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Spring 2024

Biological sciences

Summer 2002

What does Pim-1 really do?

Although science has made much progress in understanding why cancer occurs—smoking, diet, environmental pollutants, viruses—the mechanisms of cancer are still elusive. Nancy Magnuson, of the School of Molecular Biosciences, has been studying an enigmatic gene called Pim-1 since 1988.

The questions I would most like to know the answers to are, “What is the normal function of the proto-oncogene called Pim-1, and how does Pim-1’s function contribute to the production of cancer?”

Although Pim-1 has long been known to be involved in cancer production, it has never been demonstrated how this occurs. Importantly, Pim-1 is only found in certain types of cells, and these are … » More …

Summer 2002

Sex, food, and death

Remember that notorious scene from Alien? You know the one. But instead of just one alien organism bursting out of its host, picture hundreds, even thousands. That’s what happens when Copidosoma floridanum wasps mature, says Laura Corley, assistant professor of entomology. Admittedly, the bursting out is a bit less dramatic than in the movie, for the wasps’ caterpillar host is nothing but a dried out husk when they exit.

Corley studies C. floridanum because of its “fascinating biology.” Female C. floridanum lay up to 40 individual eggs, and each of those eggs develops into between 900 and 3,000 offspring. The offspring of any one egg … » More …

Summer 2002

Sure pigs play. But what does it mean?

“They spin around, twirl, and take a big leap in the air … ,” says Ruth Newberry. “They zigzag a bit … jump up and down, and then flop.”

A dramatic new figure skating routine? No. Newberry is an animal scientist at Washington State University commenting on the behavior that she and colleagues observed in a study designed to learn the effects that early play experience has on the behavior of piglets after they are weaned from their mothers. In broader context, the study is part of a worldwide effort to figure out the function of play in mammals.

One hypothesis, says Newberry, is that … » More …

Spring 2002

“You’ll miss it”

“I liked science classes because they were applicable, and I’ve always been logical. But music adds some structure.”

Nothing navigates the left brain-right brain divide more effectively than guilt and loyalty.

For proof, just pick the brains of Washington State University plant pathologist/cellist Jane Jung-Hae Choi. She switches with ease between running through experiment protocols and symphony movements, thanks to the bicameral prick of expectation.

It worked that way in her science. Offered the choice in summer 1996 between two fellowships through the State University of New York, one at Syracuse Medical Center and one at Geneseo in plant research, Choi chose the plant research … » More …

Spring 2002

Better chow

As anyone who has stir-fried vegetables knows, quickly cooking foods at high temperatures makes for crisper, fresher-tasting foods than using slow-cooking methods.

So it is that over the past six years, associate professor of biological systems engineering Juming Tang and his associates have been working on new technologies to produce high-quality, ready-to-eat military rations (MREs) and “humanitarian daily rations” like those recently air-dropped in Afghanistan.

With conventional methods, lengthy processing times are necessary to kill harmful bacteria that can thrive even in hermetically sealed packages. Depending on package size and type of food, traditional  processing can take anywhere from one to two hours. By the … » More …

Spring 2002

Lots of merit in biochem

Molecular biologist Michael Smerdon has won a 10-year $3.58 million MERIT award from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) so that he can continue his research on repairing DNA. Smerdon was the only scientist to receive the award this year and is the 14th recipient since the NIEHS program began in 1966.

For more than 20 years, Smerdon has been doing groundbreaking work on how DNA damage, caused by chemicals and UV light, is repaired. He was among the first investigators to focus on the role that chromatin structure—the way DNA is folded and packaged within each cell—plays in the DNA repair process.

… » More …