Online resources for understanding outbreaks and infectious diseases.

Disease outbreaks can be a powerful topic for teaching about science and health. This Feature reviews resources for bringing up up-to to-date information on this hot topic into the classroom.

Beyond the Central Dogma: Bringing Epigenetics into the Classroom.

Epigenetics is the study of how external factors and internal cellular signals can lead to changes in the packaging and processing of DNA sequences, thereby altering the expression of genes and traits. Exploring the epigenome introduces students to environmental influences on our genes and the complexities of gene expression. A supplemental curriculum module developed by the Genetic Science Learning Center (GSLC) at the University of Utah brings epigenetics to high school and undergraduate classrooms through a range of online and paper-based activities.

Engaging with molecular form to understand function.

Understanding the relationship between form and function is critical for appreciating biology at the molecular level. This feature explores online materials that connect molecular structures with their functional relevance.

A rat monoclonal antibody that catalyses the hydrolysis of a nitrophenyl-beta-lactam.

We report the first example of a monoclonal antibody-catalysed hydrolysis of a beta-lactam where the antibodies were generated by a simple transition-state analogue. A rat monoclonal antibody (1/91c/4d/26) generated by using an acyclic 4-nitrophenylphosphate immunogen catalysed the hydrolysis of corresponding 4-nitrophenyl carbonates but, more importantly, also catalysed the hydrolysis of N-(4-nitrophenyl)-azetidinone at pH 8 with k(cat)=8.7 x 10(-6)s(-1) and K(M)=35 microM.