Monthly Archives: April 2012

 I loved DIY projects when I was a kid. In particular, there were these books which showed you how to make little critters from pipe cleaners, beads, etc. My idea is to make a similar book, but with instructions of … Continue reading →

I was excited to find the protein luciferase, which produces light and is found in fireflies.  The colors can change depending on the amino acid attached to the protein.  This fits well with my idea for lights and colors.

I finally have an idea! So one of the proteins I’ve been looking at on the Molecule of the Month site is the tobacco mosaic virus. It was the first virus to be discovered, and it is the cause of … Continue reading →

Since I was thinking about creating an active/outdoor toy, I thought it would be cool to choose a protein that is related to exercise and physical activity.  Myosin and actin, and their role in muscle contraction, came to mind. If … Continue reading →

BMAL2 is a circadian clock protein found in humans, dimerizing with CLOCK. It helps modulate many hormonal feedback mechanisms, and is an essential part of functional sleep/wake cycles and endogenous rhythms. I think it would be fun to either make a … Continue reading →

I think it would be cool to model ATP synthase as a carousel toy like this one. If you twist the top “motor” it causes the bottom “motor” to spin and produce ATP.

Dynein is a motor protein that can walk across microtubules, transporting cargo across the cell. My portrait idea is to create a puppet of dynein that can walk.

So I found a really interesting group of proteins on the molecule of the month website, called the circadian clock proteins.  These proteins create our 24-hour internal cycle that involves when we get hungry, tired, etc. Thanks to the circadian … Continue reading →

Hi everyone, Below is the link for the “Juego de la Liga”. You can just watch the first 2 min of the video 🙂  

This was my favorite childhood toy… Barbie’s very own, luxurious camper van! Shockingly, all the furniture, sleeping bags, extra outfits etc. fit into it when folded. I think making a protein-themed toy with some of the same features would be … Continue reading →

Growing up, my favorite toys were any I could bring in the pool and bathtub, especially the floating islands!

My favorite toy was lite-brite!

My favorite toy growing up was Silly Putty.

My favorite toy was my stuffed dog, Lucky.

Like Madison, my favorite toys were my beanie babies!

When I was little, I loved the original Polly Pockets.

My favorite toys when I was little were my Barbie dolls.

When I was little my favorite toys were stuffed animals. I collected Beanie Babies.

Some of the architectures new to CATH since 1997:   From: Nucleic Acids Res. 2009 January; 37(Database issue): D310–D314. “CATH (class, architecture, topology, homology) is a hierarchical protein domain classification (1) where domains are classified manually by curators, guided by prediction … Continue reading →

I enjoyed playing with play-doh as a child.

As a child I used to enjoy playing with legos.

This set of the twenty amino acid side-chains doesn’t have the names listed.  You can quiz yourself to help you learn the names and predict the chemical properties of these different structures.  Example:  Which are the hydrophilic side-chains?  Which of … Continue reading →