Author: Kari Kenefick

Improving Science Literacy for the New Decade

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Science touches our lives, daily. But far too many scientific concepts and terms are misunderstood and used incorrectly. Even those of us wearing a “scientist” badge sometimes misappropriate terms, which can act to reproduce the misuse.

A basic level of science literacy is so important for all of us. Why? So that when bombarded with comments about vaccination or climate change on a social media site, we are able to sift through the jargon, understand what’s correct and what is not correct, and make decision based in facts vs. internet gossip. With just a bit of knowledge of basic science terms, you are better protected against deception and you’ll know how to sort facts from fiction.

Here are a few general science terms that are commonly misunderstood and misused.

Continue reading “Improving Science Literacy for the New Decade”

To Sleep, Perchance to Clean

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

While you and I are getting some shut eye each night, things are happening in our brains. Good things. Therapeutic things.

Think of it as brainwashing of a sort. There is a multiplicity of brain activities going on during sleep, and a November 1 paper in Science shows for the first time when and where in the brain these activities occur, and how they are connected.

CSF washes through the brain.

Here’s a bit of backstory.

To assess both the progression and pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as the efficacy of AD drugs in clinical trials, there has been interest in the concentrations of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau protein in cerebral spinal fluid (CSF).

Continue reading “To Sleep, Perchance to Clean”

Promega Receives Wisconsin 75 Sustainability Award

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

There is nothing like a bit of recognition to energize your efforts, right? Promega was recently awarded the 2019 Distinguished Performer: Sustainability award, as one of the Deloitte Wisconsin 75 awardees.

This award is not so much a feather in our cap, as fuel for our sustainability fire both in Madison, and globally. Here are a few details on the award and why Promega was chosen.

The Deloitte Wisconsin 75 awards recognize private sector companies that:

Promega Germany GmbH office.
New Promega Germany (GmbH) office.
  • Are headquartered in Wisconsin
  • Have a majority (>50%) of ownership held by an individual, family or employees stockholders
  • Have at least $50M in annual sales
Continue reading “Promega Receives Wisconsin 75 Sustainability Award”

The Surprising Life of Bones

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Schematic of bone producing and reducing cells osteoblasts and osteoclasts.
The cells that make and degrade bone.

Standing, walking, running. When was the last time you gave your skeleton a second thought? How about when that car barely missed you in the parking lot? Or a deer ran in front of you? Maybe you just missed a car door opening on your bike ride today?

Your bones were involved in your response to that sudden shock/surprise, but not the way you think.

You may have jumped, swerved or hit the brake pedal (congratulations on the excellent reflexes) and yes, bones were involved in all of those actions. But a new article in Cell Metabolism reveals that bone is the essential component in initiation of that response.

Continue reading “The Surprising Life of Bones”

Kinase Inhibitors as Therapeutics: A Review

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

This blog was originally published in April of 2018. Today’s update includes the paper, “Quantitative, Wide-Spectrum Kinase Profiling in Live Cells for Assessing the Effect of Cellular ATP on Target Engagement” from Cell Chemical Biology, demonstrating the power of NanoBRET™ target engagement kinase assays in the study of kinase inhibitors.

The review “Kinase Inhibitors: the road ahead” was recently published in Nature Reviews Drug Discovery. In it, authors Fleur Ferguson and Nathanael Gray provide an up-to-date look at the “biological processes and disease areas that kinase-targeting small molecules are being developed against”. They note the related challenges and the strategies and technologies being used to efficiently generate highly-optimized kinase inhibitors.

This review describes the state of the art for kinase inhibitor therapeutics. To understand why kinase inhibitors are so important in the development of cancer (and other) therapeutics research, let’s start with the role of kinases in cellular physiology.

The road ahead for kinase inhibitor studies.

Why Kinases? Continue reading “Kinase Inhibitors as Therapeutics: A Review”

Psychedelics as Therapeutic Agents: Current Research, Potential Benefits

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

This past May (2019) the symposium “Psychedelic Therapy in Society: Exploring the Mechanisms of Action and Delivery of Care” was hosted by the International Forum on Consciousness at the BioPharmaceutical Technology Center on the Promega Madison Campus.

Having the good fortune to work across the street at Promega, I was able to attend this two-day conference and learn from leading researchers in psychedelics and about their use in therapy.

My interest in psychedelics is relatively new. I didn’t experiment with these substances during high school or college years. But in recent years, I’ve seen a close relative struggle with profound anxiety related to terminal disease, and another with substance abuse and depression. The lessons learned from each experience is that the battery of medicines used to treat such illness can result in additional problems for which there are currently not good medication options. And in some cases, traditional medications can cause further health problems. Continue reading “Psychedelics as Therapeutic Agents: Current Research, Potential Benefits”

B Cells, T Cells and Now X Cells?

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

The cause of type 1 diabetes (T1D) is not well understood. What is known is that in T1D, immune cells attack pancreatic islet cells that produce insulin. In addition, insulin is an autoantigen that activates T cells in diabetic persons.

A new discovery by Ahmed et al. could further T1D understanding. These findings are also setting B and T cell paradigms on their ear.

About B Cells and T Cells

Components of the B cell receptor.
Components of the B-cell receptor.Image by CNX OpenStax. Used with permission under Wikimedia Commons.

B cells (B lymphocytes) are part of the cellular immune response. They act by means of surface receptor molecules that are immunoglobulins. These B cell receptors are created by highly variable gene rearrangements that result in a huge variety of these surface immunoglobulin molecules. The beauty of B cell receptors (BCR) lies in the fact that, through random gene rearrangements comes a such large variety of B cell surface receptors, that any foreign antigen that makes its way into the body is recognized and snagged by a B cell receptor.

B cells then internalize, process and present these antigens to T cells. Continue reading “B Cells, T Cells and Now X Cells?”

Research-Based Training for Sustainable Use and Management of Marine Ecosystems in Namibia

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

In my science blog research/writing, news reports are usually pulled from US sources. But interesting scientific research is obviously being conducted in many places around the globe. When this story from Namibia came along, there was so much I didn’t know. It was time to catch up.

relief map of Namibia
Relief map of Namibia. Image by Natural Earth and Kbh3rd with permission under Wikimedia commons.

Namibia is Exactly Where in Africa?

Namibia is one of the world’s youngest countries, having gained independence from South Africa in 1990. Situated northwest of the country of South Africa on the Atlantic Ocean, Namibia is arid, composed largely of desert.

This blog is about research conducted at the Sam Nujoma Research Center, University of Namibia, on Henties Bay. Henties Bay (not shown on this map) is in the region of Erongo, located in the center of Namibia along the coast. Henties Bay has become a tourist destination in part due to the abundance of fish and marine life found there.

Sam Nujoma Research center.
The Sam Nujoma Research Center of University of Namibia, located near Henties Bay.

Continue reading “Research-Based Training for Sustainable Use and Management of Marine Ecosystems in Namibia”

Are We Doing Enough to Stop Candida Auris Infections?

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

Image of C. auris on plate.
The creamy colonies of C. auris look innocuous. Don’t be fooled. Photo by Shawn Lockhart – Centers for Disease Control, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54680002

Life in the 21st century is full of electronic devices and apps purported to make life easier. Many of us can binge watch movies, videos and news on our phones. There are wireless headphones, electric bicycles, self-operating vacuum cleaners, wine in boxes with taps—and so much more.

This life is, however, not without challenges.

In the event that you or yours ends up in the hospital, the stay could be complicated by an unplanned, unwanted and potentially lethal infection.

No thanks to the yeast, Candida auris. Continue reading “Are We Doing Enough to Stop Candida Auris Infections?”

What’s for Dinner? Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time

Posted on by Kari Kenefick

On March 13, 2019, a bomb cyclone hit Denver, Colorado. With this storm the Denver area experienced a 24 millibar (mbar) drop in atmospheric pressure in a 24-hour period. At about the same time, several cities in Colorado recorded >24 mbar drops in pressure, including a 35.6mbar drop reported at Pueblo, Colorado!

The intensity of the pressure drop indicates storm severity and this storm was a record-breaker for Denver and surrounding communities.

No location on planet Earth has gone unaffected by new extremes in weather. 2018 was the hottest year on record for countries on every continent. In the past 4 months we’ve experienced record-breaking rainfall and droughts, wildfires, high temperatures and snowfall.

Food for Climate Extremes?
Climate change news is sometimes so bleak as to be overwhelming. But good scientific research and climate change-ameliorating efforts are all around us—I was encouraged to read recently that simply changing what we eat can benefit the environment. There are better food choices available to most of us, no matter what diet or cooking style we favor. Continue reading “What’s for Dinner? Saving the Planet One Meal at a Time”