on our last trip
northern Mexico, probably 2009
Oh, sweet Lord in Heaven!
If You are really up there – why did you make this stuff so
complicated? Maybe we’re NOT supposed to
figure it out, but just to get awarded points for how hard we try!
This was my reaction to the “press release” cited
below. Not often in my ignorant blundering
through cancer biology have I encountered such a concentration of stuff I don’t
begin to understand. Why don’t you take
a look, if only to appreciate my dilemma?
Best as I can figure out, there is this gene called GULP1, which
somehow is important in getting rid of crap left over following apoptosis –
cell death. GULP1 can be “silenced”
epigenetically by methylation, and in a disproportionate number of cases of
ovarian cancer, it is. Whatever protein
GULP1 codes for apparently swallows the dead crap whole – hence GULP1 is
classified as an “engulfment gene”. Clever,
these people in white coats, don’t you think?
There is one thing that – other than its opaque nature –
bothers me about this “press release”
One of its principal contributors is an outfit called Insilico Medicine,
which is headquartered in Rockville, Md., but has lab facilities located all
over the place, from Belgium to Korea.
They state that they are “sourced through hackathons and competitions.” I detect a faint trace of snake oil when I
read those words, and it is amplified by the bad grammar found throughout the
article. However, this must be legit – Johns
Hopkins is another contributor.
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