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NEWS ARCHIVE: 2010
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Synapses are highly specialized junctions between neurons that are the basis of our understanding of neuronal signal transmission and how memories are formed in the brain. The structure, molecular organization and plastic properties of synapses have been intensely studied by a variety of methods, to understand how the processes of learning and memory occur at a molecular level. [more] |
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Much of our behavior reflects the neural circuits sculpted by experience during early developmental critical periods. Such heightened brain plasticity declines into adulthood, often limiting recovery of function. On the other hand, the adult brain needs stability. Excessive plasticity can disrupt circuit computations by allowing modification in response to irrelevant information, which may contribute to mental illness. We identified a novel molecular ‘brake’ that normally dampens brain plasticity beyond the critical period. [more] |
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Meiosis is a modified cellular program by which a single diploid cell gives rise to haploid gametes (e.g. sperm and egg). To this end, DNA replication is followed by a complex program of interactions between the corresponding maternal and paternal versions of each chromosome (homologs). A central component of these interactions is recombination at the DNA level which, universally, is initiated by programmed double-strand breaks (DSBs).
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| 11-3-10 |
How would you describe the smell of fresh baked bread, a rose, or an ocean breeze? The world of smell is extremely diverse, and with intangible qualities that make it difficult to put into words. However, animals exhibit a remarkable capacity to identify and respond to odors in just a fraction of a second. In fact, a study by Uchida and Mainen (2003) demonstrated that a single sniff cycle, lasting about 150 milliseconds, is sufficient for high performance odor identification. How does the brain accomplish this feat? [more] |
| 12-3-10 |
For the sixth year in a row, MCB Building Operations is organizing MCB's Holiday Gift Drive. [more] |
| 11-18-10 |
The molecular animation work of Rob Lue, Professor of the Practice in
the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Director of Life
Science Education, and Alain Viel, Senior Lecturer on Molecular and
Cellular Biology has been featured in the Science section of The New
York Times on November 16, 2010.
[more] |
11-15-10 |
For the fifth year in a row, MCB Building Operations is organizing the annual Thanksgiving Food Drive. [more] |
| 11-15-10 |
Jack W. Szostak was born in London and raised in Canada. He started college at McGill when he was 15 and began his PhD work at Cornell four years later, focusing on Eudorina a colonial relative of the single celled alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. But instead of completing this project, Jack and a fellow student, John Stiles, worked in the lab of Ray Wu to make a synthetic oligonucleotide that could detect both the gene and the mRNA for cytochrome c1, which was then the only part of the budding yeast genome whose DNA sequence was known. [more] |
| 9-9-10 |
With a renewed award from the prestigious Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Professorship Program under his belt, MCB’s Richard Losick is as prominent a teacher of science as he is a research scientist. [more] |
9-20-10 |
Two high school biology teachers crouched over microscopes in the Hunter Lab and concentrated on the instructions of Dr. Casey Roerhrig, as they released embryos from adult C. elegans. Like the rest of the participants in Life Science Outreach’s 2010 Summer Program in Biology and Multimedia, these teachers were assigned to a laboratory for a morning “mini-internship,” where they gained insight into the hands-on aspects of investigation. [more] |
| 10-18-10 |
Olfaction is a critical sense for many animals, guiding their foraging behavior, mate choice and predator avoidance. Mice use ~1000 odorant receptor types in the main olfactory system to probe chemical space. In vertebrates, odors are sensed by olfactory sensory neurons (OSN) in the nose, each of which expresses one out of ~1000 odorant receptors. All sensory axons expressing a particular receptor then converge on ~2 glomeruli in each hemisphere of the olfactory bulb. [more] |
| 9-20-10 |
Membrane protein targeting is a fundamental problem in cell biology. Pioneering work by George Palade in the 1960s established that the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is the entry point for most proteins along the secretory/endocytic pathway. ER protein targeting information was later shown by Gunter Blobel and colleagues to reside in N-terminal signal sequences and start-transfer signals. Much research since then has revealed that the signal recognition particle (SRP) binds to these hydrophobic sequences upon their emergence from the ribosome and escorts them to the SRP receptor in the ER membrane for co-translational protein translocation by the Sec61 translocon. [more] |
9-2-10 |
On September 15th, Harvard's Center for Biological Imaging will host an Open House all day; 9:00 AM – 5:00 PM. |
| 8-2-10 |
Harvard researchers have uncovered a mechanism through which caloric restriction and exercise delay the debilitating effects of aging by rejuvenating the connections between nerves and the muscles that they control. The research, conducted in the labs of Joshua Sanes and Jeff Lichtman, both members of the Center for Brain Science at Harvard and professors of molecular and cellular biology, begins to explain findings that have been widely reported and accepted, that both exercise and restricted-calorie diets help to stave off the mental and physical degeneration of aging. [more] |
| 5-20-10 |
On a bookshelf in his office, MCB Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology Philippe Cluzel keeps several beautifully bound leather tomes from his parents’ antiquarian bookstore in Paris’s Quartier Latin. One of these is a small, 19th century edition on phrenology. “When I was growing up, I was fascinated by the birth of new sciences. This book about a dubious science stood next to one on thermodynamics. I wondered what kind of argument makes something scientific when you are starting in a new direction.” [more] |
| 7-8-10 |
Parents influence the brain development and the behavior of their offspring in extraordinary and varied ways that impact the success of their offspring in life and susceptibility to neurological disorders and disease. These influences are typically considered from the perspectives of genetic inheritance and the impact of parental behaviors. [more] |
8-3-10 |
In a story entitled “Learning in the Labs,” the July 22, 2010 Harvard Gazette featured an undergraduate summer research intern, Kimeya Ghaderi, working in Susan Mango’s Molecular and Cellular Biology laboratory on how cells form the gastrointestinal track. Ghaderi is one of more than 300 undergraduate students that Harvard University seeks out in an effort to diversify the community of future graduate students, researchers and eventually faculty. These students hail from universities and colleges from across the United States and the territories, many from underrepresented communities. MCB has been a prominent supporter of the Summer Research Opportunities at Harvard Program and featured this program last summer on its website. [more] |
3-4-10 |
William M. Gelbart, Professor of Molecular and Cellular Biology, will receive the 2010 George W. Beadle Award for outstanding contributions to the community of genetics researchers from the Genetics Society of America (GSA). It is one of five annual GSA awards that honor sustained activity and contributions by members of the genetics community. “This year's awards illustrate the power of basic research on nonhuman organisms as a pathway to understanding human biology, health, and disease," said Sherry A. Marts, GSA Executive Director. [more] |
| 6-4-10 |
The 2010 Boston Bacterial Meeting (BBM) will take place on Thursday, June 17 and Friday, June 18 at the Harvard University Science Center. The meeting will feature 25 oral presentations and more than 60 poster presentations by students and postdocs representing diverse areas of research, including bacterial molecular and cellular biology, development, ecology and evolution, and pathogenesis. The BBM2010 Keynote Address will be delivered by Dr. Christine Jacobs-Wagner, Maxine F. Singer Associate Professor at Yale University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. [more] |
| 5-7-10 |
A three-way collaboration between the laboratories of Rich Losick in MCB and Roberto Kolter and Jon Clardy at Harvard Medical School has led to the discovery of a natural and potent factor that prevents biofilm formation, as reported in the April 30th issue of Science magazine. Biofilms are communities of bacteria that assemble on surfaces, such as teeth (plaque), in-dwelling devices in hospital patients and pipes in water distribution systems. [more] |
| 5-20-10 |
Biochemist Susan S. Taylor, recipient of the 2010 FASEB Excellence in Science Award, will give a talk on Thursday, June 3, to celebrate the 90th birthday of Paul Doty, who founded the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology during 42 years on the Harvard Faculty and devoted a parallel career to arms control and international relations. Taylor, who characterized protein kinase A (PKA) - the founding member of the protein kinase family that serves critically important cell-signaling functions - is Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmacology and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Investigator at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). She will speak on “Dynamics of Signaling by PKA” at 4 pm in Northwest Building room B-103. [more] |
| 3-3-10 |
Bacteria have been steadily shedding their former image as amorphous sacks of protein with simplistic, individualistic life styles, and one of the newest surprises is that these complex community-dwelling organisms also have a sense of identity. That’s a discovery by Assistant Professor Karine Gibbs, the newest member of the Harvard Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology (MCB) who studies how bacteria segregate themselves into different populations. [more] |
| 4/20/10 |
April 5th marked the final week for this year’s Spring Laboratory Workshop for High School Biology Classes offered by Life Sciences Outreach. This year, Outreach served approximately 600 students at the Science Center over the course of six weeks. Participating teachers from public, private and parochial schools from all over New England chose a protocol appropriate for their class from Outreach’s online menu, and traveled to Harvard to participate in the three-hour laboratory session. The choices in 2010 included PCR and Gel Electrophoresis, The Heart and ECG, Investigations with C. elegans, Plasmid Technology and Zebrafish Embryology. [more] |
| 4/15/10 |
Our senses are essential for survival and for the exploration of natural environments, and much has been learned about the molecular basis of vision, olfaction, and taste. Yet only a few of the molecules mediating touch and sound perception have been discovered. Now, a team from MCB and HMS has resolved the molecular structure of one key protein important for sound perception. They have used this structure together with molecular dynamics simulations to understand its mechanics and its function in hearing and deafness. [more] |
| 4/7/10 |
Microbes (including bacteria, viruses, fungi, and protists) are ubiquitous on Earth and affect every part of our lives, yet they are mostly invisible. Microbial scientists believe the vast majority of microbes are still unknown to us. On Saturday, April 17, Harvard Microbial Sciences Initiative will host the Seventh Annual Microbial Sciences Symposium, an all-day event free and open to the public, to be held in the Radcliffe Gymnasium at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Studies on the Cambridge campus. Eight prominent microbial scientists hailing from a wide variety of disciplines are invited to share their investigations into these enigmatic microbes. This event will “stimulate discussion among members of the scientific community and help strengthen integrative science programs,” says Kolter. [more] |
| 3/24/10 |
The genomes of most animals are inactive for hours or days after fertilization. Transcription is only initiated during the maternal-zygotic transition and coincides with the formation of pluripotent cells. Nadine Vastenhouw and Alexander Schier in MCB, along with their collaborators, used zebrafish embryos to study the chromatin states during genome activation and the emergence of pluripotency. [more] |
| 3/3/10 |
The annual John M. Prather Lectures in Biology will be presented by Edward O. Wilson, Pellegrino Research Professor Emeritus and Honorary Curator in Entomology at Harvard, and one of the world’s leading voices for conservation of global biodiversity.
Wilson is one of the most influential and accomplished biologists of the last half-century. He is known for his groundbreaking research on the biology and behavior of ants, as well as his celebrated work in such broad fields as island biogeography, sociobiology, and conservation biology. He is the author of two Pulitzer Prize-winning books, On Human Nature (1978) and The Ants (1990, with Bert Hölldobler), as well as the recipient of many fellowships, honors, and awards. [more] |
| 1/14/10 |
Many psychiatric drugs were discovered decades ago through serendipity. For example, a tuberculosis drug called iproniazid also happened to make people happier and therefore became the first marketed anti-depressant. One reason for luck’s role is that modern drug discovery methods rely on testing millions of compounds outside the body, but the complex brain cannot be modeled in a dish. Drug screeners can make educated guesses about what targets to tweak to alleviate symptoms, but often compounds fail to work as expected in the context of the intact brain. [more] |
| 2/9/10 |
In May, Jack Strominger will receive the 2010 Excellence in Mentoring Award from the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). Strominger, the Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and an affiliate of the Harvard Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, currently explores autoimmune diseases, natural killer cells, and enigma of how the body tolerates the “foreign graft” of a fetus in pregnancy. (The loss of tolerance can cause miscarriages.) [more] |
| 2/19/10 |
There is widespread current interest in the roles of mechanical forces for basic cellular process. Many groups are focusing on effects involving forces generated within the cytoskeleton or membranes. The Kleckner laboratory is interested to understand the nature and roles of mechanical forces within chromosomes. [more] |
| 1/26/10 |
Catherine Dulac is one of 11 Harvard faculty members elected as a 2009 Fellow in the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).She was awarded this distinction in the AAAS section on neuroscience for her contributions to the molecular biology of pheromone detection and signaling in mammals, and to the neural mechanisms underlying sex-specific behaviors.[more] |
| 10/26/09 |
In Summer 2009, 12 undergraduate students from diverse colleges and universities spent eight to ten weeks conducting research in the Molecules, Cells and Organisms (MCO) Program. [more] |
| 1/13/10 |
When grown on a rich medium on agar, many bacteria elongate, produce more flagella, and swim in a thin film of fluid over the agar surface in swirling packs. Cells that spread in this way are said to swarm. This mechanism helps cells establish infections. We have been studying this process with the model bacterium Escherichia coli. When E. coli swims above a glass surface in an ordinary microscope-slide preparation, it spirals to the right, because the bundle of flagellar filaments that are pushing the cell from behind turn counter-clockwise and roll to the left, while the cell body, that is in front, turns clockwise and rolls to the right. [more] |
