Reference

http://www.jhsph.edu/news/news-releases/2015/do-genes-play-a-role-in-peanut-allergies-new-study-suggests-yes.html

Cancer Causing Fluke Worms

I first learned of fluke worms from my favorite TV show The X-Files, but they painted fluke worms in a different way than they really are. So I decided to do a little research into what they actually are. In this blog I’m going to talk about the liver fluke parasite that causes bile duct cancer.

            The liver fluke, or Opisthorchis viverini, is a tremadodes that infect humans who eat raw or undercooked fish that are contaminated with the fluke mostly in Asia. Once in the human body the fluke lodges itself in the liver’s bile duct and it feeds and matures. It is not completely known how they cause cancer, but the accepted theory is that the fluke secretes a protein that mimics granulin, which is the human growth hormone. When this worm infects someone their bodies are continuously exposed to these mimicking granulin protein and the host cells multiply uncontrollably. This rapid growth leads to tumor growth.

            Research is being done on these flukes by using a genome assembly tool called OPERA-LG to study the life of the fluke while it is inside the bile duct. This research has lead to the largest parasitic worm genome studied. In furthering their research the team hopes to find the cause and hopefully the cure for the bile duct cancer these flukes cause.

Reference:

http://phys.org/news/2014-09-genetic-code-cancer-causing-liver-fluke.html