Women in Science

Posts Tagged ‘Women in Science’ (30 articles found)

Science for a better future

06/09/2012

Cancer cells cheat on their diet

Every single cell has to eat to generate energy and work properly. Simple. Yes, simple and complicated at the same time. All the processes involved in cell growth and division are very important and are tightly regulated. Imagine that each cell of our body decided to grow and divide without any control… it would be a chaos.

Fellowship Programs

12/07/2012

by admin Same Author (14)

In the footsteps of Marie Curie

UNESCO-L'Oréal International Fellows are expected to go abroad to learn new techniques and bring them back to their country. Mounira Hmani, who was named an International Fellow 10 years ago, did exactly that and dit it susccessfully, developing a remarkable level of excellence and publishing in leading international journals. In 2012, Mounira - who is now an Associate Professor in Human Molecular Genetics at the Faculty of Sciences and Scientific Researcher at the Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (Tunisia) - received a Special Fellowship '...In the footsteps of Marie Curie'

Women in Science Forum

07/05/2012

by admin Same Author (14)

Brain Prize Winners 2012 Karen Steel and Christine Petit

The Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation has announced that The Brain Prize 2012 is jointly awarded to Christine Petit and Karen Steel: ‘for their unique, world-leading contributions to our understanding of the genetic regulation of the development and functioning of the ear, and for elucidating the causes of many of the hundreds of inherited forms of deafness’.

L’Oréal-Unesco AWARDS

30/03/2012

by admin Same Author (14)

Who is Susana Lopez?

Since 1986, Susana López, a professor at the National University of Mexico, has been spearheading the scientific assault on a universal problem, a rotavirus that attacks nearly every child on earth under the age of five causing severe intestinal diseases. It is responsible for the death of some 600,000 children a year in developing countries and makes 2 million more seriously ill every year. With her colleagues, she has examined the workings of the rotavirus from a wide variety of angles, including the way it spreads in human populations, the immune response to it and its replication cycle. Along the way they have developed new diagnostic tests, isolated several new rotavirus strains and contributed to efforts to find a vaccine.

L’Oréal-Unesco AWARDS

28/03/2012

by admin Same Author (14)

Who is Frances Ashcroft?

In 1984, Frances Ashcroft discovered a protein (a tiny pore called an ion channel) that acted as the link between blood-glucose levels and insulin secretion. As a result, people with a rare inherited form of diabetes can now relieve their symptoms simply by taking an existing drug in pill form, rather than by daily insulin injections. The drug has improved their blood glucose control and so reduced the risk of diabetic complications, such as blindness and kidney disease. She is now studying why 25% of patients with this disease also have neurological problems, and continues to explore what goes wrong with insulin secretion in type 2 diabetes, which affects 336 million people worldwide.

Women in Science Forum

08/03/2012

by Stacy Baker Same Author (1)

“Where are the girls?”

It was my sixth year teaching high school biology. During a crazier than normal week I changed my lesson plan in order to add some new content to my unit on the evolution of birds. I discovered a NOVA special about a team of engineers who were trying to reconstruct an extinct dinosaur thought to be an early ancestor of birds. Based on the credibility of the program I showed a piece of it in class before watching it first. The program content was fine, but I cringed when I realized that none of the 20 or so engineers on the team were female. I held my breath and hoped no one would notice.

Women in Science Forum

05/01/2012

by Sylvia McLain Same Author (1)

Critical thinking, skepticism and science…

I think therefore I am.... Arguably, René Descartes is the father of modern global skepticism. A philosopher, mathematician and a key figure in the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century, Descartes started with the sole assumption that he did indeed exist and subjected this assumption to skeptical inquiry in order understand 'what we can know'. After a somewhat blank slate for a start, this skeptic philosopher grounded his philosophy (eventually) in a fixed point in absolute certainty-God.

Science for a better future

13/12/2011

by Pamela Ronald Same Author (2)

Lets Talk: A story of interspecies communication

It was Sept 4, 1939, the day after the UK declared war on Germany, when mathematician Alan Turing reported to work at the Government Code and Cypher School at Bletchley Park. Within weeks of his arrival, Turing and his colleagues were able to intercept high-level encrypted enemy communication signals and decode a vast number of these messages. The intelligence gleaned from this effort was passed on to field commanders, a process that was decisive to Allied victory.

Women in Science Forum

30/09/2011

by admin Same Author (14)

Responding to the challenge of HIV

Leen Mathys (K.U. Leuven) takes the challenge to find new strategies to prevent replication of the AIDS virus. This virus has developed resistance to all existing antiretroviral drugs, so the challenge remains daunting. Leen is one of the 3 new fellows of L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Belgium 2011 programme.

Women in Science Forum

18/08/2011

by Jacqueline Caine Same Author (1)

We all have a part to play

I’ve always been a worrier. My childhood memories are littered with flash moments of concern beyond my years. Mixed with reasonable trepidation for murderous clowns and a definite anxiety of Hansel and Gretel type torture, a regular dose of the BBC’s Sir David Attenborough meant that I also worried on a regular basis about the plight of pandas, rhinos, rainforests and reefs. I was a serious child.