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[
Science,
2002]
The nematode worm known as Caenorhabditis elegans is not much to look at. Just a millimeter long and transparent to boot, it is almost invisible to the naked eye. But in biological research the tiny worm looms large, providing a model system for studying everything from embryonic development to aging. Now, three researchers who pioneered the use of C. elegans as a model organism have won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
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Hist Philos Life Sci,
2000]
The transformation of embryology to developmental biology has been linked to the introduction of experimental approaches from molecular genetics to the study of development. This paper pursues this theme by analyzing the tools molecular biologists, moving from phage and bacterial genetics to the study of development in higher organisms, brought to their new field of investigations. The paper focuses on Sydney Brenner's move from molecular genetics to developmental biology. His attempt to turn the nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans into a new tool for the study of development included a vast and ever expanding mapping program. Worm workers themselves did not distinguish sharply between mapping on the cellular, chromosomal or molecular level. Mapping, the paper argues, or more generally 'analytical/comparative' next to 'experimentalist' approaches (Pickstone) were not only part and parcel of Brenner's strategy to 'molecularize' the study of development, but also played a crucial role in 'classical' molecular biology.
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[
Int J Dev Biol,
2000]
1969 was a landmark year. But for me it was not Neil Armstrong's giant leap or Woodstock heralding the beginning of the end of the sixties that sticks in my mind. It was a visit I made to Cambridge to meet a "bloke who is starting a new project to study some sort of worm", as my head of department at the Medical Research Council's National Institute of Medical Research informed me...
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Clin Med,
2003]
The recent award of a Nobel Prize to Sydney Brenner crowns an astonishingly distinguished scientific career. He must have come very close to winning it several times in the past. A colleague described him as 'a visionary who sees further into the future than anyone'. This is borne out by his decision - made 40 years ago - to study a one-millimetre long worm in detail to define the, biochemical and genetic control of its development and differentiation. The impact of these studies has been so profound, with a significant bearing on human physiology and disease, that over 400 laboratories worldwide have now adopted the worm as a research tool. In this article, a brief outline is given of his work on the worm and of some of the highlights of his brilliant career.
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[
Chembiochem,
2003]
Thank you so very much for inviting me to be here. It gives me a mingled sense of humility at how much I owe to others, and of joy that the collective work on the worm has been recognised in this way.
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Sci Aging Knowledge Environ,
2002]
This article reviews key events in the genetic analysis of aging in the worm. The events are presented in the form of a timeline and include landmark papers, key meetings, and the development of important funding agencies. I also speculate on events that might appear in this timeline if this review were written in the distant future.
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[
Genetics,
1996]
I fell in love with Caenorhabditis elegans in the summer of '72. Our relationship was cemented four years later, 20 years ago now, by the publication of a paper in Genetics on C. elegans chromosome rearrangements (Herman et al. 1976). My pleasant assignment here is to describe the beginning of that work and to relate it to current worm cytogenetics and chromosome mechanics.
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Stud Hist Philos Biol Biomed Sci,
2012]
This paper argues that the history of the computer, of the practice of computation and of the notions of 'data' and 'programme' are essential for a critical account of the emergence and implications of data-driven research. In order to show this, I focus on the transition that the investigations on the worm C. elegans experienced in the Laboratory of Molecular Biology of Cambridge (UK). Throughout the 1980s, this research programme evolved from a study of the genetic basis of the worm's development and behaviour to a DNA mapping and sequencing initiative. By examining the changing computing technologies which were used at the Laboratory, I demonstrate that by the time of this transition researchers shifted from modelling the worm's genetic programme on a mainframe apparatus to writing minicomputer programs aimed at providing map and sequence data which was then circulated to other groups working on the genetics of C. elegans. The shift in the worm research should thus not be simply explained in the application of computers which transformed the project from hypothesis-driven to a data-intensive endeavour. The key factor was rather a historically specific technology-in-house and easy programmable minicomputers-which redefined the way of achieving the project's long-standing goal, leading the genetic programme to co-evolve with the practices of data production and distribution.
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Nat Rev Genet,
2001]
The nematode Caenorhabditis elegans is well known to practising biologists as a model organism. Early work with C. elegans is best understood as part of a descriptive tradition in biological practice. Although the resources that have been generated by the C. elegans community have been revolutionary, they were produced by traditional methods and approaches. Here, I review the choice and use of the worm as an experimental organism for genetics and neurobiology that began in the 1960s.
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[
Science,
1995]
Programmed cell death (PCD), or apoptosis, is a conserved terminal differentiation program that multicellular organisms have evolved to get rid of cells that are not needed, that are in the way, or that are potentially dangerous. PCD can be equated with cell suicide in the sense that the dying cell plays an active role in promoting its own demise and removal from the organism.