Soma Purana

These days, I come across so many words I am not sure what they mean. For instance, I started reading a research article and came across three terms in the short very first paragraph  that I had heard before but forgot their exact meaning, "sympathetic nervous system", "cohort", "prospective study." Thank god for Google to quickly find the meaning on the net and move on.

There are less than 100 glycobiologists in the entire US. Freeze is a one of the most talented one. Listen to his talk at a conference here .

Harrison Ford plays the glycobiologist in the movie. He studies a rare genetic disease called Pompe. Watch and listen here . The movie is based on the true story.

You should read this "The illustrated guide to a Ph.D."

I have found some exciting writings on rare genetic diseases. I am still reading this one . It is very interesting reading written by non-biologist Matt Might about a rare deadly diseases his young son has. Matt who is a computer science professor in the university of Utah won an award for best online science-writing. You may also want to read the same story written in a shorter version by a journalist here .

Frank Macfarlane Burnet was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1960 for his clonal selection theory which explains how our body's adaptive immune system works. 

In Epigenetics, we learn about methylation and acetylation. acetylation may not really be considered epigenetic marking since it is not heritable by mitosis.  Also, acetylation is marking on histone N-term tails which do not affect DNA directly but can be considered as chromatin remodellers by eating into histone's positive charge. Histones methylation does not alter the charge of the histone. H3K4me means methylation of the 4th Lysine (K) residue on histone 3. DNA Methylation, on the other hand, can occur on CpG islands in the DNA and can modify transcription.

Shashi is with us. On 3rd, Fri we went to NYC and took the Circle Line tour with Syl and her parents. Then went to a restaurant on the boat called Frying Pan - Neeraja also joined us. On 4th Sat went to East Brunswick to see Fireworks. That was spectacular. Today (7/5) planning to go see Cranbury fireworks. Actually, didn't do Cranbury.