Category Archives: science

B(academia) to the Future

Posted on October 21, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I have a new job! As of November 5th, I will be back in the academic institute where I did my postdoctoral research (different department, same building.) It’s a new position whose main role is to help increase the amount … Continue reading →

Posted in career, communication, personal, science | Comments Off on B(academia) to the Future

Viral Sneakiness

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Viruses are fascinating little buggers. They sneak into cells and take over their entire machinery and pathways for their own use, sometimes with as few as three genes. The amazing thing is that every virus has evolved a different way … Continue reading →

Posted in journal club, original research, science, virology | 2 Comments

Friday’s Primate Party

Posted on October 12, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

I shouldn’t really call this a party, given the subject matter of the article in question, but for the sake of consistency… AllAfrica.com reports that Mauritius is exporting macaque monkeys at $70 a head for research in the US, UK … Continue reading →

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Mendel’s Middleman

Posted on October 9, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Call me crazy, but I’ve signed up to host the November edition of the Mendel’s Garden blog carnival. If you’d like to join in the fun, submit an article or contact me directly via my Profile page.If you’ve already contributed … Continue reading →

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Watch a movie, use Google, get published

Posted on October 4, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

or “Stop that, it’s silly”.There’s been too much silliness around here. I mean, some daftness is necessary in life, but I realised today that the entire first page of this blog is curently made up of posts with the silliness … Continue reading →

Posted in journal club, original research, publishing, science | 2 Comments

Lab Hobbits

Posted on September 27, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A recent post at Genomicron prompted me to go Googling for an excellent email I received while I was doing my postdoc. Unusually for chain emails, it comes with an explanation by the author of how it came about. Here’s … Continue reading →

Posted in science, silliness | 6 Comments

Scientists Scrutinise Chimp Changes

Posted on August 16, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Today’s paper revisits a topic that seems to have become a recurring theme for this blog – the evolution of gene regulation. (It also involves primates, which is always a bonus). Ryuichi Sakate, from the Japanese Biological Informatics Consortium, and … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, journal club, original research, science | 2 Comments

Evolutionary Solutions to the Hairy Back Problem

Posted on August 7, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Some creationists like to complain about macroevolution. They claim that this microevolution stuff is all well and good, but when has it ever produced any kind of meaningful change at the whole organism level?This week’s paper is an excellent rebuttal. … Continue reading →

Posted in evolution, journal club, original research, science | 6 Comments

New Mendel’s Garden

Posted on August 6, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

A new issue of Mendel’s garden is up at ScienceRoll. Check out the videos as well as the articles – the Mendel Rap is, erm, not a classic, but the claymation genetics is really cute.This summer saw my first experimental … Continue reading →

Posted in Carnivals, personal, science | 2 Comments

HERVs and Multiple Sclerosis, part 2

Posted on July 27, 2007 by Cath@VWXYNot?

Well, after a short period of distraction, I have just finished reading the new paper from Christopher Power’s lab at the University of Alberta. This study follows on from an earlier paper that suggested a causal link between the expression … Continue reading →

Posted in journal club, medicine, original research, science, virology | 8 Comments