Thoru Pederson
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View article: A totipotent embryologist: John B. Gurdon (1933–2025)
A totipotent embryologist: John B. Gurdon (1933–2025) Open
John Gurdon was a curiosity-based inquisitor of embryonic development, beguiled by its mysteries, and he stayed with this focus all his career. His landmark cloning of Xenopus laevis using a donor nucleus from adult somatic tissue conclusi…
View article: Étienne-Émile Baulieu (1929–2025): Scientist of steroids and champion of women’s reproductive rights
Étienne-Émile Baulieu (1929–2025): Scientist of steroids and champion of women’s reproductive rights Open
Having trained as a physician, Étienne-Émile Baulieu soon turned his focus to research, as early as his medical internship. He went on to make major contributions on ketosteroids and other steroids, such as estrogen, and how they act on ta…
View article: The centennial of E.B. Wilson's The Cell in Development and Heredity
The centennial of E.B. Wilson's The Cell in Development and Heredity Open
We review and salute the third edition of E.B. Wilson's “The Cell in Development and Heredity” published a century ago, noting its unique features and placing them in context. Brief commentaries from colleagues convey how they have encount…
View article: In remembrance: Joseph Gall
In remembrance: Joseph Gall Open
A 14-year boy is given a microscope by his parents. It is not a toy - but a real microscope. He deploys it to rediscover the biology he had known before, but now in a magnified world. With extraordinary intellectual gifts he then, and mani…
View article: Nuclear bodies: concentrating at an aqueous site, with momentum.
Nuclear bodies: concentrating at an aqueous site, with momentum. Open
The second FASEB conference on Nuclear Bodies: Hubs of Genome Activity was held June 2-7, 2024, at Niagara Falls, NY. The central theme was how these protein and RNA-protein complexes that are situated in the nucleus outside the genome sup…
View article: Nuclear bodies: concentrating at an aqueous site
Nuclear bodies: concentrating at an aqueous site Open
The second FASEB conference on Nuclear Bodies: Hubs of Genome Activity was held June 2-7, 2024, at Niagara Falls, NY. The central theme was how these protein and RNA-protein complexes that are situated in the nucleus outside the genome sup…
View article: <i>The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets</i>, by Thomas R. Cech. 2024. W.W. Norton & Company
<i>The Catalyst: RNA and the Quest to Unlock Life's Deepest Secrets</i>, by Thomas R. Cech. 2024. W.W. Norton & Company Open
No abstract
View article: Tributaries of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and lessons learned
Tributaries of the 2023 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, and lessons learned Open
Almost without exception, scientific breakthroughs are not epistemological orphans. Historians of science have developed a body of scholarship on this, and the cases arising in our era continue to confirm the phenomenon. The work by Katali…
View article: The enduring quest for effective and accessible women's sexual and reproductive healthcare
The enduring quest for effective and accessible women's sexual and reproductive healthcare Open
My term as The FASEB Journal's Editor-in-Chief (January 2016–January 2023) was a great privilege, among which was writing monthly editorials on a wide range of topics, including women's health.1-3 When Patricia Morris, a leader in both fem…
View article: Cell Biology, Fourth EditionBy Thomas D.Pollard, William C.Earnshaw, Jennifer Lippincott‐Schwartz, and Graham T.Johnson. New York, <scp>NY</scp> : Elsevier. 2023. pp. 944. $137 (Hardback)
Cell Biology, Fourth EditionBy Thomas D.Pollard, William C.Earnshaw, Jennifer Lippincott‐Schwartz, and Graham T.Johnson. New York, <span>NY</span> : Elsevier. 2023. pp. 944. $137 (Hardback) Open
The textbook assigned when I took a cytology course as an undergraduate was what it purported to be, cytology per se.1 The term "cell biology" was on the wing, but my student view was "cytology"—it was listed in the directory of courses as…
View article: Nucleolar structure connects with global nuclear organization
Nucleolar structure connects with global nuclear organization Open
The nucleolus is a multifunctional nuclear body. To tease out the roles of nucleolar structure without resorting to the use of multi-action drugs, we knocked down the RNA polymerase I subunit RPA194 in HeLa cells by siRNA. Loss of RPA194 r…
View article: An Intermittent Cytochemist
An Intermittent Cytochemist Open
I wanted to be a cytochemist but encountered detours and then, in some of my work, became one of a different kind than classically defined. I recount this here to discourage young scientists from regarding cytochemistry as something that p…
View article: Donald Brown: Pioneer of embryo development and advocate for early career funding
Donald Brown: Pioneer of embryo development and advocate for early career funding Open
The staggering biodiversity of angiosperms has been difficult to reconcile with the gradual Darwinian process thought to create it. Changes in climate through the Earth’s history could have instigated this diversification, but perceived ..…
View article: Nucleolar structure connects with global nuclear organization
Nucleolar structure connects with global nuclear organization Open
The nucleolus is a multi-functional nuclear body. To tease out the roles of nucleolar structure without resorting to multi-action drugs, we knocked down RNA polymerase I subunit RPA194 in HeLa cells by siRNA. Loss of RPA194 resulted in nuc…
View article: “Mechanism”-a misused term?
“Mechanism”-a misused term? Open
Many of us use the term “mechanism” when we shouldn’t. Here I offer some thoughts, especially as guidance for young scientists.
View article: A conundrum in 3-D genome organization and expression?
A conundrum in 3-D genome organization and expression? Open
Recent advances in our understanding of how the genome is folded within the nucleus have included cases in which this positioning correlates with gene expression, either positively or negatively. But is the 3-D location of a gene a cause o…
View article: Cellular identity (re)surfaces
Cellular identity (re)surfaces Open
The 2022 Albert and Mary Lasker Awards in Basic Science to Richard Hynes (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Erkki Ruoslahti (Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute), and Timothy Springer (Harvard Medical School) recognize…
View article: What good is <scp>COVID</scp> ?
What good is <span>COVID</span> ? Open
The past 2.5 years of scientific progress on the novel virus that causes coronavirus disease (COVID) have been among the most extensive and kinetically rapid as for understanding any infectious agent in history. Consider the human immunode…
View article: An immunological and institutional innovator
An immunological and institutional innovator Open
At a social event at a meeting of the American Society for Cell Biology in the 1980s, I struck up a conversation that has vividly stayed in my mind. He said he was a protein biochemist and immunologist but was attending because cell biolog…
View article: Sheldon Penman: Visionary of cell form and function
Sheldon Penman: Visionary of cell form and function Open
Sheldon Penman made major contributions to the field of RNA synthesis and, more broadly, the nexus between cellular form and gene readout. He will be remembered for his creativity and breadth of expertise, as well as his opposition to what…
View article: Dissecting cellular diversity of cortical GABAergic cells across multiple modalities: A turning point in neuronal taxonomy.
Dissecting cellular diversity of cortical GABAergic cells across multiple modalities: A turning point in neuronal taxonomy. Open
Decoding the complexity of the brain requires an understanding of the architecture, function, and development of its neuronal circuits. Neuronal classifications that group neurons based on specific features/behaviors have become essential …
View article: The UVSSA protein is part of a genome integrity homeostasis network with links to transcription-coupled DNA repair and ATM signaling
The UVSSA protein is part of a genome integrity homeostasis network with links to transcription-coupled DNA repair and ATM signaling Open
Significance Transcription-coupled repair (TCR) involves four core proteins: CSA, CSB, USP7, and UVSSA. CSA and CSB are mutated in the severe human neurocutaneous disease Cockayne syndrome. In contrast UVSSA is a mild photosensitive diseas…
View article: Science writing versus scientists writing for ourselves: Why Walter Gratzer mattered
Science writing versus scientists writing for ourselves: Why Walter Gratzer mattered Open
We are all aware of journalists whose craft is the nontechnical dissection of scientific advances for a broad readership. Two sterling examples for me are Dennis Overbye and Gina Kolata, both writing mostly for the New York Times. There ar…
View article: A layperson encounter, on the “modified” RNA world
A layperson encounter, on the “modified” RNA world Open
A chance conversation with a nonscientist about the mRNA-COVID vaccines, conveyed here, reminded the author of our enduring responsibility to accurately portray science to the public.
View article: The COVID antivaccination dilemma
The COVID antivaccination dilemma Open
So much has been written about this that I have hesitated (no pun intended) to address it. However, the consequences are so huge as to public health that I feel a moral imperative to write. The Greeks got this right with their word dilemma…
View article: US companies' COVID patents: Will “the saints go marching in”?
US companies' COVID patents: Will “the saints go marching in”? Open
Many pandemic issues have been swirling around in our country, and most have received extensive media coverage, most notably vaccine hesitancy/resistance, the Delta variant, and the continuing extreme importance of masking. Another is the …
View article: Acknowledging the Pincus Medal’s efforts to recognize frontiers in women’s health
Acknowledging the Pincus Medal’s efforts to recognize frontiers in women’s health Open
The reproductive biologist Gregory Pincus (Figure 1) was a major figure in the endocrine control of ovulation, but he was also a scientific impresario, not only as the founder and organizer of the famed annual Laurentian Hormone Conference…
View article: Millie Hughes‐Fulford, 1945‐2021
Millie Hughes‐Fulford, 1945‐2021 Open
The FASEB Journal was deeply saddened to learn of the death of former editorial board member Millie Hughes-Fulford,1 on February 2, 2021. She was a powerful role model for women in science, especially on the space exploration frontier (Fig…