BIOCHEMISTRY SOCIETY This newsletter’s main purpose is to disseminate information that is useful to future graduates of the University of the West Indies. Stories are taken from official websites and we do not lay claim to them.
INSIDE THIS ISSUE: Anti-HIV agent
2
Violent extremism
2
Samsung buys looppay
2
Bank hackers 3 steal millions
Biochem Weekly V O L U M E
1 ,
I S S U E
1
N E W S L E T T E R
D A T E
Mobile apps take students into lab Mobile apps have proved to be valuable educational tools, but laboratory instructors thus far have been limited to using mobile devices only for virtual laboratories with simulated experiments. Now, researchers have developed a series of mobile applications that allow students to remotely interact with real data and equipment in real laboratories. Students reported deeper engagement levels using mobile apps and the virtual lab.
special needs.
Phones showing the mobile app developed by professor Vikram Kapila and doctoral candidate Jared Frank
Using different hardware and software setups and varying selection criteria, such as budget, nature and number of test beds. Kapila and Frank developed and studied the feedback control of the experiment and the wireless communication using iDevices such as iPod, iPhone 5 and iPad.
Kapila and Frank developed mobile applications can serve as interactive learning aids and are useful for students with situational impairments or
New protein detonates 'invincible' bacteria from within A groundbreaking discovery from Tel Aviv University researchers may strengthen efforts by the medical community to fight this looming superbug pandemic. TAU researchers identified novel proteins capable of stymieing growth in treacherous antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Using high-throughput DNA
sequencing, the researchers located mutations in bacterial genes that resisted the toxicity of growth inhibitors produced by bacterial viruses. In this way, the team identified a new small protein, which specifically targets and inhibits the activity of a protein essential to bacterial cells.
The inhibitor was found to cripple the activity of a protein vital to bacterial cells -a protein that maintains the bacterial cell structure. Malfunction of this bacterial protein consequently resulted in the rupture and consequent death of the bacterial cell.
PAGE
2
Scientists announce anti-HIV agent so powerful it can work in a vaccine In a remarkable new advance against the virus that causes AIDS, scientists have announced the creation of a novel drug candidate that is so potent and universally effective, it might work as part of an unconventional vaccine.
The potential cure for HIV/AIDS
We must confront the ideologies of
groups like ISIS, "especially their attempt to use Islam to justify their violence."
The study shows that the new drug candidate blocks every strain of HIV-1, HIV-2 and SIV (simian immunodeficiency virus) that has been isolated from humans or rhesus macaques, including the hardest-
to-stop variants. When HIV infects a cell, it targets the CD4 lymphocyte, an integral part of the body's immune system and a coreceptor called CCR5 contains unusual modifications in its critical HIV-binding region, and that proteins based on this region can be used to prevent infection. With this knowledge, Farzan and his team developed the new drug candidate so that it binds to two sites on the sur-
face of the virus simultaneously, preventing entry of HIV into the host cell. The team also leveraged preexisting technology in designing a delivery vehicle -- an engineered adeno-associated virus, a small, relatively innocuous virus that causes no disease. Once injected into muscle tissue, like HIV itself, the vehicle turns those cells into "factories" that could produce enough of the new protective protein to last for years, per-
Obama: We must eradicate violent extremism President Barack Obama called for a global effort to combat violent extremism and urged countries around the world to address the root causes that fuel groups like ISIS and al Qaeda during a speech Thursday before hundreds of foreign officials gathered for a summit on countering violent extremism. As he recalled recent terror attacks around the world, Obama urged countries to
"break the cycles of conflict, especially sectarian conflict" and called on governments to "address the grievances that terrorists exploit," both political and economic. "The link is undeniable. When people are oppressed and human rights are denied -- particularly along sectarian lines or ethnic lines -- when dissent is silenced, it feeds violent extremism. It creates an environment
that is ripe for terrorists to exploit," Obama said. The President's speech at the State Department Thursday morning harkened back to remarks he made at the United Nations General Assembly last fall, when he urged communities across the Islamic world to provide more opportunities for young people who may be attracted to terrorist organizations.
Samsung Buys LoopPay, a Competitor to Apple’s Mobile Wallet LoopPay
Samsung, the South Korean technology giant, announced Wednesday it had acquired LoopPay, a mobile payments company, signaling its interest in controlling smartphonebased purchases.
works onmany Android smartphone s
The move comes just months after therelease
BIOCHEM
WEEKLY
of Apple Pay, Apple’s mobile payments product, LoopPay, however, believes its reach will extend far beyond that of Apple Pay. LoopPay’s underlying technology relies on a magnetic transmission sent from a user’s phone to a merchant’s payment terminal, mimicking a credit card swipe. The technology, according to LoopPay, can be
accepted in more than 90 percent of existing point-of-sale terminals. LoopPay will work across many Android smartphones, of which Samsung is one of the world’s largest manufacturers. That is in contrast to Apple Pay, which works only on iPhone 6 and 6 Plus smartphones,
Aim: To unite all members of the biochemistry department Objective: To hold weekly meetings to foster unity through activities that have both entertainment and educational value
Biochemistry Society of the University of the West Indies, Mona Kingston 7
St. Andrew
Jamaica 876-878-0302
Our Mission - Is to improve the educational experience, provide career advancement tools and specialized leadership training opportunities for majors in the discipline with the goal of enabling students to more effectively reach their career objectives. The Biochemistry Society facilitates the development of study groups and tutorials, provides opportunities for corporate partners and students to meet and explore career development, provides students with an opportunity to organize and manage the Club with staff and faculty support.
Biochemistrysoc@gmail.com Meeting times: Thursday 2-3pm Medical Science building room 36
Bank hackers steal millions via malware The bank’s internal computers, used by employees who process daily transfers and conduct bookkeeping, had been penetrated by malware that allowed cybercriminals to record their every move. The malicious software lurked for months, sending back video feeds and images that told a criminal group — including Russians, Chinese and Europeans — how the bank conducted its daily routines, according to the investigators. Then the group impersonated bank officers, not only turning on various cash machines, but also transferring millions of dollars from banks inRussia, Japan, Switzerland, the United States and the Netherlands into dummy accounts set up in other countries. In a report to be published on Monday, and provided in advance to The New York Times, Kaspersky
Lab says that the scope of this attack on more than 100 banks and other financial institutions in 30 nations could make it one of the largest bank thefts ever — and one conducted without the usual signs of robbery. Kaspersky Lab says it has seen evidence of $300 million in theft through clients, and believes the total could be
Admin PC
Hacker
triple that. But that projection is impossible to verify because the thefts were limited to $10 million a transaction, though some banks were hit several times. In many cases the hauls were more modest, presumably to avoid setting off alarms. Programs installed by the malware record keystrokes and take screen shots of the bank’s computers, so that hackers can learn bank procedures. They also enable hackers to control the banks’ computers remotely. By mimicking the bank procedures they have learned, hackers direct the banks’ computers to steal money in a variety of ways: 1) transferring money into hackers’ fraudulent bank accounts. 2) Using e-payment systems and causing ATMs to dispense money