Save your confederate dollars, the South will rise again.

Today was a rainy day so I just went to Johnson’s for breakfast, to the gym to work out and to the Civil War reenactment in a local field. I enjoyed seeing the cannon and solders do their thing. They had been camping for a couple of days in tents of the era. Several tents sold memorabilia, uniforms, muskets and other things for one and all.

The biggest problem with a sailboat is its motor

Today we went up to Freeport ME with my mother in law and took the sailboat out for a spin. It worked well. After the repair of the exhaust riser the engine seemed to smoke too much but the motor seemed to work well. It didn’t show any problems except the smoke during our week long cruise over the 4th of July. A friend said that the smoke could be due to a blocked exhaust and the cutoff valve at the transom was a potential culprit. I played with the valve and managed to shut it off completely with no hope of re-opening as it was very corroded. The marina fixed it but when I went to start the motor the next weekend there was no cooling water in the exhaust. Back to the shop and this time they cleaned the heat exchanger which they had previously taken apart and removed the scale that was plugging the nozzle that injects water into the exhaust. I guess that they never flushed it. Today there was plenty of water in the exhaust and very little smoke. I was correct about the problem. However, trying to leave the dock after leaving off my mother in law the motor would not start. I banged the starter and the connection to the battery with a hammer and it took. I guess that the starter is the next problem. I hope that the connection to the starter is the problem as it has been before rather than the need for a new starter.

Cimifuga - Witches beware - SBIR

“Folklore: Black cohosh (Cimifuga racemosa)root was used by Native Americans to treat snake bite and as a ceremonial herb to bring visions. The root was thought by some early American settlers to be the main ingredient in witches brew and any female caught with it in her possession was burned as a witch.”

We are trying to finish up the SBIR but it is difficult to stay within the size requirements and to make sure that everything is done correctly. I believe that the program is very worthwhile and hope that it gets a good score. This SBIR has nothing to do with the flower Cimifuga but I like the flower and though I would post a picture of one from our garden. It smells good too.

RNAi is a big thing

I don't have much time but the discovery of RNAi could change medicine. It is a very ancient way organisms protect themselves from invading viruses that is totally separate from the normal immune system. Some viruses are made of two strands of RNA that are complementary and bind together in a double helix. The RNAi system finds such molecules and enzymatically destroys such a sequence wherever it is. Thus if one artificially inserts such a double stranded RNA then the system will destroy any single stranded RNA with that sequence. Most genes and viruses go through a single stranded phase. Thus to kill a virus you make a double stranded RNA containing part of the virus’s sequence and the RNAi system will destroy it resulting in no virus replication. The same thing applies to a gene. To turn off a gene to cure a genetic disease you would introduce a double stranded RNA with part of the sequence for that gene. To study any gene you would again make a double stranded RNA and have it inserted. The RNA from that gene would then be destroyed allowing one to better understand the normal function of the gene. The beauty of this technique is that it can be used anywhere and bypasses the normal immune system. So organisms and viruses that can get around the normal immune system can be attacked by RNAi. Thus we will have another tool to fight disease and genes that make a bad product.

Hunting for dates & origin of mankind

Friend on Harley during treasure hunt 

A few days ago I was in my home office and heard a thumping sound from the driveway. It was a couple of guys on Harleys. I though someone had taken a wrong turn but it turned out to be a couple of friends on a hunt for dates sponsored by their bike club. They had to follow some skimpy directions and collect a list of dates from homes and buildings along the route. We helped them with maps and local knowledge and sent them on their way.

This hunt reminded me of the hunt for human origins and especially the development of modern man. Most scientists now believe that our ancestors went through a crunch in which humanity was reduced to a small tribe of less than 1,000 and perhaps less than 100 individuals. All of humanity developed from this small group starting about 150 thousand year ago. They know this because of the extreme lack of variability in the human genome. Compared to chimps we have almost no variability at all. Is there any human group now living that is the oldest. It seems that the bushman of the Kalahari desert have the most genetic variation and are the oldest. In a documentary called DNA detectives on the Discovery Science channel there were pictures of these people and it was amazing how individual members resembled the different races. Some looked more caucasian, some more oriental and some more African. This group is not black but brown. Black Africans are more modern.

What if flowers were the dominate species

A dominate flower 
What a beautiful day in Massachusetts. I took a couple of runs/walks in the town forest and the rail trail with trial clearing for the trials group in between. Then I talked to a friend who had gone horseback riding in Chile and related her adventures. It was very pleasant in their garden sipping iced tea. Back at home I weeded grass and other plants out from between our brick walk. What a job. While working I wondered what it would be like if flowers were the dominate species. We spend a lot of time looking at and admiring their genetalia. If plants were the dominate species would they admire our genetalia and even breed us for the best looking and smelling sex organs?

Alzheimers and tangles and neat techniques

Karen Ashe, a neurologist at the University of Minnesota in Twin Cities did work published in the journal Science Science, Vol 309, Issue 5733, 476-481 , 15 July 2005 that suggested that the neurofibrillary tangles seen in Alzheimer’s may not be the cause of the dementia. She was able to put a defective tau protein in mice and turn it on or off. When turned on the tangles appeared and the mental performance of the mice decreased. However, when they turned the defective gene off the tangles remained but the mice regained some memory skills. Thus tangles but themselves don’t cause memory loss. The defective tau protein must do something else. These results are interesting but the ability to insert a mutant gene and turn it on or off at will is an amazing and very powerful technique.

To turn a gene on or off they attached it to a transgene that was responsive to the chemical antibiotic-like doxycycline. So when they added the doxycycline the gene for the mutant tau protein was turned off. The were also able to direct where in the mouse’s body the gene turned on by attaching this complex to another gene controlling sequence that is express only in the mouse’s forebrain. Thus they directed mutant tau to the forebrain and could turn it off at will to see what happens.

Control is the key. When the human genome was sequenced we had fewer genes than expected and more “junk” DNA that anything else. People age beginning to think that our secret is very fine control of what we have rather than having more than anything else.

We live in a very fertile area and SBIR grants

One big flower in our field 

I have been working hard on an SBIR grant proposal for a biotech firm. It seems to be coming along well and I believe the program could represent a significant advance in the area. No more can be said because of confidentiality agreements. The SIBR grants program is very positive as it allows small companies to develop products of interest to government organizations with a minimum of paperwork. I have done a number of SBIRs in the past for several million dollars.

Working hard on SBIR and a friend in Nigeria

I have been working on an SBIR grant application for a consulting customer. This stuff is never easy but Microsoft Word takes some of the grief out of the process, especially in comparison to the past. I can remember how wonderful the first word processor seemed at the time and how out of date they seem today.
Today I got the Email address of an old friend who used to work for me. She is an African American chemistry graduate from one of the seven sisters. It seems that she has moved to Nigeria and married a missionary. Good luck Tiffaney. I believe as others that solving the disease problem is key to the advancement of sub-Sahara Africa. Perhaps she can help.

A fariy house in the forest on Monhegan Is 7/6

A farie house in the forest on Monhegan 

The south shore of Monhegan 7/5 

Raising the flag 7/4 

From the bow 7/3