bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Full economic costing: The Biochemical Society Supporting Excellence in the Science Base
Authors: Eastwood Rodney
Published: October 2019

The Government intends to reform the way research is funded in UK universities. The reforms arise from an awareness in the Treasury that current methods are not sustainable in the long term. For many decades, universities have had insufficient resources to provide an adequate infrastructure to support the highest quality research. The inevitable result has been that much of their capital assets are well past their replacement date and the recurrent account is nowhere near adequate to provide for the necessary depth and quality of support.
Making blood safe: A filtration technology for removing infectious prions from red-cell concentrates
Authors: Sowemimo-Coker S.O.
Published: October 2019

Prion diseases (TSEs, transmissible spongiform encephalopathies) are fatal neurodegenerative diseases that affect both humans and animals, including scrapie in sheep, BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) in cattle and CJD (Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease) and its variant (vCJD) in humans. The recent occurrences of probable cases of transmission of vCJD through blood transfusion raises concerns about the safety of the blood supply and the possibility of transmission of the causative agent by blood transfusion from asymptomatic infected individuals.
SET for Success -- 3 years on: The Biochemical Society: Supporting Excellence in the Science Base
Authors: Alink-Brunsdon Sheila
Published: October 2019

Has the Roberts' Review improved the supply of trained personnel and the career opportunities in the biomolecular sciences?
Faster, surer prediction: Harnessing automated microscopy for drug discovery
Authors: Monk Alan J.
Published: October 2019

As many as 60% of investigational new drugs fail in the later preclinical and clinical phases of development because of unsatisfactory absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion and/or toxicity (ADMET) characteristics. There is therefore a great need for tools that can help to predict the ADMET response earlier in drug development, before valuable resources are wasted on compounds destined ultimately to fail. ADMET characteristics are reliant on many co-ordinated events and feedback pathways in the intact organism and cannot readily be measured accurately in in vitro biochemical assays. The cell, however, as the smallest intact functional unit of living organisms, can provide a useful model in which to carry out predictive ADMET studies. This article looks at automated microscopy and imaging as a useful screening tool in early-stage drug discovery.
Smiler with a knife?
Authors: Oliver Rhonda
Published: October 2019

“Ther saugh I first the derk ymaginying Of felon ye, and al the encompassying The Cruel Ire, reed as any gleede; The pykepurs, and eek the pale Drede; The smyler with the knyf undre the cloke” Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight's Tale
The fish watch: Zebrafish: a clock in every cell
Authors: Carr Amanda-Jayne F. , Whitmore David
Published: October 2019

The environmental light–dark cycle is one of the most reliable rhythmic signals, and many organisms have evolved a circadian (circa diem, ‘about a day’) system to co-ordinate biological processes with this predictable environmental change. These rhythms are endogenous and persist even in constant conditions, the light–dark cycle serving to synchronize these rhythms precisely to 24 hours. Genetic approaches have proved invaluable in increasing our understanding of the circadian clock. The ability to isolate a mutant with a defect in a rhythmic process is a very powerful method, which depends on no prior assumptions about the biological process under investigation. Consequently, Drosophila and the mouse have become the most powerful genetic models to study circadian rhythms in animals. The one alternative vertebrate genetic model system to the mouse is the zebrafish (Danio rerio).
Managing data: LIMS implementation in drug discovery
Authors: Crossett Don
Published: October 2019

It is estimated that it takes approximately $1.25 billion1 and more than 10 years for the drug discovery and development process to be completed and a new drug to be brought to market. During all of this long process, from pre-clinical testing to product development and approval from the FDA (Federal Drug Administration), a wealth of data from a wide variety of bioinformatic tools are collected, integrated and analysed in order to lead to the next big discovery. This is why there are many analysts who believe that an effective Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) to collect and manage laboratory data can save millions of dollars from the overall associated costs.
Dreams and schemes: The Biochemical Society: Supporting Excellence in the Science Base
Authors: Gull Keith
Published: October 2019

A recent report entitled ‘The Freedom to Succeed’ has been published by the Academy of Medical Sciences. It presents the findings and recommendations of a committee, chaired by Professor Keith Gull CBE FRS FMedSci (an ex-Chairman of the Biochemical Society), that reviewed research fellowships in the biomedical sciences. In this article, Professor Gull outlines some aspects of this report, which has broad implications for fellows, funding agencies and higher education institutes. The report can be seen at http://www.acmedsci.ac.uk.
A reduced history of the Biochemical Journal
Authors: Oliver Rhonda , Starley Pauline
Published: October 2019

It is a pity that there is not the equivalent of a telegram from the Queen for journals celebrating their 100th birthday, because otherwise the Biochemical Journal, surely the Grande Dame (but whether Evadne Hinge or Hilda Bracket is matter of personal choice) of biochemistry journals, would be getting one this year (and, yes, in case you are wondering, the Biochemical Journal, like a majestic ocean liner, is definitely a ‘she’).
Glycobiology at Oxford: A personal view
Authors: Dwek Raymond
Published: October 2019

In the 1980s, one of the approaches we took to determining the function of oligosaccharides was to find out how they altered in disease states. In 1985 my research group published a paper in Nature in which we showed that a change in the glycosylation of the antibody molecule correlated with the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis. When I was interviewed on the Radio 4 Today programme and by other radio stations, it became clear that the word ‘oligosaccharide’ was not user-friendly for the vast majority of the non-scientific public. I coined the word ‘glycobiology’, and, with Tom Rademacher and Raj Parekh, members of my research team, subsequently used it in the Annual Reviews of Biochemistry in 19881. At that time I was appointed Professor of Glycobiology by Oxford University and encouraged the Oxford University Press to start the journal Glycobiology. The word ‘glycobiology’ was soon taken up around the world, where it provided a special identity to many people already working in the field. My idea was to emphasize the importance of oligosaccharides in their biological context in the hope that this would reveal their functions. In 1991, the Oxford Glycobiology Institute was opened by Fred Sanger, and together with part of the Department of Botany (of which Professor Chris Leaver, FRS, was the Head), was housed in the Rodney Porter Building.
The engine of life: Photosystem II
Authors: Barber James
Published: October 2019

Determination of the crystal structure of Photosystem II has provided strong hints of how Nature uses solar energy to power the remarkable chemistry of water-splitting to produce, on an enormous scale, hydrogen equivalents and molecular oxygen. This new information now provides a blueprint for scientists to seriously consider constructing catalysts that mimic the natural system and thus provide new technologies to address the energy/CO2 problem that humankind must solve. After all, there is no shortage of water for this reaction and the energy content of sunlight falling on our planet well exceeds our needs.
A Scottish Spring: Regulated gene expression in the control of flowering time
Authors: Simpson Gordon
Published: October 2019

Spring has arrived as I sit down to write this article in the garden of my Dundee home. Next to the dry-stane dyke and ahead of my Aquilegia, Arabidopsis plants have come into flower. They must think there is something special about this time of year, as I've seen them first come into flower here in April of the last 3 years (Figure 1). How do they know that April has arrived?
Teaching the scientists of tomorrow: Summer Vacation Studentships 2006 -- following the biochemical researchers of the 21st Century
Authors: Baker Hannah
Published: October 2019

The Biochemical Society awarded 10 studentships to second- or third-year undergraduate biochemistry students in February 2006. These young, keen researchers are due to spend between 6 and 8 weeks over the summer vacation working on cutting-edge research projects in laboratories across the UK, USA, Canada and Sweden. They all hope to broaden their scientific knowledge, improve their experimental skills and gain a deeper insight into life in the lab and where to take their careers after a BSc.
No free lunch: Industrial funding and research
Authors: Cotgreave Peter
Published: October 2019

We need more and more science. Scientists have always demanded this, it seems the economy really does need it, and politicians have woken up to the truth of it. The universe is infinite, even our modest little planet is pretty impressive, so there's a lot of science to be done, and we need to know ever more if we are to succeed as a nation in the 21st Century. Only countries that keep ahead in the knowledge race can hope to compete, and that means shovelling more and more money into research.
La dolce vita or via dolorosa?: Biochemistry in Italy
Authors: Bellelli Andrea
Published: October 2019

It is commonplace to describe the scientific research of one's country as the endeavour of a lively community of enthusiastic scientists (especially young ones) who have to continuously struggle against the scarcity of public funding. Italian biochemistry is no exception to this rule.
Acid trip: The history of LSD -- the original psychedelic drug
Authors: Dyck Erika
Published: October 2019

In April 1943, Dr Albert Hofmann, a Swiss biochemist, dissolved a few micrograms of a newlysynthesized drug, d-lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), in a glass of water and drank it. Three-quarters of an hour later, he recorded a growing dizziness, some visual disturbances and a marked desire to laugh. After about an hour he asked his assistant to call a doctor and accompany him home from his research laboratory at the Sandoz Pharmaceutical Company in Zurich, Switzerland. He then climbed onto his bicycle and went on a surreal journey. In Hofmann's mind he was not on the familiar road that led home, but rather a street painted by Salvador Dali, a funhouse roller coaster. When he arrived home a doctor was ordered and found Hofmann physically fine, but mentally distraught.
Athena addresses the problems: The biosciences leaking pipeline
Authors: Higgins Julia , Lane Nancy , Fox Caroline
Published: October 2019

The biosciences are unique among the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines. At the entry point they are attractive to women, who form the majority of undergraduates, but although this pipeline is full at the beginning, it is just not delivering effectively. The costs of the leakage are high, for the individual, for UK science and for the economy.
Girlfriends in high places: Mentoring for women in Science, Engineering and Technology
Authors: Spokes Lucinda , Koenig Jennifer , West Jan , Mason Jacki , Tobbell Rachel
Published: October 2019

The concept of mentoring has been around for a very long time; the idea was first introduced in Homer's Odyssey in the 8th Century BC. When Odysseus went to fight in the Trojan War, he left his son in the care of his old friend Mentor who provided support and encouragement to the boy. As time has passed, the word mentor has become to mean someone who acts a guide and advisor. There are numerous modern definitions and descriptions of mentoring and one of the best known is by Eric Parsloe of the Oxford School of Coaching and Mentoring. He describes the purpose of mentoring “to support and encourage people to manage their own learning in order that they may maximise their potential, develop their skills, improve their performance and become the person they want to be”.
Interdisciplinary work: Chemical biology
Authors: McCarthy John
Published: October 2019

Biology is the study of living things, but the actual nature of that study is progressing rapidly in so many different directions that it is becoming increasingly difficult to categorize bioscience as a distinct discipline. The plethora of ‘bio-’ terms illustrates what has been happening to what used to be regarded as a relatively coherent discipline over the last 50 years.
The challenge of delivery: Cancer gene therapy
Authors: Seymour Leonard W.
Published: October 2019

Everybody understands gene therapy. It's where healthy genes are used to supplement the lossoffunction of mutated genes, providing simple cures for complex genetic diseases. Because it clearly works (otherwise why is it called ‘gene therapy’?) there is a roller coaster of public perception, varying between enthusiastic optimism in times of dramatic progress and scathing criticism when things go badly. A priority for those of us working in the field is to regulate expectation by providing access to more balanced and intelligible information, and that is one goal of the recently formed Brit ish Society for Gene Therapy (www.bsgt.org).
Silencing rogue gense: RNA-targeted therapies
Authors: Wood Matthew JA
Published: October 2019

Advances in RNA biology have led to the development of nucleic acid therapeutic agents targeting RNA. Such agents are small oligonucleotides of diverse structures and chemistries that resemble standard pharmacotherapeutics more than conventional gene therapies, with the ability to yield a range of therapeutic transformations on different types of target RNA.
Why we need rats: What it is like to use animals in neurobiological research in the UK?
Authors: Moon Lawrence
Published: October 2019

I'm a big fan of rodents. As a kid, I had two pet mice (called Pip and Marty). As a teenager, I had four Russian dwarf hamsters (Sex, Drugs, Rock and Roll) and, as a student, I had a couple of piebald rats (Chicken and Noodle). Now, as a neuroscientist at a UK university, I have a colony of rats with numbers instead of names. It's a dilemma that many researchers face: how to reconcile their empathy with animals with their desire to develop safe and effective therapies for diseases or injuries. It is ethically challenging: for 7 years, I was simultaneously a vegetarian and vivisector.
150 years on: Darwin's heritage
Authors: Napier James
Published: October 2019

2009 is a particularly significant year for the theory of evolution; it is 150 years since the publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species and also the bicentenary of his birth. But what really is the current state of evolutionary theory and what have been the major advances since the publication of Darwin's book?
Benchtop evolution: Using forced evolution to generate gene and protein variants in the laboratory
Authors: Leak David J.
Published: October 2019

Enzymes are remarkable catalysts. Their potential to catalyse specific reactions with a high degree of regio- and stereo-selectivity was exploited in the early days of steroid manufacture where, despite relatively poor productivity, the exquisite selectivity of the conversions meant that it was possible to economically convert readily available precursors into valuable intermediates for final product synthesis. This avoided the attrition of multi-step de novo chemical synthesis, a factor which was inherent in most commercially successful biotransformation processes prior to the introduction of molecular cloning. Finding the best enzyme for the reaction was largely based on extensive microbial isolation and screening programmes, and the chosen isolate or a mutant thereof would also be the production host.
Green factories: The shaping and use of metabolic pathways in algae
Authors: Ball Steven G. , Peltier Gilles
Published: October 2019

The complex endosymbiotic history of algal plastids has generated a high degree of diversity within their metabolic pathways. The shaping and merging of pathways from various combinations of hosts and endosymbionts is responsible for important biochemical innovations such as those exemplified by the emergence of starch metabolism. Green algae, such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, contain an oxygen-sensitive high-specific-activity hydrogenase that, in special circumstances, can generate molecular hydrogen directly from photosynthesis, or indirectly through the storage of photosynthetic energy in starch. The challenge now facing biochemists studying these pathways is to make use of these organisms to produce molecular hydrogen in a sustainable and efficient fashion.
Slippery customers: How African trypanosomes evade mammalian defences
Authors: Carrington Mark
Published: October 2019

African trypanosomes are excellent parasites and can maintain an infection of a large mammalian host for months or years. In endemic areas, Human African Trypanosomiasis, also called sleeping sickness, has been largely unaffected by the advent of modern medicine, and trypanosomiasis of domestic livestock is a major restraint on productivity in endemic areas and is arguably the major contributor to the institutionalized poverty in much of rural sub-Saharan Africa1,2. A simple way of visualizing the effect of the livestock disease is to compare maps showing the distribution of livestock (www.ilri.org/InfoServ/Webpub/Fulldocs/Mappoverty/index.htm) and tsetse flies, the insect vector (www.fao.org/ag/AGAinfo/programmes/en/paat/maps.html): the lack of overlap is remarkable. Tsetse flies are only present in sub-Saharan Africa, and this probably restricted the spread of African trypanosomiasis until historical times. Livestock infections are now present in much of South Asia and South America, a product of long distance trade and adaptation of the trypanosomes to mechanical transmission3. The majority of research is on Trypanosoma brucei as this includes the human infective subspecies. This article provides a description of progress in the understanding the molecular details of how the trypanosome interacts with the mammalian immune system and how these studies have extended beyond this to fundamental aspects of eukaryotic cell biology.
Ending the neglect: The fight against neglected tropical diseases
Authors: Stoever Kari
Published: October 2019

Author and New York Times writer Malcolm Gladwell famously made the term ‘tipping point’ part of the lexicon of epidemiology, stating that tipping points are “the levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.” He further defined the tipping point as “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point.”
Illustrating drug design using molecular modelling
Authors: Rossington Steven
Published: October 2019

This article describes the construction of a giant protein (‘Boris’) and illustrates how by making molecular models secondary school and college students can learn hands on how drug systems and proteins interact in drug therapy treatments within the human body.
Women at the dawn of British biochemistry: Female contributors to the Biochemical Journal from 1906 to 1939
Authors: Long Vicky , Marland Hilary , Freedman Robert B.
Published: October 2019

The Biochemical Society will be 100 years old in 2011, and this centenary will be the occasion for much celebration and nostalgia. The anniversary publications and displays will be accompanied by photographs of the pioneers who established the Society, and this photographic record will smooth out their individuality and leave just a single overall impression – of a group of wing-collared, waist-coated, watch-chained and walrus-moustached middle-aged men! We have been exploring how representative a picture this is of the early biochemical community in Britain.
Restriction enzymes: The (billion dollar) consequences of studying why certain isolates of phage γ infect only certain strains of E. coli
Authors: Halford Stephen E.
Published: October 2019

In 1953, Bertani and Weigle1 reported that samples of bacteriophage γ that had been propagated on certain strains of Escherichia coli retained the ability to infect that same strain of E. coli but were unable to infect other strains. A contemporary version of their study is shown in Figure 1; phage γ, obtained by infecting E. coli strain K (γK), is applied to two different E. coli strains, K and B. The γK particles infect E. coli K with an efficiency of 1: i.e., every phage produces a plaque in a lawn of E. coli K cells. But the same preparation of γK shows a pathetic efficiency of infection on E. coli B, about 10−4: i.e., 10,000 phage particles yield just one plaque on the lawn of E. coli B cells. The phage obtained from the few productive infections of E. coli B (γB) are then tested against the same two strains, K and B. This time, the phage have largely lost the ability to infect E. coli K, as they now show an efficiency of 10−4 instead of 1, but they infect E. coli B much more readily than before, with an efficiency raised from 10−4 to 1.
Selling science: Absolutely Fabulous or The Thick of It?
Authors: Stilwell Dianne
Published: October 2019

I became involved in science communication over 20 years ago. With a background in microbiology and genetics, I had started my working life editing and abstracting science journals while taking a postgraduate course in information science. That led to 3 years running a scientific library for Cadbury Schweppes and then a position as biotechnology information specialist at the British Library. This was in the early 1980s and was the first flowering of commercial biotechnology. The European Biotechnology Information Project (EBIP) was intended to help scientists get to grips with information sources in hitherto unfamiliar areas such as legislation, intellectual property and marketing. In practice, we found that scientists, being resourceful types, were quite happy delving into any sort of literature with minimal help, but we did find we had a ready audience of teachers, journalists, legislators and venture capitalists among others who needed our help to explain what this ‘new’ science was all about. It was at this point that I realized that I was happier (and better) at explaining biology and its applications to non-biologists than explaining the finer points of EU regulations to scientists. So when, in 1985, I saw an advertisement from the Biochemical Society for a ‘Research and Information Officer’, it seemed like a good career move.
Q&A: Promoting questions and dialogue in school science
Authors: Thomson Jane
Published: October 2019

Getting teenagers to ask good questions in science is not as easy as one would think. Many able pupils seem happy to passively absorb information without asking many questions, and to some extent the teacher might be forgiven for making the best of it by skipping through the syllabus, merrily ticking off learning objectives without losing too much sleep. While most teachers would agree that this way of learning science is not exactly ideal, questions concerning how to get pupils to become more inquisitive about science and how to foster a climate of questioning in lessons have been stagnating in the ether of secondary schools' prep rooms across the land for some time.
Knowing your (career) options…: 2009 Life Science Careers Conference
Authors: Garrett Gemma
Published: October 2019

Deciding what you want to do with your life after your degree can be a tricky task, especially with the wealth of different options available to bioscience graduates. Sometimes a little help about what's on offer and how to plan your career can go a long way…
Science for Humanity: Using scientific knowledge to alleviate poverty
Authors: Devi A. , Uy C.
Published: October 2019

Tremendous success has been achieved in the developed world in the fields of science and technology. Although this has increased the standard of living and the quality of life of those who are relatively well off, unfortunately poverty still exists in many areas in the world and many of the poor are still suffering from lack of access to clean water, sufficient energy supply, education and much more. Something has to be done to reduce the gap between the success of science and the pervasive presence of poverty in the developing world.
Revolutionizing Drug Discovery with Stem Cell Technology: Meeting report
Authors: Welham Melanie
Published: October 2019

A Biochemical Society Focused Meeting held at GlaxoSmithKline in Stevenage, UK, 18–19 January 2010????????
Centenary events from the Education Department
Authors: Garrett Gemma
Published: October 2019

To celebrate 100 years of the Biochemical Society, the Education Department have lined up an exciting programme of Centenary events for 2011. We're planning to get out and about and deliver a range of activities throughout the UK aimed at schools, university students and the general public. Read on to find out more…
Opportunities and problems of Bioenergy: The future
Authors: Lynch Jim , Harvey Patricia J.
Published: October 2019

Traditionally, biomass such as wood has been used for cooking and heating purposes. The oil crises of the 1970s, however, prompted interest in biomass to produce liquid biofuels and replace fossilbased transport fuels. Subsequent falls in oil prices evaporated much of the incentive and stalled the momentum to expand biofuel production in most countries, but recent years have seen a resurgence of interest, this time prompted by energy supply security, oil price volatility and the new driver: climate change mitigation. As a result, biofuel programmes have proliferated around the world, driven by mandates, targets and subsidies, whilst investment in the development of advanced biofuel technologies has racked up. And, as before, biofuels as an alternative to fossil-based transport fuel, gaseous or liquid, has been emphasized. The 2003 EU Biofuels Directive, for example, targets a 5.75% share of biofuels in transport energy by 2010 and 10% by 2020. However, biofuels can also be used to efficiently produce both heat and power in decentralized production systems based on combined heat and power (CHP) engines. Indeed, whereas transport accounted for nearly one-third of final energy consumption in the EU-27 countries in 2008, heat and electricity account for two-thirds of final consumption (Figure 1).
Silent killers: The biochemistry of the undead
Authors: Allen Mike , Pagarete António
Published: October 2019

The Earth's oceans are teeming with life. Despite our obsession with the terrestrial environment we inhabit, it is the oceans that first gave rise to life 2.9 billion years ago, and, with an extra billion years or so of evolution behind them, it is the oceans that harbour the greatest genetic and metabolic diversity on the planet. Yet we know surprisingly little about the biochemistry of our oceans. Microbial life forms covering the three cellular kingdoms (Archaea, Bacteria and Eukarya) represent by far the largest fraction of the total biomass existent in the oceans. However, a poorly studied and, until recently, largely ignored other kingdom also exists: the viral kingdom. Entirely dependent on the three cellular kingdoms of life, the viral kingdom rules above with an iron fist, ruthlessly and mercilessly destroying their hosts in order to replicate and produce their own progeny.
Marine algal neurotoxins: Pandora's box or panacea?
Authors: Echevarria Michael L. , Taylor Alison R.
Published: October 2019

Phytoplankton produce a diversity of secondary metabolites that have deleterious effects on other organisms. Some of the most potent of these toxins affect neuronal function in animals. These algal neurotoxins bind selectively to specific receptors on ion transporters in neuronal cell membranes, altering their function and kinetic behaviour. The outcome of such toxin–transporter interactions is the disruption of cell signalling, leading to neurotoxicity through either excitatory or inhibitory mechanisms. Algal neurotoxins may affect non-neuronal cell types as well, but toxic effects are most pronounced in neuronal cells.
Eureka Moments: the protein that disappeared: Tim Hunt in conversation with Hugh Pelham
Authors: Cox Amy
Published: October 2019

As part of our Centenary celebrations, a number of the Society's Honorary Members have been asked to talk about the important moments in their careers and the future of the discipline. These interviews will be made available throughout the year on the Society's website as a series of podcasts. The third to be released is that of Tim Hunt who spoke to Hugh Pelham about discovering the protein that disappeared.
Sparring partners in inflammatory bowel disease: Resident microbiota and the gastrointestinal mucosal immune system
Authors: Bajaj-Elliott Mona
Published: October 2019

Intestinal homoeostasis is a complex affair. We are just beginning to appreciate the molecular nature of the crosstalk that allows happy coexistence between the commensal resident microbiota and the gastrointestinal (GI) mucosal immune system. Both microbial and host components involved in this interplay are being increasingly identified and studied. A better understanding of these multifaceted interactions holds the key for unlocking the cellular events responsible for gut inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.
Introduction
Authors: Blundell Tom
Published: October 2019

This issue of The Biochemist is focused on biochemistry in China. It is timely because it reflects the history of biochemical research collaboration between Chinese and UK scientists, not only by looking back over the last century, but also by reviewing some of the strengths of biochemical research in China in 2011.
The many faces of amyloid: Protein misfolding: failure or function?
Authors: Sawyer Elizabeth B. , Perrett Sarah
Published: October 2019

The ability of proteins to recognize, bind and manipulate a wide range of other molecules lies at the heart of virtually every cellular process. In order to achieve this, proteins must fold into a precise three-dimensional structure. A failure to achieve this structure, and the associated loss of protein stability and function, results in diseases such as muscular dystrophy and cystic fibrosis. In addition, the misfolding and aggregation of proteins to form fibrillar species is associated with the progression of amyloid diseases such as Alzheimer's and Huntington's and prion diseases including Creutzfeldt– Jakob disease and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE, or ‘mad cow disease’). In this article, we consider advances in the study of protein folding and misfolding and their relevance to biological function. We also explore the issue of protein ‘misfolding’ to form functional aggregated structures, such as the mode of epigenetic inheritance mediated by fungal prions and the formation of amyloid fibrils with positive biological functions in bacteria.
Biomedical research in Hong Kong
Authors: Poon Randy Y.C.
Published: October 2019

The first paper from China published in a journal of the Biochemical Society is from as early as 1926. Ernest Tso from the Peking Union Medical College published in the Biochemical Journal a study on the stability of vitamins in Pidan 1. ‘Pidan’ are preserved duck eggs (also called century eggs, thousand-year eggs or millennium eggs, depending on the degree of exaggeration). The yolk (dark green, by the way) is encased in a white that resembles amber. A rather popular cuisine ingredient, Pidan, as nicely observed by Tso “… is perhaps as much used on the table as is cheese in Western countries”.
Feeling the heat: Temperature sensing by ion channels – how do they do it?
Authors: Clapham David
Published: October 2019

Two ion channels, TRPV1 (capsaicin receptor/channel) and TRPM8 (menthol receptor channel) of the transient receptor potential (TRP) family, are well established as mediators of heat and cold sensation respectively. What is it about the structures of these molecules that enables these properties?
Feel the force: Bio-electricity and the sensing of electric fields
Authors: Piasta Kene N. , Miller Christopher
Published: October 2019

In an issue devoted to sensory phenomena, it may seem odd to include an article on sensing something that we cannot consciously perceive: electric force. Of course, we can sense the dramatic power of a lightning bolt: we see the flash, hear the boom, feel the rumble, and, if we're close enough, smell and taste the ozone produced. Lightning is caused by an enormous electric field that develops under a thundercloud due to the separation of electrical charges between the cloud and the earth. Almost 250 years after Benjamin Franklin's kite-in-the-storm experiment, we still don't fully understand how this charge separation is generated. But it's nevertheless a fact that if you are standing under a thundercloud, you are immersed in a large vertically directed electric field, typically a few hundred volts between your head and your feet. Just before a lightning strike, this electric field becomes large enough to literally rip gas molecules in the air apart by pulling negatively charged electrons in one direction – towards the positively charged ground – and positive nuclei towards the negative cloud. Once a column of air becomes ionized in this way, the charged particles zoom to their respective ‘electrodes’, discharging the cloud–ground capacitor in a bright, hot flash of enormous electrical current. Lightning is a manifestation of a phenomenon called ‘dielectric breakdown’, something we've all seen in more controlled contexts, such as cheesy horror movies, Ask-Dr-Science demos at science museums and aluminium foil mistakenly placed in the microwave oven. Dielectric breakdown of most materials occurs at electric fields on the order of a few million volts per metre. But there is a great irony here: whereas we sense all of the secondary consequences of lightning, we are utterly blind to its most fundamental element – the electric field that gets the whole thing going. Humans just never evolved electric-force sensors. (But fish did – and migratory birds and turtles navigate by ‘feeling’ the earth's weak magnetic field.
Forensic Science Service closure jeopardizes justice
Authors: Lush James
Published: October 2019

“The Government did not consider enough evidence in its decision-making… Examining the possible impacts of a decision after the decision has been made contradicts the concept of evidence informing policy.” House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report into the closure of the Forensic Science Service.
What's on?
Authors: Burgess Mark
Published: October 2019

The Wellcome Collection has a new exhibition, ‘Brains: the Mind as Matter’, which looks at the depiction, collection, study and surgery of the brain. There are 150 exhibits in four sections: ‘Measuring/Classifying’, ‘Mapping/Modelling’, ‘Cutting/Treating’ and ‘Giving/Taking’.
Developing careers advice for undergraduates: Life after biochemistry
Authors: Willmott Chris
Published: October 2019

As I gathered up my laser pointer, board pens and notes after a lecture with first years, it was clear that the student loitering by the door was hoping for a private chat. After everyone else had drifted away, she came back into the room. “Sir”, she began nervously, “I was wondering, what jobs can you actually do after a degree in biochemistry?”
What's on the horizon for undergraduate bioscience research?
Authors: Morris Neil
Published: October 2019

Many undergraduate students describe their final-year research project as the pinnacle of their undergraduate degree: for some, the opportunity to undertake cutting-edge research in the laboratory of a leading expert in the area; for others, the opportunity to enhance their skills through questionnaire-based clinical research or through doing educational research in a local school.
SciberBrain: dialogue sans fronti–res
Authors: Garrett Gemma
Published: October 2019

Back in May, we were delighted to learn that our most recent bid to the Monsanto Fund had been successful, awarding us a further US$150 000 to support our SciberBrain and Dialogue in Science projects throughout 2012–2013. The grant will make a huge difference to the future development of these projects. It will allow us to reach more age groups and respond to emerging needs and gaps in provision, including cross-curricular resources and activities to address discussions on controversial scientific issues. It will also support our expansion of the project to developing countries, beginning with a pilot in Uganda.
Wartime discoveries on amino acids: Functions in protein structure and as a dietary nitrogen source
Authors: Neuberger Michael S.
Published: October 2019

In 1943, 10 years after leaving Germany as a refugee, Albert Neuberger published two papers in the Biochemical Journal which became citation classics of their time. They concerned very different aspects of amino acid biochemistry. One, co-authored with John Crammer, described the discovery that the reactivity of the tyrosine side chains in ovalbumin differed considerably from that observed with the free amino acid, but changed substantially when ovalbumin was denatured. This provided some of the earliest evidence that the folded structure of proteins involves interactions between amino acid side chains. The other, with Fred Sanger, focused on the utility of different lysine derivatives as components of the diet. This extended Sanger and Neuberger's previous investigations into the nutritional value of the potato as a source of nitrogen, a line of work that they had initiated in response to the need to carry out research of greater relevance to the war effort. In the present article, I describe these two citation classics and place them in the context of my father's establishment of his career in the UK.
The globins: classic structures and new insights
Authors: Sansom Clare
Published: October 2019

The oxygen-binding proteins myoglobin and haemoglobin have a special place in the history of structural biology, and, by implication, of molecular biology and molecular medicine. When the first structures of these proteins were published, in 19581 and 19602, they were the only protein structures known. And even these structures bore very little resemblance to what we now think of as ‘protein structures’. The structures were far too crude – low resolution, as structural biologists say – to reveal the positions of any of the atoms. The beautiful and meticulous hand-drawn diagrams of the myoglobin monomer and the haemoglobin tetramer in these proteins show fat sausage-like shapes representing the eight -helices of the now well-known globin fold, with the haem group nestling in between. It took the genius of the principal scientists involved in that work, Max Perutz and John Kendrew, to imagine the potential of these rather unpromising looking structures. Perutz and Kendrew were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1962, which was a particularly good year for structural biology; Watson, Crick and Wilkins were awarded the Physiology or Medicine Nobel for the DNA structure then too.
Staying connected – new grants launched
Authors: Mangan Niamh
Published: October 2019

The Society's Conference Department is launching a series of new initiatives for 2013 to provide support for scientists with young families and women in science.
Pursuing professionalism
Authors: Neill Natasha
Published: October 2019

Continuing professional development, or CPD, is an important part of all career paths, offering a way by which you can document your work above and beyond your job role, aiding upwards progression.
Science in film
Authors: Lambourne Helen
Published: October 2019

On Monday 8 November, Sir John Gurdon was bustled into a meeting room at the Wellcome Trust to face a wall of TV cameras, journalists and photographers in a special press conference. Professor Gurdon, a former governor of the Trust after whom the Wellcome Trust–Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute was named, had just been awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine or Physiology for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become immature cells that are capable of developing into all tissues of the body. That same evening, the Wellcome Trust was able to announce a second prize-winner on its premises. Not for a Nobel Prize this time, but rather the inaugural winner of the Wellcome Trust Screenwriting Prize.
Membrane proteins in nanotechnology
Authors: Curnow Paul
Published: October 2019

The potential for nanotechnology to transform modern life has been appreciated for several years. Generally, nanotechnology involves objects with at least one dimension of less than 100 nm. Such stuff is abundant in the natural world, and one of the most exciting current areas in nanoscience research is the use of proteins as nanoscale components of high-performance devices and as nanosized tools in their own right. Biochemists, with our relatively sophisticated and mature toolkit for understanding protein structure and function, are now saddling up to explore the wild frontiers of biological nanotechnology.
A classic review on extracellular ATP and its signalling functions that helped to define the field's agenda for many years
Authors: Dale Nicholas
Published: October 2019

In his highly cited Biochemical Journal review, ‘Extracellular ATP: effects, sources and fate’, (Volume 233, pages 309–319) John Gordon summarized the state of knowledge in 1986 surrounding the extracellular signalling functions of ATP. At that time, the status of ATP as a signalling agent was overwhelmed by the central position of ATP in energy metabolism and, as Dr Gordon wryly noted, many regarded such a notion as “verging on the heretical”. His review covered what was then known of ATP receptors, and ATP signalling in a diverse range of physiological processes such as platelet aggregation, vascular tone, peripheral and central neurotransmission, cardiac function and smooth muscle contraction. Finally, he considered the breakdown of ATP in the extracellular space. Dr Gordon used his review to “indulge in some modest speculation about the role of extracellular ATP in biology and pathology”. He emphasized the importance of understanding the sources of ATP release, as well as the stimuli that evoke release and the mechanisms by which ATP is released. These important issues remain as pertinent today as they were in 1986 and the drive to answer these questions has led to many fundamental advances
Master's degrees in science
Authors: Hime Alexa
Published: October 2019

A Master's degree in science is a postgraduate taught qualification offered by many universities, which allows you to specialize in a certain aspect of your Bachelor's degree course, or a related scientific subject. Usually the course consists of several taught modules and a research project. The organization of a Master's course is similar to that of a Bachelor's academic course, except that it generally lasts 1 year, depending on the course, institution, nature of the research project and whether it is being studied full or part-time.
In2scienceUK helps students get into university
Authors: McKelvey Rebecca
Published: October 2019

With student fees increasing and with degrees at top research-intensive universities being overrepresented by students from private schools, bright students from low income backgrounds face a number of barriers when pursuing their interests in science. This is reflected in a report by the Sutton trust in 2010 stating that 18% of pupils on free school meals progressed to higher education compared with 36% on non-free school meals and 96% at independent schools.
Writing your CV: essential tips
Authors: Hime Alexa
Published: October 2019

A high-quality CV is essential when applying for jobs and helping you take steps to the next stage in your career. A simple, well-structured and well-written CV will highlight your employability and suitability for the job, and show you are worthy of an interview.
Could you be an ambassador for biochemistry?
Authors: Bodley Kirsten
Published: October 2019

Educating and inspiring future scientists is of vital importance to the future of scientific progress and innovation, and it will also play a key role in supporting the UK economy. Indeed, recent research from the Royal Academy of Engineering suggests that the UK must increase the number of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) graduates by as much as 50% if it is to remain globally competitive.
Crossing the great divide?: Moving between academia and industry
Authors: Ball Catherine
Published: October 2019

Many scientists feel that at some point in their career an irreversible choice must be made: to pursue academia or industry. For some, these two career options represent completely distinct incompatible disciplines. But is this really the case?
Conway's Microdiffusion Analysis: Eighty years on and still counting!
Authors: Masterson Bartholomew
Published: October 2019

Two papers published by Edward Joseph Conway became Biochemical Journal Classics; both of these concerned the micro-determination of ammonia. Broadly, the 1933 paper with Alfred Byrne described a new technique of general use for the analysis of substances (or products made from them) on a micro-scale that involved simple gaseous diffusion; the 1942 paper with Ethna O'Malley presented enhancements of this new development. In addition, over the period 1939–1963 Conway recapped the content of the classic papers and other related papers in eight editions (five revisions) of his book, Microdiffusion Analysis and Volumetric Error; the book greatly increased the impact of the microdiffusion technique, launched by the Biochemical Journal classic papers. Our story, starting with the isolation of ammonia, extends roughly over three 80-year periods; the first one ending when quantitative analysis by gaseous diffusion was achieved, the second with Conway and Byrne's innovation, and the third from then to the present day.
Sense and adaptation: Signalling between the nucleus and genomecontaining organelles
Authors: Woodson Jesse D. , Chory Joanne
Published: October 2019

All organisms require the ability to sense their surroundings and adapt. From bacteria to humans, these abilities ensure that an organism can thrive and grow in a wide range of habitats. This is especially true for plants, which are sessile organisms that have to be genetically equipped to withstand every change in the environment in which they live. Recently, it is becoming clear that plants and many other eukaryotes use their energy-producing organelles (chloroplasts and mitochondria) as endogenous and environmental sensors (Figure 1). These organelles allow the organism to respond and adapt to changing conditions by sending signals to the nucleus to alter gene expression and cell physiology. This organelle-to-nucleus (retrograde) signalling is important in plants, fungi and animals and affects various cellular functions including growth, metabolism, stress responses, cell death, photosynthesis, energy production/storage, aging and tumour progression. Here, we summarize what is known of these pathways in photosynthetic plants that contain both chloroplasts and mitochondria.