New Insights into MaleFemale Biology from Platypus and Chicken Chromosomes Technology Networks
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New Insights into MaleFemale Biology from Platypus and Chicken Chromosomes - Technology Networks
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As the world continues to explore the potential of GPT-4o beating Claude 3.5 Sonnet, EvolutionaryScale, an AI research lab founded by former Meta engineers, who ran the companys now-disbanded protein-folding team, is moving in a completely different domain: making biology programmable.
The task sounds complicated, but the year-old company is already making waves. Today, it announced the launch of ESM3, a natively multimodal and generative language model that can follow prompts and design novel proteins. In tests, the model was able to generate a novel green fluorescent protein (esmGFP), which would have taken hundreds of millions of years to evolve naturally.
esmGFPhas a sequence that is only 58% similar to the closest known fluorescent protein. From the rate of diversification of GFPs found in nature, we estimate that this generation of a new fluorescent protein is equivalent to simulating over 500 million years of evolution, the company wrote in a pre-print paper posted on its website on Tuesday.
In addition to the new model, which comes in three sizes, the startup announced it has raised $142 million in a seed round of funding, led by Nat Friedman, Daniel Gross and Lux Capital. Amazon and Nvidias venture capital arm also participated in the round. The smallest model has also been open-sourced to accelerate research with the new models.
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However, building the model is just the start and it remains to be seen how impactful it will be in the real world.
While generative AI models have evolved a lot, especially in understanding and reasoning with human language, many have wondered if we can train these models to decipher the core language of life and then use them to develop novel molecules. The core molecules of life RNA, proteins and DNA evolved over the last 3.5 billion years through natural chemical reactions. So, having a way to program biology and design new molecules could pave the way to solve some of the biggest challenges faced by humanity, including climate change, plastic pollution and conditions like cancer.
Multiple organizations, including Google Deepmind and Isomorphic Labs, are already in this space, and the latest one to join the fray is EvolutionaryScale. The company, founded in 2023, developed a few protein language models over the last few months, but its latest offering, ESM3, is the largest of all and natively multimodal and generative.
Described as a frontier generative model for biology, ESM3 was trained with 1 trillion teraflops of computing power on 2.78 billion natural proteins sampled from various organisms and biomes and 771 billion unique tokens. It can jointly reason across three fundamental biological properties of proteins: sequence, structure and function. These three data modalities are represented as tracks of discrete tokens at the input and output of ESM3. As a result, the user can present the model with a combination of partial inputs across the tracks, and the model will provide output predictions for all the tracks, generating novel proteins.
ESM3s multimodal reasoning power enables scientists to generate new proteins with an unprecedented degree of control. For example, the model can be prompted to combine structure, sequence and function to propose a potential scaffold for the active site of PETase, an enzyme that degrades polyethylene terephthalate (PET), a target of interest to protein engineers for breaking down plastic waste, the company explained.
In one case, the company was able to use the model with chain-of-thought prompting to design a novel version of green fluorescent protein, a rare protein that can attach to and mark another protein with its fluorescence, enabling scientists to see the presence of the particular protein in a cell. EvolutionaryScale found that the generated version of this protein has brightness characteristics as natural fluorescent proteins. It would have taken nature 500 million years to evolve this generation of protein.
The team also noted that ESM3 can self-improve, providing feedback on the quality of its generations. Feedback from lab experiments or existing experimental data can also be applied to align its generations with goals.
As of now, ESM3 is available in three sizes, small, medium and large. The smallest one, with 1.4B parameters, has been open-sourced with weights and code on GitHub under a non-commercial license. Meanwhile, the medium and large versions going up to 98B params are available for commercial use by companies through EvolutionaryScales API and platforms from partners Nvidia and AWS.
EvolutionaryScale hopes researchers will be able to use the technology to solve some of the biggest problems of the world and benefit human health and society. However, its broader applications by companies remain to be seen. The biggest possible beneficiary of the technology could be pharmaceutical companies that could lead the development of novel medicines targeting life-threatening conditions.
Previous models from the company were used in use cases such as improving therapeutically relevant characteristics of antibodies as well as detecting COVID-19 variants to could pose a major risk to public health.
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Meta alum launches AI biology model that simulates 500 million years of evolution - VentureBeat
The Medical Research Councils Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, UK, is a world leader in basic biology research. The labs list of breakthroughs is enviable, from the structure of DNA and proteins to genetic sequencing. Since its origins in the late 1940s, the institute currently with around 700 staff members has produced a dozen Nobel prizewinners, including DNA decipherers James Watson, Francis Crick and Fred Sanger. Four LMB scientists received their awards in the past 15 years: Venkatraman Ramakrishnan for determining the structure of ribosomes, Michael Levitt for computer models of chemical reactions, Richard Henderson for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) and Gregory Winter for work on the evolution of antibodies (see Figure S1 in Supplementary information; SI). Between 2015 and 2019, more than one-third (36%) of the LMBs output was in the top 10% of the worlds most-cited papers1.
What is the secret of the LMBs success? Many researchers and historians have pointed to its origins in the Cavendish Laboratory, the physics department of the University of Cambridge, UK, where researchers brought techniques such as X-ray crystallography to bear in the messy world of biology. Its pool of exceptional talent, coupled with generous and stable funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC), undoubtedly played a part. However, there is much more to it. None of these discoveries was serendipitous: the lab is organized in a way that increases the likelihood of discoveries (see New questions, new technologies).
To find out how, we conducted 12 interviews with senior LMB and external scientists to provide insights into the organization. We also analysed 60 years worth of archival documents from the lab, including research publications, meeting minutes, external assessments and internal management reports (see SI for methods).
The LMBs approach is to identify new and important scientific questions in uncrowded fields that require pioneering technologies to answer them. The lab develops that technology to open up the field; continual improvements bring more breakthroughs, which can be scaled up to enter markets. Here are three examples.
DNA sequencing. In the 1940s and 1950s, biochemists Max Perutz and John Kendrew sought a way to discriminate between normal and pathological haemoglobins and myoglobin. The LMB developed molecular fingerprinting and chromatography technologies11 that allowed various biological questions to be addressed, such as how genes are regulated or how molecular programming is involved in cell death. Protein and DNA sequencing also enabled the study of molecular mechanisms of viruses and organ development. Transferring these discoveries into clinical and industrial settings changed drug discovery from a process of screening compounds to one of active design.
Antibodies. At the LMB in 1975, biologist George Khler and biochemist Csar Milstein discovered a method to isolate and reproduce individual (monoclonal) antibodies from the many proteins that the immune system makes. This breakthrough enabled the characterization of antibodies, and sparked inquiries into gene regulation and programmed cell death. Monoclonal antibodies now account for one-third of new treatments that reach the clinic.
Cryogenic electron microscopy. The LMB has a long-standing history in the development of electron microscopy, with Aaron Klugs group using it in the 1960s to elucidate the structure of viruses. Cryo-EM visualizes atoms in biological molecules in 3D. It was developed on the back of three decades of the LMBs accumulated expertise in areas from optimizing cooling and vacuum technology to microscopy, computing-based imaging and electron detectors. The method has revolutionized protein research and many other areas.
We identify the LMBs management model as the key it sets a culture with incentives and provides oversight to optimize the interplay between science and technology. By integrating high-risk basic science with innovative technology, the LMB facilitates a knowledge feedback loop that helps the institute to identify promising questions and continuously push scientific boundaries (see SI, quote 1). In the context of economics and management theory, the LMB behaves as a complex adaptive system.
Here, we outline our findings and encourage research organizations, funding bodies and policymakers to consider adopting a similarly holistic and coherent approach to managing basic scientific research. In short, they should prioritize long-term scientific goals and effectively manage scarce resources; foster economies of scale and scope by promoting complementarities between different areas of scientific research; and create value by establishing synergies and feedback between scientific questions and engineering-based technology solutions.
The LMBs management strategy prioritizes three elements culture, incentives and management oversight that sustain a feedback loop between science and technology development (see SI, Figure S2).
Culture. The LMB sets a coherent culture by promoting scientific diversity among its staff, encouraging the exchange of knowledge and ideas and valuing scientific synergies between different areas of research. Senior managers view this culture as central to an evolutionary process in which a broad and diverse talent pool helps the organization to be flexible and to adapt and survive. Scientific discovery emerges from it in a sustainable but unpredictable way.
Csar Milstein analysing DNA.Credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
The LMB recognizes the importance of having a defined, yet broad and open, institutional research direction. It encourages the recruitment of groups with diverse but aligned interests that are complementary (see SI quote 2). This approach has ensured that the LMB can achieve a critical mass of expertise in specific research areas. It enables economies of scale while retaining the flexibility to innovate by pioneering new avenues and emerging fields. It also recognizes that not every promising direction can be followed.
Scientific diversity has been a trait from the start. Although the lab was founded by physicists and chemists, its researchers today include mathematicians, engineers and zoologists (see SI quote 3). Yet too much variety is to be avoided in case it dilutes the culture. Minutes of an executive committee meeting from 1997 reveal the reticence of lab heads to appoint purely clinical researchers on the grounds that this might alter the labs culture and its focus (see SI quote 4).
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A diverse portfolio of related and aligned themes makes it easier to share techniques and methods between projects and inspires programmes to aim at bolder goals (see SI quote 5). For example, the development of cryo-EM to examine macromolecules benefited both the structural-studies division and the neurobiology division, and led to a better understanding of molecular pathways in neurodegeneration.
Incentives. The LMB uses an incentive structure to align the organizations culture with the goals of its people. Actively promoting shared values and common aims helps researchers to feel part of the LMB community and proud to belong to it, fostering long-term loyalty. The LMB has always had a non-hierarchical structure one in which emphasis lies in the quality of the argument, rather than in the status of the proponent, a 2001 external review of the LMB noted (see SI quote 6).
Unlike many labs, the LMB focuses on investing in and promoting junior members rather than bringing in external talent. This is reflected in the high standards of its junior scientific recruitment. Many of its Nobel prizewinners, including Richard Henderson and Gregory Winter, began their careers at the lab and were promoted internally.
Prioritizing small teams also optimizes the sharing of technologies and budgets and incentivizes scientists from different fields to converge on the same projects. Although the LMB is structured in divisions, almost all career scientists have independent but aligned scientific programmes. This connectivity often leads to rapid and creative combinations of ideas between teams. It also allows for the sharing of failure and resilience to it, which is inevitable in high-risk, high-stakes innovative research (see SI quote 7).
Structural biologist Daniela Rhodes studies chromatin structure and regulation at the LMB.Credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
LMB resources are allocated in ways that encourage innovative collaboration between internal teams and divisions. For example, limits are set for research groups to bid for external grants, because these tend to have short-term, results-oriented requirements that might not align with the LMBs longer-term ambitions.
Furthermore, the LMBs director can flexibly allocate funds to promote innovative collaborations and initiatives. Recent examples include forays into synthetic biology (using engineering to develop or redesign biological systems) and connectomics (the study of the connections in the brain and nervous system).
Management oversight. The LMB uses a management oversight system that resolves tensions between technology and science priorities, which would otherwise affect productivity. Technologists aim to develop and improve tools to match the best specifications for as many potential users as possible. Scientists help to define technology specifications that are based on their aims and data, which are usually on the cutting edge of existing capabilities.
Want to speed up scientific progress? First understand how science policy works
Tensions are present in the differences between how technology developers and scientists speak, define problems, operate and organize their project milestones and risk assessments. Technologists often focus on developing solutions for relatively well-defined practical problems that are amenable to rigorous project-management techniques, whereas scientists tend to work on uncertain, ambiguous questions and problems that require flexibility in experimental processes and resource allocation2.
To address these issues, the LMB uses a mixture of interventions and a robust process for selecting which scientific questions it focuses on. For example, technology developers with distinct specialisms operate in a dedicated workshop unit to develop prototypes. Experienced principal investigators act as go-betweens, translating scientific terms into technical engineering requirements and vice versa. Decisions around scientific resources are delegated to the divisions; money for major technology development is allocated centrally through the labs executive committee. Thus, the feedback loop between science and technology that facilitates innovation is enhanced (see SI quote 8).
Because the LMBs strategy focuses on long-term, transformational goals rather than short-term incremental gains, its internal evaluation system for researchers is more concerned with the potential of the overall scientific programme3 than with standard individual performance metrics, such as the number of journal publications and citations, personal impact factors, grant funding, awards and collaborations. Scientists must openly assess which questions hold the highest value according to the LMBs focus areas, and balance that with the cost of technology development and risks of failure while sustaining diversity in their research portfolio.
To manage these competing demands, the LMB integrates internal expertise and external reviews. The quinquennial external review process by the MRC is a strategic approach to innovation that anticipates future trends and brings fairness to decision-making. In our interviews, managers articulated the importance of quinquennial reviews to inform and stress-test the scientific direction of the organization. These reviews include visits from a committee of reviewers who are aware of the labs culture and who score a group leaders scientific productivity and originality on the basis of reports, internal reviews and interviews.
Biochemist Max Perutz preparing a sample for examination using X-ray crystallography.Credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Individual labs are evaluated on the usual metrics, such as results from past research, but more emphasis is placed on the future outlook. As a result, a young investigators potential and the impact of their research might result in tenure, even if they have a limited number of publications. Marks below a certain point mean the research group will be closed within a year. But this remains an exception so that the long-term nature of programmes is not lost.
The review process also plays a crucial part in identifying emerging scientific trends and opportunities. For example, in 2005, the visiting review committee identified the need for a new animal facility that would highlight the potential of mammalian biology a concept that had not been prioritized previously (see SI quote 5).
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Indeed, the LMB generally declines projects that require scaling up technology and large physical spaces, in case they come to dominate the labs work and space requirements beyond the financial income that the project can generate. In 1996, for example, the lab decided to forgo projects that involved scaling up its profitable protein and antibody engineering successes (see SI quote 9).
The LMB could be seen as a high-quality incubator for early-stage innovative projects, with a high turnover of research projects. This turnover does not compromise the viability of the research, because the small group structure allows for flexibility of research projects and mobility of staff. The LMB focuses on projects until they become successful, fundable and scalable by having access to funding opportunities closer to later stages of scientific development and translational research.
Although these rules govern the LMB, the outcomes are more than the sum of their parts. The organizations management strategy gives rise to emergent behaviours and deliverables that align with its long-term research goals. The management model has emerged from a set of actions taken by management over time that collectively result in a coherent approach to achieving the overall aim of the LMB4. In management theory terms, the LMB is a complex adaptive system, similar to an ecosystem.
A complex adaptive system is a self-organizing system with distinctive behaviour that emerges from interactions between its components in a manner that is usually not easy to predict5. Components might include individuals and their activities; material parts, such as technologies; and the ideas generated from these interactions6.
Effective management of this complex adaptive system is fundamental to the LMBs success. Through continual adaptation and evolution, the LMB can generate new knowledge more effectively than most other institutions can.
For example, the LMB helped to develop cryo-EM for application in the biological sciences through collaborative efforts involving scientists and engineers and the integration of software and advanced cooling techniques. Rather than one individual orchestrating and coordinating all the steps, this multidisciplinary team exhibited self-organization and iterative adjustments, bound by its shared culture. This allowed the emergence of new solutions, mirroring the adaptability seen in ecosystems.
In our view, the LMB system should be considered a framework for how funding is allocated to basic science more widely. Looking to the future, however, we see three challenges that the LMB and the life-sciences community will need to overcome.
First, scientific questions in the basic biosciences are becoming more complex, requiring ever more sophisticated and expensive equipment7. Developing such tools might be beyond the capability of one lab, and wider institutional collaborations will be required.
The Medical Research Councils Laboratory of Molecular Biology in 2021.Credit: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology
Second, institutions dedicated to basic life sciences are increasingly urged by funders and society to transition quickly into clinical applications, which risks undermining the quality and competitive edge of their fundamental research8. The gap between fundamental bioscience and clinical translation is notoriously hard to bridge9 (see also Nature 453, 830831; 2008). It is also high risk.
In recent years, some funders have pulled out of basic bioscience. For example, more of the US National Institutes of Healths extramural funding over the past decade has gone to translational and applied research than to basic science (see Science 382, 863; 2023). Some highly reputable basic-science research institutions have suffered as a result and have even been dissolved, such as the Skirball Institute in New York City10. However, it is crucial to resist the temptation of dismantling basic science research, considering the complexity and difficulty of re-establishing it.
In response, a lab such as the LMB might enhance the translation of its discoveries by strengthening connections with the clinical academic sciences and private-sector industries. Leveraging strengths in the pharmaceutical industry in areas such as artificial intelligence and in silico modelling can bolster basic science without compromising a research labs focus. The LMBs Blue Sky collaboration with the biopharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca is a step in this direction (see go.nature.com/3rnsvyu).
Third, it is becoming increasingly challenging for basic science labs to recruit and retain the best scientific minds. Translational research institutes are proliferating globally. Biotechnology and pharma firms can pay higher salaries to leading researchers. And researchers might be put off by the large failure rates for high-risk projects in fundamental research, as well as by the difficulties of getting tenure in a competitive lab such as the LMB.
As a first step, governments must recognize these issues and continue to fund high-quality, high-impact fundamental science discoveries. The use of effective research-management strategies such as the LMBs will make such investments a better bet, de-risking discovery for the long-term benefit of society.
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The strategy behind one of the most successful labs in the world - Nature.com
image:
Pictured is an optical section of planarian testes, showing mRNAs expressed at different stages of spermatogenesis, including early spermatogonia (magenta) and spermatocytes (yellow-to-red). DNA staining (cyan) highlights changes in testis cell nuclei throughout spermatogenesis. Melanie Issigonis et al. found that the enzyme AADC in reproductive niche cells helps the enzyme NRPS produce the dipeptide -alanyl-tryptamine (BATT). Inhibition of the gene for either enzyme in planarians led to the loss of female reproductive organs and accumulation of spermatogonial stem cells in testes. The defects were reversed by administering synthetic BATT. According to the authors, monoamine-derived compounds, such as BATT, can trigger development in reproductive niche cells.
Credit: Melanie Issigonis, Katherine Browder, and Phillip Newmark, Morgridge Institute for Research
Biogenic monoamines molecules like dopamine and serotonin are famous for their role as the brains emissaries of mood, learning and memory, stress mechanisms, and fight-or-flight responses in the body.
But these neurotransmitters existed in nature long before brains popped up in the evolutionary tree. Theyre prevalent in plants, bacteria, and single-cell organisms as well, but their functions there are far less understood.
Scientists at the Morgridge Institute for Research have added another task for monoamines. They play an important role in the reproductive organs of planarian flatworms, and appear to be critical for the development of both female and male germ cells (the cells that make eggs and sperm).
Writing in today's (June 25, 2024) issueof the journalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences(PNAS), a regenerative biology team at Morgridge demonstrated that such transmitters are not only signals originating from the planarian brain. They are also highly localized within the somatic gonadal cells that regulate germ cell development.
We are excited about this because it demonstrates a new paradigm for niche-to-germ cell signaling, says Research Investigator Melanie Issigonis, lead author of the study.
This surprising discovery began in a separate study published in 2022 by former graduate student Umair Khan and Morgridge Investigator Phil Newmark, also an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. They set out to characterize the transcriptomes of the ovaries and testes in planarians (which are hermaphrodites) and generated a long list of genes with enriched expression in ovaries. One of the top hits came back asaromatic L-amino acid decarboxylase(AADC), an evolutionarily conserved enzyme that is important for making monoamines.
Puzzled, they assumed the samples were contaminated by surrounding brain tissue, but follow-up studies confirmed the finding. Khan then inhibited expression of theaadcgene to study its role in reproductive system development.
When he knocked this enzyme down in sexually reproducing planarians, the phenotype was amazing, Issigonis says. The ovaries were gone. In fact, the entire female reproductive system was completely ablated.
The opposite occurred in testes, Issigonis says. In normal testes, if you cut them open like a watermelon, the stem cells would be found along the periphery like the rind, but only a small number are made. When Umair knocked downaadc, the testes were completely filled with germline stem cells, she says. No sperm was being made; testes were filled with germ cell tumors, essentially.
Issigonis follow-up study sought to answer two questions: Which monoamine is AADC making and where is it coming from? They looked for the answer by conducting single-cell RNA sequencing of the somatic cells in the niche that surrounds and supports the germ cells.
In somatic niche cells, they found enriched expression ofaadcand another gene,nrps, which encodes a non-ribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS). That was striking because, unlikeaadc,nrpsis only expressed in the reproductive system, and not neuronally.
Then, when they knocked downnrpsin sexual planarians, they found the identical phenotype observed whenaadcwas inhibited: complete collapse of the female system and dramatic accumulation of male germ cells.
This was an important clue that AADC and NRPS were working together. Further mass spectrometry analysis by Rui Chen and Jim Collins, colleagues from UT Southwestern, offered evidence that these two enzymes were creating-alanyl tryptamine (BATT), consisting of-alanine conjugated to the monoamine tryptamine. Collins lab discovered that in schistosomes (parasitic cousins of planarians) males produce BATT to trigger egg production in the females.
The compound is nicknamed the BATT Signal, after the bat-shaped skylight used to call Batman into action in the comic series. The signal is flashing clearly in planarians as well. The team found that BATT is highly abundant when planarians reach sexual maturity and have mature reproductive organs.
We thought, wow, the sexual animals make lots of BATT, she says. And in fact, when we knocked down eithernrpsoraadc, BATT was gone. That told us we were on the right track.
This study and that by Collins lab in schistosomes revealed that-alanyl-monoamine conjugatescan act as important signals. Since NRPS enzymes exist throughout the animal kingdom, this suggests thatnovel monoamine conjugates may be acting as signaling molecules in other animals, too.The next steps are to understand how these novel signals function.
This research was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development of the National Institutes of Health.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Experimental study
Animal tissue samples
A niche-derived nonribosomal peptide triggers planarian sexual development
25-Jun-2024
Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.
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Following the 'BATT Signal:' A new signaling pathway controlling planarian germ cells - EurekAlert
Amelia Marvit has taken her passion for biology and Doctor Who, the long-running science fiction TV series, to new heights with a featured article in Scientific American.
Marvit, who recently graduated with a bachelors degree in human biology from the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, delves into the fascinating world of Time Lord physiology, focusing on their unique, dual-heart cardiovascular system.
Time Lords, such as the central character of the TV show, are an advanced alien species with the ability to travel through time and space, regenerate their bodies, and live for centuries.
Combining her scientific knowledge with creative speculation, Marvit explains how the Doctors two hearts might function and evolve. She draws parallels with real-world biology, including cephalopod (think octopus) cardiovascular systems and human heart conditions, to create a plausible scientific framework for the fictional alien anatomy.
Scientific American spotted an early version of the article after Marvit received a student recognition award from Phi Kappa Phi, USCs oldest interdisciplinary honor society, for writing it.
Combining her love of science fiction with a deep knowledge of hard science exemplifying the cross-disciplinary thinking at the heart of the Dornsife experience Amelia shows us how imagination will always be the lifeblood of scientific hypothesis, said Emily Hodgson Anderson, college dean of undergraduate education. She follows the grand tradition of natural philosophers, at a time when intellectual disciplines didnt exist, who could dream their way into discovery.
Read Marvits full article in Scientific American >>
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Ohio Wesleyan Students Travel to Galapagos to Complete Semester-Long Study of Island Biology Brian Harrington '25 (lower left) observes a lava heron while surveying the coastline during Ohio Wesleyan's Island Biology Travel-Learning Course in the Galapagos.
Name: Brian Harrington '25Hometown: Columbus, Ohio High School: Dublin Scioto High School Major: General Zoology Minor: Music Performance (Trumpet)
Name: Shae Kline '25Hometown: Troy, Ohio High School: Troy High School Major: Biology
OWU Connection Experience: Island Biology Travel-Learning Course
Along with Harrington and Kline, students Brielle Decarolis '25 of Albrightsville, Pennsylvania; Brandon Edwards '24 of Milford, Ohio; Alyssa Head '24 of Houston, Texas; Sophia Holupka '24 of Hillsboro, Missouri; Katherine Korenge '24 of Lewis Center, Ohio; Ashley Krumlaw '24 of Mansfield, Ohio; Maya Moore '24 of Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania; Gabrielle Plunkett '25 of Cincinnati, Ohio; Zoie Pois '24 of Louisville, Kentucky; Zachary Ristau '25 of Stow, Ohio; and Jasmyn "Jazz" Zimmerman '25 of Vermilion, Ohio, traveled to Ecuador and the Galapagos from May 13-25 to explore one of the most important locations in the history of biology and natural selection.
They traveled with OWU faculty members Ramon Carreno, Ph.D., and Danielle Hamill, Ph.D., both professors of Biological Sciences.
Carreno said the group's visit to multiple islands in the Galapagos enabled them to "discover firsthand the biodiversity, volcanic terrain, and geological history that make the island so compelling." In addition, the students explored the mainland to explore "one of the most biodiverse spots on the planet," the cloud forests of Ecuador.
Harrington: "I was told about this Travel-Learning Course on my first tour at OWU back in 2020, so I had known about this experience for a while. Biology students are frequently taught about the significance of the Galapagos Islands, so getting to actually visit them was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. I was particularly interested in studying the fish and other marine organisms, as well as the marine ecosystem as a whole."
Kline: "When I first visited Ohio Wesleyan, my tour guide told me about the Travel-Learning Courses and specifically the Island Biology course. I was so shocked and excited to learn that I could have the chance to get into this course and visit such an amazing place. Especially having learned about evolution and Darwin's finches, to have the opportunity to see these things firsthand is the experience of a lifetime."
[O]ur whole class was jumping with excitement and pointing and shouting calling out all of the animals we had learned about in class. A lot of people were looking at us funny, but it really gives you a whole new level of appreciation when you've studied the flora and fauna for a whole semester and then it comes to life.
Harrington: "My favorite moment of this trip was definitely snorkeling at Pinnacle Rock. The water was absolutely beautiful, and I got to observe a multitude of different species including sea lions, sharks, and eagle rays. I even followed a Galapagos penguin as it hunted for fish along the seafloor."
Kline: "My favorite moment was when we first arrived at the port to get on our boat. We did not think we would be seeing so many animals so soon, and our whole class was jumping with excitement and pointing and shouting calling out all of the animals we had learned about in class. A lot of people were looking at us funny, but it really gives you a whole new level of appreciation when you've studied the flora and fauna for a whole semester and then it comes to life."
Harrington: "We spent the entire semester learning about the animals and plants that live on the islands and the evolutionary processes that allow them to survive, but actually getting to witness them firsthand solidified the knowledge I gained from this course. Experiences like these are important because they let students get out of the classroom and visit places they have never been while still learning and working toward their desired field of study."
Kline: "I learned so much from this experience. It was so fulfilling to learn about all of the plants and animals that inhabit the islands and then to actually see them in person. It really just came full circle for me. Not only did I learn about the plants and animals, but I learned a lot about the cultures, traditions, and people that live there. There are different social norms and expectations in Ecuador, and I tried to study up and be mindful of the differences in this new place.
"Experiences like this one are extremely important because not many students will have these travel opportunities after leaving OWU. The school helps tremendously making this more accessible to many students including myself. These experiences open your eyes to all of the different cultures, places, and opportunities that exist across the world. These trips really enrich your mind and broaden your horizons, and this can lead to new ideas and opportunities."
Harrington: "I am very active in music and Greek life. I am currently a member of the OWU Marching Bishops, the Symphonic Wind Ensemble, and the Park Avenue Jazz Ensemble. I am also the vice president of the Chi Phi fraternity. I am also a member of the OWU Esports program."
Kline: "I am the president of the OWtsiders A Cappella group on campus."
Harrington: "I was looking for a small school close to home that had a good Zoology program, and OWU fit that description perfectly! When I took my first tour here, I immediately knew this was the school for me. I was also very intrigued by the opportunities provided by the OWU Connection such as this one."
Kline: "I chose to attend OWU because it seemed like a good fit for me. I liked the atmosphere and the close-knit community feel of the campus. I wanted a small school that felt like a community, and OWU fulfilled that. I also received a lot of scholarships and tuition aid from OWU that has been really helpful."
Harrington: "I plan to go into animal care for at least a few years. I participated in an internship in the North American region at the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium this past semester thanks to resume help from the Career Connection office. The students and faculty have also helped broaden my horizons, and I am considering graduate school and research further down the line."
Kline: "I plan to utilize my Biology degree in any way it may take me. I am hoping to do field sampling and research, or even laboratory work. I want to make contributions to the science community and work with other people who have a passion for science and its ever-growing and ever-changing nature. It is an extremely important and rewarding discipline, and I am excited to make more of an impact when I graduate."
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Getting up close and personal with bacteria, fetal pigs and nature are just some of the things participants in University of Texas Permian Basins biology camp got to experience this week on campus.
Camp coordinator and biology lecturer Paula Gutierrez said there were 13 participants from 13 to 18 years old.
Laith Hilal, 13, is going into eighth grade at Nimitz Middle School and Miali Sanchez, 12, is going into eighth grade at STEM Academy. Both wanted to try something different for summer camp this year. On June 26, they were dissecting fetal pigs, something only college students usually get a chance to do.
Its pretty cool. I mean, anything anything that involves altering bacterial genes, dissecting pigs, and extracting DNA from bananas for some reason, its pretty cool, Hilal said.
Sanchez said shed never really done anything with biology before.
I just wanted to try something new because Ive never really done anything like dissecting, or really like doing much with bacteria, really much of anything about biology, she added.
Sanchez said its been really fun.
Even now, which Im kind of squirming about a little, she said.
Last year, Gutierrez, who was leading a section on anatomy June 26, said the kids chose to dissect a starfish, clam and an earthworm.
But this year, we thought lets really focus on the pig and that way we can focus on going through all the body organs with them, she said.
They are trying to make the camp more comprehensive this year.
Were trying to make sure that we keep it a really wide breadth of information, Gutierrez said.
She said June 26 that the camp had gone well so far.
We tried to keep all our topics very, very broad so that we can expose them to more things, so were trying to each day focus on one particular area of biology. Today would be anatomy. Yesterday was microbiology. They bioengineered bacteria to make it glow in the dark. The day before, thats genetics and so we extracted DNA from some bananas. Then tomorrow (June 27) will be field ecology. Well go outside, well take a little field trip pasture and well collect some measurements from out there, Gutierrez said.
She added that the camp gives the kids a head start on things theyll be learning later on in their educational careers.
These kids are doing some things that, like the pig, for example, college students dissect the pig. But the owl pellets, we dont do that here at UTPB. Thats something that our college students are really excited about. They want to try it out, Gutierrez said.
With the pigs, she said, you can see the organs very well. The kids had work sheets to see how many organs they could identify.
Jennifer Nutting is a UTPB student working with the biology camp.
I wish my kids were old enough to be here. It teaches them a lot about science I like it, Nutting said.
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Biology Camp gives kids a jump start on science - Odessa American
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In its first special issue on Biosafety and Biosecurity Considerations of Synthetic Genomics, the first part of a two-part special issue of the peer-reviewed journal Applied Biosafety focuses on the growing availability of customizable nucleic acid sequences and genomes from commercial sources. The issue also describes the advancements in desktop synthesis devices that enable the creation of on-demand nucleic acids. Click here to read the special issue now.
The rapid technological advancements described in part one of this two-part special issue are raising concerns among biosecurity experts and policymakers. The manuscripts in this issue explore the challenges, opportunities, and lessons learned in managing the risks associated with synthetic genomics.
Included in the special issue is a Review Article titled Enhancing Gene Synthesis Security: An Updated Framework for Synthetic Nucleic Acid Screening and the Responsible Use of Synthetic Biological Materials, which reviews the U.S. governments 2023 revised dsDNA screening framework, which now includes all entities handling synthetic nucleic acids with pathogenic or toxic sequence.
The issue also includes the Review Article titled Developing a Common Global Baseline for Nucleic Acid Synthesis Screening, which introduces the Common Mechanism for DNA Synthesis Screening, which provides baseline capabilities to address screening challenges, facilitating broader international adoption.
Other Review Articles in the special issue include Safeguarding Mail-Order DNA Synthesis in the Age of Artificial Intelligence; Screening State of Play: The Biosecurity Practices of Synthetic DNA Providers; Biosecurity Risk Assessment for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Synthetic Biology; and A Methodology for the Assessment and Prioritization of Genetic Biocontainment Technologies for Engineered Microbes.
We are excited to present two Special Issues of Applied Biosafety focused on synthetic genomics, addressing the critical intersection of groundbreaking scientific advancements and the imperative for robust biosecurity measures," said David Gillum, Associate Editor. "These two issues offer essential insights and practical solutions to ensure that scientific innovations are both safe and secure, fostering a future where scientific progress and biosecurity go hand in hand.
About the Journal Applied Biosafety(APB)is a peer-reviewed, scientific journal committed to promoting global biosafety awareness and best practices to prevent occupational exposures and adverse environmental impacts related to biohazardous releases.APBprovides a forum for exchanging sound biosafety and biosecurity initiatives by publishing original articles, review articles, letters to the editors, commentaries, and brief reviews.APBinforms scientists, safety professionals, policymakers, engineers, architects, and governmental organizations.The Journal is committed to publishing on topics significant in well-resourced countries as well as information relevant to underserved regions, engaging and cultivating the development of biosafety professionals globally.
Applied Biosafetyis under the editorial leadership ofCoeditors-in-Chief Karen B. Byers, MS, CBSP(ABSA), Dana-Farber Cancer Institute andBarbara Johnson, PhD, Biosafety Biosecurity International, and other leading investigators.
About the Publisher Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.is a global media company dedicated to creating, curating, and delivering impactful peer-reviewed research and authoritative content services to advance the fields of biotechnology and the life sciences, specialized clinical medicine, and public health and policy. For complete information, please visit the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.website.
About ABSA International ABSA International was founded in 1984 to become a global leader for providing professional and scientific expertise in the practice of biosafety and biosecurity. ABSAs core purpose is to promote and expand biosafety and biosecurity expertise through training, standards, publications, networking, resources, advocacy, annual biosafety/biosecurity conference, and professional credentials.
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Introduction to Applied Biosafety's Special Issue on Synthetic Genomics: Part 1
26-Jun-2024
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Special Issue of Applied Biosafety focuses on synthetic genomics - EurekAlert
June 24, 2024 | Combined Reports - UConn Communications
The distinction is given to marine scientists who have made a significant contribution to the field.
Sandra Shumway, research professor emeritus of marine sciences in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, has been named a Fellow of the Marine Biological Association.
The award is given to individuals who have made distinguished and long-term contributions to marine biology at the highest level, in areas that include research, policy, education, outreach, or professional and public service.
Over the course of a 50-year career, Shumway has conducted research on environmental physiology of marine invertebrates, the effects of harmful algae, and microplastics, much of it focused on shellfish and aquaculture.
Founded in 1884, the Marine Biological Association is one of the worlds oldest groups focused on promoting marine research. The organization provides a unified, clear, independent voice on behalf of the marine biological community with membership in over 40 countries.
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Hendrix biology professor publishes research paper | News | thecabin.net - Log Cabin Democrat