Inspiring women in science, part IV

Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard was born in Germany in 1942. She and Eric Wieschaus identified many of the genes that control the embryonic development of Drosophila. The figure above is of a wildtype fruitfly embryo, and those homozygous for mutations in Krüppel, hunchback, and knirps, from “Mutations affecting segment number and polarity in Drosophila”, Nature, 1980; 287:795-801. She is also associated with the discovery of Toll, which led to the identification of toll-like receptors. She received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1995 for her discoveries into how complex multicellular organisms develop from single cells. The quote below is from her 2006 book, “Coming to Life: How Genes Drive Development”.

Clearly, biology is the most interesting of the sciences.

Inspiring women in science, part III

Elizabeth Blackburn was born in Australia in 1948. She and Carol Greider discovered telomerase. Telomerase is an enzyme that loss of important DNA from chromosome ends by adding extra bits of DNA to the end of strands, and plays a role in aging and cancer. The figure above is DNA from a telomerase enzyme reaction, from “Identification of a specific telomere terminal transferase activity in Tetrahymena extracts”, published in Cell, 1985; 43:405–413. She received the Nobel Prize in 2009. When questioned about the large number of women working on telomeres, she replied that “it’s fairly close to the biological ratio of men and women. It’s all the other fields that are aberrant.”

Inspiring women in science, part II

Lise Meitner was born in Austria in 1879. She and Otto Hahn discovered the first long-lived isotope of protactinium and articulated how the nucleus of an atom could be split into smaller parts in their paper “Disintegration of Uranium by Neutrons: A New Type of Nuclear Reaction” published in Nature in 1939. The figure above illustrates fission fragments in an uranium-lined ionization chamber connected to an oscillograph. The large pulses were caused by ionization bursts of fast moving nuclei from uranium bombarded by neutrons. Element 109, meitnerium, is named in her honour.

To me, this quote counters the argument that theologists often direct to athiests - that to not believe in the supernatural is to live in a world that is flat and dull. No! Far from it! To pull away the curtains of silly supernatural explanations is to allow yourself to peak at reality, a truth that is far more awe-inspiring and magestic then anything that could have been invented by primitive desert-dwellers. 

Inspiring women in science, part I

Rather than directly address the ridiculous sexist comments by Tim Hunt, I thought I would post a series of quotes by inspiring female scientists. These quotes adorn my office, and were a gift from my wife - who is an inspiring scientist herself.

Françoise Barré-Sinoussi was born in France in 1947. She was part of the team that discovered and identified HIV as the cause of AIDS in 1983. The figure above is of viruses budding from lymphocytes, from “Isolation of a T-lymphotropic retrovirus from a patient at risk for acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS)”, Science, 1983; 868-871. She also identified important factors contributing to mother-to-child transmission of HIV. She received the Nobel Prize in 2008.

To me this quote encapsulates the inspiring nature of science. When you look around yourself, science is everything that has transformed life from being nasty, brutish and short, to one where many of us have love, luxury and peace. This transformation can be extended to everyone if only we use science and evidence-based decision-making.

New diabetes drug-screening model available

Lab name change

We are changing out name from the Autoimmune Genetics Laboratory to the Translational Immunology Laboratory. This new name better reflects our research interests, which have moved broader than just autoimmunity and have also taken on a strong translational angle.

Within the Translational Immunology laboratory we will have two major research divisions: Discovery Immunology and Applied Immunology. Discovery Immunology will focus on unravelling more of the basic biology of the immune system, with an emphasis on regulatory T cells and the process of diabetes. Appled Immunology will focus on the human immune system, containing our immune phenotyping platform and gene discovery program. Advances in each division are expected to feed into each other.

VIB immune phenotyping platform open for industry collaboration

(Yet another) reason to vaccinate your child

Vaccination may be one of the greatest scientific breakthroughs of all time. Smallpox eradication alone probably saves 3 million lives a year, and the routine childhood vaccines save another 3 million lives a year. Vaccines are so effective and successful, in fact, that they are no longer seen with the awe they deserve. The virulent fear of infectious disease has faded so completely forgotten that clueless celebrities are happy to campaign against vaccines based on the incorrect claims of a discredited  fraud.

Take measles, for example. While often dismissed as a harmless childhood disease, measles can be a killer. It is extremely infectious virus, putting most other viruses to shame for just how incredibly infectious it is. For children or adults in poor health (immunocompromised or malnourished), measles has a mortality rate of 30%. Even under the best scenario, measles can cause blindness and brain damage and kill 0.2% of those infected. 0.2% doesn't sound that much, but consider that in the USA without vaccination we would have 3-4 million cases a year - that is 8000 infant deaths being prevented every year.

Well, it turns out that measles is probably even worse than this. A new study demonstrates that measles infection increases the risk of dying of other diseases (scientific paper here, lay verion here). When measles vaccines are introduced, it is not only deaths from measles that are eliminated - deaths from a wide set of childhood infections dramatically drop. In fact, rather than "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger", surviving measles seems to suppress the immune system for several years, making children more likely to die from alternative diseases. Vaccination gives protection against measles without the risks of infection and without the immunosuppression of infection - a great "win-win" situation.

Chronisch Vermoeidheidssyndroom Uitgelicht

CVS, wat als het u overkomt?

(interview by Veto)

The absurdities of animal ethics applications

I am a strong supporter of animal rights. I would like to see more animal rights enshrined in the law. Although I am vegetarian and do not eat animals, I do perform animal research - because there is real medical value that can only be gained through animal experiments. To rectify the discontinuity between these positions, I support the animal ethics procedures, where every experiment to be performed on an animal needs to be carefully examined by an animal welfare committee prior to approval, and only important experiments with the minimal pain necessary can be performed. This principle should be strengthened and even extended to other instutitions that work with animals, such as farms, pet stores and zoos.

That said, I do not support the massive amounts of paperwork that are required to run an animal research laboratory. This is the paperwork that I needed to submit just to determine which forms need to be filled out in order for me to breed mice:

That right - that pile of paper is the pre-application just to breed mice, not to do any actual experiments. Any person can buy mice at a pet store - put a male and a female in a cage and they breed, yet no forms are needed. Did you know that mice even breed in the wild - and without filling out forms first!

Animal ethics application forms should be about ensuring animals are not mistreated, they should not be a covert attempt to shut down all animal research by making it impractical for scientists to run their experiments. By making animal ethics applications so absurdly bureaucratic, they actually decrease the scrutiny and fail to do what they are meant to achieve - decrease the suffering of animals. A simple stream-lined procedure would actually increase animal welfare while still allowing key medical research to be performed.