scientist 36: the research biotechnologist – Alan Tunnacliffe & the bdelloid rotifer (2013)

Professor Alan Tunnacliffe of the Cambridge University Department of Chemical Engineering tells why the bdelloid rotifer has fascinated top biologists. This microscopically tiny invertebrate lives in rain puddles. The creature can survive without water for millions of years, and by now really ought to be extinct. Our scientist tells why it isn’t and how it manages its DNA.

Follow-up link:

  • To learn more: ceb.cam.ac.uk/pages/bdelloid-rotifers.html.
  • PLoS Genetics: www.plosgenetics.org/doi/pgen.1003035
  • ScienceNow: news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2012/11/bdelloids-surviving-on-borrowed-.html?ref=hp
  • Dept of Chemical Engineering and biology
    www.ceb.cam.ac.uk/news.php/233/a-tenth-of-quirky-creatureas-active-genes-are-foreign

23/02/2013

tagged: Chris Creese, DNA, health, Roger Frost, rotifer, science education

Play