Julia R Migliore
As part of their check-up at birth, babies get a prick on the heel. Among many other things, the blood tests for the function of a protein called phenylalanine hydroxylase. (Scientists sometimes call it "PAH" for convenience.) PAH is the first in a sequence of enzymes that break down excess phenylalanine. It speeds up the …
The book that started it all. When I was in high school, I was troubled by a common idea in Christian circles: science was for atheists. But... I liked science a lot. I also believed in Jesus. What I knew about the God of the Bible just didn't seem to go against what I knew …
Words can take on different connotations and even meanings in different spaces. Right now, you and I have the ability to communicate with each other because we have agreed that certain words have certain meanings. When I say, "cloud," you know that I am talking about a white or grey, fluffy-looking mass of water vapor …
Pregnancy can be detected by looking for the glycoprotein human chorionic gonadotropin, which functions as a hormone. After an egg has been successfully fertilized, the resulting cell multiplies into a mostly hollow ball of cells called a blastula. Trophoblast cells, the cells on the exterior of the blastula, make and secrete hCG when the blastula …
Originally written April 29, 2020 in response to a conversation with a student, for my past self and anyone else in her shoes. Hey friend- I heard your struggles. So, you just got an A-minus on a one-credit lab course and that means the 4.0 GPA you worked so hard for is now unreachable. You …
Over six months ago, I gave birth to my first child. He has not even experienced summer yet, but it feels like I have been his mother forever. Maybe, in a sense, I have been. Any parent will agree that life before children becomes a blur the moment they enter the world. Whether or not …
It is currently mid-February and while many have been making plans for Valentine's day, I've been making plans for the Annual Biophysical Society Meeting. It might be called a "meeting," but this is not a dozen colleagues around a table or on a Zoom call. This meeting has thousands of attendees from all over the …
Meet P4-type ATPase, better known as Flippase! Flippase lives and works in the plasma membrane. The plasma membrane is the border between the outside and the inside of the cell made from two layers of phospholipids. (We call the membrane a "phospholipid bilayer.") Phospholipids have heads that enjoy the water, but their tails hate water. …
Meet Voltage-Dependent Anionic Channel! Scientists call it by its nickname, VDAC. VDAC lives in the mitochondria (that's right: the powerhouse of the cell), specifically in the outer membrane. It's the most abundant protein in the outer mitochondrial membrane and it is present in every single mitochondrion on earth. VDAC is found in the outer mitochondrial …
Meet Myosin Binding Protein C! Myosin Binding Protein C's childhood nickname was "C protein," but these days it goes by "MyBP-C." MyBP-C is a regulatory protein in muscle. As its name implies, it binds to myosin, which is the protein responsible for producing the force in a muscle contraction (meet myosin here!). It also binds …
Science Magnifies 