The Greatest PrObama Tee Ever

Here is my latest creation, which if you are a Star Wars fan, should make your mouth water. I am currently printing it up on a tee for myself.

McCain for Galactic Emperor

While I myself could not think of one valuable asset McCain could bring to the Presidency of the United States, there are other positions for which he is perhaps better suited.

The Role of Racism in Evolution

With the U.S. presidential election in sight, the racial divide is more prevalent than ever across the U.S. and the world. A relatively large number of individuals have made it clear that they will or will not vote for Barack Obama simply because of his skin color. This fascinating behavior is steeped in deep rooted historical and cultural connections, but what if its due to something deeper? Something so intrinsic that it is simply instinctual to associate with those of a like appearance.

This week in Nature, a trans-national team of zoologists published an article demonstrating what we all knew in the first place...everyone's a racist. The group examined the mating habits of similar yet visually distinct populations of cichlids that inhabit African lakes. The scientists observed that red and blue varieties of the fish species did not interbreed with each other, despite being biologically capable. However, those same cichlid species will mate regardless of thier partners color if the lakes in which they lived were polluted to the point where thier vision was impaired. The researchers concluded that the blue fish and red fish don't mate with one another simply by discriminating against fish of a different color. This supports the notion that species can evolve separately from one another using a theoretical evolutionary strategy called sensory drive, which defines that organisms use their senses rather than instinct to discern appropriate mating partners. These studies demonstrated that each variety of fish maintained their 'racial purity' if you will, by discriminating based on skin color.

Maybe Dave Chappelle was on to something...

Exciting New Developments in anti-MRSA Drugs

Ever since the deployment of commercially produced Penicillin in 1942, researchers and pharmaceutical companies have been racing to develop more effective, diverse, and broader spectrum antibiotics to treat a variety of bacterial infections. However, interest in antibiotic discovery and development has waned in recent years, in part due to a paradigm shift in pharmaceutical development from curing diseases to treating 'lifestyle' conditions (i.e. Restless Leg Syndrome). While this has been a financially sound decision for shareholders, it has left the human population in danger of encountering microorganisms that have evolved a resistance to most if not all commercially produced antibiotics. A perfect example of this is the prolific MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus) or MDRSA (Multi-Drug Resistant Staphylococcus aureus), which is the causitive agent of Staph infections and has become a worldwide pandemic. Staph infections result in painful skin wounds that do not heal without treatment and can lead to a lethal septicemia in which the bacteria enter the blood stream and systemically proliferate. MRSA infections have become so dangerous and prolific, the CDC reports that more Americans die of MRSA infections than AIDS each year.

Fortunately, an article published this week in Science, has reported the discovery of a novel antibiotic effective against MRSA ad MDRSA. This new antibiotic, called PC190723, was identified by what the authors describe as 'a fragment based approach' to a process called synthetic chemistry. This involves taking a known molecule that exhibits some modest antibacterial activity and synthetically adding to its structure a variety of chemical moieties. The authors began with a chemical known as 3-Methoxybenzamine (3-MBA), a chemical known to disrupt cell division in the bacterium Bacillus subtilis, and synthetically added two moieties called 'benzamide' and 'thiazolopyridine'. The resulting molecule, known as PC190723, exhibited an antibacterial activity of over 2000 times that of it predacessor, 3-MBA. In fact, PC190723 is capable of inhibiting growth of both MRSA and MDRSA at concentrations as low as 1 microgram per mL (for reference, vancomycin, a commonly used antibiotic for MRSA treatment inhibits bacterial growth at concentrations of 2 micrograms per mL). The authors demonstrate that PC190723 inhibits MRSA (and other bacterial species) cell division by interfering with a protein known as FtsZ, which is required for the bacterium to identify its own cellular midpoint. Without functioning FtsZ, the cellular machinery necessary to drive cell division cannot localize the cell midpoint, effectively preventing the bacteria from dividing (inset photo depicts a MRSA cell dividing at its midpoint).

The most exciting result described in this publication, is that PC190723 offered complete protection to mice infected with a normally lethal dose of Staphylococcus aureus. The authors also demonstrated that PC190723 has no effect on the growth of cultured human cells, further suggesting its potential as a safe and effective anti-bacterial therapy. This molecule is currently in the early stages of clinical trials and hopefully will be available sooner than later to help combat the MRSA pandemic.