Biology Bytes
cancer
Our Microbiomes: In Sickness and in Health
Last week, we took a look at the amazing diversity of microbes (bacteria, fungi, and others) that live on, and inside of, our bodies. This week we’ll dig deeper into our microbiomes and explore what’s known about how they help keep us healthy, and why they sometimes make us sick. Shown here are Lactobacillus bacteria … Continue reading
Citizen Biology
Are you not a scientist by training but you’d like to help scientists do real research? Or maybe you are a scientist and would like to aid others in doing more investigations in your spare time. Whatever your background, there are actually many ways that you can now do real scientific research in your spare … Continue reading
Aging and the Gut Microbiome
The more we learn about them, the clearer it’s becoming that the microbiomes that surround us – and live inside of us – serve vital functions for us. (Microbiomes are collections of microbes, such as bacteria and yeast, which live together in a certain area.) Just last week, we looked at the microbes living in … Continue reading
Contagious Dog Cancer is 11,000 Years Old
We know of few cancers that are contagious. The ones we’re most familiar with are caused by viruses, such as the human papillomavirus (HPV), which can cause cervical cancer, and hepatitis B, which can cause liver (hepatic) cancer. (To read more about these virus-caused cancers and their vaccines, check out my book Biology Bytes: Digestible … Continue reading
Using the Immune System to Fight Cancer
Recently, the prestigious magazine Science published its list of Breakthroughs of the Year 2013. At the very top of this list was cancer immunotherapy. A scanning electron microscope image of a healthy human T cell. (Image credit: NIAID/NIH) Cancer immunotherapy is a promising field of research that focuses on using a person’s immune system to … Continue reading
Recent Breakthroughs with Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
It’s exciting times if you’re an induced pluripotent stem cell (also called an iPSC). OK, so maybe these stem cells don’t actually feel excitement, but there’s still some amazing progress being made with iPSCs. This includes making functional livers out of them, modifying them to attack cancerous tumors, and using them in their first clinical … Continue reading
Fish Found with Skin Cancer
While we’ve made a lot of progress in better understanding cancer, a lot of it is still a bit of a mystery. For example, other animals don’t get the same types of cancer that humans get. We don’t really understand why this is. More specifically, fish have never been found to have skin cancer in … Continue reading