Stress eating to death: autophagy is key to tumour suppression on replicative crisis

Wondering “how I am going to afford that?”, breaking something valuable or moments before an important talk/interview are just a few moments where one can become stressed. However, stress to a cell is very different. Have you ever stressed about whether a protein was folded correctly, if there are breaks in your DNA, or whether […]

(m)TORC-ing about circadian rhythms at the start of a New Year: a cytoplasmic role for Per2

Now whilst it’s our yearly fashion to celebrate the start of the New Year, to a circadian rhythm, New Year’s Eve is just like any other day. The circadian clock is a cellular internal oscillator that operates through feedback loops coordinating multiple physiological processes. One such activity known to oscillate is of the protein kinase […]

On the road to success? CellTagging tracks a cell’s journey during direct reprogramming

Direct reprogramming in the context of cells, involves the conversion of one cell type into another. For example, a skin cell to a neuron. Only a handful of the large number of cell-type transitions have been tested so far, but what seems apparent is that the processis not that efficient. To improve efficiency, an understanding […]

Gene recombination in Alzheimer’s disease; An APP-arent correlation in neuronal cells

Currently, world-wide ~44 million people have Alzheimer’s disease (AD). With an ageing population, this number is expected to rise and costs for care could reach $1.1 trillion by 2050. Since recent clinical trials have failed to prevent the progression of the disease, a better understanding of the toxic molecular features that cause neuronal cell death […]

The ARTS of life and death in the intestinal stem cells

After passing through the stomach, the next stage of the digestive system occurs in the small intestine, where nutrients and minerals are absorbed. With a host of digestive enzymes, in addition to a diverse microbiome present, the lining of the small intestine is exposed to quite the ‘chemical soup’ that causes the cells much wear […]

Record-seq; Storing a cells transcriptional history with CRISPR

Want to know what a cell gets up to? How it responds to extracellular signals and/or a transient drug exposure? I think we all do! Looking at which and by how much different genes are transcribed in a cell is a good way to answer these questions, but so far, current approaches, namely RNA-sequencing, only […]

Get up to speed with RNA velocity

In a cell, at any particular time, only a subset of genes will be expressed. This subset can vary over time as the cell adapts to both external and internal conditions. Various techniques can be used to determine what these subsets of genes are, information which can be used to understand the function and state […]

What all students MUST read – “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”

Now, as a scientist, or more technically a biochemist, I spend my days learning about DNA, cells and proteins along with their structure, interactions and functions. Work involves either writing essays, reading papers or learning lab techniques. As a student, I also spend time playing sports, watching films and chilling with friends. So, as a […]

Are you looking for NSAA and/or A level Biology/Chemistry tuition?

Memorising facts for exams these days is not enough anymore. Exam techniques including, pulling out the key points from a question, structuring your answers and the dreaded “thinking outside of the box”, are instead being tested. This added stress can become unbearable, but there are strategies and steps that can be taken to circumvent this. […]

How do enzymes survive the snow? Adapting adenylate kinase to the cold.

Regardless of the weather, our bodies have evolved to function optimally at 37 ℃. However, we are an insignificant speck of the vast array of species out there, where many, if not most, species are operating at temperatures that could either freeze or frazzle us! Enzymes are the key players in catalysing the many biochemical […]