Author: Isobel Maciver

Quorum Sensing in Bacteria: How a Picture can be Worth a Thousand Words

Posted on by Isobel Maciver

Increasingly, multimedia and video are being used in addition to traditional delivery methods to communicate scientific findings. Journals such as PLoS ONE, Cell, Nature and others often use video to either showcase particular articles, or offer authors the opportunity to include multimedia elements as part of their article. Some subjects lend themselves better to video delivery than others. Every so often a video report comes along that perfectly complements the content of the associated paper, illustrating the power of video to enhance communication of research findings.

In my opinion, the effective use of video to highlight results is beautifully illustrated by the report below, highlighting the publication “A synchronized quorum of genetic clocks” by Danino et al, which was published in Nature this week.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnjdAr4EjI0]
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What’s in the H1N1 Vaccine Anyway?

Posted on by Isobel Maciver

I’m a microbiologist. I wash my hands often, I don’t eat canned green beans or any home-canned food (due to a horrible botulism example given in a bacteriology class), I don’t ask for antibiotics if I just have a cold, and I believe in vaccination programs.

Recently, due to the various controversies surrounding the H1N1 vaccine, and because I just gave permission for my children to be vaccinated at school, I have been thinking about vaccination rather a lot. Even though I believe absolutely in the benefits of vaccination, I also have the usual concerns when considering whether to accept a new vaccine for my children. So, when I read or hear sensational press coverage over emphasizing vaccination risks, I worry, and I want to hear a balanced viewpoint.

So I thought I would share what I have learned about the H1N1 vaccine.

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Variations on the Two-Hybrid Assay

Posted on by Isobel Maciver
two-hybrid assays help fit molecules together like puzzle pieces image shows a puzzle

The use of reporter genes for simple analysis of promoter activity (promoter bashing) is a well known practice. However, there are many other elegant applications of reporter technologies. One such application is illustrated in the paper by Zheng et al., published in the Sept. 2008 issue of Cancer Research. These researchers from the Hormel Institute at the University of Minnesota showed that the cyclin-dependent kinase cdk3 phosphorylates the transcription factor ATF1 and enhances its transcriptional and transactivation activity. The observed cdk/ATF1 signaling was shown to have an important role in cell proliferation and transformation. To do this they used several variations of a reporter-based two-hybrid assay.

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Why Two Reporters are Better than One

Posted on by Isobel Maciver

As part of my job I occasionally search the literature for papers citing use of Promega products in new or interesting ways. Any search on dual-luciferase reporters usually generates a lot of returns. A search for dual-luciferase on Highwire press generates over 700 articles from 2009 alone. So why are dual-luciferase reporter assays so widely used? Continue reading “Why Two Reporters are Better than One”

H1N1 Influenza

Posted on by Isobel Maciver
swine_flu_headline

It’s hard not to panic in the light of recent pandemic fears and the frightening possibilities conjured up by the thought of a novel flu virus with the propensity for person-to-person spread (1-3). The specter of the 1918 pandemic has raised its ugly head, and we are left feeling intensely vulnerable to an invisible and ever-changing enemy. Have science and history left us more prepared to combat this virus than those who suffered during the devastating 1918 outbreak?

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