Sami Kimyongur

Half-way through the last week of term, and can't believe just how quickly the last couple of months have passed! The number of homework tasks has dropped considerably, with emphasis starting to be placed on understanding and revising the course material in preparation for the exams after Easter. Speaking of which, I've pretty much finished the scientific report for #MB1031, just have to print it off and get it to the Adrian. - Sami Kimyongur

Got the timed meiosis essays back yesterday ( #MB1031 ), and didn't do too badly, although I would have been happier if I'd managed to get a first. The poster (same module) has also been submitted, and me and my group are pretty pleased with how it came out. I'd been preparing for the actual presentation event by going over potential questions that could be asked, but we then got an e-mail explaining that the presentation was going to be postponed due to the lecturers' strikes in Leicester. Anyway, just have to focus on the science report (same module yet again!) and most of our coursework will be done! - Sami Kimyongur

This week signals a barrage of #MB1031 work, with the poster work needing to be put together into a professional-looking format. We were also set the scientific report task, so I'll need to go over the investigation to ensure I know what's going on, then use the feedback from the first report exercise to improve on my last effort. I also have the Noradrenaline 4 ( #MB1004 ) presentation to give with my group this Friday, for which the info is compiled on Google Docs. Probably need a practice run through just to make sure we know who's saying what, and we're all set! - Sami Kimyongur

Having completed and submitted the #BS1009 essay on Monday morning, it's time to turn to other things, the most pressing of which is the final #MB1005 practical report. This shouldn't be too bad, however, as I do find the content quite interesting, which definitely helps in terms of motivation to do it. After that, there's the #MB1004 presentation, which seems to have been thrust upon us at rather short notice. Our group have already split into two groups for this, so I need to start researching Noradrenaline for next Friday. - Sami Kimyongur

A mixed week this time around, due mainly to my inability to concentrate on the #BS1009 essay for long periods of time. As a result, I'm getting there, but I'm doing it in short pieces rather than one or two long hauls of essay writing, which is usually how I end up writing essays. This is couterbalanced, however, by our last microbiology practical session, which went well; some of the tests and experiments we've done over the past few weeks came together to form the final set of results. Just have to fill in the rest of the practical booklet before Thursday and it's all good :) - Sami Kimyongur

Finally got started on the #BS1009 essay this week, having decided I've put it off for long enough already! It's not finished by any means, but the intro's done as well as the first paragraph, and I've made a list of sites that have relevant information on that I can look back at and reference if necessary. In other news, the #MB1005 practical was another pleasant foray into a subject I'm finding increasingly interesting, although the session got off to a bad start when I messed up the bacterial transformation preparation :/ Luckily though, it was early on and the mistake wasn't too catastrophic! I caught up quickly and managed to get a good section of the worksheet done, although admittedly not quite managing to complete it. In fact, I think I'll do that now :) - Sami Kimyongur

The #MB1031 lecture this afternoon, involving the fear memory administered to mice, was something that greatly interested me. Last semester, I also did my practise #MB1030 presentation about memories, and a very similar fear memory (involving a shock and audio tone combination) was something I talked about. Anyway, this article is an interesting read that explains and builds upon the concept of associating a memory with a painful feeling, and the consequent consolidation of an emotion that we know as fear. - Sami Kimyongur

Second week of the new semester, and things are as busy as ever. Just finished a long 9-6 haul today, beginning with a tough 2-hour stint in the Bennett for #MB1004 and the complex co-transport mechanisms that came with it. I also had a productive #MB1005 practical, involving studying incapacitated fruitflies under a dissecting microscope (which are far, far easier to use than the higher-spec models we have used in #BS1009). I'm also settling into the new timetable, and finally starting to look past what we have the next day and onto the longer assessments, namely the Microbiology essay (in for 3 and a half weeks!), which I'm determined not to leave until the last minute. - Sami Kimyongur

This article discusses how the makeup of the bacterial cell wall can be exploited to make new antibiotics. As we learned in Friday's #BS1009 lecture (and we did it ourselves in Tuesday's practical), the presence or lack of peptidoglycan in cell walls means the bacteria can be stained by different chemicals, leading to the Gram-positive or -negative classification. It turns out that this knowledge can be used to disrupt the cell wall, and kill harmful bacteria. - Sami Kimyongur

Using RNA to attack HIV: a great achievement in the ongoing race to find a cure to HIV. This incredible human-engineered molecule, called a 'chimaera', can not only neutralise free-floating viruses, but also prevent further viral replication in existing host cells. It achieves this through the use of small interfering RNA (siRNA), which prevents the expression of two genes that the virus requires for replication. - Sami Kimyongur

A fairly good start to the new semester, bringing with it its fair share of change; most obvious of which is the increase in time we spend in uni each day. 9-5's across the week, pretty much, even with a cheeky 5-6 lecture on Thursdays for good measure! However, having 8 hours on campus doesn't mean having 8 hours of lectures; only yesterday we had 4 hours of 'down time' between lectures, which brings me on to what is probably my most important target for the new term: use those 'in-between' hours productively. It's far too easy not to, but with more modules going on and work constantly being set, actually getting work done in these relatively short periods is pretty much essential. We also had our first microbiology (#BS1009) practical this morning, which was interesting on the whole, I'd say more so than the #BS1015 practicals last term, although the constant microscope work was irritating my eyes by the end! But yeah, a good start to the term :) - Sami Kimyongur

Get through the revision tonight and then the test is over after 10 tomorrow :) - Luke De Moya

Me too :) found this essay the trickiest and managed to get my highest mark! Really pleased though! Can't wait to get tomorrows exam done, just hope it goes ok :/ - Kelly Barnett

An interesting article showing recent studies into insect sleep. It's a very poorly understood subject, but an investigation involving depriving bees of sleep, then monitoring their behaviour, showed that even bees need their beauty sleep! The results clearly described how the ability of the bees to perform a 'waggle-dance' (a dance used to communicate the location of a decent food source to fellow bees) was severely limited if they hadn't had a recent sleep-like period of inactivity. - Sami Kimyongur

This is exactly what happened to me! At least all the equations will hopefully be set in our heads for the january exam though. Made me realise I have a lot of revision on Rawlings lectures to do! - Sarah McSorley

Yeah exactly, the fact that most of the practice quizzes weren't about organic stuff made it really misleading as to what was going to be in the real thing :( - Sami Kimyongur

Well done :-) - Shubnum Razak

Interesting article exploring alternative splicing, the mechanism by which multiple proteins can be synthesised from the same gene. This is done by altering which exons are spliced back together, post-transcription. Thousands of new so-called 'splice junctions' have now been discovered, explaining why human cells can be so diverse. Interestingly, however, such junctions do not have long evolutionary histories, indicating that many alternative splicing processes actually occur due to involuntary errors in splice site recognition. - Sami Kimyongur

I didn't even know this was illegal! A Canadian researcher has been publishing papers in journals, most of which either reference or directly use information from his own previous papers. The problem is, he's not acknowledging this, so he's being forced into a legal case for duplicating his own work. He stands to financially gain from doing this, however, so legal action is understandable. But what if you aren't making money from it? Is it still not allowed? - Sami Kimyongur

wow I had no idea that there was such a thing called self plagiarism, it sound silly you hear about it at first, but Dr Chris Wilmost's comment made me understant that it is very possible. - Kudzai Gozho

A new treatment for breast cancer has been made available, in the form of chemotherapy. Not only is this great news for cancer patients; it represents a victory for scientists in the field of synthesis of natural products as medicine. The creation of the drug, eribulin, began 25 years ago, with the isolation of a compound that naturally occurs in sea sponges, and all this time later, the drug is finally available to treat breast cancer patients. - Sami Kimyongur

This is a really interesting article Sami. It shows what perseverence and using the knowledge of a range of scientists can achieve! - Ria Patel

This article shows how a rough estimate of age can be determined from a single drop of blood. A huge breakthrough in forensic science, this means the tiny traces of blood that are often found at the scenes of violent crimes can be used, not only to determine eye and hair colour, but also the age of the person, down to around the nearest 10 years. Fascinating stuff! - Sami Kimyongur

Just read this article...a really interesting read! I found it particularly interesting looking at the possible uses of the findings in forensics! Definately worth reading! - Alice Stephens

Definitetly a move away from use of genetic fingerprinting to simply match Crime Scenes, and arrested criminals to the crime, and move towards building a visual image of the criminal, which would allow the capture of first time offenders. Excellent find :-). - Sebastian Sansom

Having done my #BS1015 tutorial presentation on the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2004, I understand how the role of ubiquitin in protein degradation in cells is vital. This article gives an example of the ubiquitination of proteins during attempted infection by a deadly pathogen, the Nipah virus. Tagging lysine with a poly-ubiquitin strand turns out to aid the cell's infection; a hypothesis strongly supported by the virus's greatly reduced presence following the addition of proteasome inhibitors into the cell. - Sami Kimyongur

This article looks at how thalassaemia is caused by a mutant gene, which relates to the essay in genomics we've recently done in #MB1030. Furthermore, as thalassaemia means sufferers cannot synthesise the beta-subunits of haemoglobin, this also provides further reading for Dr. Wilmott's lectures on proteins, in #BS1015. - Sami Kimyongur

Another article relevant to #BS1015, this discusses the importance of DNA methylation in the post-transcriptional modification of pre-mRNA. It is described how the addition of methyl groups to cytosine has a major influence on gene expression, and provides further reading following Prof. Cundliffe's lectures for the module. - Sami Kimyongur

This article contains many concepts and ideas that we have learned in #BS1015, and places them all in the same context; DNA replication, DNA lesions and repair, the involvement of sister chromatids and the importance of replication forks. Mainly from Dr. Schwabe's lectures for the module, I believe this article, although presenting rather advanced research ideas, interestingly ties together many aspects of our curriculum that may have seemed slightly abstract otherwise. - Sami Kimyongur

Relevant to Dr. Cundliffe's lectures for the #BS1015 module, this article discusses the role of alternative splicing in producing two different castes of honey bees (queen bees and worker bees), even though these bees derive from the same genome. Details of (alternative) splicing processes, such as DNA methylation, are investigated as to their function in gene regulation, making this article a great way to extend what we began to learn in BS1015. - Sami Kimyongur

I've finished my powerpoint for BS1015 too. I'm just going through it but I'm looking forward to the feedback from others in my group on tuesday as I'm not sure where I can improve it yet! :) - Beth Fraser

Interesting as well as depressing, this ties in to the assessment for #MB1030. It turns out that the already huge numbers of people that were thought to be dying of malaria every year have been hugely underestimated. More resources to fight malaria have been suggested, as many sufferers in India and Africa are out of range of medical help. - Sami Kimyongur