#Biological Chemistry

[er-cryptid]

Patreon

[mercurialbadger]

The so-called thinkers critical of Nobel Prize's issues when the laureate is a cool older princely butch lesbian:

😍😍😍  👀 👀 👀

[studychemistrytopics]

What are vitamins?

Vitamins are organic compounds or essential micronutrients that are found in various types of foods and are necessary for the growth and good health of animals including humans. For more information about Vitamins

[innspubnet]

IJBB May 2011 |

Volume 1, Number 1, May 2011 Sexual abuse problems among adolescents and major remedial actions. By: Khan Nasrin Jahan. Key Words: Adolescents, Family impact, Sexual abuse, Voyeurism Int. J. Biomol. & Biomed.1( 1), 1-19, May 2011. Study the efficacy of Rhizophora mucornata Poir. leaves for diabetes therapy in long evans rats. By: Mezba Ul Gaffar, M Alam Morshed, Azim Uddin, Saurov Roy, JMA…

[ggstudyblr]

hi everyone! my blog is still empty but I'm going to be using this to document my studying!

[heighpubsseo]

Annals of Advances in Chemistry

The foremost aim of Annals of Advances in Chemistry is to publish and promote researches to demonstrate the role and significance of versatile field of chemistry in countering the challenges associated with energy production, materials development, biochemistry and environmental protection.

URL : https://www.advancechemjournal.com/

[elliott-the-creature]

school is kicking our collective asses time to sleep for 10 hours and be lazy and regret not doing schoolwork wheeeeee

(more context in tags cuz we feel like it lol)

-K (📺📚, 🍁☮️)

[random-xpressions]

Tonight let's not speak of strength, let us instead just confess plainly and honestly how we go weak on our knees at the sheer thought of each other and how our wandering hands go to secret regions of our bodies just to feel what gross changes that heat wave brings across our being..

Random Xpressions

[blonde-and-cat-suc]

I feel weird saying this but like..am I the only one who gets extremely concerned anytime someone calls Catradora not incest or even says that it doesn’t matter since they’re not related by blood-? It genuinely makes me so concerned, even though I know that these people won’t do anything like it. (Sorry if this is poorly worded, English is not my first language)

Hey, your English is great! Not poorly worded, in my opinion. 

I don’t think you’re alone in being concerned. I, at least, relate. It concerns me when someone genuinely does not sympathize with the idea that these two characters have grown up like siblings, and that sibling relationships in general are/should be more profound than simply sharing DNA. In a perfect world, I guess. 

I also think that it is worth addressing this part--  “ It genuinely makes me so concerned, even though I know that these people won’t do anything like it.”

Yes! It’s true that people who ship c//a are not like, doing anything that c//a represents from an anti POV. I wouldn’t doubt that the overwhelming majority are perfectly moral, good people, because they probably are! Them shipping c//a doesn’t make them automatically bad and weird, just like antis not shipping c//a doesn’t make us automatically homophobic or racist (or whatever it is that is being throw around these days, I fuckin don’t know). 

I think it’s just the contrast between knowing that someone is actually cool and moral, but then hearing an idea from them that is decidedly and unironically... wrong? Morally gray? Dumb? 

Well, I don’t know, anyway. I just thought that part was interesting and it made my brain stir! 

[obsidianstrawberrymilk]

We don’t use the fact that Wally West is, due to continuity, now raised an older brother enough

[er-cryptid]

Examples of Secondary Metabolites

Alkaloids -> Caffeine -> Morphine

Penicillin

Peyote

[whatudottu]

Me, remembering that pill bugs can filter heavy metals from soil:

My brain: You know what this means, don’t you?

Me: What-

My brain: You can make talpaedans part pill bug-

Me, working on amperi headcanons: Wait LET ME FINI-

I’ve gone over a few times that I like to think that talpaedans are techno-organic, less so being silicon or silicone based beings but being an integration of organic carbon materials and the more industrialised physiology of being a walking talking construction equipment. I have also previously made use of the whole ‘machine’ aspect of their natural biology to not only consider them as burrowers, but also as ant-like burrowers with haplodiplody, this form of sex-determination system being used to expand the combinations of construction equipment that an individual talpaedan might have, but also as a basis of which I form the sociopolitical building of talpaedan cities, in which case we have large city state colonies of ant inspired pangolins recreating feudalism Europe of the 10th-13th century.

But up - until this point - there was not quite a lot of circumstances that would allow for actual metallic components to not only present itself biologically but also do so naturally, so with the heavy metal eating pill bug there’s a source of extra inspiration. Oniscidae (apparently the more accurate name for pill bugs/rollie pollies and literally any name under the sun) can remove arsenic (which is actually a metalloid), cadmium, lead, and depending on sources also mercury from the soil; additional metals that can be extracted from soil are copper and zinc. The pill bug in question would crystallise these ions in their gut and create spherical deposits within them, but since we are not talking about the isopod alone surely it isn’t too much of a stretch to the idea that perhaps talpaedans can use these deposits within themselves to feed into the development of their most notable features, their built in equipment?

Assuming that Poiana Lüncas has these metals and that talpaedans would in fact filter for them, in real world human employed Earth uses of these metals can indeed be of fine use. Both arsenic and cadmium can be used as alloys and zinc specifically can galvanise other metals such as iron to prevent rusting, very significant indeed in industry, notably especially with large amounts of zinc can be used in hardware industries. Copper has a very notable use in electronics and wiring of which motors are included, let alone more refined wiring in TVs and radio. And argueably the more infamous of these metals (at least to a standard ‘basic’ level of understanding) we have mercury and lead, the former being used in many different industries for it’s ability to measure the change in temperature and pressure, and the latter for some solders, gasoline/petroleum and wonderfully hazardous cosmetic items that uninformed humanity has come to be harmed by.

ngl, spent a bit of time trying to find an oxygen-carrier of these metals that can feasibly make black blood but i literally do not know if the colour of oxides is in any way relevant to how oxygen-carrier bloodcells would actually be coloured as i’m not a chemist

But in highlighting these metals, I am not simply looking to see if a techno-organic talpaedan can have galvanised armour nor if they come built in with blood pressure monitors. No no no, I am saying more than what talpaedans eat but also what metals can talpaedans have easy access to in the development of technology, and how one might say that actually interacts with the ant-psychology of utterly fucking despising other colony.

Well-

Let’s say that google might be a little concerned about me learning about elements used in the construction of ammunition and radiation protection ehek-!

With the earth tilling that many developing talpaedans need to incorporate necessary metals into their diet, depending on the availabilty of said metals they may be an over abundance for food alone; especially with the pressure of competition of resources in combination with a general disdain for anything extracolonial, a factor that may lead to an escalation of tech development. There is an inherent baseline for technology in talpaedans that would already give their industrialisation a boost, in addition to the materials that may vary on quantity based on the region, colony size, and general population needs. Before long there are city states reinforcing their own barriers and expanding their borders for more and more materials - to consume and to create - to in fact increase and increase the tension between colonies so loud to the point pressure spills like a broken thermometer spills mercury and conflicts arise.

And when everything boils over do they realise that many have to balance the act of raising young and building more weapons, the factor that may in fact be the tipping point to realise that the colonies with the most resources are not only a threat but a threat that can overwhelm on the technological scale and the population number. In spite of how many colonies may indeed hate each other, it is more than worth it to them to compromise and in fact LIVE rather than be caught between the suddenly unveiling superpowers of the world that had previously lay unknown thanks to willful ignorance. Decimation of land is significantly reduced from cataclysmic to catastrophic as entire colonies are rased and in fact dug out into craters, many war-era alliances held to the modern day of Poiana Lüncas. A tithing - remnants of the treaties formed at the peak of desperation - of the youngest generation of adult men stands as both tradition and of appeasement, a colony trade and marriage across many different colonial alliances as a symbol of what had to be done before, sharing resources and rearing while the soldiers fought to live.

And all of this because they got a pill bug diet see this is why ants aren’t allowed to have materials for megaton bombs smh 😞

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

Nov. 17, 2023

"The only way to curb our catastrophic plastic pollution problem is to cut plastic production, but the industry is spending big to block action at every level to protect their profits," said one campaigner.

Major multinational corporations attending negotiations for a global plastics treaty in an effort to weaken the agreement spent tens of millions of dollars on lobbying and political contributions during the 2022 election cycle, revealed an analysis published Friday by the Center for Biological Diversity.

As Common Dreamsreported this week, 143 fossil fuel and chemical industry lobbyists registered to attend the third session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-3) in Nairobi, Kenya, which is scheduled to run through Sunday. That's more than the combined delegations from 70 nations, and far surpasses the 38 members of a scientists' coalition participating in the negotiations.

Representatives of companies including ExxonMobil, Chevron, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Dow are among the registered attendees. Industry lobby groups representing hundreds of companies are also attending the talks, including the American Chemistry Council, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, and the International Council of Beverages Associations.

"These companies came to Nairobi to make sure the world doesn't get strong protections against the plastic havoc they've been wreaking."

With over $20 million spent on lobbying and campaign contributions during the 2022 election cycle, the American Chemistry Council topped the Center for Biological Diversity's (CBD) list, which is based on data from the government watchdog group OpenSecrets. Boeing spent more than $17 million, while Chevron shelled out nearly $15 million.

"These companies came to Nairobi to make sure the world doesn't get strong protections against the plastic havoc they've been wreaking," David Derrick, a CBD attorney attending INC-3, said in a statement. "We knew that industry had way too much influence over the global plastics treaty as well as our political system at home, but these dollar amounts highlight how far petrochemical and consumer goods companies will go to keep polluting."

INC-3 is focused on the so-called zero draft of the legally binding plastics treaty. On Thursday, the fourth day of talks, delegates completed a first reading of the zero draft, with participating nations submitting suggestions for what they believe should be included in the treaty's first draft, which will be the basis of negotiations at INC-4, scheduled to take place next October and November in Ottawa, Canada.

Susan McCarthy, media and external affairs director at World Wildlife Fund U.S., said that "what is worrying... is the voluminous amount of suggestions that member states have submitted."

"This creates the temptation for member states to veer towards compromises that have the potential of watering down the eventual treaty in an effort to include as many suggestions as possible," she continued. "Whittling down a massive list to a number of key priorities can also be onerous, and can result in the convergence we're seeing now fragmenting as member states push for their suggested items."

"Fragmentation can occur as different member states may have different priorities, such as political affiliations or a preference to base decisions only on scientific evidence, which could drive the decision-making process in opposing directions," McCarthy added.

Derrick asserted that "the only way to curb our catastrophic plastic pollution problem is to cut plastic production, but the industry is spending big to block action at every level to protect their profits."

"The world has a historic chance to make a difference in the relentless flood of plastic pollution that's harming so many," he added. "We can't let a relatively small number of profit-hungry companies derail such an important opportunity to fix our plastic problem at its source."

[likeabxrdinflight]

too many social media therapists out there like "wooo I don't believe in ~medical diagnosis~" as if insurance companies don't blanket refuse to pay for treatment without one

"I don't believe in dsm" bitch then what are you billing for? that's cute if all your patients are wealthy white folks who can pay for shit out of pocket and don't need a diagnosis, but some of us work within systems that require it. whether or not you ~believe~ in diagnosis is fucking irrelevant.

[heighpubsseo]

Annals of Advances in Chemistry (ISSN:2576-3768)

The foremost aim of Annals of Advances in Chemistry is to publish and promote researches to demonstrate the role and significance of versatile field of chemistry in countering the challenges associated with energy production, materials development, biochemistry and environmental protection.

URL : https://www.advancechemjournal.com/

[jcmarchi]

A new way to reprogram immune cells and direct them toward anti-tumor immunity

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/a-new-way-to-reprogram-immune-cells-and-direct-them-toward-anti-tumor-immunity/

A new way to reprogram immune cells and direct them toward anti-tumor immunity

A collaboration between four MIT groups, led by principal investigators Laura L. Kiessling, Jeremiah A. Johnson, Alex K. Shalek, and Darrell J. Irvine, in conjunction with a group at Georgia Tech led by M.G. Finn, has revealed a new strategy for enabling immune system mobilization against cancer cells. The work, which appears today in ACS Nano, produces exactly the type of anti-tumor immunity needed to function as a tumor vaccine — both prophylactically and therapeutically.

Cancer cells can look very similar to the human cells from which they are derived. In contrast, viruses, bacteria, and fungi carry carbohydrates on their surfaces that are markedly different from those of human carbohydrates. Dendritic cells — the immune system’s best antigen-presenting cells — carry proteins on their surfaces that help them recognize these atypical carbohydrates and bring those antigens inside of them. The antigens are then processed into smaller peptides and presented to the immune system for a response. Intriguingly, some of these carbohydrate proteins can also collaborate to direct immune responses. This work presents a strategy for targeting those antigens to the dendritic cells that results in a more activated, stronger immune response.

Tackling tumors’ tenacity

The researchers’ new strategy shrouds the tumor antigens with foreign carbohydrates and co-delivers them with single-stranded RNA so that the dendritic cells can be programmed to recognize the tumor antigens as a potential threat. The researchers targeted the lectin (carbohydrate-binding protein) DC-SIGN because of its ability to serve as an activator of dendritic cell immunity. They decorated a virus-like particle (a particle composed of virus proteins assembled onto a piece of RNA that is noninfectious because its internal RNA is not from the virus) with DC-binding carbohydrate derivatives. The resulting glycan-costumed virus-like particles display unique sugars; therefore, the dendritic cells recognize them as something they need to attack.

“On the surface of the dendritic cells are carbohydrate binding proteins called lectins that combine to the sugars on the surface of bacteria or viruses, and when they do that they penetrate the membrane,” explains Kiessling, the paper’s senior author. “On the cell, the DC-SIGN gets clustered upon binding the virus or bacteria and that promotes internalization. When a virus-like particle gets internalized, it starts to fall apart and releases its RNA.” The toll-like receptor (bound to RNA) and DC-SIGN (bound to the sugar decoration) can both signal to activate the immune response.

Once the dendritic cells have sounded the alarm of a foreign invasion, a robust immune response is triggered that is significantly stronger than the immune response that would be expected with a typical untargeted vaccine. When an antigen is encountered by the dendritic cells, they send signals to T cells, the next cell in the immune system, to give different responses depending on what pathways have been activated in the dendritic cells.

Advancing cancer vaccine development

The activity of a potential vaccine developed in line with this new research is twofold. First, the vaccine glycan coat binds to lectins, providing a primary signal. Then, binding to toll-like receptors elicits potent immune activation.

The Kiessling, Finn, and Johnson groups had previously identified a synthetic DC-SIGN binding group that directed cellular immune responses when used to decorate virus-like particles. But it was unclear whether this method could be utilized as an anticancer vaccine. Collaboration between researchers in the labs at MIT and Georgia Tech demonstrated that in fact, it could.

Valerie Lensch, a chemistry PhD student from MIT’s Program in Polymers and Soft Matter and a joint member of the Kiessling and Johnson labs, took the preexisting strategy and tested it as an anticancer vaccine, learning a great deal about immunology in order to do so.

“We have developed a modular vaccine platform designed to drive antigen-specific cellular immune responses,” says Lensch. “This platform is not only pivotal in the fight against cancer, but also offers significant potential for combating challenging intracellular pathogens, including malaria parasites, HIV, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This technology holds promise for tackling a range of diseases where vaccine development has been particularly challenging.”

Lensch and her fellow researchers conducted in vitro experiments with extensive iterations of these glycan-costumed virus-like particles before identifying a design that demonstrated potential for success. Once that was achieved, the researchers were able to move on to an in vivo model, an exciting milestone for their research.

Adele Gabba, a postdoc in the Kiessling Lab, conducted the in vivo experiments with Lensch, and Robert Hincapie, who conducted his PhD studies with Professor M.G. Finn at Georgia Tech, built and decorated the virus-like particles with a series of glycans that were sent to him from the researchers at MIT.

“We are discovering that carbohydrates act like a language that cells use to communicate and direct the immune system,” says Gabba. “It’s thrilling that we have begun to decode this language and can now harness it to reshape immune responses.”

“The design principles behind this vaccine are rooted in extensive fundamental research conducted by previous graduate student and postdoctoral researchers over many years, focusing on optimizing lectin engagement and understanding the roles of lectins in immunity,” says Lensch. “It has been exciting to witness the translation of these concepts into therapeutic platforms across various applications.”