1987 in science

Last updated
List of years in science (table)
+...

The year 1987 in science and technology involved many significant events, some listed below.

Contents

Astronomy

Biochemistry

Computing

Genetics

History of science

Mathematics

Medicine

Paleoanthropology

Paleontology

Physics

Technology

Zoology

Awards

Births

Deaths

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Complementary DNA</span> Single-stranded DNA synthesized from RNA

In genetics, complementary DNA (cDNA) is DNA synthesized from a single-stranded RNA template in a reaction catalyzed by the enzyme reverse transcriptase. cDNA is often used to express a specific protein in a cell that does not normally express that protein, or to sequence or quantify mRNA molecules using DNA based methods. cDNA that codes for a specific protein can be transferred to a recipient cell for expression, often bacterial or yeast expression systems. cDNA is also generated to analyze transcriptomic profiles in bulk tissue, single cells, or single nuclei in assays such as microarrays, qPCR, and RNA-seq.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Self-organized criticality</span> Concept in physics

Self-organized criticality (SOC) is a property of dynamical systems that have a critical point as an attractor. Their macroscopic behavior thus displays the spatial or temporal scale-invariance characteristic of the critical point of a phase transition, but without the need to tune control parameters to a precise value, because the system, effectively, tunes itself as it evolves towards criticality.

The first isolation of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) was done in 1869 by Friedrich Miescher. DNA extraction is the process of isolating DNA from the cells of an organism isolated from a sample, typically a biological sample such as blood, saliva, or tissue. It involves breaking open the cells, removing proteins and other contaminants, and purifying the DNA so that it is free of other cellular components. The purified DNA can then be used for downstream applications such as PCR, sequencing, or cloning. Currently, it is a routine procedure in molecular biology or forensic analyses.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CRISPR</span> Family of DNA sequence found in prokaryotic organisms

CRISPR is a family of DNA sequences found in the genomes of prokaryotic organisms such as bacteria and archaea. These sequences are derived from DNA fragments of bacteriophages that had previously infected the prokaryote. They are used to detect and destroy DNA from similar bacteriophages during subsequent infections. Hence these sequences play a key role in the antiviral defense system of prokaryotes and provide a form of acquired immunity. CRISPR is found in approximately 50% of sequenced bacterial genomes and nearly 90% of sequenced archaea.

Guanidine is the compound with the formula HNC(NH2)2. It is a colourless solid that dissolves in polar solvents. It is a strong base that is used in the production of plastics and explosives. It is found in urine predominantly in patients experiencing renal failure. A guanidine moiety also appears in larger organic molecules, including on the side chain of arginine.

Per Bak was a Danish theoretical physicist who coauthored the 1987 academic paper that coined the term "self-organized criticality."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Guanidinium thiocyanate</span> Chemical compound

Guanidinium thiocyanate(GTC) or guanidinium isothiocyanate (GITC) is a chemical compound used as a general protein denaturant, being a chaotropic agent, although it is most commonly used as a nucleic acid protector in the extraction of DNA and RNA from cells.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tang Chao (physicist)</span> Chinese physicist

Tang Chao is a Chair Professor of Physics and Systems Biology at Peking University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction</span>

Acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction is a liquid–liquid extraction technique in biochemistry. It is widely used in molecular biology for isolating RNA. This method may take longer than a column-based system such as the silica-based purification, but has higher purity and the advantage of high recovery of RNA: an RNA column is typically unsuitable for purification of short RNA species, such as siRNA, miRNA, gRNA and tRNA.

Kurt Wiesenfeld is an American physicist working primarily on non-linear dynamics. His works primarily concern stochastic resonance, spontaneous synchronization of coupled oscillators, and non-linear laser dynamics. Since 1987, he has been professor of physics at the Georgia Institute of Technology.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trizol</span>

TRIzol is a widely used chemical solution used in the extraction of DNA, RNA, and proteins from cells. The solution was initially used and published by Piotr Chomczyński and Nicoletta Sacchi in 1987.

RNA extraction is the purification of RNA from biological samples. This procedure is complicated by the ubiquitous presence of ribonuclease enzymes in cells and tissues, which can rapidly degrade RNA. Several methods are used in molecular biology to isolate RNA from samples, the most common of these is guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. The filter paper based lysis and elution method features high throughput capacity.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jennifer Doudna</span> American biochemist and Nobel laureate (born 1964)

Jennifer Anne Doudna is an American biochemist who has done pioneering work in CRISPR gene editing, and made other fundamental contributions in biochemistry and genetics. Doudna was one of the first women to share a Nobel in the sciences. She received the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, with Emmanuelle Charpentier, "for the development of a method for genome editing." She is the Li Ka Shing Chancellor's Chair Professor in the department of chemistry and the department of molecular and cell biology at the University of California, Berkeley. She has been an investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute since 1997.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diphenyl-2-pyridylmethane</span> Chemical compound

Diphenyl-2-pyridylmethane is a triaryl organic compound that has been used to selectively extract specific metal ions into organic solvents. Its pharmacology is similar to the stimulant desoxypipradrol in which the pyridine ring is reduced to a piperidine and for which it is a chemical precursor.

Phenol–chloroform extraction is a liquid-liquid extraction technique in molecular biology used to separate nucleic acids from proteins and lipids.

Yoshizumi Ishino is a Japanese molecular biologist, known for his discovering the DNA sequence of Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Antonio Barone</span> Italian physicist

Antonio Barone was an Italian physicist. He was Emeritus Professor of the Federico II University of Naples and Director of the CNR Cybernetics Institute in Arco Felice (Naples), Italy. He is best known for his work on superconductivity and Josephson effect.

Small RNA sequencing is a type of RNA sequencing based on the use of NGS technologies that allows to isolate and get information about noncoding RNA molecules in order to evaluate and discover new forms of small RNA and to predict their possible functions. By using this technique, it is possible to discriminate small RNAs from the larger RNA family to better understand their functions in the cell and in gene expression. Small RNA-Seq can analyze thousands of small RNA molecules with a high throughput and specificity. The greatest advantage of using RNA-seq is represented by the possibility of generating libraries of RNA fragments starting from the whole RNA content of a cell.

Natalie Ann Wolchover is a science journalist. She is a senior writer and editor for Quanta Magazine, and has been involved with Quanta's development since its inception in 2013. In 2022 she won a Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting.

Nicoletta Sacchi is an Italian professor of oncology at the Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. She is the co-discoverer of the acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction method to extract RNA from biological samples with Trizol. As a consequence of this groundbreaking discovery she is now considered the most cited woman scientist in the world.

References

  1. Schmadel, Lutz D. (10 June 2012). Dictionary of Minor Planet Names. Springer Science & Business Media. p. 740. ISBN   978-3-642-29718-2.
  2. Ishino, Y.; Shinagawa, H.; Makino, K.; Amemura, M.; Nakata, A. (1987). "Nucleotide sequence of the iap gene, responsible for alkaline phosphatase isozyme conversion in Escherichia coli, and identification of the gene product". Journal of Bacteriology . 169 (12): 5429–33. doi:10.1128/jb.169.12.5429-5433.1987. PMC   213968 . PMID   3316184.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. "CRISPR Natural History in Bacteria". Quanta Magazine. Retrieved 2019-04-01.
  4. Chomczynski, P.; Sacchi, N. (1987). "Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction". Analytical Biochemistry . 162 (1): 156–159. doi:10.1016/0003-2697(87)90021-2. PMID   2440339.
  5. Chomczynski, P.; Sacchi, N. (2006). "Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction: Twenty-something years on". Nature Protocols . 1 (2): 581–585. doi:10.1038/nprot.2006.83. PMID   17406285. S2CID   28653075.
  6. "Gene Technology". Txtwriter.com. 1987-11-06. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2010-06-11. Retrieved 2010-04-03.
  7. Gödel, Kurt (1995). "Ontological Proof". Collected Works: Unpublished Essays & Lectures. Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. pp. 388, 403–404. ISBN   0-19-514722-7.
  8. Bak, P.; Tang, C.; Wiesenfeld, K. (1987). "Self-organized criticality: an explanation of 1/ƒ noise". Physical Review Letters . 59 (4): 381–4. Bibcode:1987PhRvL..59..381B. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.59.381. PMID   10035754. S2CID   7674321.
  9. Cimons, Marlene (21 March 1987). "U.S. Approves Sale of AZT to AIDS Patients". Los Angeles Times . p. 1.
  10. Buchwald, Dedra; Sullivan, John L.; Komaroff, Anthony L. (May 1987). "Frequency of 'Chronic Active Epstein-Barr Virus Infection' in a General Medical Practice". Journal of the American Medical Association . 257 (17): 2303–7. doi:10.1001/jama.257.17.2303. PMID   3033338 . Retrieved 2011-07-29.
  11. FDA Orange Book Detail for application N019643 showing approval for 20 mg tablets on August 31, 1987, and 40 mg tablets on December 14, 1988
  12. Endo, Akira (October 2004). "The origin of the statins". Atherosclerosis Supplements. 5 (3): 125–30. doi:10.1016/j.atherosclerosissup.2004.08.033. ISSN   1567-5688. PMID   15531285.
  13. Cann, Rebecca L.; Stoneking, Mark; Wilson, Allan C. (1 January 1987). "Mitochondrial DNA and human evolution". Nature . 325 (6099): 31–36. Bibcode:1987Natur.325...31C. doi:10.1038/325031a0. PMID   3025745. S2CID   4285418.
  14. Lipkin, H. J. (1987). "New possibilities for exotic hadrons — anticharmed strange baryons". Physics Letters B . 195 (3): 484–488. Bibcode:1987PhLB..195..484L. doi:10.1016/0370-2693(87)90055-4.
  15. Newsweek 9 June 2008 p. 45.
  16. Klarreich, Erica (2022-07-05). "A Solver of the Hardest Easy Problems About Prime Numbers: On his way to winning a Fields Medal". Quanta Magazine . Retrieved 2022-07-05.