By using a combination of RNA modifications and a soluble interferon inhibitor to overcome innate antiviral responses, we have developed a technology that enables highly efficient re- programming of somatic cells to pluripotency and can also be harnessed to direct the differentiation of pluripotent cells toward a desired lineage. Although it is relatively technically complex, the methodology described here offers several key advantages over established reprogramming techniques. By obviating the need to perform experiments under the stringent biological containment required for virus-based approaches, modified RNA technology should make reprogramming accessible to a wider community of researchers. More fundamentally, because our technology is RNA based, it completely eliminates the risk of genomic integration and insertional mutagenesis inherent to all DNA-based methodologies, including those that are ostensibly nonintegrating.
I'm simultaneously trying to RTFA and look at the comments here, but it looks like a very nice paper at first glance. The technique itself is elegant: modify messenger RNA to make it less likely to be destroyed by cellular defenses, then pump a bunch of it into the cell to induce the production of the proteins of interest.
The earlier techniques, published about 4 years ago by Takahashi and Yamanaka (doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.07.024), depended on using viruses to insert genes for 4 factors (Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4), and then letting the cell transcribe those genes and make the proteins. This has some dangers, as you're inserting stuff into the genome, and you can never precisely control where it goes.
In contrast, Warren and colleagues cut out the middleman by sending in mRNA for those four factors, and just letting that get translated. No viruses, no risk of borking the cells' DNA, and fairly precise and efficient control of the expression levels.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lab scientist, but I am working in RNA bioinformatics, and it certainly smells like a real breakthrough. My toddler is running around, and I'm happy for her, for me, and potentially my parents (assuming the technique pans out and depending how quickly it can be translated into therapies.)
That does sell them a bit short; I'm reading the paper right now, and their technique is quite elegant, and will I think be widely applicable. It's definitely superior to the virally-inserted gene approach in terms of safety and efficiency.
The first is more of a hardware hack; this is more like reprogramming the firmware.
One of the main characteristics of the game 'Aviator' on SunOS (developed by Bruce Factor and future nVIDIA co-founder Curtis Priem) was that the protocol was designed such that mutiple client computers all had a consistent view of the shared flight space, with no central authority. There was a white paper on the protocol that made very interesting reading (back in 1990), I wonder if any copies are floating around somewhere? You can still find references to the protocol out there (look for RFC1340 and the IPv6 mulicast assignments doc: RFC 2375.)
I have fond memories of playing Aviator at Sun -- my favorite was the X-29.
Ah, NeWS and TNT. I have fond memories of my first year at Sun (1990), prototyping a system in TNT (which would have been nearly impossible to do any other way, given the other technology options at the time.) We used a notebook metaphor (with tabbed pages), and for fun, I made the tab corners rounded, and included 3 "holes" in the windows to make them look like lined 3-hole notebook paper. The code to implement it was surprisingly clean and elegant, but took a bit of doing to get your head around it.
The act will protect individuals against discrimination based on their genetic information when it comes to health insurance and employment. These protections are intended to encourage Americans to take advantage of genetic testing as part of their medical care.
The artemisinin group and the biofuels group are working on things in parallel; Amyris got an additional round of $20 million, plus the former head of BP's fuels division, last October.
In other Bay Area biofuels news, Berkeley (along with U of I) just got a $500 million grant to set up a major center for biofuels and clean-energy research. So I suspect there will be a lot more startups and collaborative realtionships in this space very soon....
Personally, I'm going to use my perpetual motion device to run my Pentium IV Extreme computer powered by Windows Vista while I play Duke Nukem Forever on the Phantom Labs produced graphics card.
That sounds awesome! Let me hop into my Moller SkyCar and fly over to check it out!!
Re:The problem with corporate naming of stadiums
on
Ma Bell is Back
·
· Score: 1
I have to say, that was the first thing I thought of -- "Pacific Bell Park" wasn't bad as a corporate name, but "SBC Park" is almost as bad as "Network Associates Coliseum" (but not as bad as "3Com Park").
Of course, now:
If you're interested in seeing a resource dedicated to exactly this (pharmacogenomics), check out PharmGKB -- we have some interesting pathway diagrams that link individual variations to different drug responses and clinical outcomes.
Having used CW9, it's great if you're an existing CodeWarrior user (I think I started with 1.0 or 2.0), but it's starting to show its age. For a while, there was a really bad incompatibility (apparently fixed now) with Xcode (C runtime issues), and it just seems as though their support has gotten pretty minimal.
I can understand that, given that they are focusing on the embedded market now, but it's sorta sad to see.
If you're starting a new project, I'd definitely go with Xcode.
The powerhouse at California's Helms Pumped Storage Project is 1,200 ft below the surface of the Sierra Nevada mountains. Linking existing reservoirs, the project provides 1,200 Mw of electrical peaking capacity. More than 1 million cu yd of granite was excavated. The 1,800 ft inclined shaft is one of the largest of its type ever excavated and concreted.
Unfortunately, this is not quite correct. There's still a real problem in the US with the quality of the derived lines. Scientists in the US who are entirely privately funded (the Stanford and Harvard efforts come to mind) can do research on new lines, but anyone receiving Federal money cannot.
It's no coincidence that this research is happening in the UK; they have a much more research-friendly policy.
Take a look at old swm (Solbourne Window Manager) and vtwm/tvtwm/olvwm docs. I think I was using it as early as '89 or '90, as a student and then as an intern at Sun.
I'd been meaning to buy Mindstorms for a couple of years, but had never gotten around to it. So when the story was originally posted, I finally ordered a set. I'm hoping to get it today.
Too bad that Suck is no more; you could just take a look at the Karl Jacob Net.Moguls trading card. If I recall correctly, it had a blurb about the Dimension X acquisition.
Slashdot Mirror
I had this on my office wall at a former employer where I was in a similar situation.
ObXKCD: Security
From the article:
I'm simultaneously trying to RTFA and look at the comments here, but it looks like a very nice paper at first glance. The technique itself is elegant: modify messenger RNA to make it less likely to be destroyed by cellular defenses, then pump a bunch of it into the cell to induce the production of the proteins of interest.
The earlier techniques, published about 4 years ago by Takahashi and Yamanaka (doi:10.1016/j.cell.2006.07.024), depended on using viruses to insert genes for 4 factors (Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc, and Klf4), and then letting the cell transcribe those genes and make the proteins. This has some dangers, as you're inserting stuff into the genome, and you can never precisely control where it goes.
In contrast, Warren and colleagues cut out the middleman by sending in mRNA for those four factors, and just letting that get translated. No viruses, no risk of borking the cells' DNA, and fairly precise and efficient control of the expression levels.
Disclaimer: I'm not a lab scientist, but I am working in RNA bioinformatics, and it certainly smells like a real breakthrough. My toddler is running around, and I'm happy for her, for me, and potentially my parents (assuming the technique pans out and depending how quickly it can be translated into therapies.)
I (heart) science.
That does sell them a bit short; I'm reading the paper right now, and their technique is quite elegant, and will I think be widely applicable. It's definitely superior to the virally-inserted gene approach in terms of safety and efficiency.
The first is more of a hardware hack; this is more like reprogramming the firmware.
We tried to sell a productized climate-change weapon to the Chinese; it's called a "Hummer"
One of the main characteristics of the game 'Aviator' on SunOS (developed by Bruce Factor and future nVIDIA co-founder Curtis Priem) was that the protocol was designed such that mutiple client computers all had a consistent view of the shared flight space, with no central authority. There was a white paper on the protocol that made very interesting reading (back in 1990), I wonder if any copies are floating around somewhere? You can still find references to the protocol out there (look for RFC1340 and the IPv6 mulicast assignments doc: RFC 2375.)
I have fond memories of playing Aviator at Sun -- my favorite was the X-29.
Actually, I'm getting terrible graphical artifacts when scrolling in Safari 4 5528.17. I've also seen the white-on-white titles.
Stonebraker and Rowe, "The Design of Postgres", SIGMOD86
These folks seem like trollity-troll-trolls.
I also got 100%, and I had the same feeling. (The wording of the questions, in particular the religion one, was not entirely neutral.)
Ah, NeWS and TNT. I have fond memories of my first year at Sun (1990), prototyping a system in TNT (which would have been nearly impossible to do any other way, given the other technology options at the time.) We used a notebook metaphor (with tabbed pages), and for fun, I made the tab corners rounded, and included 3 "holes" in the windows to make them look like lined 3-hole notebook paper. The code to implement it was surprisingly clean and elegant, but took a bit of doing to get your head around it.
Good times!
In other Bay Area biofuels news, Berkeley (along with U of I) just got a $500 million grant to set up a major center for biofuels and clean-energy research. So I suspect there will be a lot more startups and collaborative realtionships in this space very soon....
If you're interested in seeing a resource dedicated to exactly this (pharmacogenomics), check out PharmGKB -- we have some interesting pathway diagrams that link individual variations to different drug responses and clinical outcomes.
Two words: "Toaster Oven"
Having used CW9, it's great if you're an existing CodeWarrior user (I think I started with 1.0 or 2.0), but it's starting to show its age. For a while, there was a really bad incompatibility (apparently fixed now) with Xcode (C runtime issues), and it just seems as though their support has gotten pretty minimal.
I can understand that, given that they are focusing on the embedded market now, but it's sorta sad to see.
If you're starting a new project, I'd definitely go with Xcode.
It's no coincidence that this research is happening in the UK; they have a much more research-friendly policy.
Then you're running with the wrong crowd. I often hear (and have said) things like, "Oh yeah, I TiVo'ed that, we're going to watch it this weekend."
Take a look at old swm (Solbourne Window Manager) and vtwm/tvtwm/olvwm docs. I think I was using it as early as '89 or '90, as a student and then as an intern at Sun.
I'd been meaning to buy Mindstorms for a couple of years, but had never gotten around to it. So when the story was originally posted, I finally ordered a set. I'm hoping to get it today.
Too bad that Suck is no more; you could just take a look at the Karl Jacob Net.Moguls trading card. If I recall correctly, it had a blurb about the Dimension X acquisition.
Um...H-P?