Basic Sciences

Fast Help for E-Resources

The LSUHSC Libraries have access to almost 200 databases so how do you decide which one to start searching in? The Reference Librarians have created 6 E-Resources at a Glance sheets for each of the school of LSUHSC.
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Allied Health
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Dentistry
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Graduate Studies
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Medicine
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Nursing
Electronic Resources at a Glance: Public Health
Let us know what you think.

1st Chemotherapy Agent Used 100 years ago

Paul Ehrlich developed what is now recognized as the first chemotherapy agent 100 years ago. On August 31, 1909 his 606th compound of arsenobenzene was developed. He was searching for a way to treat syphillis.

Snowball Dye has Neuroscience Use

Love to dye your tongue fun colors with New Orleans snowballs in the Summer? Look closer at the FD&C blue dye no.1 in your bubble gum flavored treat.

Researchers from the University of Rochester Medical Center have discovered that the food additive may protect nerves in the event of spinal cord injury. The report was published in the early edition section of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences yesterday.

The only side effect was that the rats turned blue.

Link to the pdf of the article is available to LSUHSC faculty staff & students. It can be accessed off-campus with a valid LSUHSC library barcode & PIN. You can find more information at our remote access webpage.

Springer Protocols

The LSUHSC Libraries recently purchased a subscription to Springer Protocols. This database of “reproducible laboratory results” includes:

  • Methods in Molecular Biology,
  • Methods in Molecular Medicine,
  • Methods in Biotechnology,
  • Methods in Pharmacology and Toxicology, and
  • Neuromethods,
  • as well as from a vast number of Laboratory Handbooks, such as The Biomethods Handbook, The Proteomics Handbook, and the Springer Laboratory Manuals.

    It is available on & off campus.

    Zombie Neurobiology

    A Harvard Psychiatrist Explains Zombie Neurobiology

    In Night of the Living Dead, zombies are brought back from the dead by a “mysterious force” that allows their brains to continue functioning. But how exactly does a zombie brain function? Finally, a Harvard psychiatrist has the answers.

    Through education Dr. Steven C. Schlozman is an assistant professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and a lecturer at the Harvard School of Education. He is also an avid sci-fi and horror fan – and, apparently, the world’s leading authority on the neurobiology of the living dead. He has even drafted a fake medical journal article on the zombie plague, which he calls Ataxic Neurodegenerative Satiety Deficiency Syndrome, or ANSD (the article has five authors: one living, three “deceased” and one “humanoid infected”).

    Check out some of the scholarly articles Dr. Schlozman has published.

    The Ische’ Library has a large selection of Neurobiology books if you would like even more info.

    Create a Healthy Environment for Earth Day

    As part of National Environmental Education Week and Earth Day, the National Library of Medicine is promoting its toxicology resources. These resources include: ToxMAP, ToxTown, ToxMystery, MedlinePlus, Household Products Database, and Hazardous Substances Data Bank (HSDB). Several of these resources are part of TOXNET which provides access a host of information related to toxicology, hazardous chemicals, and environmental health. For more information on Environmental Health and Toxicology, check out the Special Information Services page at NLM.

    Scratch that Itch!

    Nature Neuroscience has released an advance online publication of a study that has been getting press in the popular media. The study identifies specialized cells in the spinal cord which seem to be involved in the sensations of itching and scratching.

    **Some links require on-campus access or the use of the Libraries’ remote access service.**

    Synchronized Swimming Mitosis

    The American Society for Cell Biology’s Image and Video Library is a great collection of still images and dynamic videos of the highest quality covering the field of cell biology. CellDance is an annual contest hosted by the ASCB that spotlights new video and digital images in microscopy.

    My favorite is this video from University of California, San Francisco, which uses synchronized swimmers to illustrate mitosis. (The first place winner on the Golgi Appartus is pretty cool as well.)

    The ASCB’s Image & video library invites contributions from all cell biologists who wish to publish high quality images and videos on the site, and all content is available to view for free online. As of yet there are no submissions from LSU! Maybe you could be the first to contribute.

    Friday fun: Vollig Weichgekocht

    This link is dedicated to anatomy fans:
    http://www.sarahillenberger.com/news_sz.html

    (The German translation in the title is something like ‘false softness’.)

    MLA 2008: Continuing [my] Education on the PhD Experience

    Yesterday I had the pleasure of taking the continuing education course The PhD Experience: Graduate School in the Basic Biomedical Sciences. As the library liaison to LSUHSC’s School of Graduate Studies, I was eager to learn more about what exactly goes on in those sometimes secret laboratories nestled away in the nooks of our urban campus.

    Michele Tennant, Susan Kendall & Kevin Messner did a superior job at presenting an overview of graduate programs in the Basic Sciences. From departments to dissertations to dictostelium discoideum (that’s slime mold to us laypersons), the instructors gave a well-rounded overview of professional culture within the research community, as well as sound advice and techniques that librarians can use to reach these sometimes distant faculty, staff and students.

    The course was about eight hours long, but don’t let that sway your choice if you have the opportunity to take this class. Anyone involved in library liaison activities with Basic Sciences, especially those who do not have a science background, will find this useful. What follows is a list of notes & resources I jotted down throughout the day.

    • ‘omics: suffix indicating biology on a large scale (ie: genomics, proteomics, etc)
    • “gene knockout”: when you knockout a particular gene to see what happens
    • Barlow, Robert B., John E. Dowling, and Gerald Weissmann, eds. (1993). The Biological Century: Friday Evening Talks at the Marine Biological Laboratory Woods Hole: The Marine Biological Laboratory. (ISBN 0-674-07403-3): book recommended by Tennant – collection of science essays giving good overview of the development of biological science in the Twentieth Century.
    • e-science trends – Kendall had attended a conference on this recently and had some interesting words on the development of the research process from a linear to circular structure with the advent of the web, which led to….
    • Talking about a recent discussion in Science magazine about wikifying GenBank. (??!!) I’m all for 2.0 and all, but this does not sounds like such a good idea
    • More info on trends in escience/translational medicine: Check out the session “Translational Medicine and the Library’s Role” on Tuesday afternoon (2-3:30) for more info.
    • This book was recommended by Susan Kendall for information on how laboratory research works.
    • Finally, Kevin Messner’s del.icio.us account offers all kinds of bioinformatics and biology links, in addition to other non-science related bookmarks

    I hope you found this useful. Coming soon, the search for my missing mentee, the opening address, and more!

    Anatomy got you down?

    Get a leg up on your classmates and check out www.getbodysmart.com. Created by an anatomy teacher, this website is a great resource for learning about the skeletal system, muscle tissue physiology and the nervous system among other subjects. The animated drawings, diagrams and interactive quizzes will help you ace your next exam.

    A fun way to browse your favorite bacterial genomes

    From the Institute for Advanced Biosciences, Keio University, Japan comes GENOME PROJECTOR, an awesome new tool for those interested in molecular biology.

    Genome Projector, a searchable database browser with zoomable user interface, currently allows 4 different views: Genome map, Plasmid map, Pathway map, and DNA walk. It’s based on the same software concepts that run Google Maps, so the interface is pretty intuitive.

    Check it out:
    Genome Projector