Sam Talks About...

In a recent publication in Nature a vaccine was created against a mutated IDH1 gene that prevented growth of brain tumours in mice, with human trials next in the pipeline. But what does this actually mean?  First, this mutation is found in about 70% of gliomas, a brain tumour that appear to be made up of glial cells (the support cells of the brain), these tend to be quite slow growing, however Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM) is one of the most aggressive and deadly forms of cancer possible. Around 5000 people die from brain tumours in the UK every year, with a much greater proportion of children developing brain tumours than other forms of cancer.  What is IDH1? The IDH1 gene is involved in metabolism, and plays a role in the production of a chemical called 2-oxyglutarate (2OG), which is essential for the function of other proteins that regulate a process called DNA methylation, which helps to control the expression of many different genes. When IDH1 is mutated (almost alw...

Art and Science are obviously at completely opposite ends of the academic spectrum, so you would be forgiven for thinking that being a scientist is nothing like being an artist. While there are some differences, there are actually a great number of similarities between the two fields, far more than you might suspect if you do not work in either field. There are also many great scientists who are also great artists (Da Vinci anyone?) or at least art enthusiasts ( eg Einstein). There are obvious things, such as design (which is both artistic and scientific) and using science to create art, but what I'm trying to get at is that being a scientist or an artist requires many of the same attributes and will often result in a fairly similar experience. 1- They Are Free Thinking Both Artists and Scientists are often free thinkers, not content with following the masses and often uninterested in mass media. both will often come to their own ideas about the world, often discussing their w...

Death is scary, fact. But I recently learned something that makes me a little less scared and I want to share it with everyone. But first a quick warning, it may change your opinions on what happens when we die although this doesn't actually conflict with any other notions of what happens after you're dead because you aren't technically dead yet.  Okay let's start off simple. Hallucinogens are chemicals that can warp our sense of reality, particularly our sense of time. This is why people who experiment with drugs can feel like they have been tripping for hours or even days when it wasn't really anywhere near that long.  When you normally hear the word hallucinogen you'll probably think of things like ecstasy or LSD, but in fact we actually produce the most potent hallucinogen right inside our brains! A tiny pea sized piece of brain tissue deep in the middle of your brain called the pineal gland to be precise. The pineal gland plays an important role in ...