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An interview with plant molecular biologist Caroline Dean is presented. When asked about how she became interested in vernalization, she refers to her curiosity to know about plant development. She also mentions several examples of commercially important plants that undergo vernalization. She also discusses the molecular biology of vernalization.

US scientists are trying to answer a question that has long nagged doctors and patients alike: which treatment works best for a given illness? The US National Institutes of Health [...]

An increasing number of infertile couples have turned to assisted reproduction technology, which facilitates the union of the sperm and the egg. But, in recent years, controversial reports of birth [...]

The San Diego--based biotechnology firm NovaRx develops new cancer therapeutics, including experimental approaches involving vaccines. Like many other small companies, NovaRx faces a funding hurdle in advancing drugs from its [...]

All eyes are on an experiment aimed at boosting local biomedical research in Massachusetts. In June, the state's governor, Deval Patrick, signed the $1 billion Massachusetts Life Sciences Law, which [...]

An interview with Luciana Borio, acting chief scientist in U.S. Food and Drug Administration's (FDA). is presented. She discusses logistical challenges to conducting clinical trials of investigational products, action taken during 2014 Ebola epidemic and utility of platform trials. She provides information on future concerns for randomized controlled trial.

The article presents an interview with neuroscientist Karel Svoboda. Topics discussed include advantages of two-photon microscopy over standard fluorescence microscopy for brain tissues imaging; his role in the development of two-photon microscopy; and initial findings on brain structure and function.

An interview with professor of law and bioethics Alta Charo and geneticist George Church, about their report on human genome editing, is presented. Topics discussed include the conditions that might meet the draconian criteria for humane germline editing, the negative view of some people on human germline editing, and safety in the eventual use of human germline editing.

The article reports on the bacterial proteostasis and chaperone and their use for maintaining the homeostatic balance of the folding and disaggregation of the cell's proteins. Topics discussed include resemblance in decisions made by the proteostasis machine to those made when a patient enters a hospital; role of proteostasis machine in repairing its client proteins; and use of Escherichia coli in recognition, sorting, folding, and disaggregating of the cell's.

India has been the largest producer, consumer and exporter of mint in the world over the last two decades. Mint production and exporting is around a thousand crore business in the country. The objective of this paper is to find out the future of Indian mint exports by forecasting the mint exports from India in the forthcoming years. The study is done on a longitudinal basis and executed as a desk research. This paper is forecasting the mint exports from India up to the year 2014. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Rino Rappuoli, the chief scientist of pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Vaccines, is presented. The topics discussed include the diverse approaches in the development of conventional vaccines, the design of genome-guided vaccine, and the estimated length of time to get the licenses of vaccines.

An interview with geneticist Gerald M. Rubin is presented. Topics discussed include use of biological imaging to solve computational biology problems, ability to manipulate and measure the activity of individual cell types in animals, and protein engineer having no knowledge of neurobiology but being confident to build tools to sense things in neurons.

An interview with neuroscientist Huda Zoghbi, professor at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, is presented. When asked to tell her discovery of the gene implicated in the Rett syndrome, she says that it was sixteen years from seeing her first patient to identifying the gene responsible for the disorder.

The article reports on the push of the government to boost life sciences research by launching a partnership aimed to uncover hidden biological pathways in diseases and the potential therapeutic uses of drug compounds shelved by AstraZeneca PLC in Great Britain. It focuses on the use of crowdsourcing for the search of potential for new applications for AstraZeneca's drugs. However, crowdsourcing of drug discovery has been tempered by skepticism on the likelihood of finding new uses for drugs.

The article profiles archaeologist Charles Stanish and also discusses his efforts to discover the origin of ancient American societies. It mentions that Charles has pursued a bachelor's degree in archaeology at the Pennsylvania State University, Pennsylvania. It informs that he has worked on a case study from the Moquegua and Puno regions and presented a long-entrenched archaeological concept, zonal complementarity, which is believed to explain the rise and fall of early Andean societies.

A biography of Shinya Yamanaka, a stem cell biologist at Japan's Kyoto University and newly elected foreign associate of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is presented. He studied orthopedics at Kobe University, Kobe in Japan. He signed up for doctoral studies in pharmacology at Osaka City University, Osaka in Japan. His major accomplishments include works in stem cell biology, regenerative biology and transgenic technology.

The article presents an interview with molecular biologist Rodolphe Barrangou. Topics discussed include his research of use of CRISPR-Cas systems by bacteria as a form of adaptive immunity against viruses; use of CRISPR in the food industry to manage bacteria; and efforts to use CRISPR to track foodborne pathogens and outbreaks.

An interview with James Allison, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, is presented. Topics discussed include approval of ipilimumab monoclonal antibody by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration; immunotherapy as a stand-alone therapy for treatment of cancers and challenges confronting the use of engineered T cells to fight against cancer.

An interview with scientist Stephen Quake, a bioengineer at Stanford University and member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, is presented. Quake discusses topics including the use of single-cell gene sequencing methods to explore cancer progression and treatment, the clinical role of single-cell genomics, and the use of single-cell RNA sequencing to explore the cellular complexity of the human fetal and adult brain.

An interview with Salk Institute neuroscientist Fred Gage is presented. When asked about the ways retrotransposons act as an evolutionary force, he answers that the elements can contribute to somatic evolution and disease. He states that the ultimate goal of creating a repository of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell is to compare the development of human brain and human's nearest primate living relatives such as chimps and bonobos. He also describes the composition of the iPS stem cell bank.

An interview with Patricia Kuhl, neuroscientist at the University of Washington in Seattle, Washington is presented. When asked about her article regarding the change of the speech perception of infants, she refers that children lose ability to distinguish between sounds in foreign languages. She notes that brain imaging with babies is challenging. She mentions that babies can recite from memory the things that they heard from their parents reading to them.

An interview with neuroscientist Thomas Jessell is presented. Jessell notes the consideration of dexterous movements as evolutionary accomplishments beneficial for humans. He explains that motor action fidelity is assessed by sensory feedback through muscle contraction monitoring. He accounts the attribution of behavioral abnormalities to the consideration of limb as an oscillator driven by feedback.

An interview with director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Thomas Insel is presented. When asked to explain about particular challenges of brain for epigentic studies, he refers to some evidence that proves the difference during the colloquium of the brain. He emphasizes that it is practical to perform molecular analysis of the human brain. He also highlights the essential in discussing the issue between behavioral and developmental neuroscience.

An interview with New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux is presented. When asked about his argument that the term, fear system, is misnomer, LeDoux refers to the basic understanding about how the brain responds to threats from animal studies. He talks about the clinical implications to conflating nonconscious threat processing with the conscious state of fear. He also tackles his idea on defensive organismic state for responses to danger.

An interview with paleontologist Neil Shubin of the University of Chicago is presented. He says that they took several years to describe and disinter the pelvic appendage of their discovery Tiktaalik roseae in 2006 due to the materials whic are fragmented. He states that Tiktaalik contains a mix of tetrapod-like and fish-like characteristics, which suggests that hind fin-driven locomotion began in fish. He mentions that link between amphibians and fish through their discovery of Tiktaalik.

An interview with Arthur Beaudet, geneticist at the Baylor College of Medicine, is presented. He states that he expects that deficiency of carnitine will be considered as a risk factor of autism. He mentions that a study has revealed that intake of carnitine can result in atherosclerosis. He highlights that gene testing will be beneficial where genes are associated with diseases which are identified clearly.

Present work characterizes a spray tower-based desalination system, designed to simultaneously provide fresh water by condensation and supply dehumidified air to occupied spaces. Its configuration is open air-open water, with Celdek 7090 packing in the humidification section and water-cooled helical coils for dehumidification. The performance parameters calculated are: gained output ratio, recovery ratio, coefficient of performance, specific electrical energy consumption, mass ratio, humidification, and dehumidification efficiency. This performance is analyzed for varying air Reynold's number and water flow rate. The best results were obtained for the sea water flow rate tested of 18 liters per hour, and showed maximum humidification efficiency, dehumidification efficiency, COP, freshwater rate, gained output ratio and concentration factor equal to 87.14%, 94.56%, 3.34, 0.9 liters per hour and 1.05, respectively. Exit air meets the thermal comfort requirements which avoids the ventilation thermal loads in the space cooling. • A spray tower desalination unit with a venturi is designed. • The maximum COP of the system is found to be 3.34 which signifies energy efficiency. • Reynolds number of 50519 & water flow rate of 18 LPH yielded maximum fresh water of 0.9 LPM. • Air supply values PMV & PPD obtained are − 0.51 & 10.41 which are within the thermal comfort range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with executive vice-president Richard Scheller of Genentech Inc. is presented. When asked about his discovery on vesicle associated membrane protein (VAMP), he refers on the cDNA library they made to isolate Agrin, a protein that is involved in the development and maintenance of the neuromuscular junction. Scheller believes that the academic approach of Genentech towards drug development was due to its involvement on high quality research, and hosting postdoctoral research program.

An interview with Harvard University psychologist and National Academy of Sciences member Daniel Schacter is presented. When asked about memory reactivation, Schacter discusses that the memories of the past can be reactivated in response to several environmental cues. The psychologist also discusses the contribution of his works to court proceedings. He also explains the connection between judicial administration and neuroscience.

The article focuses on the systematic road surveys conducted by biologist Michael Dorcas and his team in the Everglades National Park in Florida to test the correlation of Burmese pythons (Python molurus bivittatus) in the decline of mammals in the area. It says that the numbers of mammals like raccoons, Virginia opossums, and bobcats have reduced after the snakes are spotted in the area. Meanwhile, Dorcas and his team have implanted a radiotransmitter to the snake to monitor their behavior.

The article reports on the non-pathogenic prion which contains the protein HET-s found in the fungus Podospora anserine which thrives in herbivore dung. It says that the protein forms a barrier thus prevent spread of parasitic genetic elements and pathogenic viruses in the fungal strains. A study in 2012 by biochemist Sven Saupe and mycologist Alfons Debets worked on the collection of herbivore dung which was then examined and found the prion which contains the protein HET-s.