Constance L. Cepko, a professor of genetics and ophthamology at the Harvard University Medical School, an investigator for the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and a co-director of the Leder Program in Human Biology and Translational Medicine at the Harvard University Medical School, will present the 2011-12 John M. Chemerda Lectures in Science on April 2 and 3 on Penn State's University Park campus. The free public lectures are sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science. (more)
A preference for fatty foods has a genetic basis, according to researchers, who discovered that people with certain forms of the CD36 gene may like high-fat foods more than those who have other forms of this gene. The results help explain why some people struggle when placed on a low-fat diet and may one day assist people in selecting diets that are easier for them to follow. The results also may help food developers create new low-fat foods that taste better. (more)
Both climate change and humans were responsible for the extinction of some large, cold-adapted, plant-eating mammals, according to research that is the first of its kind to use genetic, archeological, and climatic data together to infer the population history of large-bodied Ice-Age mammals. The research will be published in the journal Nature.
The study's findings are expected to shed light on the possible fates of living species of mammals as our planet continues its current warming cycle. Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Associate Professor of Biology at Penn State University, is a member of the research team. High-resolution images are online at
http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2011-news/Shapiro10-2011 (more)
A massive database cataloging the human genome's functional elements -- including genes, RNA transcripts and other products -- is being made available as an open resource to the scientific community, classrooms, science writers and the public, thanks to an international team of researchers. In a paper published in the journal PLoS Biology on April 19, the project -- called ENCODE (Encyclopedia Of DNA Elements) -- provides an overview of the team's ongoing efforts to interpret the human genome sequence, as well as a guide for using the vast amounts of data and resources produced so far by the project. (more)
The evolution and diversification of the more than 300,000 living species of flowering plants may have been "jump started" much earlier than previously calculated, a new study indicates. According to Claude dePamphilis, a professor of biology at Penn State and the lead author of the study, which includes scientists at six universities, two major upheavals in the plant genome occurred hundreds of millions of years ago -- nearly 200 million years earlier than the events that other research groups had described. The research also indicates that these upheavals produced thousands of new genes that may have helped drive the evolutionary explosion that led to the rich diversity of present-day flowering plants. The study, which provides a wealth of new genetic data and a more precise evolutionary time scale, is expected to change the way biologists view the family trees of plants in general and flowering plants in particular. To see photos associated with this research, visit http://live.psu.edu/flickrset/72157626350083355 online. The research findings were posted on the early-online website of the journal Nature on April 10, and later will be published in the journal. (more)
Clifford Tabin, a professor in the Department of Genetics at Harvard Medical School and also the chairman of the department, will present the Russell Marker Lectures in Evolutionary Biology on March 14 and 15 on Penn State's University Park campus. The free public lectures are sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science. The series includes a lecture intended for a general audience titled "Revisiting Evolutionary Examples Used by Darwin: New Insights in the Varied Beaks of Darwin's Finches and Regressive Evolution in Cave Fish" at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 14. Tabin also will give a more specialized lecture titled "Evolution and Development of Gut and Limb Pattern" at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 15. Both lectures will take place in the Berg Auditorium, 100 Life Sciences Building. (more)
Beth Shapiro, the Shaffer Career Development Assistant Professor of Biology at Penn State University, has won a David and Lucile Packard Foundation fellowship to explore the origins and evolution of viruses. (more)
John T. Lis, the Barbara McClintock professor of molecular biology and genetics at Cornell University, will present the 2010-11 Robert T. Simpson Memorial Lecture in Molecular Medicine at 4 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 18, in 101 Althouse Laboratory on the Penn State University Park campus. In this free public lecture, titled "New Views of Local and Genome-wide Transcription Regulation In Vivo," Lis will explore how genes are turned on and off. The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. (more)
The scientists who put an innovative "tree of life" online last year now have made that same resource available -- for free -- for iPhone users. The new "TimeTree" application lets anyone with an Apple iPhone harness a vast Internet storehouse of data about the diversity of life, from bacteria to humans. The intuitive interface is designed to answer a simple question, quickly and authoritatively: how long ago did species A and species B share a common ancestor? (more)
Steven L. McKnight, distinguished chair in basic biomedical research and the Sam G. Winstead and F. Andrew Bell distinguished chair in biochemistry at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas, will present the Russell Marker Lectures in Genetic Engineering on Sept 22 and 23 on Penn State's University Park campus. The free public lectures are sponsored by the Penn State Eberly College of Science and will take place in the Berg Auditorium, 100 Life Sciences Building. The series includes a lecture for the general public, "Discovery of a Pro-neurogenic, Neuroprotective Chemical," at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 22. McKnight also will give a more specialized lecture, "Unique Dependence of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells on Threonine Catabolism," at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, Sept. 23. (more)
