Genome Blog [Category - Gerry Ward]

Science Fairs – Independent Project-based Learning

Sat, 06 Mar 10 23:45:00 UT

I recently participated in a Genome Alberta challenge to put forward a short video explaining Where Bio began for me. It was a lot of fun putting that little video together and it made me think about what influenced my interest in science. Many young students get their first real start in the sciences through independent project-based learning we know as Science Fair. For almost 50 years, Science Fairs have been organized across Canada. Science Fairs are held in elementary and secondary schools, outstanding projects are entered in regional fairs, and approximately 500 students meet (this year in Peterborough) at a Canada-Wide Science Fair. Past Science Fair participants and winners probably represent a Who’s Who among scientists in North America. I expect this to be documented in the next year or two.

Where Bio Began – How I did my first video

Thu, 25 Feb 10 20:00:00 UT

There are still 2 days left to enter a short video and get a chance to win iPod Shuffle. Yes, Genome Alberta is giving away 2 iPod Shuffles and all you have to do to have a chance at winning is submit a less than 2 minute video telling Where Bio Began for you or your friends.

Here is my example.

Read more to see the simple rules and my amateur tips.

Genetically Engineered Olympians

Fri, 05 Feb 10 23:00:00 UT

Years ago, I remember seeing a parody on what to expect in future Olympic athletes. There were cartoon drawings of swimmers with webbed feet and high jumpers with gigantic legs. We all had a good chuckle over this article. Well here we are, it is 2010, and we are getting ready for the Winter Olympics in Vancouver. What are we reading about in the media? Warnings about gene doping in Olympic athletes.

Three tweets to tweak your attention

Tue, 26 Jan 10 17:30:00 UT

I was told years ago that if you do something once, it is an event; if you do it twice it is a tradition. Using that kind of logic I will tell you I have noticed a new trend from the science bloggers I follow. Many science bloggers are now active on Twitter, and the micro-blog is now as important, it seems, as the full blessay. Twitter can be used for making quick announcements, and many science bloggers also use it as a way to link to their full blog. The trend I was alluding to earlier is that some bloggers are now blogging their weekly tweets and other bloggers are listing all their re-tweets as a quick blog entry.

I’m not going to blog just a review of the tweets. If you want that, you can follow me directly on Twitter. I pointed out in an earlier blog that if you wish to keep up with the latest genomics information, you can go directly to Genome Alberta’s Facebook application ‘GenOmics’. Today, I am highlighting a few recent tweets that have caught my attention as being of more general interest. My hope is that this can become a kind of tradition for you educators talking to your students about fun and exciting developments in the field.

The Omics of Avatar

Thu, 31 Dec 09 01:30:00 UT

The science in the science fiction movie Avatar is in my opinion – excellent! Let me tell you what I’m thinking. Science fiction can be so off the wall that many of the basic laws of science must be broken for the plot to work. This is not the case in Avatar. Avatar is one of those science fiction movies in which the science seems to be very probable because it is either currently real science, or certainly technologies which are predictable based on current science. I personally find it much easier to have suspended disbelief in science fiction movies if the science is believable.

After a few brief trailers, a sign came on the screen saying put your 3-D glasses on now.

Giant Viruses, borrowed Cat Genes and Jingjing’s Genome

Thu, 17 Dec 09 02:30:00 UT

This past week’s science readings on the web look like they might well have come from the tabloid magazines. Besides all the jokes about changing a tiger into a lion or a cheetah, we have stories of giant viruses driving the evolution of microorganisms. We note that cat DNA has been found in the HIV/AIDS virus and pandas are genetically like dogs.

Genomics: Zoom Zoom

Wed, 02 Dec 09 03:00:00 UT

The Knights of the Round Table, an organization that has served Calgarians for more than 80 years, invited me to enlighten them about genomics. I was joining an impressive list of previous speakers and I wanted to make sure I did a good job. I indicated to them at the beginning of my presentation that I was covering at least 150 years of knowledge in a mere 20 minutes. I called the talk Genomics: Zoom Zoom. With apologies to Mazda, I told the audience that it was going to be like them driving in a sports car rally around the Roman ruins of Verona with me sitting in the back seat and telling them what I was seeing out the window.

The Price of Genome Sequencing

Thu, 12 Nov 09 03:15:00 UT

Genome sequencing costs are certainly coming down. This past week, I saw several headlines extolling the value of reduced costs of the complete sequencing of a genome. One such article indicates that a firm called Complete Genomics has reduced the costs of consumables for nanoarrays to between slightly under $2,000 to just over $8,000. According to Cliff Reid, chairman, president and chief executive, "We've demonstrated that it's possible to accurately and affordably sequence and detect variants across entire human genomes". In another article, researchers at the University of Queensland revealed that canola has been sequenced: “By applying novel combinations of next-generation sequencing and assembly methods, the researchers were able to decipher the genome sequence at a fraction of the cost than if they had employed traditional methods.”

Helping You Keep Current with Genomics

Mon, 02 Nov 09 22:00:00 UT

Are you searching for Genomics information? There are a lot of choices out there. Perhaps one of the most fun is BlindSearch. Just enter your search term and simultaneously it is searched in the three “big” search engines: Bing, Google and Yahoo (no rank implied, just alphabetically listed). Then you can vote on which search engine is best for that topic. Another search engine I put high on my list, especially when I am talking to young students, is Ask.com. This search engine allows the searcher to type in a natural language question, so it helps formulate the search when the student is not really sure what they are looking for. This is especially useful if it is a question that has been asked many times before. These tools are all fine if you are looking for background information on a specific topic. But what to do if you want to keep current with a topic? You can’t do a new search every day. One suggestion is to set up email “news alerts” or “news updates” from your favourite search engine.

Biotech and the Balloon boy

Wed, 21 Oct 09 19:30:00 UT

Can you even imagine how many hours of television have been devoted to watching, analysing and dissecting the latest hoax, balloon boy? How many blogs, tweets and emails do you think have been posted on this “trending topic”? On the other hand, how many of us heard that two young Calgary students were awarded a Young Canadian Manning Innovation Award for their work in Biotechnology this year? “What?”, you say! Of course, you read about it on the Genome Alberta blog. But, I don’t think that posting went viral.

Julie and Annie meet the press