Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin and the Pasteur Institute in France collaborated with each other and managed to link alcohol with the brain. Researchers at the University of Texas had recently created a paper on the key enabler of alcohol's affects on the brain, but couldn't produce enough evidence to back up their claim due to the brain proteins inability to crystallize to enough of a degree to be analyzed by X-ray crystallography. Pasteur Institute researchers came up with an alternative. By using a bacteria which had a similar protein sequence with that of the brain protein used, the researchers were able to properly crystalize the bacteria. This is important because with further examination of this protein sequence, hopefully researchers will be able to produce a cure for alcoholics.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130425132804.htm
NOS:
Science is Collaborative, the researchers worked together even though they were on different continents at the time.
Role of Chance, researchers at Pasteur Institute were lucky to have come across a bacteria with a similar protein sequence with that of brain protein's.
Science is based on Evidence, even though the researchers had published a paper on the key enabler's, they had no hard evidence because they weren't able to crystalize the the brain protein.
Cool article Dawit! This shows how important it is to have evidence to back up your research before you make a claim. But, now that the study is out, it might lead to further studies which will help more thoroughly discover alcohol's affect on the brain.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link to an article for further research:
http://sciencenetlinks.com/lessons/alcohol-and-its-impact-on-the-brain/