Before I became a librarian, I worked as a neuroanatomy and immunohistochemistry technician for almost 20 years. After I completed my library degree, I found that working in a research library affiliated with a medical school allowed me to stay in touch with the research community while giving my hands a break from benchwork. The amount of research at my institution that I am now involved with is more varied than in my prior life as a tech.
5 Library Resources You Should be Using
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Model Organism Week: EEK! The Mouse.
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The mouse has been used for years as a model vertebrate organism and as such has allowed for not only groundbreaking work in the basic sciences but also the development of treatments, as well as cures, for many notorious diseases.
Model Organism Week: Getting to Know Your Worms (C. elegans)
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What is so impressive about microscopic nematodes as a biological model? Sidney Brenner first answered that question in his 1974 paper “The Genetics of Cenorhabitis elegans” where he introduced the nematode as an ideal model for studying genetics. The purpose of this blog is to enlighten the community about C. elegans and their contribution to science.
Model Organism Week: Research’s Next Top Model
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Only in the past three decades has Danio Rerio (Zebrafish) started to call the lab their home. Since then, they have helped in finding cures for cancer, understanding more about embryological (vertebrate) development, and vertebrate behavior. One lucky zebrafish has also gone where few humans have been: space. On June 22nd 1976 the space station Salyut 5 was launched, with one of the crew members being a zebra danio.
Drosophila melanogaster: The Fruit Fly.
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If fruit flies could have an ego and could understand their contributions to research they would be pretty proud little model organisms. They would walk around on your fruit like, “ha! How about that? Whose banana now? This is my banana now…”
BenchFly’s Model Organism Week
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Many of the questions that we ask in research are to ultimately find an answer or understand a biological process in humans. However, human research is often too difficult, risky and expensive to undertake. Enter: model organisms.
UCSC Visigene: A Gene Expression Database You Need
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Whether we’ve just started a project or we’re expanding our current one, there are few things more overwhelming than learning about a new gene from square one. Just understanding the logistics can be a killer (Where is it expressed? What other proteins interact with it?…) and usually necessitates reading/skimming/sleeping through a chest-high pile of reprints. Until now…
Why Do Your New Year’s Resolutions Fail?
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Happy New Year and welcome back! It’s Monday morning and the holiday season is now officially in the rear view window. The crowded airports, the family fun and the blistering New Year’s day hangover are now all a thing of the past. However, somewhere between the first glass of champagne and Auld Lang Syne we probably made a few resolutions that “this year we’re going to stick with…”
Scientists: Naughty or Nice?
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With the holidays upon us and the year winding down, the time has come for reflection. There have certainly been ups and downs and we can only hope we’ve been fortunate enough to have more of the former than the latter. But have we?
Ethical Dilemmas, Micromanagers and that Evil Email
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Another juicy issue! Thanks for all of the great questions! We’re addressing three questions each month, so If you don’t see your question this time, keep an eye out for our future issues where it will likely show up! Send your questions to [email protected].
