matt spreadbury

ULBC for the win! - Benjamin Tanner

We won! - Rachel Bell

i was wondering the same thing matt - Munaf khamisa

Agree. In addition, I see MB1004 a little detailed and deep for a 10 credits module to be honest. - Abdulkhaliq Alsaadi

Agreed. It's one I'm going to have to invest a lot of time in, it's scary the amount of knowledge we need! - Lindsey Freeman

The tutorials for that module are very useful so make sure you put a lot of effort into them and it will pay off for the exam :) - Lyndsey Wright

This article proposes a "fat burning gene: PGC-1", which can be switched off in response to fats (in this case palmitic acid). The mechanism of action is similar to what Prof Ketley was talking about in #MB1005 where methylation of the gene will prevent the transcription of it. "It suggests that if you eat a fat-rich diet, something in that - either the fat itself or the build up of metabolites - triggers the methylation of genes. The net effect is that it switches off the gene." This article has indications for the development of type 2 diabetes as an environmental explanation of the development of the disease. - matt spreadbury

Following a lecture this week in #MB1005 about only 1% of our DNA being coding, this article gives rise to some use of the ncRNA (non coding RNA) which will be produced as part of translation. The article suggests that miRNAs regulate cell fate specification by modulating various signalling pathways. There is certaintly a use for the non-coding DNA and this article helps illustrate one of many possibilites..otherwise what is the point of storing junk? - matt spreadbury

of us do know what proprioception is thank you very much! The change in timetable has allowed me to start going over the lectures from #MB1004 which is by far the most difficult but most engaging module we've had yet, most notably the clinical aspects of what we're learning and the drug interaction such as the thiazide groups. Over the next few weeks working with industry and to a schedule is going to be the main challenge. Im thinking to try to accomplish most of University work during the day, train hard for rowing in the evenings and then do extra-curricular work before passing out in a mix of mental and physical exhaustion.. - matt spreadbury

Following Prof Tobins' lecture on Alzheimers and Malaria this article shows the desperate need for a new anti-malarial other than artemisinin. I know GSK's patent for Malarone (atovaquone/proguanil) which is arguably the best anti-malarial to date runs out next year (woop for travellers!) but more is needed to curb the outbreak from the Thai-Myanmar boarder. - matt spreadbury

Also ... what? - Dr Alan Cann

Use the data in the Excel document to answer the questions on the quiz. If you have problems, come to the help session on Monday. - Dr Alan Cann

do it all over again this semester.. Rang and Dales Pharmacology text book has arrived but there hasn't been time to open it to go over #BS1004 with the microbiology essay and practical reports to write up.. well that and the insane rowing training for all our races coming up! - matt spreadbury

Following on the trend of #BS1009 its interesting to find this article about the Mycobacterium tuberculosis microbe. It appears that it's genome has expanded through gene acquisition and reduced over time through deletions. Could this be crucial for its survival? Almost certaintly so, its ability to undergo horizontal gene transfer is one example of how the pathogen has been able to respond to its environment and make it the dangerous microbe it is today. - matt spreadbury

engaging than chemistry and biochemistry last term. Also the variation in the number of modlues we're taking is great for all round general knowledge. My targets this term will be trying to stay the whole day at Uni and using the time between lectures more productively as inevitably the work load is going to increase and an extra hour or two does make a difference. So far im probably leaning towards membranes and receptors being the best module as its going to be brand new knowledge after we've "unlearned" most things that are now incorrect from A-level.. - matt spreadbury

Following Dr Meacock's lecture on mutations #MB1005, it was quite surprising to find out that one of the chemicals in cigarette smoke, a type of a polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon- Benzo[A]pyrene causes a point mutation i.e a base substitution in the DNA in as little as 15-20 minutes. This study demonstrates how quickly another type of PAH binds to DNA but links from the study found that many types of PAH will work in the same way. - matt spreadbury

Good stuff spread :) - Arnold Gangaidzo

After Dr wells lecture on glycolysis #BS1015 i found this article which surprisingly shows that there is an increasing trend of amyloid protein deposits within the brain where aerobic glycolysis occurs. It is not known why the build up of amyloid proteins occurs but it has been shown that people with Alzheimers (Who have the amyloid plaques) also use aerobic glycolysis more in certain parts of the brain, such as the prefrontal cortex. - matt spreadbury

The new developments in asymmetric segregation cell division are related to Professor Frys' lecture on cancer in #MB1030. There he introduced the role of NEK2 in centromere multiplication and division. It appears that this article shows the development in this reasearch as the localized phosphorylation (via the kinase enzyme) takes place to seperate the centromeres, and thus starts the process of asymmetric segregation. - matt spreadbury

This article was relevant to one of the #MB1030 presentation talks on vaccines. It seems that the lack of cholera vaccines in Haiti would be due to a lack of demand.. or so it seems untill the number of people affected reaches 400000 as predicted within the next the next year. At the moment only small quantities are being produced for travellers use etc.. It just demonstrates that until the profit margin is big enough drug companies wont mass produce vaccines at the expense of peoples lives. - matt spreadbury

This article probes the further research into the protein ubiquitin (We did a presentation on the role of ubiquitin mediated protein degradation for #BS1015) where its been linked to help understand the cells natural ability in tumour supression via autophagy. I suppose that proteins that are malfunctioning or ones which originate from oncogenes will be labelled with ubiquitin in a specific manner and arrangement coding for them to be degradated via the proteosome(s). - matt spreadbury

This article relates to the genomics essay in #MB1030 to the role of insertional mutagenesis and how fragments of DNA can be inserted across mice genomes to see the possilbe positions of new oncogenes or tumour supressor genes. - matt spreadbury

There's no biochemical parallel between prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems though because chromatin structure is so different. - Dr Alan Cann

It was quite surprising to find this article as its material is exactly what I talked about in my #MB1030 presentation on pain. It follows on from the Wall & Melzack CNS gate control theory and how the via the dorsal horn the CNS can modulate the ammount of pain we percieve. Pretty amazing! - matt spreadbury

The use of analysing genomic variation within cancer patients was an important feature of my #MB1030 cancer genomics essay. This article cuts short the ideas about explanations of the entirity of genetic predispositions to deisease but adds how risk factors about next generation sequencing. For example the liklihood of low risk cancer markers within genes of parents- whats the risk factor of possible offspring having cancer.. - matt spreadbury

Could this research be the start of eradicating mosquito vector bourne diseases? The genetically modified mosquitos bred by the company oxitec mate with females which carry the dengue fever parasites and prevent the larva growing properly causing them to die before maturation. This is follows on from the #MB1030 essay on malaria, looking at eradicating vector transmitted diseases. - matt spreadbury

This is a good ethical question related to our essay on the role of genomics in cancer medicine #MB1030 (not entirely relevant but interesting)- Should participants be aware of the results of their sequenced genomes? Even if it crops up phenotypic consequences.. - matt spreadbury

institute of clincal excellence. http://www.herceptin.com/index... - matt spreadbury

I guess alot of the ideas are from stryer matt, but yh i would also metion prof shwabe's name in their somewhere...wow didnt even think of adding the hydrolysis of pyrophosphate into the essay...its a key biochmical process..thanks matt! - Mayank Patel

On the referencing sheet we got in our last medical bioscience lecture im pretty sure it says how to reference lectures, if not it definetly does on the library site in the references section. - Robert