Archive for March 29th, 2009

Proteins By Design: Biochemists Create New Protein From Scratch

No doubt proteins are complex. Most are “large” and full of interdependent branches, pockets and bends in their final folded structure. This complexity frustrates biochemists and protein engineers seeking to understand protein structure and function in order to reproduce or create new uses for these natural molecules to fight diseases or for use in industry.

Using design and engineering principles learned from nature, a team of biochemists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have built – from scratch – a completely new type of protein. This protein can transport oxygen, akin to human neuroglobin, a molecule that carries oxygen in the brain and peripheral nervous system. Some day this approach could be used to make artificial blood for use on the battle field or by emergency-care professionals.
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Muscle, Smoke and Mirrors…
by Anthony Roberts

I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not interested at all in bodybuilding, other than because of the fact that more steroids are involved in it than any other field in the world. If you’ve forgotten, I write about steroids, not bodybuilding, although the online steroid-using community is pretty much 99% bodybuilding enthusiasts (the other 1% are actually bodybuilders, i.e. they compete).

But, while I was writing my new book (which is finished, and off to the editor!), I was really forced to research the history of bodybuilding, the nutritional industry, and the magazine industry. Granted, I have first hand experience inside many companies (ALL of whom will be talked about extensively in my book), but honestly, less than a decade ago, I was still in college, and working at a gym…so I really didn’t know the “history” of all of this. Luckily, I was introduced to a man named Randy Roach, who is unquestionably bodybuilding’s premier historian.
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