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Background: This diagram represents what goes on inside your cell as insulin is present. Specifically, this helps explain Type 1 Diabetes response. The GLUT-4 vesicle is a glucose channel, which normally is inside the cytoplasm. It is recruited to the plasma membrane when signalled by insulin through a cascade of events.
(side note: the method they used for detecting the movement of the GLUT-4 vesicle was by tagging a GFP (green fluorescent protein) to the GLUT-4 and viewing the cell under resting conditions then with an insulin stimulus they can visualize the vesicles moving towards the PM)

Today, in one of my biochem courses, we came across this slide. When the prof put it up, he admitted that he was sorry he had to do this to us. To some temporary relief, he said we didn’t have to know half of this pathway (until the next slide…). But as I listened to him chat off about what some of these proteins do (ex: Akt signaling many different pathways, like PDE3B (phosphodiesterase which converts cAMP>AMP) thereby inhibiting cAMPs which prevent activation of PKA (Protein Kinase A which phosphorylates the hormone-sensitive lipase and requires cAMP for activation)), I couldn’t help but laugh, because it was SO detailed, to think people out there have put this map together really blows my mind.

But what got me was that I saw this map and thought, How can people say there is no God? How can they believe that all this happened through random chance. Sure, evolution dictates that only the fittest and most efficient traits will be passed onto future generations, but there MUST have been a start point. Some creator that had designed this. Each pathway has its own set of regulatory systems, with the more important pathways having very strong levels of regulation. It’s fascinating to see how mutations in a single protein can result in cancerous growth because all of a sudden the cell is now proliferating out of control. As I tried to make sense of it all, I wanted to post this just to share it. I suppose Biochemistry is interesting. Lot of the material being taught goes back to cancer.

Addendum: If you notice, some of these names are so random: SHIP, ASIP, JAK, CRK, SOC, SOS, Ras, Mek 1/2, Bad, Grb1 (pronounced greb). While some scientists like to keep things simple (ex: MAPKKK > MAPKK > MAPK), others like to add to confusion by giving a second name to them but it’s really the same thing (same pathway: RAF > MEK > ERK)

Random geeky trivia of the day!

So the Democratic nominee for my district apparently worked at Microsoft for 5 years before going to Law School. And apparently, when her “house caught fire this summer, she sprinted outside wearing a T-shirt that said “ < / war >” HTML code for “end war.” A photograph of her shirt helped raise more than $80,000 in 24 hours on liberal blog DailyKos, as readers said the shirt meant she was a kindred techie spirit.”

What a good way to raise $!~

Not really news here…
Mac Believe Themselves Superior

Rumour is the new iMac will be released Aug 7 (TUAW)

I wonder about the new iMac.. if it’s loses that bottom section I really don’t like.. and is brushed, I wonder if I would contemplate it as a replacement for the G5. I’ve always been thinking that 2-3 years down the road when the G5 isn’t supported well enough anymore.. I’d have to take the hit and get a Mac Pro.. but with the iMac now already basically being faster than my G5.. if Apple can make the iMac pretty.. I’d be pretty sold. On the other hand its pretty hard to give up multi-monitor photoshop..

However I’m still a fairly anti-ipod, anti-iphone person due to their mass-market nature..

man…been really quite here since the forum.
but I guess these kinda things should be posted here instead hehe.

so I’ve been going to library regularly to do work, and something I didn’t expect happened.
some guy saw across the other end of my table, I took a peek “for professional”.

hehe….oh man..