The zebrafish kideny is more complex than ever anticipated!

Written By: Porter Alston | poalston@davidson.edu Home Page This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Featured Image from Britannica Single-cell RNA sequencing on white blood cells of infected zebrafish kidneys by Hu et al. reveals the presence of multiple immune cell lineages, as well as conserved differential…
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Unraveling the Silken Minds: Single-Cell Transcriptomics of Web-Building Spider Brains

“This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College.” About the author: John Ready Believe it or not, spiders weren’t always aerial web-building arachnids. Through a single-cell transcriptomics approach, Jin et al. investigates how the the nervous system of web-building spiders evolved, shedding light on the molecular basis of…
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Image of a brain

Transcriptomic Data Uncovers Insights into Human Brain Evolution

Differences between single-cell transcriptomes may someday help explain enhanced human cognitive function. Scientists recently developed transcriptomic catalogues to help identify human-specific regulatory genes. Disclaimer: this web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Some 9.3 million to 6.5 million years ago humans evolved from apes.1 Gradual development of enhanced…
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Spiraling Down an Axon: How Transcriptomics Can Characterize Tumor Cells and Types for Vestibular Schwannoma  

Tumors are often assumed to be the uncontrollable proliferation of one type of cell, but this study identifies tumor cell type composition and discovers novel tumor classifications for vestibular schwannoma using transcriptomic analysis. Barrett et al. uncover and characterize the diversity of cell types within VS, find that VS Schwann cells resemble those of peripheral…
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One Step Closer to Winning the Battle Against Pediatric Leukemia

Cover photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash. This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Return to the course home page here. A detailed analysis of childhood acute myeloid leukemia provides important genetic information for improving outcome predictions in pediatric cancer care. Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a…
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Unveiling Insights in Cancer Genomics: Introducing a Novel Computational Algorithm

A groundbreaking computational algorithm for characterizing cancer cells and tracking their evolution has surpassed previous methods, demonstrating superior speed and accuracy This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Single-cell sequencing allows researchers to examine the genetic makeup of individual cells, providing insights into cellular diversity and function…
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Time is Ticking! How DNA Methylation is Cell Specific and Has Connections with Aging

Time is Ticking! How DNA Methylation is Cell Specific and Has Connections with Aging Aging is a phenomenon that affects everyone, and DNA methylation analysis might give insight on the effects of aging. Roy et al. analyzed DNA methylation data to determine that DNA methylation patterns in immune cells are cell specific and related to…
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False color scanning electron micrograph of a T lymphocyte

Who Watches the Watchmen? New Insights into Regulatory T Cells

Transcriptomic analysis has shown that the transcription factor Ikaros is essential for regulatory T cell function. This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. The immune system is the body’s defender from harmful microorganisms. The immune system must maintain a delicate balance between providing powerful responses to pathogens…
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Elucidating the nature of cancer cell dynamics: A foray into single-cell multi-omics

Read more about the author of this post here. This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Recently, researchers at the Shenzhen Key Laboratory have worked to unveil the molecular basis of cancer cell heterogeneity. Their data reveal that copy number variations and epigenetic variation are responsible for…
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NIH 3T3 Mouse Fibroblast Cells (large orange nucleus with many green shoots coming off)

A 21st Century Fountain of Youth: The Chemical Cocktail

A new study reveals there may be the potential in a cocktail of chemicals to reverse and prevent the aging, and death, of cells. Home About Me This web page was produced as an assignment for an undergraduate course at Davidson College. Of all the worldly secrets which humans have sought to uncover throughout history,…
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