Sunday 3 April 2011

Biotech and Science Students - Articles

Towards 15 minute genome - http://www.economist.com/node/18304268?story_id=18304268
Our daily bread - self fertilising wheat - http://www.economist.com/node/18200660?story_id=18200660

Pore – small hole (normally in skin e.g. sweat pore)

landmark - reference point – originally e.g. a cathedral, a castle

undertake - do, try to finish a challenge

cheap – not expensive

strand – string, like a chain

pioneer – explorer, someone who explores new territory

amplification – copy millions of times

tag - label

bottleneck – restriction

label – sign, indication

state-of-the-art – most modern practice, latest way of doing something

chunk – block, piece

speed up – go faster – e.g. “speed things up”

overlap - a small portion the same, partially cover

to piece - to put parts together, join parts,

cause a drug to work - makes a drug function

cope - deal with, handle, able to tolerate


How much did it cost to sequence the first genome ?

How long does it take now ?

What is, currently, the main constraint to sequencing ?


Coax - encourage

nanometre = 1/ 1,000,000,000 metre

pass through – allow to go past

negative charge – negative electrical current

disruption - interference

crucially – most importantly

flow of current – speed of electrons' movement

thread – insert (e.g. thread cotton through the eye of a needle)

cleave – to split, to open a gap

feed through – push through

cartridge – container (e.g. for ink in a printer)

lab on a chip – automated chemical analysis using microchips, simultaneous analysis

microfluidics – science of liquid flow at a micro level

detection – discovery

plug in – connect (e.g. plug a computer into a network)

rack-like – similar to shelves

cabinet – item of furniture that is a container (e.g. cupboard, wardrobe)

carry out - execute (“carry out large scale analysis” = analyse on a large scale)

commercial launch – ready to be sold

thickness – depth, opposite of thinness (depth !)


What creates nanopores in cell membranes ?

What is a lipid bilayer ?

How can you tell the type of molecule as it goes through the bilayer ?

What's the problem with exonuclease sequencing ?

Why is the velocity of the strand going through the nanopore important ?



Ù


Ratchet – mechanical system allowing only one direction

address, tackle – undertake, deal with, work on, try to resolve

constriction – partial block, restriction, narrowing

simultaneous – at the same time

dispense with – get rid of, eliminate

gain ground - become popular, become accepted (a military analogy – to capture territory)

solid-state – unchanging, like metal - so not fluid, not biological

insulate – isolate, separate from external forces (e.g. electrical wiring, heat protection)

trap - capture

flip - turn over (a binary process - flip a switch, flip a coin)

strong enough signal – signal of sufficient potency, or force

massive - very big

spin out - business established from a university or company department

thick / thin - depth, lack of depth

noise level - imperfections

clear sense - definite idea

occur - happen

vast - very big

healthy - free of disease

fine-grained picture – detailed, many pixels

momentous - very big

spread - move, cover, migrate

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