TO TIDE YOU OVER

Heron Island clambake, 2009

Heron Island is in Maine

Note large crustacean by my right foot

I am beginning to pack for Borrego Springs.  I plan to leave Bellingham on December 2^nd and, after a pleasant layover in Eureka with Linda’s sister Carolyn, to arrive in the desert on December 10^th – where I will remain, God willing, until the end of March.  This means that I will not be posting any more movie reviews until spring.  (I assume this will disappoint a few of you, although I have watched as the number of “Likes” each review stirs up has dropped from about 30 to about three.   No, my feelings are not hurt.  Not much, anyway.)  Also, I won’t be posting any new blogs for some time, although I will take it up again when I am settled in B.S.  I don’t even know whether my computer works, or whether I have cable, or even if I have running water down there, so “getting settled” may take a while.

But here are some articles to tide you biology aficionados over for a few days, at least.

The first discusses probable developments in cancer treatments during 2016.  It comes from a publication of the Economist called The World in 2016, which – as a subscriber – I get free.  It is a delightful collection of analyses of present circumstances worldwide, together with predictions of where various aspects of human endeavor are headed next year.   You apparently can buy it for $13.95.  Canadians get it for C$13.95, which means that they get a break of maybe 50 cents.  Gloat, Parkfriend.

Anyway, this article is a comprehensible summary of what is going on in immunotherapy.   All of you who are eager to learn more about checkpoint inhibitors will enjoy this little essay:

http://www.theworldin.com/article/10641/big-c.

The second article is wisdom straight from the horses’ mouth: the NCI.  It elaborates on recent research showing just how dammed complicated cancers are, and how knowing precisely which genomic mistakes are involved in each can help.  This comes under the category of targeted therapy, I guess.  There is nothing particularly new here, but this is a good summary.  Note particularly the number of acronyms showered upon you – this seems to be typical of biology, or maybe just molecular biology.  (If I had referred to “margin-parallel crustal displacement caused by oblique convergence” as MPCDOC  I would have been tossed out of the American Geophysical Union and showered with rotten fruit.)

Also, it helps to know that a tyrosine kinase is an enzyme that slaps a phosphate group on a tyrosine molecule, thereby providing the energy needed for a biochemical “cascade”.   Here is the article:

http://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2015/understanding-precision-medicine?cid=eb_govdel

Try to make do until I get back on line.