Biopedia

Biopedia

By Vince's PodcastsScienceLife Sciences
Download on the App Store

Biopedia episodes

  • 13- Rewind: Amino Acids

    Proteins are often mentioned on the show, but what about the building blocks that they consist of? This week, we’re going to tackle amino acids in our second rewind episodes. There are some topics that naturally branch off from this one, such as interactions between amino acids and how DNA encodes for different ones, but they will probably be topics for future episodes.


    Sources for this episode:

    • Campbell, N. A., Urry, L. A., Cain, M. L., Wasserman, S. A., Minorsky, P. V. and Reece, J. B. (2018), Biology: a global approach, 11th edition (Global Edition), Harlow, Pearson Education Limited.
    • Compound Interest, Compound Interest (2014), A Brief Guide to the Twenty Common Amino Acids (online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known].
    • Fullick A., Locke, J. and Bircher, P. (2015), A Level Biology for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • Ritchie, R. and Ghent, D. (2015), A Level Chemistry for OCR A. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    • Thain, M., and Hickman, M. (2014), The Penguin Dictionary of Biology, 11th edition. London: Penguin Publishing Group.

      • NOTE: In case this wasn’t clear in the audio, variable groups, R groups and side chains all refer to the same functional group- namely, the variable part of an amino acid.

      5 min
    • 12- The Wnt Signalling Network

      Building on our discussion of both signalling pathways and G-protein coupled receptors from a few weeks ago, this week we’re going to discuss the Wnt signalling pathway- a pathway which is crucial in aspects of development and can have widespread impacts on the cell. It all sounds rather intimidating, but there’s actually surprisingly few steps involved in this pathway- and we’re only going to be focusing on one part of the signalling network, which makes life a lot less complicated!


      Sources for this episode:

      • Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition, p.948- 950. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC.
      • Janda, C. Y., Waghray, D., Levin, A. M., Thomas, C. and Garcia, K. C. (2012), Structural basis of Wnt recognition by Frizzled. Science 337: 59- 63.
      • Author unknown, National Center for Biotechnology Information (2020), PubChem Compound Summary for CID 445638, Palmitoleic acid (online) [Accessed 29/11/2020].
        • 7 min
      • 11- Rewind: Cell Theory

        In the first of our ‘Rewind’ episodes, we go back to basics and discuss cells- where they came from and the famous cell theory of 1839, which is still present in textbooks today. There are more stories than we can cover which lead up to cell theory, so just see this as an introductory episode until when and if we can come back to these famous names and discoveries.


        Sources for this episode:

        • Silver (1987), Virchow, the Heroic Health Model in Medicine: Health Policy by Accolade. AJPH 77(1): 82- 88.
        • Author unknown, National Geographic, date unknown, Cell Theory (Encyclopaedic entry, online) [Accessed c.2020, date not known].
          • 4 min
        • 10- The Lamellipodium

          As discussed in previous episodes, the actin cytoskeleton is vital to allow cells to move. But what about the specifics? In this episode, we’re going to be dissecting the lamellipodium- a meshwork actin structure that some cells use to move.


          Sources for this episode:

          • Alberts, Johnson, Lewis, Raff, Roberts, and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC.
          • Berro, Michelot, Blanchoin, Kovar and Martiel (2007), Attachment Conditions Control Actin Filament Buckling and the Production of Forces. Biophysical Journal 92(7): 2546- 2558.
          • Kiuchi, Ohashi, Kurita and Mizuno (2007), Cofilin promotes stimulus-induced lamellipodium formation by generating an abundant supply of actin monomers. The Journal of Cell Biology 177(3): 465- 476
          • ‘Mechanobiology Institute, Singapore’, YouTube (2013), Arp2/3 complex mediated actin nucleation (online) [Accessed 23/11/2020].
            • 7 min
          • 9- The Platypus’ Larger Cousin

            We’re all familiar with the platypus, but it still has surprises up its sleeve. On the show today, we get to know its bumper-sized cousin- Obdurodon tharalkooschild.


            Sources for this episode:

            • Dell’Amore, C., National Geographic (2013), Giant Platypus Found, Shakes Up Evolutionary Tree (online) [Accessed 17/11/2020].
            • Pian, R., Archer, M. And Hand, S. J. (2013), A new, giant platypus, Obdurodon tharalkooschild, sp. nov. (Monotremata, Ornithorhynchidae), from the Riversleigh, World Heritage Area, Australia. Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology 33(6): 1255- 1259.
              • 3 min
            • 8- Orca Population History

              Killer whales are an icon of the world's oceans. However, genetic studies show that they haven't always been doing so well- especially during the last Ice Age. What's the story? And what relevance does the millennia-old plight of the orca have today? On the podcast today, we're going to use a genetic study from 2014 to explore just that.

              Sources for this episode:

              • Moura, A. E. et al (2014), Killer Whale Nuclear Genome and mtDNA Reveal Widespread Population Bottleneck during the Last Glacial Maximum. Molecular Biology and Evolution 31(5): 1121- 1131.
              • General dates for some of the geological epochs discussed are widely available and can be found at sources such as Wikipedia.

                • A small housekeeping note: the lamellipodium episode is taking longer than expected and so has had to be pushed back a bit until November 25th (episode 10).

                7 min
              • 7- Localised mRNA and Cell Polarity

                On the podcast today, we cover the concept of localised mRNA, which can be relevant to cell polarity.


                Sources for this episode:

                • Martin, K. C. And Ephrussi, A. (2009), mRNA Localisation: Gene Expression in the Spatial Dimension. Cell 136: 719- 730.
                  • 4 min
                • 6- Persister Cells

                  Antibiotic resistance we’ve all heard of by now, but what about antibiotic persistence? Join us as we explore the phenomenon of persistence, which allows bacterial infections to reappear even after antibiotic treatment. And all while being genetically identical to their susceptible neighbours!

                  Sources for this episode: 1) Balaban, N. Q., Helanie, S., Lewis, K., Ackermann, M., Aldridge, B., Andersson, D. I., Brynildsen, M. P., Bumann, D., Camilli, A., Collins, J. J., Dehio, C., Fortune, S., Ghigo, J.-M., Hardt, W.-D., Harms, A., Heinemann, M., Hung, D. T., Jenal, U., Levin, B. R., Michiels, J., Storz, G., Tan, M.-W., Tenson, T., Van Melderen, L., Zinkernagel, A. (2019), Definitions and guidelines for research on antibiotic persistence. Nature Reviews 17: 441- 448. 2) Fisher, R. A., Gollan, B. and Helanie, S. (2017), Persistent bacterial infections and persister cells. Nature Reviews Microbiology 15: 453- 464. 3) Wiley, J. M., Sherwood, L. M. and Woolverton, C. J. (2017), Prescott’s microbiology, 10th edition (International Edition), New York, McGraw-Hill Education. 4) Some of the discussion is based on my previous education on the topic.

                  6 min
                • 5- A Projected Range Shift during Global Warming

                  It is common knowledge that bees as a whole are declining as a result of climate change, although bee decline as a larger topic is not in itself the subject of today's episode. But what about individual species? On the podcast today, we cover a 2019 study which predicted that the Australian small carpenter bee, Ceratina australensis, might go against this trend....


                  Sources for this episode:

                  • Breeze, T. D., Roberts, S. P. M. and Potts, S. G. (2012), The Decline of England's Bees: Policy Review and Recommendations (University of Reading). Available at: Friends of the Earth (published 2017, online) [Accessed 09/09/2021].
                  • Dew, R. N., Silva, D. P. And Rehan, S. M. (2019), Range expansion of an already widespread bee under climate change. Global Ecology and Conservation 17 (2019): e00584.
                  • Author unknown, Friends of the Earth (2017), What are the causes of bee decline? (online) [Accessed 09/09/2021].
                    • 4 min
                  • 4- GTPases and Actin Remodelling in Yeast

                    This episode builds on content covered in episode 3, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t listened to it already. This week, we explore an example of the GTPase content we discussed last time. Specifically, we look at the diploid mating of baker’s yeast in stressful environments.


                    Source for this episode:

                    • Alberts, Johnson, Lewis Raff, Roberts and Walter (2008), Molecular Biology of the Cell, Fifth Edition. Abingdon: Garland Science, Taylor and Francis Group LLC.
                      • 4 min

                    About Biopedia

                    From the publisher's feed

                    Biology is a fascinating subject which is well worth exploring. Its scope stretches from individual DNA strands and viruses to blue whales, metapopulations and the biosphere. We will shine the…

                    More shows like Biopedia

                    Cellfie Life by Nikaela

                    Cellfie Life

                    2 Listeners

                    The HSC Biology Podcast by HSCbiology

                    The HSC Biology Podcast

                    2 Listeners