TALEN-directed homologous recombination in zebrafish:
http://dev.biologists.org/content/141/19/3807.full
Soon enough we will be able to carry out any experiment we can think of. Technically speaking.

Tetrad analysis in the mouse:
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/v46/n10/full/ng.3104.html
Just an extremely complicated way to show that yeast geneticists were right all along?

Genome of the common carp:
http://www.nature.com/ng/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/ng.3098.html
Really only interesting as a comparison to zebrafish...

Great minds think alike
http://www.nature.com/news/stone-age-groups-made-similar-toolmaking-breakthroughs-1.16002
Even if they are Neanderthal minds...

Call me cynical or insensitive, but what is the point of this story?
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6204/1650.full
To get published in Science?

Have a great weekend

Finally, we have a well-defined in-bread zebrafish line analogous to mouse strains:
http://www.genetics.org/content/198/1/167.long
Now, let’s see if/how they will thrive in different facilities.

This is really cool: genetics of the placebo effect:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6203/1446.full
Now the question is: if you find out you are genetically susceptible to the placebo effect, does that knowledge then make you less susceptible? Or is there a genetic component to that, too?

Amazing precision of carbon dating human age among other things
http://www.biotechniques.com/news/biotechniquesNews/biotechniques-353999.html?utm_source=BioTechniques+Newsletters+%26+e-Alerts&utm_campaign=e698ec5859-cell-biology-newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_5f518744d7-e698ec5859-87700457#.VBoGf-dQaHb

Remember the thing about selective mating among humans (see June 6 below)? Here is some back-and-forth on the subject:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/09/16/1410781111.full.pdf?etoc
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/09/16/1413105111.full.pdf?etoc
In a nutshell, what does “selective” really mean or imply?

This subtitle would make you think that too few female researchers have high Kardashian-index:



http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6203/1440.full
Not what you thought, hah? Not what the article meant, either. Stated by a male scientist with a K-index = zero (that would be me).

Have a great weekend everyone.

Darius

After a way-too-long break, the weekend reading list is back!

Here is a fantastic and highly speculative paper about altering ecosystems using molecular biology:
http://elifesciences.org/content/3/e03401.abstract?ijkey=83b407bcd04b3c8d76418c766a94a44c6a012840&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha
Of course CRISPR/Cas9 is the way to go. Now the limit is your imagination?

Let me get this straight: wild monkeys learn behaviors from video:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v513/n7517/full/513146a.html
And we still argue if violent video games have an effect on Homo sapiens kids’ behavior?
Some humans clearly did not evolve from monkeys. More like “devolved”.

So it looks like caffeine-making genes evolved at least twice:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6201/1124.full
Just for the pleasure of us humans.

And last but not least, the last month has been good to our colleagues at Temple:

Khalili lab showed that CRISPR/Cas9 can be used to excise HIV and even to provide prophylactic effect:
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/31/11461.full
If you are going to engage in any behaviors (not learned from video games) that may put you at risk for HIV, you better get some anti-HIV gRNA into your blood progenitors. 

Habas lab described a new essential Wnt signaling component:
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/36/13099.full
Until told otherwise, I will assume they named their new gene Custos in appreciation of Temple custodial staff :-D

Enjoy.

Darius

A fantastic paper on patterning of the limb bud to form digits
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6196/566.full
This paper makes me sad because (i) we do not have a dev bio journal club and (ii) I let my math skills rot for way too many years.

A really cool technical development: see-through mice.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867414009313
Not quite the invisible man, but awesome regardless.

And two great papers on the analysis of developmental enhancers in Drosophila
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7512/full/nature13395.html
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v512/n7512/full/nature13417.html
We now have the tools to do the same in zebrafish. But will we do it?

Win-win choices cause the most stress.
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/30/10978.full
Only in very sophisticated people can the choice of accepting job offers from Princeton or Harvard (or which Ben&Jerry's ice cream to devour) cause more stress than the choice of stealing food or staying hungry. That’s just common sense.

Then the postdocs interviewed for this piece are not really stressed because they are not in these terrible win-win situations:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6196/594.full
If something seems too good to be true…

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-28490099

… it’s probably on the internet. 

Enjoy your weekend.

An excellent overview of how apparently similar experimental procedures may lead to different outcomes:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1534580714004146
In a way, irreproducibility is not a bad thing when it points to technical limitations.

Grandma’s eating habits affect grandchildren in the nematode.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S009286741400806X
And of course similar things happen in humans - see my July 12 post for a reference.

A massive complex trait genetics study:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6965/full/426389a.html
Trying to wrap my head around what to do with 100+ contributing loci makes me feel a little schizophrenic...

Targeted nucleases for wheat knockouts:
http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nbt.2969.html
Should wheat with nuclease-induced deletions be considered a GMO?

A big argument about a gene name:
http://dev.biologists.org/content/141/15/2921.full
Because name matters.

A fun, inspiring and (most importantly :-) easy weekend read:
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v426/n6965/full/426389a.html

Got excited about a career in science? Perhaps you should chill out:
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_07_24/caredit.a1400187

A really fascinating paper on Doppler-like effect during formation of somites:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/345/6193/222.full
What would you have concluded if you did that experiment and found that the two clocks are offset?

Further insight into one of the persistent questions of developmental biology: determination of the left/right axis:
http://www.cell.com/developmental-cell/abstract/S1534-5807%2814%2900277-9
Even if you are on campus, you will need to log in to TU Library to access this paper

A useful review on regeneration in the zebrafish
http://dmm.biologists.org/content/7/7/769.full

Here is what happens when folks try to apply standards of science to art
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/20/7224.full.pdf+html
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/27/E2778.full
Don’t you think the outcome would have been different if violinists knew which instrument is which? And how does that apply to YOUR experiments?

An interesting read on transgenerational effects of malnutrition:
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/07/moms-environment-during-pregnancy-can-affect-her-grandchildren
The bottom line: if you can eat junk food and drink soda and not gain weight, thank your grandmas for eating well.

With the holiday weekend coming up, let’s go lightweight on content.

A cool paper on the role basic transcription machinery (the Mediator) in obesity. In the heart.
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/26/9491.full
The funny thing is - I (and others) cloned the yeast homolog of Med12 in a screen for de-repression of glucose repressed genes. Almost before some of you were born :-)

Taking care of children messes with your brain:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/06/27/1408807111.full.pdf?etoc
But in a good way…

Continued discussion on Alberts et al. (see my previous post)
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/26/E2634.full
http://www.pnas.org/content/111/26/E2635.full
The thought of running a research institute more like a company is very interesting (if unappealing).

A huge retraction:
http://www.nature.com/news/stap-retracted-1.15488

An interesting and worthwhile read on stem cell research funding in California
http://www.nature.com/news/stem-cells-hope-on-the-line-1.15499

So what do you do when someone proves that your “bigfoot” samples are junk?
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/07/bigfoot-samples-analyzed-lab
“Return to the forests with renewed enthusiasm in search of the “golden hair”” is certainly one option...

I need few more guys in my lab.
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_06_30/caredit.a1400167

A random fascinating reading: did you know that USA Goalie (and the best US player in the Belgium game by far) has Tourette’s syndrome?
http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-magazine-monitor-28128439


There is only one way this paper could be taken seriously: if it came from Harvard. Oh wait, it did.
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2014/06/25/1402289111.abstract.html?etoc
And it is being taken seriously for sure:
http://news.sciencemag.org/plants-animals/2014/06/video-large-animals-are-no-whiz-peeing
I suggest a follow-up study: keep the weight relatively constant and vary the kind of liquid being consumed: beer vs. whiskey.

Speaking of beer: here's an alternative career path:

http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2014_06_23/caredit.a1400158

Looking forward to Janelia Pale Ale.

Darius