That Bits and Pretzel thing is really disturbing. Thanks @Stephers and @quantumheartcafe for opening up this door into knot theory and portals and pretzels.
I must say this all happening in Germany makes me think about Amy Gutmann, formerly UPenn president, who is now US Ambassador there.
Also Gutmann = good man
The goal of these cyber-physical systems aligned to UN SDGs is to force us to be “good” according to the terms encoded in the contracts.
Interesting - she came from Princeton where she directed a center on Values and Ethics launched by Laurence Rockefeller. @jenlake
" A series of generous gifts from Laurance S. Rockefeller '32 enabled the University to realize the vision of the founding group. Mr. Rockefeller’s senior thesis, The Concept of Value and its Relation to Ethics , can be viewed by the campus community here. His gifts would eventually support all of the Center’s signature activities: a program of visiting faculty fellowships, a fellowship program for outstanding Princeton graduate students, an interdisciplinary colloquium on ethics and public affairs, and a lecture series on ethics and political philosophy. Rockefeller funds also support several joint faculty positions in politics, philosophy, and the School of Public and International Affairs and several research programs. Beginning in 2010, the gifts have also made possible the Center’s undergraduate certificate program."
Rockefeller also had ties to Barbara Ward Jackson via environmentalism.
The link of ethics to values is very much in sych with Robert Hartman who had ties to University of Texas Knoxville (ORNL) and wanted to measure goodness tied to 401K and profit sharing.
Axiology -feels like psychological field theory / physics / simulation modeling.
Here’s a graphic on DNA knotting –and this is new to me—so I’ll just let it ride on the image, which requires breaking the strands.
Who even knew this was a thing? Yikes.
Keep in mind the trefoil knot (algebraic topology - Fundamental group of $\mathbb{R}^3$ minus trefoil knot - Mathematics Stack Exchange) and this Khipu-esque image that I had linked above:
https://lazarusinitiative.com/about-us/
Is Sacha a knotty boy?
This makes my skin crawl.
More knottiness with another associate of his?
Check out Shehnaz Soni (see her “Ashes”)
https://lazarusinitiative.com/about-us/speakers/
Shehnaz went to Girl’s school and only dreamt about speaking English one day. She finished her education at a very prestigious school, the University of California, Irvine, as an Electrical Engineer while attending the community college to learn English. She spoke four languages (Urdu, Gujrati, Hindi, and Sindhi); however, none of them was English. Shehnaz is an accomplished aerospace engineer, spiritual alchemist, energy healer, and transformational coach.
As an Aerospace Engineer, she has worked in large cooperations like Boeing/NASA. She has had the privilege of working on the most massive rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), ever built that is still planned for the mission to Moon and Mars. Her recent work at NASA involves developing a Human Landing System (HLS) that will carry the first woman and the next man to the Southside of the Moon by 2025.
As a Spiritual Alchemist, she teaches workshops to empower and enlighten people by sharing her knowledge and wisdom in successfully integrating our multidimensional self. She has had extensive learning in ancient knowledge hidden in Flower of Life and kabbalistic principles. Shehnaz is certified as a “Life Activation Practitioner” under king Solomon lineage as an energy healer. “Life Activation” supports us by bringing a moment of clarity to a lifelong question about how we fit into the greater scheme of things by turning on our spiritual DNA, divine blueprint so that we begin to awaken and remember our potential.
As a transformation coach, she works one-on-one with clients to help them be leaders in all aspects of their lives. This style of coaching uses the bio-individuality philosophy, meaning everyone is unique. What is one person’s food can be another person’s poison.
She believes in DNA level healing and therefore is a distributor of a German machine called BEMER (Bio Electro Magnetic Energy Regulation). BEMER is a machine for everyone and was designed initially for German citizens as the closest thing to the fountain of youth. BEMER enhances microcirculation and helps rebuild the immune system via the patented waveform and signal.
Her ultimate message is, “As we undertake the daunting task of transformation, the changes we embark on will become habitual, automatic, and effortless. The process is like a rocket leaving Earth. At first, it requires enormous power, then less and less as it leaves the Earth’s gravitational field. And finally, it moves through space under its momentum.” Thus, we have the power to live an incredible life as a powerful multidimensional being; hence her company name is “Ashes to Sona(gold)”, which highlights the alchemical transformation one can undertake to live their highest potential life. Her deep desire is to continually team up with innovative people, utilizing “Science and Technology” and “Spirituality” to bring a revolutionary change to Earth to better humanity and ultimately create a heaven on Earth.
See Dr. Young here with Shehnaz Soni (the woman above in the right hand corner) . . .
Shehnaz Background and Info
Shehnaz is an accomplished Aerospace Engineer, an Author, a Health and Transformational Coach, an Energy Healer, and the proud Mother.
Shehnaz has worked as a rocket scientist for both Boeing and NASA. Her work on the massive rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) will be used in one of the earlier missions to facilitate living on the Moon. Her most recent work at NASA includes the Artemis Project. She and her cutting-edge team of aerospace engineers have developed requirements for the unprecedented Human Landing System, also known as HLS. When ready to launch, this system will finally bridge mankind with a long-term presence on the Moon and ultimately on Mars.
Shehnaz is the author of the soon-to-be-released Quantum Being. Part memoir and part guide for humanity, this book will bridge science and spirituality to help the reader realize the truth of their magnificence as human beings on the journey to manifest their own miracles.
Shehnaz’s book, “The Quantum Being” will be available at www.shehnazsoni.com
Contact her at emerge@shehnazsoni.com for any questions regarding her workshops and speaking engagements.
Her upcoming workshop will be held in the month of Oct on every Sunday at 3 PM CST, please check out
https://www.shehnazsoni.com/workshops/
The Human Landing System (HLS) is funded by Blue Origin – landing us straight back at Neal Stephenson.
https://www.shehnazsoni.com/about/
That’s pretty intense there. The poor “ascension” crowd won’t know what hit them.
Returning to quantum computing developer Dr. Enrique Solano of Kipu Quantum:
11/03/2020
As IQM, we announced today our first international expansion through the establishment of our first subsidiary company, IQM Germany, located in Munich. We are excited to also announce the appointment of the renowned quantum computing and quantum technology expert, Prof. Enrique Solano as CEO of IQM Germany.
You can find the full press release here.
IQM Chairman Dr Axel Thierauf, IQM Germany CEO Prof Enrique Solano and IQM CEO Dr Jan Goetz will work together for IQM in the future.
With the expansion move to Munich, we are tapping into another hotspot for quantum computing in addition to Helsinki area where our headquarters are located. We are looking forward to collaborating closely with the local quantum experts from academia and industry. Our technical goals are to create a co-design hub that tightens the interaction between quantum hardware and quantum software development. In particular, IQM Germany will develop an original co-design approach where quantum software breathes through suitably designed quantum hardware and novel architectures. The novel co-design model allows us to still collaborate closely with our current and future software partners throughout Europe to accelerate the development of useful quantum solutions for specialized applications.
We are happy to welcome Prof. Enrique Solano to lead the Munich operations as CEO of IQM Germany. Enrique has created substantial groundbreaking work in quantum computing, quantum simulation, quantum artificial intelligence, and quantum technologies. He joins IQM from his leading positions in two quantum centers in Bilbao, Spain, and Shanghai, China.
The new lead in Munich: IQM Germany´s CEO Prof. Enrique Solano.
Munich was the obvious location for our new facility since for Germany and Bavaria, in particular, building a quantum computer is a strategic priority. The local commitment has produced an ecosystem of quantum innovation, with stakeholders from industry, academia and the investor community collectively focused on advancing Europe’s quantum leadership.
The new facility marks our first expansion outside of Finland. Since our debut last July, the IQM team has ramped up fast to build an infrastructure for production of scalable quantum devices efficiently. At our operations lab in Helsinki area, qubit samples are already being produced on a wafer scale every week. The devices are benchmarked onsite for uniformity, accuracy, quality, and other imperatives for real-world applications. The high-throughput/fast-feedback model allows IQM technologists to constantly monitor the quality of the fabrication processes, and thus ensure high-quality quantum processors.
One of IQM´s quantum computers in the headquarters in Helsinki area. The new team in Munich will design special-purpose processors for near-term applications.
At present, our team of experts drives the business in four core areas: fabrication, scalable electronics, software, and systems integration. The new team in Munich will extend these efforts to design special-purpose processors for near-term algorithms, while also focusing on IP development. IQM’s nearly three dozen employees, 25 hold PhDs, almost all in physics, and specifically quantum computing.
With his Peruvian-Spanish nationality, Enrique adds new weight to the multi-national IQM team with his record of leadership in academic and entrepreneurial ecosystems. His previous roles include Distinguished Professor and Director at QuArtist – Quantum Artificial Intelligence for Science and Technology at Shanghai University in China, as well as similar positions at the International Center of Quantum Computing and Quantum Technologies at the University of the Basque Country in Bilbao, Spain. He obtained his PhD in physics from the Universidade Federal de Rio de Janeiro in Brazil.
“The hardware-software co-design model is different and exciting and brings a design-thinking mindset to quantum computing,” said Enrique recently. “It lets us develop and optimize next-generation chip architectures for specific applications and implement quantum computing algorithms for industries with entrenched operations in Germany and throughout Europe. For example, financial models and predictions for car manufacturers, as well as models for drug design, material design, aerodynamics, nuclear reactions, biological systems, intelligent devices, use-cases for smart cities, and much more. I’m thrilled to join the company.”
We are looking forward to exciting times for the growing IQM family all over the world!
Jan Goetz,
CEO IQM
IQM is the European leader in quantum computers.
We build quantum computers for research laboratories and supercomputing centers. For industrial customers, we deliver quantum advantage through our unique application-specific co-design approach.
Our Nordic values and the vibrant ecosystem gives us a unique advantage in building the future of quantum technologies.
Security, trust, and our Nordic heritage give us a unique edge in global collaboration and innovation.
Sabine Hyland was born in Maryland in 1964. She grew up in Dryden, New York, near Cornell University where her father, Joseph Kearns Campbell, was a Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering.
@AMcD Review below when you have time . . . Have you heard of him (began career in radar for the Navy)?
@AMcD @jenlake @quantumheartcafe From the following presentation (RE: Mugs, Doughnuts, and DNA knots):
Some enzymes can cut, twist , and reconnect the DNA.
This changes the properties of the DNA.
Knot theory is used to detect the action of enzymes.
I was actually reviewing this paper in particular to access info on knot theory and smoke rings:
1867: Peter Tait experimented with smoke rings
@AMcD @jenlake @quantumheartcafe As I was watching Episode 7 of Little Demon, in the final scene, I noticed the “smoke signal” – such that the mom is smoking – but cryptically so. She hides it from her daughter. Thus, it is presented as covert/sneaky. The exhaled smoke was salient in the scene. It seemed significant, but I could not grasp the meaning. Then I saw that smoke rings are studied in the context of knot theory. Who knew?
Two relevant images from the episode:
Info on Peter Guthrie Tait and his work on knots and smoke rings:
Peter Guthrie Tait (1831 - 1901) was significantly less famous than his friends Maxwell and Kelvin, but unfairly so because he was an important and prolific mathematical physicist. He was Professor of Natural Philosophy at the University of Edinburgh from 1859, narrowly beating Maxwell to the post, and worked on a variety of topics including thermodynamics and the kinetic theory of gases. In a fantastic experiment involving smoke rings, Tait and Kelvin came up with a new atomic theory based around the idea of knots and links. This took on a mathematical life on its own, with Tait becoming one of the world’s first topologists and inventing conjectures which remained unproven for over a hundred years.
@AMcD @jenlake @quantumheartcafe The paper below seems surprisingly important (I did not yet read it in its entirely, but pulled an intriguing excerpt):
Chapter 2 Smoke Rings
Do not think that mathematics is hard and crabbed, and repulsive to common sense.
It is merely the etherealization of common sense. ~ William Thomson
When it came to imagining physical processes, rotating systems were never far from Thomson’s mind, but it was the vivid impression made by Tait’s smoke rings which brought about in him the sudden thought that he had at last found the secret of the structure of the atom. Here was a wonderful new way of picturing the fundamental constituents of matter, which would allow for a far deeper understanding than did the standard atomic theory of the day. He felt a strong aversion to the most popular current theory, which presented matter as formed of infinitely hard, elastic, indivisible, indestructible, minuscule, spherical atoms. Thomson believed that scientists were projecting onto these hard spheres whatever properties they felt would allow agreement with experimental results. For example, to account for the capacity of a gas to apply pressure to a chamber wall, these atomic spheres were imagined to be endowed with elastic properties. This might be reasonable for rubber balls, but it seemed implausible to him that entities understood to be without internal structure should possess any elasticity.
Even more tellingly, how could such featureless corpuscles vary sufficiently to account for the range of properties possessed by the chemical elements: colourless, gaseous, life-giving oxygen; light, metallic, combustible sodium; carbon as graphite or as diamond; mercury as a shiny, liquid poison; or any other of the elements to have been isolated up to that time? The number of elements that had been discovered steadily increased through the nineteenth century. By the late 1860s, sixty-three had been found and their properties tabulated. A further one, fluorine, was known to exist, but could not be isolated due to its reactivity. What could be the source of such variation?
Of course, smoke rings disperse over the course of a minute or so, while atoms were known to have endured for millions of years and perhaps all eternity. But this presented no problem to Thomson’s idea. After all, the smoke rings were indicating regions of the room in which the air was rapidly rotating, and air is a medium in which frictional effects would quickly diffuse these pockets of rotational flow. What Helmholtz had shown was that in a perfectly frictionless medium, vortices would persist indefinitely. So the permanence of atoms could be explained, Thomson reasoned, were atoms taken to be tubular vortex motions of a fluid ‘destitute of viscosity’. Now when it came to accounting for an atom’s elasticity, a far less ad hoc explanation could be given, since vortex- atoms had a more complex internal structure than had sphere-atoms. For example, one would
expect to be able to calculate how the dimensions of the ring and its speed of rotation would relate to the elasticity of an atomic collision, rather than merely assign this quantity a value derived from macroscopic measurements of pressure.
Unlike spheres, there were many ways in which these tubes might vary. For instance, Helmholtz had shown them ‘invariable as to strength’, in the sense that at any point on the ring and at any moment the cross-sectional area multiplied by the speed of rotation there was a fixed quantity. In other words, if a section of the ring became narrower, it rotated more rapidly. Vortices of different strengths might be expected to behave differently.
More intriguingly, seeing that a ring is a string-like object, wave motions could be expected to ripple around it at particular frequencies and this, Thomson argued, would account for a phenomenon which had long defied explanation. It had been found that any chemical element when suitably excited gives off light with a characteristic pattern of frequencies, referred to as its spectrum, and that each such spectrum is unique. With this major discovery, mankind could at last say something about the make-up of the heavenly bodies on the basis of hard scientific evidence, rather than rely on the imaginings of poets or the speculations of philosophers. Indeed, by comparing the light arriving from distant stars with spectral data obtained in the laboratory, scientists were to discover that the principal constituents of stellar bodies are hydrogen and a gas which came to be called helium, from helios the Greek word for the sun. The orange-yellow colour of one of the lines in helium’s spectrum was first picked up during a solar eclipse in 1868, the year following Tait’s smoke ring demonstration.
Now, an element’s spectrum of emissions could only reasonably be attributed to some structural feature of the atom of that element which constrained it to vibrate in a limited number of ways. But how could miniature balls be thought to have these multiple internal vibrations? Only some of the frequencies of the emitted light fall in the visible range, our eyes allowing us to detect only a narrow band of radiation, which we experience as running from red to violet. Sodium is seen to emit a yellow light, but to much surprise it had been found that this is caused by emissions of two very close frequencies. Might this occur, Thomson wondered, due to the sodium atom being formed of two nearly identical linked tubes, vibrating at slightly different rates? Could the equivalent of interlocking smoke rings have been formed?
These and other features of the vortex-atom hypothesis meant that it remained a serious contender for physicists over the next twenty years. But besides the physical advantages to his model, Thomson was also taken with the idea that it might lead to evidence for the existence of God. This was no small matter for a religious scientist of the second half of the nineteenth century, threatened by the rise of an atheistic materialism which claimed to base itself on nothing other than
scientific principles. Coincidently, it was the sphere model Thomson was so set against that had been devised precisely to exclude divine presence in the world. Four centuries before Christ, the Greek philosopher Democritus had devised his atomic theory so as to remove the need to invoke the gods to explain untoward events in the universe. In the belief that all that existed were atomic spheres and the empty space between them, mankind might lead a life untroubled by the fear of natural calamities induced by some vengeful Immortal, slighted by a perceived shortfall in the sacrifices offered up to him. For Thomson, on the other hand, scientific theories did not entail a rejection of a divine being. As he put it, “if you think strongly enough you will be forced by science to the belief in God.”
The vortex-atom theory was well suited to allow this inference to be made. Vortices in a frictionless fluid could neither be generated nor destroyed once the fluid was set in motion, except by an act of creative power. Thomson had seen how he himself could act in such a way by causing a smoke ring to disintegrate by encircling its tube with his forefinger and thumb. This in itself was an act of free will on his part, something possessed by all living beings, and every action of which was to be seen as “a miracle to physical and chemical and mathematical science”. But who else except God could create and masterfully direct the perfect fluid? It was He, then, who must be the original cause and directing power of all matter present in the universe.
On knot theory/topography via smoke rings encoded in TV – I also noticed it conspicuously presented in this TV special released four days ago, Entergalactic (in which the act of smoking features heavily – as does MAGENTA):
Kipu, Khipu and Quipo (in another info-pitch that I found on the web) all use the term “best-of-breed” in their descriptions. I guess this is a relatively common term for product descriptions, but this is the first time I have noted it, and it seems unusual that these three synonymous companies all use it. This is similar to the use of the word “species” (which I noted in the Evolutionary Economics thread) to describe what is essentially a digital algorithm/process. A “breed” is a creature that humans have manipulated by husbandry. There is a birth process, and a being. The best-of-breed is the creature which best exemplifies the characteristics that the humans have bred the creature to exhibit/embody. Like the embodiment of a Platonic form. Body, body, body - more verbal sleight-of-hand to fuse/confuse our notions of data/algorithms and body/life.
Company to leverage expertise in mitochondrial biology to advance novel treatments for both rare and common diseases -
Pretzel founded by leading academic experts in mitochondrial biology and backed by world-class investor syndicate -
Platform technologies in gene correction, genome expression modulation, and mitochondrial quality control to enable wide variety of therapeutic approaches -
September 12, 2022 06:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time
WALTHAM, Mass.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Pretzel Therapeutics, a biotechnology company harnessing the intricacies of mitochondrial biology to develop groundbreaking therapies, launched today with a $72.5 million Series A financing to pioneer novel therapies to modulate mitochondrial function. The financing was led by ARCH Venture Partners and Mubadala Capital with participating investors HealthCap, Cambridge Innovation Capital, Cambridge Enterprise, Angelini Ventures, GV, Invus, Eir Ventures, GU Ventures, and Karolinska Institutet Holding.
“We are excited to pioneer a new era in the treatment of diseases related to mitochondrial dysfunction. The expertise we have assembled and the platform technologies we have created will allow new inroads into treating both rare genetic diseases as well as common diseases of aging”
“We are excited to pioneer a new era in the treatment of diseases related to mitochondrial dysfunction. The expertise we have assembled and the platform technologies we have created will allow new inroads into treating both rare genetic diseases as well as common diseases of aging,” said Jay Parrish, Ph.D., Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Pretzel. “We’re proud to be backed by an outstanding investor syndicate, with a Series A financing that will allow us to prosecute preclinical development across our pipeline and continue to build out our talented team.”
“Pretzel is advancing a first-of-its-kind platform to modulate mitochondrial biology, with a vast range of potential applications across rare and common disorders,” said Alaa Halawa, MBA, Partner and Head of the U.S. Ventures business at Mubadala Capital. “As investors focused on partnering early with companies that will positively impact patients’ lives, we’re proud to co-lead the company’s Series A financing and to partner with Pretzel on their journey to build the world’s leading center of excellence addressing diseases of mitochondrial dysfunction.”
Dysfunctional mitochondria are involved in more than 50 diseases. The most severe of these are broadly termed mitochondrial diseases, a group of rare genetic conditions which affect individuals of all ages. Mitochondrial dysfunction also plays an important role in more common diseases, including aging-related disorders such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. In addition, modulating mitochondrial biology presents a potential approach to the treatment of diseases not directly caused by mitochondrial dysfunction, for instance cancer and metabolic diseases.
Pretzel’s platform encompasses three primary technologies to modulate mitochondrial function: Genome correction, genome expression modulation, and mitochondrial quality control. The company’s genome correction therapeutics will utilize specialized gene-editing tools to reduce mutated mitochondrial DNA and increase the levels of healthy mitochondrial DNA. Genome expression modulation will be accomplished using small molecules that act on the enzymes involved in mitochondrial DNA replication, transcription, and translation. Finally, mitochondrial quality control will be targeted using small molecules that modulate mitochondria’s built-in quality control system.
Founders and Team
Pretzel’s founders include three leading academics in the field of mitochondrial biology. Claes Gustafsson, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of medical biochemistry at the University of Gothenburg and an expert in mitochondrial gene expression. Michal Minczuk, Ph.D., is a Group Leader and MRC Investigator at the MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit, University of Cambridge and an expert in mitochondrial genome engineering. Nils-Göran Larsson, M.D., Ph.D., is professor of mitochondrial genetics at the Department of Medical Biochemistry and Biophysics at Karolinska Institutet who has published over 150 articles on mitochondrial biology.
In addition to Drs. Gustafsson, Minczuk, and Larsson, founders Gabriel Martinez, Ph.D. and Paul Thurk, Ph.D., played a formative role in the company’s creation based on their deep biotechnology industry expertise. Finally, the company recognizes the contributions of Gunther Kern, Ph.D., MBA; Jeremy Green, Ph.D.; and Christina Trojel-Hansen, Ph.D., to the formation of Pretzel.
“Mitochondria have historically been a challenging cellular organelle to target therapeutically, in part because mitochondrial diseases are extremely diverse, both genetically and phenotypically, but also due to the distinctive characteristics of mitochondrial genome function. However, scientific understanding of mitochondrial biology has greatly advanced in recent years, allowing new insights into their role in many prevalent diseases, as well as how they can be therapeutically targeted,” said Claes Gustafsson. “It’s gratifying to form Pretzel to translate these insights into therapies that could meaningfully improve people’s lives.”
Pretzel is led by accomplished experts in drug discovery, drug development, and company foundation, and is advised by a Board of Directors and Scientific Advisory Board with deep scientific and industry expertise.
Pretzel’s leadership team is comprised of:
The company’s Board of Directors is comprised of:
The company’s Scientific Advisory Board is comprised of:
About Pretzel Therapeutics
Pretzel Therapeutics is a biotechnology company harnessing the intricacies of mitochondrial biology to develop groundbreaking therapies. Pretzel was founded by leading academic experts in mitochondrial biology and is backed by a world-class investor syndicate. The company is headquartered in Waltham, MA and has research facilities in Gothenburg, Sweden. For more information, visit www.pretzeltx.com.
Lisa Raffensperger
Ten Bridge Communications
Roger D. Kornberg
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Roger Kornberg
Kornberg in 2016
Born April 24, 1947 (age 75)
St. Louis, Missouri, US
Alma mater * Harvard University (BS)
Roger David Kornberg (born April 24,[4] 1947) is an American biochemist and professor of structural biology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Kornberg was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2006 for his studies of the process by which genetic information from DNA is copied to RNA, “the molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription.”[5][6][7][8][9][10]
Kornberg was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the eldest son of biochemist Arthur Kornberg, who won the Nobel Prize, and Sylvy Ruth (Levy) who was also a biochemist. He earned his bachelor’s degree in chemistry from Harvard University in 1967 and his Ph.D. in chemical physics from Stanford in 1972 supervised by Harden M. McConnell.[3]
Kornberg became a postdoctoral research fellow at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England and then an Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry at Harvard Medical School in 1976, before moving to his present position as Professor of Structural Biology at Stanford Medical School in 1978.[11] Since 2004, Kornberg has been the editor of the Annual Review of Biochemistry.[12]
Kornberg in 2006
Roger D. Kornberg (third from left) with Andrew Fire, George Smoot, Dick Cheney, Craig Mello and John C. Mather
Kornberg identified the role of RNA polymerase II and other proteins in DNA transcription, creating three-dimensional images of the protein cluster using X-ray crystallography. [13]
Kornberg and his research group have made several fundamental discoveries concerning the mechanisms and regulation of eukaryotic transcription. While a graduate student working with Harden McConnell at Stanford in the late 1960s, he discovered the “flip-flop” and lateral diffusion of phospholipids in bilayer membranes. Meanwhile, as a postdoctoral fellow working with Aaron Klug and Francis Crick at the MRC in the 1970s, Kornberg discovered the nucleosome as the basic protein complex packaging chromosomal DNA in the nucleus of eukaryotic cells (chromosomal DNA is often termed “chromatin” when it is bound to proteins in this manner).[14] Within the nucleosome, Kornberg found that roughly 200 bp of DNA are wrapped around an octamer of histone proteins. With Yahli Lorch, Kornberg showed that a nucleosome on a promoter prevents the initiation of transcription, leading to the recognition of a functional role for the nucleosome, which serves as a general gene repressor.[15]
Kornberg’s research group at Stanford later succeeded in the development of a faithful transcription system from baker’s yeast, a simple unicellular eukaryote, which they then used to isolate in a purified form all of the several dozen proteins required for the transcription process. Through the work of Kornberg and others, it has become clear that these protein components are remarkably conserved across the full spectrum of eukaryotes, from yeast to human cells.[16]
Using this system, Kornberg made the major discovery that transmission of gene regulatory signals to the RNA polymerase machinery is accomplished by an additional protein complex that they dubbed Mediator.[17] As noted by the Nobel Prize committee, “the great complexity of eukaryotic organisms is actually enabled by the fine interplay between tissue-specific substances, enhancers in the DNA and Mediator. The discovery of Mediator is therefore a true milestone in the understanding of the transcription process.”[18]
At the same time as Kornberg was pursuing these biochemical studies of the transcription process, he devoted two decades to the development of methods to visualize the atomic structure of RNA polymerase and its associated protein components.[13] Initially, Kornberg took advantage of expertise with lipid membranes gained from his graduate studies to devise a technique for the formation of two-dimensional protein crystals on lipid bilayers. These 2D crystals could then be analyzed using electron microscopy to derive low-resolution images of the protein’s structure. Eventually, Kornberg was able to use X-ray crystallography to solve the 3-dimensional structure of RNA polymerase at atomic resolution.[19][20] He has recently extended these studies to obtain structural images of RNA polymerase associated with accessory proteins.[21]Through these studies, Kornberg has created an actual picture of how transcription works at a molecular level. According to the Nobel Prize committee, “the truly revolutionary aspect of the picture Kornberg has created is that it captures the process of transcription in full flow. What we see is an RNA-strand being constructed, and hence the exact positions of the DNA, polymerase and RNA during this process.”[22]
As a graduate student at Stanford University, Kornberg’s studied the rotation of phospholipids and defined for the first time the dynamics of lipids in the membrane.[23] Kornberg called the movement of lipid from one leaflet to the other flip-flop because he had studied only a few years before electronic circuit elements called flip-flops. The term gave rise to the naming of proteins called flippases and floppases.[24]
Kornberg has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards of the following companies: Cocrystal Discovery, Inc (Chairman), ChromaDex Corporation (Chairman), StemRad, Ltd, Oplon Ltd (Chairman), and Pacific Biosciences. Kornberg has also been a director for the following companies: OphthaliX Inc., Protalix BioTherapeutics, Can-Fite BioPharma, Ltd, Simploud and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd.
Kornberg has received the following awards:
https://med.stanford.edu/kornberg
Our research is directed towards the mechanism and regulation of RNA polymerase II transcription. Transcription is the first step and the key control point in the pathway of gene expression. Transcriptional regulation underlies development, oncogenesis, and other fundamental processes.
In eukaryotes the enzyme RNA Polymerase II is responsible for transcription of messenger RNA making pol’s regulation central to gene expression. We seek to reconstitute the entire process from promoter chromatin remodeling to transcript synthesis with pure proteins and nucleic acids, to solve the structures of the proteins, and to elucidate their functional interactions.
@AMcD RE: Neal Stephenson and Quipu
In his 2017 novel, The Rise and Fall of D.O.D.O., Stephenson mentions Quipu 31 times.
A New York Times Bestseller
From bestselling author Neal Stephenson and critically acclaimed historical and contemporary commercial novelist Nicole Galland comes a captivating and complex near-future thriller combining history, science, magic, mystery, intrigue, and adventure that questions the very foundations of the modern world.
When Melisande Stokes, an expert in linguistics and languages, accidently meets military intelligence operator Tristan Lyons in a hallway at Harvard University, it is the beginning of a chain of events that will alter their lives and human history itself. The young man from a shadowy government entity approaches Mel, a low-level faculty member, with an incredible offer. The only condition: she must sign a nondisclosure agreement in return for the rather large sum of money.
Tristan needs Mel to translate some very old documents, which, if authentic, are earth-shattering. They prove that magic actually existed and was practiced for centuries. But the arrival of the scientific revolution and the Age of Enlightenment weakened its power and endangered its practitioners. Magic stopped working altogether in 1851, at the time of the Great Exhibition at London’s Crystal Palace—the world’s fair celebrating the rise of industrial technology and commerce. Something about the modern world “jams” the “frequencies” used by magic, and it’s up to Tristan to find out why.
And so the Department of Diachronic Operations—D.O.D.O. —gets cracking on its real mission: to develop a device that can bring magic back, and send Diachronic Operatives back in time to keep it alive . . . and meddle with a little history at the same time. But while Tristan and his expanding operation master the science and build the technology, they overlook the mercurial—and treacherous—nature of the human heart.
Written with the genius, complexity, and innovation that characterize all of Neal Stephenson’s work and steeped with the down-to-earth warmth and humor of Nicole Galland’s storytelling style, this exciting and vividly realized work of science fiction will make you believe in the impossible, and take you to places—and times—beyond imagining.
RE: The Simpsons and pretzels – and Kabbalah
@quantumheartcafe Returning to the pretzel-themed Simpsons clip that you had posted:
See this image at the very beginning:
Is it reminiscent of the following image (Masonic/Kabbalistic)?
@quantumheartcafe You had also referenced it being evocative of Baal – which, again, would connect to the aforementioned clip being suggestive of Kabbalah/Freemasonry; and Baal worship circles us back to the worship of El and Asherah as discussed above (and noted below) – and on two other threads (September 15, 2017: A Busy Day of Seemingly Unrelated Events ~ Babalon/Babylon Working? - #2 by Stephers and Neal Stephenson, Metaverse, LAMINA1, Long Now, Fort Meade, Cryptology, Pseudonyms, Blue Origin/Jeff Bezos, Magic Leap - #11 by AMcD) . . .
Asherah’s consort was El, and by him she was the mother of 70 gods. As mother goddess she was widely worshiped throughout Syria and Palestine, although she was frequently paired with Baal, who often took the place of El; as Baal’s consort, Asherah was usually given the name Baalat.
The controllers weave a very Kabbalistic tapestry, don’t they?
Indeed (as noted above), seeing a NASA scientist involved with “Artemis” (which is another name for Asherah: Asherah at Sacred Source) – and with a slogan of “Ashes to Sona” (a potential reference to Asherah) – promoting her Kabbalah training/coaching/workshops may offer us some clues . . .
My question is how does the Khipu weaving fit into this?
If I imagine the Kabbalah as a matrix device (as an overlay to contain energy/information), then I get the sense that the ancient Andean cosmology (as represented by the Khipu) could potentially represent what exists outside of the Kabbalistic scaffolding.
Keep in mind these are esoteric/metaphysical concepts, and therefore, cannot necessarily be conjured concretely in the material (meaning, we cannot see and touch this directly, and thus, lack tangible evidence/proof). Essentially, when considering energetic strangleholds such as hyperdimensional “devices” (akin to Tech-No-Logic/AI), we are left to our own heart-based/intuitive “devices” to discern and decipher that which is being presented to us (primarily on the “screen” – via TV/film/advertising/social media/Internet etc) . . .
RE: More smoke rings depicted in Entergalactic (this time with a sage stick) – evoking the light rings/knots created by Ellie Goulding in her Lights music video
Do you see the infinity loop knot?
Do you see the pretzel?
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