tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post7050459586770915770..comments2024-03-19T00:24:23.577-04:00Comments on <center>Sandwalk</center>: Model organisms and translational researchLarry Moranhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-77770210535614928222016-01-16T21:20:03.308-05:002016-01-16T21:20:03.308-05:00...lately he is rebranding himself as a fish resea......lately he is rebranding himself as a fish researcher and distancing from human research. He does not even mention his ENCODE accomplishment on his website.<br /><br />Speaking of 'understanding', I doubt he has any, and you can read his twitter channel to find that out. He possibly sees himself as a 'marketing genius' fooling scientists.Greeniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16723475560144858107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-38528495007173776162016-01-16T21:15:04.960-05:002016-01-16T21:15:04.960-05:00The confused Birney clown also talks about 'hu...The confused Birney clown also talks about 'human as model organism' -<br /><br />http://genomeinformatician.blogspot.com/2015/05/human-as-model-organism.html<br /><br />which is an idea he stole entirely from Brenner -<br /><br />http://www.homolog.us/blogs/blog/2015/05/13/using-humans-as-a-model-organism-sydney-brenner/<br />Greeniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16723475560144858107noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-73029390902714415172016-01-16T14:03:04.105-05:002016-01-16T14:03:04.105-05:00I don't so mind when people funded from the NS...I don't so mind when people funded from the NSF (or local equivalent) go on about the supposed purity of "basic science" (even if I think they should go read some Francis Bacon and learn that the distinction between basic and applied is a modern myth), but when it gets ridiculous is when people funded by the NIH (or again, local version) do the same. Seriously, if you don't care about helping people's health, why are you expecting an agency dedicated to exactly that to fund you?<br />Jonathan Badgerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04921990886076027719noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-11930028145368445662016-01-14T21:57:34.726-05:002016-01-14T21:57:34.726-05:00This indicates to me that Ewan has a good understa...This indicates to me that Ewan has a good understanding of how things sort out in regard to what emerges from what: <br /><i><br /><strong>Molecular scales</strong><br />Even with a complete parts list of proteins in humans, we are still clueless about what vast tracts of well-characterised protein coding genes actually do. For about 8000 proteins we have a good idea of at least one of their roles; for another around 7000 proteins we have some hints. But even this knowledge can be very partial. For example, the Huntingtin gene we know is involved in Huntington's disease via a trinucleotide expansion – yet we have almost no knowledge of its molecular function. We know other genes are key mediators in disease, for example C9orf72 in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (of ice bucket fame), yet we know very little about about its cellular or molecular function. And this patchy knowledge gets far worse as we move away from proteins. Every year it feels like a new class of non-coding RNA is defined, but pinning down functions for them (including potentially no function, the hardest thing to show) is elusive, beyond some individual cases.<br /><br /><strong>Cellular scales</strong><br />Imagine we knew the full parts list of proteins and RNAs, and their individual functions. Somehow these proteins go on to make cells, and the cells form organs. Huge unknowns dominate the landscape of cellular structure and mechanism. For example, the massive, Death-Star-like Vault complex has a large RNA component, hangs around in the nucleus and is quite easy to visualise with electron microscopy - but we have no firm idea of what it is doing. Or take the host of vesicles and membrane-bound structures zipping around every cell. Presumably they’re doing some kind of cellular ‘housekeeping’ (specific to different cell types), but we’re gloriously ignorant of the details. How do they know where they’re going? How does the right thing get into the right vesicle? As soon as you start poking into even the easiest-to-observe cellular phenomena, there are a surprising number of unknown components and their interactions.<br /><br /><strong>Organ scales</strong><br />Research into nearly every combination of cells turns up far more questions than answers. Even ‘simple’ multi-cellular systems, like the gut, have mysterious ways of ensuring that the right cells divide and differentiate at the right time. In more complex systems, interactions between cells give rise to clearly observable (sometimes model-able) phenomena, for example beating heart muscle, or the capture and excretion of toxins.<br /></i>Gary Gaulinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10925297296758439900noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-75542718366340815272016-01-14T15:11:04.372-05:002016-01-14T15:11:04.372-05:00When my flies got sick I used to kill them
That i...<i>When my flies got sick I used to kill them</i><br /><br />That is because you are a godless atheist who doesn't realize these very flies are your and other folks' ancestors who haven't freed themselves from the wheel of reincarnation.judmarchttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03111006189037693272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-13060695107527146602016-01-14T14:54:43.574-05:002016-01-14T14:54:43.574-05:00I totally agree. We need to try to learn what div...I totally agree. We need to try to learn what diversity of organisms exist, how they all function, and how they all got here. We need to do this mainly because of our wish to know. Incidentally, we will learn unexpected things that will help us deal with human health, or food plants and animals, and managing ecosystems in a changing world. There's so much cool stuff to learn!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-11590086957465226192016-01-14T14:52:42.945-05:002016-01-14T14:52:42.945-05:00When my flies got sick I used to kill them When my flies got sick I used to kill them Larry Moranhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05756598746605455848noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37148773.post-73412024459190296782016-01-14T14:17:47.318-05:002016-01-14T14:17:47.318-05:00Years ago when I was a grad student in a Drosophil...Years ago when I was a grad student in a Drosophila lab people I met in day to day situations would invariably get around to telling me about some pain they were having somewhere in their body and ask for medical advice. Eventually I got tired of telling them that being in the life sciences didn't mean I had any medical expertise so I started to give medical advice. Whatever complaint they had I'd suggest it was a mite infestation and then mention that whenever our fly cultures were sick it was usually due to a mite infestation. <br /> For some reason Larry's musings above reminded me of this. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com