Not sure if I'm posting this in the right forum, but here goes...

I'm going to be taking Cell Biology in September, and I'm a little bit nervous because it's been a while since highschool, so I've got questions.

I guess I'll start with the obvious stuff. What role does protein play? What does it do? How does it react/affect cells? I've read various types of reading material, and alot of it seemed a bit wordy. Is there any reading material that anybody could recomend (ie. "Cell Biology for idiots"?)??? :)

Seems like easy questions, and I feel a bit odd for asking, but just trying to figure out some of the details without my brains imploding.

Thanks in advance for any help you guys/gals can give this "simpleton" of a number-cruncher... :)

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There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

I think this is part of what makes Rosetta interesting. The entire body operates on processes that are protein-based in some way... and we really know very little about them!

They talk a lot about the body's messengers, and are learning about imbalances that can occur. The messengers are generally enzymes... comprised of proteins!

The main thing is to start to view a single cell as a huge thing. It's got it's own little world in there. Full of interactions and chemicals and 100s of proteins. The cell wall is lined with proteins. And you know cells are full of DNA strands... many in fact. And genes carry the instructios for building specific types of proteins.

The Science Behind the Human Genome Project.

How Viruses Invade Human Cells

Hope that helps you get started. I look forward to seeing what others post on the subject.

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Add this signature to your EMail:
Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running Rosetta@home just might!
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

Oh boy! Talk about a trip down memory lane for me!
The last time I studied any biology was 30 odd years ago.

I have, however, 'Googled' something which may be of help to anyone as a 'primer'.

http://www.cellsalive.com/

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Wow. Thanks alot guys. Really appreciate it. Started my BIO classes today, and looks like I'll be diving into proteins here on Friday, so the info will definately come in handy...

BTW... Sorry for taking so long to thank you guys.

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There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

This is WAY off topic, but I didn't want to start a whole new thread. Would it be possible to add team name to the info displayed under the avatar in the message boards? Maybe one of the Mods would know.

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This is WAY off topic, but I didn't want to start a whole new thread. Would it be possible to add team name to the info displayed under the avatar in the message boards? Maybe one of the Mods would know.

Since the forum code is part of the BOINC package, and not written by the Rosetta project, that question should be posed on the BOINC forums.

The short answer is if it isn't there right now, it can't be displayed until/if BOINC adds it as a feature to their forum code.

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Nemesis n. A righteous infliction of retribution manifested by an appropriate agent.

Good question. Just as an idea, what I've done was just used my team name as part of my signature. Pretty sure that it's not exactly what your after, but just something to think about. @:^)

Just to get back on topic a wee bit, I ended up with another question. My Bio class has to do an essay on Prions, and I came across a small reference to Alzheimer's disease. Can Alzheimer's disease be considered as a type of Prion disease?

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There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Eric, that's a great question for the Science forum. Mention Prions in the subject line and folks that understand your question will be interested and post. Whereas they will easily miss the question here under the title of this thread.

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Add this signature to your EMail:
Running Microsoft's "System Idle Process" will never help cure cancer, AIDS nor Alzheimer's. But running Rosetta@home just might!
https://boinc.bakerlab.org/rosetta/

Eric, that's a great question for the Science forum. Mention Prions in the subject line and folks that understand your question will be interested and post. Whereas they will easily miss the question here under the title of this thread.

Ah, okie dokie... Thanks. I guess it can be concidered more "sciency" than anything. @:^)

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There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.

Eric This is an excellent question, I look forward to it on the science forum.

I'm just an interested amateur, but I belive to be classified as prion the protein needs to be infectious, and as far as I'm aware Alzheimer's hasn't been shown to do this. No doubt a R@H member or participant will have far more factual information than myself.

Edit: a bit of tidying up and I found that "shown" is not a usual word in many places, it's the past participle of "show" in the sense "to make something visible or noticeable".

Eric This is an excellent question, I look forward to it on the science forum.

I'm just an interested amateur, but I belive to be classified as prion the protein needs to be infectious, and as far as I'm aware Alzheimer's hasn't been shown to do this. No doubt a R@H member or participant will have far more factual information than myself.

Edit: a bit of tidying up and I found that "shown" is not a usual word in many places, it's the past participle of "show" in the sense "to make something visible or noticeable".

Wow, thanks. Just made the post less than an hour ago, but really appreciate the insight nonetheless. Eithor way, there's alot of questions about prions. @:^)

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There are 10 types of people in the world:
Those who understand binary, and those who don't.