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Research and Moving Forward
By Crobar in Neurognosis
June 23, 2008

After a whole month of living in our new place, we were told to move out of our apartments.  Not just us but everyone in the entire complex.  The university bought the complex and gave everyone 30 days to vacate.  No honoring of the leases at all.  Just, "get out" and we'll rent ya a u-haul for the trouble.  Why, you may ask.  Simple, to make that area into a parking lot.  So, on short notice we were forced to find another place to live.  All this on top of my working toward finishing materials to submit to the IRB (institutional review board) before today.  Fortunately, we found a new place, got moved in and I submitted my materials on time.

Now I look forward to learning how to handle and analyze hormone samples in saliva via immunoassay.  It should be fun.  The fall has a lot in store for me though as I begin my data collection, another semester of classes and whatever lab work I have to tackle.  However, I will keep mid-May in mind and know that it inches closer and closer each day.

I have to say though, over the last few weeks we've met some cool new people and the cool new people we met on our previous move have now become very close friends.  So, through all the stress, all the work to come I can say that we have many great things and people in our lives right now and that is a good thing.

Dawkins Validated

A recent discovery by researchers at the University of Western Ontario supports the concept of the 'selfish gene' that Richard Dawkins first put forth in his book by that title in the 1970s.  The evidence for support comes from the genomic study of honey bees.  The research is appearing in the July issue of the journal Genetics.  I'll grab the article and give it a read over when I have time.

Neurotrophic Factor Controls Alcohol Seeking Behavior?

A study pulbished in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences June 10 issue found that GDNF (glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor) dose-dependently reduced ethanol self-administration in rat models for alcohol addiction.  The researchers suggest that this may lead the way to an agent which will reduce "the motivation to consume and seek alcohol" (Carnicella, 2008).

Carnicella, S., Kharazia, V., Jeanblanc, J., Janak, P. & Ron, D. (2008). GDNF is a fast-acting potent inhibitor of alcohol consumption and relapse. PNAS, 105, 8114-81119.