Brilliant!Biomed

Happy 10th Birthday to the Human Genome!

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 13:13:00 +0000

March 8, 2011 —In February, we marked the 10th anniversary of the publication of the human genome1,2, otherwise known as the complete set of a human’s DNA. This historic publication has far-reaching implications for biomedical research and patient care. The National Human Genome Research Institute, a part of the National Institutes of Health, has outlined a strategic plan3 (found here) stretching from this historic publication to the eventual broad use of genetic medicine, clinical care...

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Can Next-Generation Technology Help the UN’s Millennium Goal to Combat Malaria?

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 19:12:00 +0000

October 30, 2010 — Although of little concern in much of the world, malaria still plagues tropical and subtropical regions of the globe. In 2008 alone, an estimated 863,000 people--85% of whom were children under 5 years of age—died from the disease1. Cognizant of malaria’s international impact, the United Nations (UN) raised awareness of the fight against malaria by including it as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) set forth in its Millennium Declaration in...

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Getting Under Your Skin: Melanomas and Cancer Stem Cells

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 13:22:00 +0000

August 15, 2010 — B!B contributor Katherine Bricceno’s back with insights into some of the latest trends in skin cancer treatment, with protein-related techniques used to identify cancer stem cells opening up avenues for development of targeted—and possibly even personalized—treatment of tumors. -------------------------------- Now that it is summer, we are spending more time outdoors enjoying the sun. More than in summers past, we conscientiously apply sunscreen. As we all...

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Heart of a Lion and Flying Feet of a Gazelle: Delving into the Secrets of Racehorse Biomechanics

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:56:00 +0000

"A little horse with the heart of a lion and the flying feet of a gazelle yesterday proved his place as the gamest thoroughbred that ever raced over an American track." — Grantland Rice in the Baltimore Sun, reporting on Seabiscuit’s 1938 Pimlico Special match race victory over War Admiral1 July 9, 2010 — Given Grantland Rice’s penchant for beautiful prose and romanticization of sport, his depiction of one of the greatest horse races in history was surely written more with drama...

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Temporary Tattoos Go High Tech for Diabetes Care

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 15:26:00 +0000

July 2, 2010 — Remember those little temporary tattoos that sometimes came with cereal boxes or gum when you were a kid? By the time you’d stuck them on your arm and clumsily sloshed water over the top, they generally looked more like a warped, multicolored smudge than a star, baseball bat, or Tony the Tiger. Temporary tattoos have come a long way since then, though; and today, MIT’s Department of Chemical Engineering is developing a high tech version to monitor the blood glucose...

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Olympic Dreams

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 13:56:00 +0000

July 2, 2010 — With my third year at Oxford winding down and the end now in sight, jobs have been on my mind. I'm hoping to head down an entirely different career path, but I can't resist sharing this posting, which I received via the the Biomech-L listserv. It's from the U.S. Olympic Committee, and they're looking for someone to join their Sport Performance Division. Take a look, and I think you'll agree that this would be a ridiculously cool job: loads of technology at your...

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No Relegation to the Footnotes for the Headline-Grabbing “Cairo Toe”

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Sun, 04 Apr 2010 22:26:00 +0000

April 4, 2010 — My husband and I recently visited London’s British Museum, where he surprised me by finding—of all things—an ancient prosthetic toe. Convinced he’d stumbled across a little-publicized gem in the midst of the museum’s mind-bogglingly huge collection, I excitedly searched online when we got home to see what I could learn. I expected information to be sparse (who else would get excited about a fake toe when the Rosetta Stone’s just around the corner?) but was shocked to...

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All New This Flu Season: Strain, Vaccines, and (Potentially) Treatments

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 21:09:00 +0000

March 14, 2010 — In April of last year, influenza A H1N1, or “swine flu,” led the news. People watched attentively as the number of confirmed cases and affected countries grew, with the spread deemed particularly newsworthy since this strain of influenza had not circulated before in humans; it was a new flu. In June, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared influenza A H1N1 a pandemic1. Following the announcement, governments released stockpiles of antiviral drugs and...

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Things You Can Learn by Poking Yourself in the Eye

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:10:00 +0000

February 14, 2010 — Every university has a classic course, one with a professor or subject matter that becomes the stuff of campus legend. At Kansas State University, where I got my undergraduate degree, that class was Appreciation of Architecture. The waitlist each semester was massive, but Professor Seamon always managed to squeeze in everyone who wanted to come. We’d sit back and relax in the darkened lecture hall as he showed photos and regaled us with colorful commentary on...

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Toe Strength and Falling Among the Elderly

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 16:18:00 +0000

February 6, 2010 — My grandfather recently fell and broke his hip while “tinkering outside behind the workshop” on his Texas farm. Initially, the trauma of the incident and the painful surgery and rehabilitation blurred his memory of the specifics, but our suspicions that the real story included some quicker-than-most-octogenarians-can-handle movements away from a larger-than-expected flame were eventually confirmed when his recollection became clearer. As it turns out, he’d used too...

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Sundance Film Festival Presents: "Glottal Opera"

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 23:10:00 +0000

February 1, 2010 — I never thought I'd be posting something from a film festival on a biomed site; but I've just watched an official selection from the 2010 Sundance Film Festival which left me mesmerized and, admittedly, a bit disturbed. Titled "Glottal Opera," it features a performance of the song "My Lips" by the vocal cords (the title was no joke!) of the ladies of the musical group Kaya. Intrigued? Watch the film after the jump, and don't forget to brush up on the vocal cord anatomy...

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What Hot Springs and Yogurt Have in Common: Beneficial Bacteria

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 21:25:00 +0000

January 28, 2010 — Whether it is by a TV advertisement for a new anti-bacterial kitchen disinfectant or a fellow commuter with a bottle of Purell® peeking out of her purse, we’re constantly reminded that bacteria are bad. That is not always the case, though; and in the following article, contributor Katherine Bricceno examines the “beneficial bacteria” found in two very different places: hot springs and yogurt. ------------------------------------- Yogurt, a Source of Probiotics Though not...

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Thousands of New Amputees Struggling for Aid in Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:52:00 +0000

January 28, 2010 — MSNBC has just posted a story by health writer JoNel Aleccia about the staggering number of amputees created by the Haitian earthquake and the tremendous aid efforts which will be required to care for them. Though estimates are difficult to make during the chaotic early stages of disaster relief, anywhere from a few thousand to over 110,000 amputations are believed to have taken place since the quake. Putting this into an amputations-per-day context clarifies the...

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The Potential of the Stem Cell Niche: An Overview of Stem Cell Science and Politics

noreply@blogger.com (Catherine M. Kolf, Ph.D.) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 22:50:00 +0000

January 19, 2010 — Whew! It's been a busy month, but we're happy to be back and apologize for the huge gap in posting! Today, B!B welcomes a special contribution from Dr. Catherine M. Kolf, who recently completed a Ph.D. in biology from Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Kolf specializes in the effect of microenvironments on the behavior of mesenchymal stem cells and is also committed to sharing her love of science with non-specialists, currently teaching "Humankind in the Biological World" to...

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Trailblazing: A Sampling of the Best of the Last 350 Years of Science

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:21:00 +0000

December 2, 2009 — In celebration of its 350th anniversary, Britain’s Royal Society has launched Trailblazing, a fascinating interactive timeline highlighting sixty of the greatest scientific publications featured in the pages of its journals from 1665 to 2010. With online access to original manuscripts supplemented by commentary from modern-day experts, it’s a unique glimpse into the work of some of the scientific world’s greatest researchers--both quiet geniuses and renowned icons. Beyond...

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Personalizing the Human Genome Project

noreply@blogger.com (Katherine Bricceno) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 18:55:00 +0000

November 22, 2009 — The 1997 movie Gattaca depicts a world where a person’s entire genetic make-up is known at birth and used to predict everything from the level of his intelligence to the cause of his death. While this movie depicts science fiction, the sequencing of the human genome in 2003 brought the movie’s plot closer to reality. After the jump, guest contributor Katherine Bricceno, a graduate researcher in Bethesda, Maryland, guides B!B readers through the basics of the Human Genome...

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A Woman Is Like a Pressure Vessel? Merging Engineering and Obstetrics

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 22:27:00 +0000

November 5, 2009 — I had just called my husband to tell him about an interesting lecture I attended, and he couldn’t wait to share with his co-worker in the cubicle caddy-corner to his. “Now, hear me out, Bob. A woman is like a pressure vessel, becau—” Several female heads popped around the corner, and my husband quickly found himself in dangerous territory. While comparing a woman with a pressure vessel certainly has the makings of a disaster, for researchers combining biomedical...

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From Steven Tyler's Screams to Pavarotti's High C—The Science of Singing

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:47:00 +0000

October 20, 2009 — B!B's biomedical engineer recently hosted a dinner party attended by a rather diverse group of friends. While one can easily envision her chatting with a gear-head mechanical engineer, an earthquake-loving civil engineer, and a soon-to-be-med-student molecular biologist, the scene included two oddities rarely found amongst engineers and scientists. Rounding out this happily geeky group were Lawrence Thain, organ scholar at New College, Oxford, and Nick Daly, a classicist...

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Gems amidst the Rubble: Writing Worth Reading in the U.S. Healthcare Debate

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 12:55:00 +0000

October 11, 2009 — It’s been difficult lately to escape the squabbling amongst U.S. politicians over healthcare reform. Whether it’s "death panels," "You Lie!," or the claim that Republicans want people who get sick to "die quickly," the debate has been characterized by a marked lack of thoughtfulness. Thankfully, a few gems can be found amidst the rubble, providing interesting insights without falling into the trap of partisan blather. After the jump, I list a few that I...

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Prosthetics with Aesthetics

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 12:01:00 +0000

October 6, 2009 — Actress, model, athlete, and double amputee Aimee Mullins boasts a prosthetic leg collection which might be comparable to many people’s shoe collections: Cheetah® legs for sprinting, biking, and swimming; four human-like pairs with varying heel heights; an everyday pair with shock absorbers and a spring; and six other pairs which can best be described as high fashion. While tremendous strides have been made toward realistic-looking prosthetics, a new trend is emerging toward...

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Rowers' High: Relating Behavioral Synchrony and Pain Tolerance

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 19:52:00 +0000

October 3, 2009 — Having rowed for my college at Oxford and found it an intensely painful but oddly addictive experience (I suspect there are a few of you out there nodding right now), I was intrigued by this new research out of the University of Oxford Institute of Cognitive and Evolutionary Anthropology. In a study of 12 rowers from Oxford's Boat Race team, researchers found that team members were able to tolerate twice as much pain after training together than after training on their...

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Dear [Player Name], next time, please use an initial angle of and initial velocity of .

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:28:00 +0000

September 18, 2009 — College basketball may not quite be right around the corner, but B!B’s Lisa Martin has compiled a review which will make you nearly as intolerable a fan as the typical armchair coach. Now, when [Rival Team's Star] steps up to the line and chokes, you’ll be able to take gloating to a whole new level, proudly exclaiming to your friends exactly why he or she missed and what the coach should do about it. Floored by Free Throw Obsession I grew up playing basketball in a...

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The Politics of Prosthetics: Insuring America's Lower-Limb Amputees

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:27:00 +0000

September 12, 2009 — B!B believes, as Dean Gordon Brown once said, that "engineers operate at the interface between science and society," making an occasional glimpse into the world of politics and related fields well-advised. In the following article, an updated version of that originally published in the 2009 New Collection (ISSN 1757-2541), B!B's Lisa Martin partners with Angela Cummine,* an MPhil candidate in Political Theory in Oxford University's Department of Politics and International...

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From Gait Analysis to Automotive Aerodynamics

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:24:00 +0000

September 10, 2009 — B!B's branching out a bit today with a brief note about a new application of a familiar biomechanics technology: the tracking of infrared light reflected from markers. Many readers will be familiar with this technology through its use in gait labs (see video after the jump), while others will know little more about it than that film and video-game producers use it to track the movements and even facial expressions of their actors in order to create realistic...

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Can't get the jelly jar open?

noreply@blogger.com (Lisa M. Martin, Ph.D.) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 23:23:00 +0000

September 3, 2009 — B!B suspects you've been there: you open the refrigerator in search of a snack, find what you want, and are stymied by a stubborn jar. You twist and twist—nothing. You run water over it. You try gripping with a wet dishcloth. Hunger begins to wear you down. To hear you would make Monica Seles (who registered a 93.2 decibel grunt at Wimbledon in 1992) blush. Then in steps your household jar opening expert, who pops it right open. What’s the deal? B!B takes a look at the...

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