Academia Spotlight, Issue 2 - The secret code of our human body: DNA and cancer
Promoting academia work in Steemit
A review of academic blog entries posted by @coinbitgold, who is using all Steem Dollars from my #academiaspotlight upvotes to promote Steemit to Scientists, Economists, Engineers, Mathematicians in academia. All steem dollars from this post will go to author and reviewer for thanking their contribution to steemit #academia #science! The #academiaspotlight is an initiative by #pevo team.
Welcome to the 2nd issue of #academiaspotlight !
Post: https://steemit.com/science/@justtryme90/science-lesson-dna-part-4-what-is-dna-damage
Author: @justtryme90
Reviewer: @coinbitgold
The secret code of our human body: DNA and cancer
In this issue, we will be introducing you to @justtryme90!
He sent us a picture of himself which is the only picture of him in steemit! From his introduction here, he is a Biochemist and currently doing his post doc at a Boston based biotechnology company. His specialty is DNA replication. Let’s take a closer look at his posts on "Science Lesson: DNA (Part 4, What is DNA Damage?)" and see what he has posted.
We saw that his series of biology based lessons were relatively low key and we want to drum it up a little more on steemit!
What is the significance of DNA replication studies?
DNA contains a unique secret code of our human body. Every human shares 99.9% similar in DNA, and the last 0.01% is enough to identify and distinguish our identity. A parent and a child share 99.5% of the same DNA. Hence, there is a great chance that we inherit all kinds of diseases from our parents.
The DNA molecule is also very fragile. Environmental changes can potentially damage the DNA. People who have good genes can easily repair the DNA. But, people who inherit bad genes from their parents are less able to repair damage that accumulates in their DNA over time. And so they’re at higher risk of cancer. Luckily, because of the advancement of biotechnology, we can know in advance based on our genes, what kind of cancer we are more susceptible to. A famous and notable example who have done drastic preventive measures is Angeline Jolie.
Fellow lady steemians, hear hear. Her DNA profile showed that she has inherited a faulty gene from her mum which increased her chances of breast cancer to 87%. She made the decision to remove her breasts which reduced her chances to only 5%.That is a very brave act! And FYI the guys, this is also that very same gene which can cause prostrate cancer in men. The technology used for such genetic testing profiling involves using DNA replication proteins. And yes, you guess right, that is justtryme90’s expertise! We are excited to see him contributing his area of expertise here in steemit and to the world!
What I learnt from his post
That is the evil DNA molecule after damage. After radioactive damage is done to DNA, it cannot be replicated. Most cells can repair damage to DNA. Hence, it is important to apply sunblock lotion! According to @justtryme90, if we inherit bad genes from our parents, this means that there are high chances that we can't repair the damage and develop skin cancer. The good news is that even though some of us may have inherited bad genes which is unfortunate, we can work on our diet and lifestyle! That means getting the vitamins which contain antioxidant molecules and let it fight the evil molecules! It means more vegetables like broccoli and lesser processed food like sausages! Limit your smoking because evil molecules in tobacco smoke will seek to damage your DNA!
He will be writing on DNA replication and also broad scientific topics! I wish all the best to @ justtryme90 and look forward to his future blog entries. So follow @justtryme90 if you are interested to learn more about DNA and proteins! Half of steam dollars from this post will go to @justtryme90 for thanking his contribution to steemit #academia #science and DNA replication studies.
We hope that you have learnt something from this post. We also welcome any feedback on #academiaspotlight. Please let us know if you found posts which are academic in nature which have not received as much love and we may add them to the next issue.
Stay tuned and watch out for #academiaspotlight issue 3!
Thanks for the info, and great idea on the #academiaspotlight
Thanks for encouragement!
DNA has always fascinated me in both it's complexity and elegant simplicity. The fact that it even has redundancy in the same way computers use CRC (cyclic redundancy checks) as a form of error correction still amazes me to this day.
We implemented CRC's long before we mapped the human genome only to find out nature had already thought of that concept many eons before we even existed as a species.
Kudos to you for helping bring together Steemit and Academia. This platform could go a long way towards helping both the funding and dissemination of all forms of academics!
Thank you for this post and illustrating to everyone that this platform is much more than a way to get paid to post photos of puppies and kittens while arguing with complete strangers!
>cough, cough<...Facebook...>cough,cough<
Thanks! Very flattering and feel very appreciated :-)
I don't know how much i can help though. It is a long way no less.
You're very welcome!
When it comes to the pursuits of academia, those who help to educate will always have my full and undivided support. ;-)
Will be putting on my sun lotion now. Looking forward to the next spotlight post
Yes, please!
Don't hesitate to also have a look to the first three parts of the original articles. They are just great as well.
Cheers,
B>
It is!
@coinbitgold great initiative! Would love to see more academics here. I'll try to promote steem among my students and colleagues. I work in math/economics/econometrics and don't think I do very sexy research. I guess it will be difficult to find a single person who will be genuinely interested haha (I write very fundamental proofs for new econometric tools to establish conditions under which we have asymptotic theory). I wrote some very basic things about what fascinates me here on steemit if you like to read it : )
Maybe I'll translate some slides I have on Zipf's law from an urban economics course that I gave last year. Student's usually seem to like the topic, so maybe it will be fun to write something about it here.
Kind regards and keep up the supporting work you do with #academiaspotlight!
Hi! @chrishronic i saw your R programming post. I like it :-) I was also using R programming for some of my data analysis. Yes, please do write more on econometric tools. I am looking forward to read more !
Thanks for the compliments on #academiaspotlight !
Thanks! R is great for writing powerful tools with limited effort. I'll think of something new!
Ive read te original post and had fun reading it. Great idea coming up with academiaspotlight.
Thank you! the original post is great!
More Academia, and more Scientists & Engineers on steemit! After 15+ years in R&D, I may not be a Scientist, but I did receive two US Patents (#90151539B and 9051539B2), for what is essentially the, "biomass engine". The algae for biofuels problem was cracked and solved years ago. But in my experience, the government never wanted biofuels as evidenced by the repeated annual turning of a blind eye our direction when we didn't have a fat campaign contribution to assure that our grant applications were going to be processed.
But that's a rant for another time.
Science is not a person. When in the media you see, " Science says...." ask who is Science and where did he get his degree? Why ask? Because Science didn't say anything. Science is mute.
Thank you! Impressive! I am not going to USPTO to have a look LOL
Please do write a post for biofuels in your experience. Following you now.
Science is mute but Science has a voice and is a strong :-)