Stem cells
The Spoonful of Medicine Blog this week reported that researchers in New York have succeeded where the disgraced South Korean Hwang Woo-suk failed. They have successfully derived the world’s first stem cells from a cloned human embryo. But, notably, the new stem cells are not suitable for therapeutic use because they contain three sets of chromosomes, instead of the regular two:
In work published today in Nature, a team led by Dieter Egli at the New York Stem Cell Foundation took skin cells from healthy and diabetic volunteers and inserted the cells’ nuclei into unfertilized human eggs. Within a few days cloned embryos developed allowing researchers to pluck out and propagate stem cells. These cells displayed all the hallmarks of embryonic stem (ES) cells, including characteristic gene activity and the ability to differentiate into all three germ layers in the teratoma test — the gold standard of pluripotency.
Find out more in their post.
On Wednesday, GrrlScientist drew attention to Stem Cell Awareness Day, explaining that the day was dedicated to providing accurate information about stem cell therapy for treatment or cure of incurable diseases and injuries. But what are stem cells? She links out to a short video by the Irish Stem Cell Foundation which provides information about this:
What are stem cells? – Irish Stem Cell Foundation (HD) from irishstemcell on Vimeo.
Her post also hosts another video providing a brief glimpse into one of the many illnesses that stem cell technology is being developed to address. Do check it out.
PhD Study
Nature Jobs blogger, Rachel Bowden, has been discussing the details of a major survey of PhD students carried out in Europe which sheds light on their working life:
The Eurodoc survey, published on 30 September, also reveals striking data related to gender issues and family life. Men were more likely than women to believe their gender would be a disadvantage in their academic career, while students in several supposedly ‘family-friendly’ countries reported strong pressure to delay having children, or to avoid taking parental leave if they do.
Her post outlines some of the key findings from the study. Take a look and feel free to have your own say in the comment thread.
The trouble with retractions: live webchat
Over the past decade, editors have started to retract more and more research papers. It’s not in the culture of science to revise its written record, yet increasing retractions has brought to light problems with the system, as a Nature feature this week explores. The News Blog are hosting a live Q & A where you can join Ivan Oransky, executive editor at Reuters Health and co-founder of the blog Retraction Watch, and Nature’s Richard Van Noorden, at 4pm London time (11am Eastern Time) on Tuesday 11 October. They will be discussing trends in retractions, problems with the system and what researchers, editors, and institutions might be doing to help. The webchat will also complement a real-life discussion on keeping the scientific record straight at our next SoNYC event on 20 October, in New York City. This will also be live-streamed, as usual and written up here on Of Schemes and Memes.
You can enter your e-mail address in the post to sign up for a reminder. Please feel free to post your questions in advance in the comment section.
Nobel Prize talk
With the Nobel Prizes being awarded this week, the News blog has been keeping us regularly updated. On Wednesday it transpired that the 2011 Nobel Prize for Chemistry has been awarded to Daniel Shechtman for the discovery of quasicrystals:
Quasicrystals are crystal structures that follow a set pattern but do not repeat themselves.
You can read Nature’s full coverage of the chemistry prize here.
If all this talk of pretty patterns has got you excited, you should check out our latest guest post, Fractals: How nature just keeps on giving. Here Jovan Nedic, a PhD student in the Department of Aeronautics at Imperial College, discusses his work and its exploration of how fractal geometries can be used to interact with fluids:
The tree is my favorite example, because it’s the easiest. Have a look at Figure 1 and you will see what looks like the various stages of a tree’s growth, or is it? Well it is, except in this example all you are really looking at is the different components of the final tree on the right which I arranged in a fractal manner.
Figure 1
Nobel Laureates
Continuing the Nobel theme, one of the unique aspects of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, held this year in July, is the opportunity for young scientists and Laureates to spend time in dialogue away from the press and attendees. These personal mentoring sessions are at the core of the Lindau experience, where young scientific minds can question the already accomplished. Nature Video captured these conversations and have been releasing a new video each week, giving us a glimpse into these exclusive conversations. The latest video, a life in science with Elizabeth Blackburn can now be viewed here. Do keep an eye out for the last video in the collection which will be released on October 13th.
With the great news of this year’s Nobel prize winners came the sad news that Ralph Marvin Steinman passed away on September 30, 2011, at the age of 68. This was only three days before his name was announced for the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine in recognition of his life’s work on dendritic cells. Nobel prizes cannot be awarded posthumously and the Nobel statutes state, “Work produced by a person since deceased shall not be considered for an award. If, however, a prize winner dies before he has received the prize, then the prize may be presented.” This happened in 1996 with economist William Vickrey. Kausik Data has been updating us on the situation:
…the decision to award the Nobel Prize to Ralph Steinman was made in good faith, based on the assumption that the Nobel Laureate was alive. This was true – though not at the time of the decision – only a day or so previously. The Nobel Foundation thus believes that what has occurred is more reminiscent of the example in the statutes concerning a person who has been named as a Nobel Laureate and has died before the actual Nobel Prize Award Ceremony. The decision made by the Nobel Assembly at Karolinska Institute thus remains unchanged.
You can also keep an eye on Nature’s full coverage of the medicine Nobel here.
Finally
Viktor Poor has been joining in the Nobel awards discussion. This year’s Nobel prize for Medicine and Physiology went to Bruce A. Beutler, Jules A. Hoffmann and Ralph M. Steinman for their discoveries in immunology. Hoffmann and his colleagues were studying mutant fruit flies (Drosophila melanogaster) and found that the Toll like receptors are necessary for the immune response:
