This post is in response to a couple of twitter discussions regarding whether its "useful" to do qPCR validation of RNAseq hits:As preliminary data for a talk can I graph transcript counts of particular genes (transcriptome data) instead of qPCR (haven't done it yet)?— Sciencegurl (@sciencegurlz0) October 27, 2014In response to the that I posted a response...

As a trainee, having my papers reviewed by experts in the field has been both a frustrating and positive experience.  It has been positive, in that in nearly every case my publications have been improved by the process.  The enhancements from little embarrassing typos to new ways of conceptualizing our data, and certainly these papers are better for...

These are the papers that I thought were the most interesting in my world this year. It was a big year for hormonal messengers involved in obesity and diabetes.  These include Fgf21 (Kim et. al) and VEGF (Hagberg et. al).  From a biochemistry perspective there was a lot of great work on the role of SREBP1 (Moon et. al) and its regulation both from...

For most phosphatidylinositides, the routes of synthesis and degradation have been largely elucidated.  However, due to difficulty in detecting PtdIns(5)P, only recently have investigators been able to assess the synthesis and degradation of this phospholipid.  The major stumbling block has been the separation of PtdIns(5)P from PtdIns(4)P, which migrate...

SREBP is a transcription factor which integrates anabolic signals and drives transcription of several important lipogenic genes such as Fatty Acid Synthase, Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase and the LDL Receptor.  In liver tissue ,this serves to enhance the uptake, synthesis and storage of lipid in the postprandial state.  The biochemical mechanisms by which this...

This paper from the Zerial Laboratory describes a study in which the three mammalian isoforms of Rab5 are reduced in whole livers or cultured hepatocytes by a lipid nanoparticle mediated knockdown treatment. They then analyse images from these cells and liver sections and determine that there are reduced early endosomes, late endosomes and lysosomes...