Offering Buddha a Coke

Through my own life experiences and also through observing those of others, I have become sensitive to the conflicts and transformations that occur when widely dissimilar cultures come into contact. Recently I have observed how the owners of Tom Ka Thai Restaurant*, where I have been working for about a year, have carved out a place for themselves -- a place to negotiate new identities and meanings, within the dominant, northeast Florida culture that surrounds them

Project 1: Microrna regulation of the proto-oncogene PBF And Project 2: Recognition of previously undescribed ring domain residues required for BRCA1:BARD1 and RING1B:BMI1 ubiquitin ligase activity

PROJECT 1: In thyroid cancers there have been independent observations of the overexpression of a relatively uncharacterised proto-oncogene, PBF, as well as the deregulation of microRNAs. Therefore, the aims of this investigation were to identify whether a selection of microRNAs can regulate PBF, altering its mRNA expression and protein levels. The most striking result indicated that hsa-miR-122-5p caused a significant decrease in PBF protein levels cells despite no change in PBF mRNA expression. Furthermore, hsa-miR-124-3p and hsa-miR-506-3p also negatively regulated PBF mRNA expression and protein levels; highlighting microRNAs do have the ability to regulate PBF. PROJECT 2: BRCA1:BARD1 and RING1B:BMI1 are type I RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases required within the final stage of the ubiquitin pathway. The mechanism of E2-ubiquitin binding and locking remains elusive in type I RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases despite being defined in type II RING-type E3 ubiquitin ligases. We identified the requirement of a conserved residue in BRCA1:BARD1 and RING1B:BMI1 for their ubiquitin ligase activity, with further investigations into RING1B:BMI1 ubiquitin sensitivity indicating the importance of a number of residues on ubiquitin’s surface for ubiquitin ligase activity. Modelling highlighted residues in RING1B:BMI1 and ubiquitin have the potential to interact via an E2-ubiquitin binding and locking mechanism

Bostonia. Volume 14

Founded in 1900, Bostonia magazine is Boston University's main alumni publication, which covers alumni and student life, as well as university activities, events, and programs

Micro-Rockets for the Classroom

Many people are fascinated with rocketry, as evidenced by hundreds of thousands of visitors to the Kennedy Space Center for Space Shuttle launches. Rockets demonstrate important basic principles of chemistry, engineering, and physics 1-5. Even model rockets are exciting to launch. Many physics teachers take advantage of this and use model solid fuel, 6 - 10 and water rockets 11-14 in their teaching activities. Scientific supply companies have responded to this interest and offer a range of equipment to investigate model rocket performance. 6,10,12,15 This note describes miniature solid fuel, or micro rockets, which are made from a single safety match, oil or paraffin, and aluminum foil. These micro-rockets have a range of up to 6 meters, and can be safely launched from a candle flame inside classrooms

“A Pesar de las Fronteras”/“In Spite of the Boundaries” : Exploring Solidarity in the Context of International Service Immersion

The move to “internationalize” United States universities has contrib-uted to increased interest in global service-learning. This article presents qualitative data collected by a team of faculty and students during a ser-vice immersion in Nicaragua. The solidarity model of service-learning attempts to address shortcomings of earlier approaches and deserves fur-ther examination. This study illuminated the dynamics of solidarity from a largely unexplored perspective: host families and community leaders. The analysis revealed that difference and inequality are salient themes and shape the relationships and possibilities for joint action between U.S. students and their hosts. A typology is suggested that includes symbolic, instrumental, and pragmatic performances of solidarity. By highlighting the perspective of Nicaraguan hosts, this study fills an important gap in the literature on service-learning. It also contributes to the conceptual elaboration of an often heard but rarely defined concept: solidarity

Human cytomegalovirus protein pUL36: A dual cell death pathway inhibitor.

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is an important human pathogen and a paradigm of intrinsic, innate, and adaptive viral immune evasion. Here, we employed multiplexed tandem mass tag-based proteomics to characterize host proteins targeted for degradation late during HCMV infection. This approach revealed that mixed lineage kinase domain-like protein (MLKL), a key terminal mediator of cellular necroptosis, was rapidly and persistently degraded by the minimally passaged HCMV strain Merlin but not the extensively passaged strain AD169. The strain Merlin viral inhibitor of apoptosis pUL36 was necessary and sufficient both to degrade MLKL and to inhibit necroptosis. Furthermore, mutation of pUL36 Cys131 abrogated MLKL degradation and restored necroptosis. As the same residue is also required for pUL36-mediated inhibition of apoptosis by preventing proteolytic activation of procaspase-8, we define pUL36 as a multifunctional inhibitor of both apoptotic and necroptotic cell death