10 reglas para hacer la mejor ciencia

1. Drop modesty (strive for excellence)
2. Prepare your mind (luck favors the prepared minds)
3. Age is important (research strategies should be different depending on your age, although I'm not sure I agree with that one)
4. Brains are not enough, you also need courage (I assume this means taking risks)
5. Make the best of your working condition (don't let your environment limit you, but exploit the advantages you have)
6. Work hard and effectively (all the successful scientists I know are workaholics)
7. Believe and doubt your hypothesis at the same time (so be skeptical and accept data for what it is, but don't give up on ideas before you test them)
8. Work on the important problems in your field (work on something interesting and relevant, no matter what the current trends are)
9. Be committed to your problem (because it might take a looong time to solve it)
10. Leave your door open (interact as much as you can with other people, you never know where the insights might come from)

De PLOS Computational Biology

HIV via Haiti

Al parecer se ha encontrado la migracion del HIV, viniendo de Africa via Haiti a los Estados Unidos.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20071103/fob1.asp
Esto es interesante por muchas razones, una de las cuales es localizar el inicio de la infeccion por los 60s (el paso al humano ya habia sido calculado por los 30s)

Lineas contaminadas, incluyendo KB y Hep2

List of contaminated cell lines

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is a list of cell cultures which have been cross-contaminated and overgrown by other cells. A project is currently underway to enumerate and rename contaminated cell lines to avoid errors in research caused by misattribution (Masters, 2002). Estimates based on screening of leukemia-lymphoma cell lines suggest that about 15% of these cell lines are not representative of what they are usually assumed to be (Drexler et al., 2002).

Contaminated cell lines have been extensively used in research without knowledge of their true character. For example, most if not all research on the "endothelium" ECV-304 or the "megakaryocyte" DAMI cell lines has in reality been conducted on bladder carcinoma and erythroleukemia cells, respectively. Thus, all research on endothelium- or megakaryocyte-specific functions utilizing these cell lines has turned out to be worthless, except as a warning example.

There are two principal ways a cell line can become contaminated: cell cultures are often exchanged between research groups; if, during handling, a sample gets contaminated and then passed on, subsequent exchanges of cells will lead to the contaminating population being established, although parts of the supposed cell line are still genuine. More serious is contamination at the source: during establishment of the original cell line, some contaminating cells are accidentally introduced into the cultures, where they in time outgrow the desired cells. The initial testing, in this case, still suggested that the cell line is genuine and novel, but in reality, it has disappeared soon after being established and all samples of such cell lines are actually the contaminant cells. It requires lengthy research to determine the precise point where cell lines have become contaminated.

Estándares para Experimentos en Biología (incluyendo para RNAi)

Un estándar se define como una serie de especificaciones uniformes para parte o todos los aspectos de un producto o actividad que promueve la cooperación y la interoperabilidad [1].

Desde hace unos años existe un impetu en la biología para crear estándares para los reportes experimentales, sobre todo para experimentos tipo hightroughput (microarreglos, proteómica, etc). Uno de los principales problemas de los experimentos hightrougput es la reproductibilidad entre diversos laboratorios o plataformas (ej. un microarreglo de Affimetrix vs uno hecho con un chip Perkin Elmer). El objetivo de lograr estándares es facilitar el reporte, la reproductibilidad y lograr compartir los datos entre diversas plataformas. Se espera además que la implementación de estos estándares faciliten la interoperabilidad entre datos genómicos, proteómicos y metabolómicos. Tales iniciativas son por ejemplo MIAME (Minimal Information about a Microarray Experiment), PSI (Proteomics Standards Initiative), etc. [1]

Es interesante para nuestro laboratorio notar que existe una iniciativa para reportar RNAi llamada Minimum Information About an RNAi Experiment (MIARE)

El URL de esa iniciativa es http://miare.sourceforge.net/HomePage

En el siguiente link a mi página pongo un archivo de excel provisto por MIARE para reportar experimentos de RNAi y un PDF con info general de MIARE. Además incluyo información de MIARE de como reportar los reactivos usados para construir el RNAi:

http://franzpruefer.googlepages.com/rnaiguidelines

Ref:
1) Standard operating procedures.Nat Biotechnol. 2006 Nov;24(11):1299.

microRNAs

Nature Reviews presenta una colección sobre microRNAs.
Estos artículos fueron seleccionados para proporcionar una introducción en los diversos aspectos de la biología del microRNA, incluyendo su biogénesis, su función en el desarrollo normal y cáncer, y las implicaciones en el impacto de la regulación genética.

www.nature.com/reviews/focus/microrna

IAP1 es indispensable para la angiogenesis

Este nuevo articulo señala la importancia de IAP1 y NFkB en la angiogenesis, lo que nos provee de un nuevo blanco terapeutico.

Birc2 (cIap1) regulates endothelial cell integrity and blood vessel homeostasis

Nature Genetics 39, 1397 (2007). doi:10.1038/ng.2007.8 Authors: Massimo M Santoro, Temesgen Samuel, Tracy Mitchell, John C Reed & Didier Y R Stainier

Integrity of the blood vessel wall is essential for vascular homeostasis and organ function. A dynamic balance between endothelial cell survival and apoptosis contributes to this integrity during vascular development and pathological angiogenesis. The genetic and molecular mechanisms regulating these processes in vivo are still largely unknown. Here, we show that Birc2 (also known as cIap1) is essential for maintaining endothelial cell survival and blood vessel homeostasis during vascular development. Using a forward-genetic approach, we identified a zebrafish null mutant for birc2, which shows severe hemorrhage and vascular regression due to endothelial cell integrity defects and apoptosis. Using genetic and molecular approaches, we show that Birc2 positively regulates the formation of the TNF receptor complex I in endothelial cells, thereby promoting NF-κB activation and maintaining vessel integrity and stabilization. In the absence of Birc2, a caspase-8–dependent apoptotic program takes place that leads to vessel regression. Our findings identify Birc2 and TNF signaling components as critical regulators of vascular integrity and endothelial cell survival, thereby providing an additional target pathway for the control of angiogenesis and blood vessel homeostasis during embryogenesis, regeneration and tumorigenesis.

NF-kappa B y ciclo celular

Este es un nuevo articulo muy interesante. Aunque ya se sabia que NF-kappa B algo tenia que ver con el ciclo celular (entre otros ver 'Int J Biochem Cell Biol.Tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases-2 growth-stimulatory activity is mediated by nuclear factor-kappa B in A549 lung epithelial cells.Lizárraga F, Maldonado V, Meléndez-Zajgla J. ) este es uno de los mecanismos empleados para tal efecto.

A cell cycle regulatory network controlling NF-B subunit activity and function EMBO J advance online publication

Abstract

Aberrantly active NF-B complexes can contribute to tumorigenesis by regulating genes that promote the growth and survival of cancer cells. We have investigated NF-B during the cell cycle and find that its ability to regulate the G1-phase expression of key proto-oncogenes is subject to regulation by the integrated activity of IB kinase (IKK), IKK, Akt and Chk1. The coordinated binding of NF-B subunits to the Cyclin D1, c-Myc and Skp2 promoters is dynamic with distinct changes in promoter occupancy and RelA(p65) phosphorylation occurring through G1, S and G2 phases, concomitant with a switch from coactivator to corepressor recruitment. Akt activity is required for IKK-dependent phosphorylation of NF-B subunits in G1 and G2 phases, where Chk1 is inactive. However, in S-phase, Akt is inactivated, while Chk1 phosphorylates RelA and associates with IKK, inhibiting the processing of the p100 (NF-B2) subunit, which also plays a critical role in the regulation of these genes. These data reveal a complex regulatory network integrating NF-B with the DNA-replication checkpoint and the expression of critical regulators of cell proliferation.

Jefes de laboratorio

Creo que esto les puede interesar.
Saludos
http://scienceblogs.com/insolence/2007/10/what_kind_of_pi_am_i.php

Revision de IAPs

Una introduccion al tema que nos interesa, junto con la revision de survivina, para los interesados.

clipped from clincancerres.aacrjournals.org The Inhibitor of Apoptosis Proteins as Therapeutic Targets in Cancer poptosis is a cell suicide process with a major role in development and homeostasis in vertebrates and invertebrates. Inhibition of apoptosis enhances the survival of cancer cells and facilitates their escape from immune surveillance and cytotoxic therapies. Among the principal molecules contributing to this phenomenon are the inhibitor of apoptosis (IAP) proteins, a family of antiapoptotic regulators that block cell death in response to diverse stimuli through interactions with inducers and effectors of apoptosis. IAP proteins are expressed in the majority of human malignancies at elevated levels and play an active role in promoting tumor maintenance through the inhibition of cellular death and participation in signaling pathways associated with malignancies. Here, we discuss the role of IAP proteins in cancer and options for targeting IAP proteins for therapeutic intervention.

Revision de la importancia de la survivina en el cancer

No solo para diagnostico y tratamiento, sino para inmunoterapia. Magali tenia la idea de hacer un kit de ELISA para detectar survivina o sus anticuerpos en pacientes. Podria ser interesante

clipped from clincancerres.aacrjournals.org The Universal Character of the Tumor-Associated Antigen Survivin Several clinical trials targeting survivin with a collection of different approaches from small molecule antagonists to immunotherapy are currently under way. With regard to the latter, spontaneous anti-survivin T-cell reactivity has been described in cancer patients suffering from a huge range of cancers of different origin, e.g., breast and colon cancer, lymphoma, leukemia, and melanoma. Thus, survivin may serve as a universal target antigen for anticancer immunotherapy. Accordingly, down-regulation of survivin as a means of immune escape would severely inflict the survival capacity of tumor cells, which highlights this protein as a prime target candidate for therapeutic vaccinations against cancer. Data from several ongoing phase I/II trials targeting survivin for patients with advanced cancer will provide further information about this idea.

Estructura tridimensional de proteinas pasajeras cromosomales

Han cristalizado este complejo, que incluye survivina y que podria ser clave para la decision de apoptosis por la misma. El articulo completo en Jeyaprakash, A.A., Klein, U.R., Lindner, D., Ebert, J., Nigg, E.A., and Conti, E. (2007). Cell Vol 131, 230-231, 19 October 2007

clipped from images.cell.com

Ten Simple Rules for Getting Published

Este es un video interesante, por favor echenle un vistazo. Esta en ingles, pero lo principal aparece escrito. Es importante considerar este tipo de cuestiones para tener una carrera exitosa en la ciencia.
http://www.scivee.tv/pubcast/16261197