Making Science Accessible: A Semiotics of Scientific Communication

This article serves as a demonstration of how certain models of literary analysis, used to theorize and analyze fiction and narrative, can also be applied to scientific communication in such a manner as to promote the accessibility of science to the general public and a greater awareness of the methodology used in making scientific discovery. The approach of this article is based on the assumption that the principles of structuralism and semiotics can provide plausible explanations for the divide between the reception of science and literature. We provide a semiotic analysis of a scientific article that has had significant impact in the field of molecular biology with profound medical implications. Furthermore, we show how the structural and semiotic characteristics of literary texts are also evident in the scientific papers, and we address how these characteristics can be applied to scientific prose in order to propose a model of scientific communication that reaches the public. By applying this theoretical framework to the analysis of both scientific and literary communication, we establish parallels between primary scientific texts and literary prose.     

Mechanism of mutant calreticulin-mediated activation of the thrombopoietin receptor in cancers

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are frequently driven by mutations within the C-terminal domain (C-domain) of calreticulin (CRT). CRT_Del52 and CRT_Ins5 are recurrent mutations. Oncogenic transformation requires both mutated CRT and the thrombopoietin receptor (Mpl), but the molecular mechanism of CRT-mediated constitutive activation of Mpl is unknown. We show that the acquired C-domain of CRT_Del52 mediates both Mpl binding and disulfide-linked CRT_Del52 dimerization. Cysteine mutations within the novel C-domain (C400A and C404A) and the conserved N-terminal domain (N-domain; C163A) of CRT_Del52 are required to reduce disulfide-mediated dimers and multimers of CRT_Del52. Based on these data and published structures of CRT oligomers, we identify an N-domain dimerization interface relevant to both WT CRT and CRT_Del52. Elimination of disulfide bonds and ionic interactions at both N-domain and C-domain dimerization interfaces is required to abrogate the ability of CRT_Del52 to mediate cell proliferation via Mpl. Thus, MPNs exploit a natural dimerization interface of CRT combined with C-domain gain of function to achieve cell transformation.     

hORFeome v3.1: a resource of human open reading frames representing over 10,000 human genes

Complete sets of cloned protein-encoding open reading frames (ORFs), or ORFeomes, are essential tools for large-scale proteomics and systems biology studies. Here we describe human ORFeome version 3.1 (hORFeome v3.1), currently the largest publicly available resource of full-length human ORFs (available at ). Generated by Gateway recombinational cloning, this collection contains 12,212 ORFs, representing 10,214 human genes, and corresponds to a 51% expansion of the original hORFeome v1.1. An online human ORFeome database, hORFDB, was built and serves as the central repository for all cloned human ORFs (http://horfdb.dfci.harvard.edu). This expansion of the original ORFeome resource greatly increases the potential experimental search space for large-scale proteomics studies, which will lead to the generation of more comprehensive datasets.     

Evaluation of antitumor effects of VEGFR-2 inhibitor F16 in a colorectal xenograft model

Biotechnology Letters - Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most prevalent type of cancer in the United States. The treatment options for cancer include surgery, chemotherapy, radiation,...     

Cytotoxic cobalt (III) Schiff base complexes: in vitro anti-proliferative,oxidative stress and gene expression studies in human breast and lung cancer cells

BioMetals - Increasing cancer drug chemo-resistance, especially in the treatment of breast and lung cancers, alarms the immediate need of newer and effective anticancer drugs. Until now,...     

Synthesis and screening of (E)-1-(β-D-galactopyranosyl)-4-(aryl)but-3-ene-2-one against Mycobacterium tuberculosis

A series of galactose-derived aryl enones were synthesised and screened against Mycobacterium tuberculosis H₃₇Rv. Preliminary results were promising with MIC values in the range 1.56-12.5 μg/mL.