To help you find information about the basic biology concepts that I have written about on the blog, I have compiled them all here. They are separated by category so that you can easily find what you are looking for.

DNA | RNA | Proteins

About DNA

Blog Posts

What is DNA?

There's so much to know about science and biology that requires background information. This may be tedious to read, but ...
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What does DNA look like? Like, really?

Everyone talks about DNA. And shows those lovely double helix cartoon images of DNA. But when you're a researcher in ...
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Is love part of your DNA?

Happy Valentine's Day! On a day where people are overdosing on chocolate and champagne and whispering sweet nothings into each ...
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What is my genome? And does size matter?

I would be interested in knowing how often the popular press has used the word "genome" in the past year ...
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Why does everyone, including me, like astronomy so much? OR – how I became a biologist.

I LOVED SPACE. I loved space so much that in the sixth grade I spent most of my time at ...
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What is a gene and what does it do?

Genome - it has the word "gene" built into it. But what exactly is a gene? You may remember that ...
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Book Club – The Genome

Our second book club book is The Genome The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters written by the fabulous ...
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How does a gene make a protein? Introducing RNA!

Genes are pieces of DNA that code for a protein. That sounds great...but how does it do this? DNA is ...
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Remind me how to make a protein?

You JUST HEARD about the central dogma last week, but it's so important, that I think it's worth a reminder ...
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What is heredity?

All the time, people say that I look more like my Dad and my sister looks more like my Mom ...
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How do genes affect traits? It’s just like “50 Shades of Grey”

In "50 Shades of Grey", there isn't any mention of molecular biology or genetics, but maybe there should be, because ...
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What is a mutation?

X-Men are mutants. So is Dr. David Banner, who turns into the Incredible Hulk. And the Joker in Batman is ...
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How do mutations change proteins?

We've talked about mutations and how they can be good, bad or neutral, but how does that work exactly? This ...
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What are examples of diseases caused by one gene?

Mutations. We know what they are. Mutations change a gene, which can change the protein. And this change in the ...
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What is risk? Absolute versus Relative

My mom and I were talking this afternoon - we talk every day on my drive home from work (I ...
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What happens when chromosomes rearrange? Sometimes cancer.

There are so many different kinds of genetic mutations. So far, we've only discussed small single nucleotide changes and insertions ...
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What happens when there are too many chromosomes?

Twenty three. That's how many pairs of chromosomes each of us has. They are numbered from 1 to 22 with ...
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What does it mean if I’m a “carrier”?

What does it mean when someone "carries" anything? The definition of "carry"is to hold or support something while moving somewhere ...
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What can you do if you’re a genetic carrier?

In my last post, I talked all about what is means when you are a genetic carrier of a recessive ...
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What does it mean when I have genes that increase my “risk” of disease? Like Alzheimer’s?

The last few posts (here and here) have been about people who have carrier mutations. These people have one recessive ...
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What are all the “-omes” in science?

If you're into yoga, you may be very familiar with "OM" or if you're an electrician with "ohms", but in ...
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How and why do cells divide? The cell cycle!

You started off as one cell: one tiny little zygote containing a full set of DNA (23 pairs of chromosomes) ...
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How do you find a biomarker? A needle in the haystack.

Biomarkers are biological substances that can be measured to indicate some state of disease. They can be used to detect ...
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Does the media sensationalize terrible science? Oh, yes.

The other day, I was drinking a glass of wine with a friend of mine, and she mentioned a story ...
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What is a cell? Based on a conversation with my husband

I was at an awesome brewery in Flagstaff over the weekend (shout out to Historic Brewing Company) with my husband ...
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Book Club – A Short History of Nearly Everything

Thanks to Amazon for the image A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson is a brilliant book. Bill ...
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What is a sunburn? Featuring Olympic Gold Medalist Misty Hyman

Misty (left) and me getting ready to swim In this two part series, I partner with my friend, Olympic Gold ...
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Can your body contain DNA that isn’t yours? Yes! Chimerism

There was a House episode (Season 3 Episode 2 Cane an Abel) about a young boy who was convinced that ...
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Five Ways for You to Participate in Science – Citizen Science

The Bunsen burner I didn't have. Thanks Wikipedia for the image I had a chemistry set growing up. It was ...
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What is that? A beautiful image of deadly tumor cells

Thanks to Dr. Roberto Fiorelli of Barrow Neurological Institute for sharing this stunning image It looks like an eye. Perhaps ...
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What is that? A pipette!

Most of the time, biologist in the lab aren't working with things that they can see. You need to look ...
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Journal Club: The Microbiome Autism Connection

As I've mentioned in other posts, scientists have to read about and understand the current scientific literature. Lots of the ...
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What is Personalized Medicine?

A few years ago I was asked to teach a course to adults at the ASU Osher School of Lifelong ...
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How scientists “cured” melanoma

When talking about Personalized Medicine, one of the recent shining examples of this concept in practice is in the treatment ...
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The best week ever – Nobel Prize week!

Last week was one of my favorite weeks of the year - Nobel Prize week. Some people wait for the ...
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Growing tumors outside the body to kill the tumor still inside

To understand how to kill a tumor, you have to study the tumor. Historically, much of how scientists understand tumors ...
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Book Club: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Thanks to Wikipedia for the image In 2002, one of my first set of experiments in graduate school was treating ...
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Personalized Medicine: A Cure for HIV

Personalized Medicine - finding the right treatment for the right patient at the right time - is quickly becoming a ...
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How do we know the genome sequence?

Imagine someone asked you to explain how a car works. Even if you knew nothing about cars, you could take ...
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The Cancer Genome Atlas Project (TCGA): Understanding Glioblastoma

In 2003, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and researchers around the world celebrated the 50th Anniversary of the discovery of ...
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Journal Club – A mutation in mice to study ALS

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is a debilitating neurodegenerative disease that affects neurons in the brain, brain stem, and spinal cord ...
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Other Resources

Wikipedia page about DNA
What is DNA page created by the National Institutes of Health National Human Genome Research Institute
18 Things That you should know about Genetics – YouTube Video

BBC Explainer of DNA Vimeo

About RNA

Blog Posts

How does a gene make a protein? Introducing RNA!

Genes are pieces of DNA that code for a protein. That sounds great...but how does it do this? DNA is ...
Read More

Remind me how to make a protein?

You JUST HEARD about the central dogma last week, but it's so important, that I think it's worth a reminder ...
Read More

What are all the “-omes” in science?

If you're into yoga, you may be very familiar with "OM" or if you're an electrician with "ohms", but in ...
Read More

Did your steak sit on the counter overnight? What experiments I did at work last week

I was at a party last night telling my non-scientist friends about my week at work. For the first time ...
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What is that? A pipette!

Most of the time, biologist in the lab aren't working with things that they can see. You need to look ...
Read More

About DNA

Blog Posts

Other Resources

About RNA

Blog Posts

About Proteins

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