Ó³»­´«Ã½

Usually, I'm disappointed when I email someone and immediately get an out-of-office message back, but this reply, from Harvard professor , made my day:

"I'm wrangling lizards in Ecuador. In the mountains, where it's cool. Back in my office August 24. If you don't hear from me by then, you might try me again."

The central dogma of molecular biology states that DNA makes RNA, which makes protein, the functional players in the cell. But like most rules, this one has some exceptions.

Ben Ebert is as fluent in the care of patients with blood disorders as he is applying the latest genomic technologies in his laboratory at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and with colleagues in the Ó³»­´«Ã½â€™s Cancer Program. It’s all part of the same mission for Ben—to understand blood disorders and cancers at the genetic level to find ways to end the suffering of people with these illnesses.

Every drop of DNA derived from a patient’s tumor is precious.

Mark Puppo and Kristin Anderka are highly aware of how much time and effort has been devoted to each of the samples they are examining today. As you will see in the video below, they take great care in handling each sample and all of the chemicals in their section of the laboratory.

Robots and the fleet of professional scientists who make sure the machines do their job in high-throughput screening may seem far afield from a fishing expedition. But that may be the best metaphor to explain how researchers at the Ó³»­´«Ã½ and elsewhere trawl for chemical compounds that might lead them to a new understanding of human biology.