The document outlines the schedule for Science Day 2012 hosted by Govinda Bhisetti on December 28, 2012. The day-long event includes an introduction, a tribute to Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow, a discussion of the 2012 Nobel Prizes, a screening of a movie, and presentations on breakthroughs in science from the past year. It also provides background information on Dr. SubbaRow and how Nobel Prize winners are selected.

1. Science Day 2012
Friday, December 28, 2012
Govinda Bhisetti, Ph. D.
Lexington, MA 02421
govindarb@yahoo.com
9:30 AM Arrival
10:00 – 10:15 AM Introduction
10:15 – 10:30 PM Tribute to Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow
10:30 – 12:30 PM 2012 Nobel Prizes
12:30 – 1:30 PM Lunch
2:00 – 3:30 PM Breakthroughs in Science 2012
3:30 – 5:30 PM Movie
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2. Dr. Yellapragada SubbaRow
Science Day is dedicated to Dr. SubbaRow
Who arrived in Boston 90 years ago and went on to make
breakthrough discoveries in Biochemistry and Medicine.
He discovered ATP, phosphocreatin, methotrexate (anti-
folate), hetrazan and led the discovery of the first antibiotic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellapragada_Subbarao
A short video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mbdiut6JujA
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3. Nobel Prize
"…The whole of my remaining realizable estate shall be dealt with in the following way: The
capital shall be invested by my executors in safe securities and shall constitute a fund, the
interest on which shall be annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the
preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind ... ; one part to the person
who shall have made the most important discovery within the domain of physiology or
medicine; ... The prizes for ... shall be awarded by ... that for physiology or medicine by the
Carolinska Institute in Stockholm; ... "
Alfred Nobel's will, signed in Paris on 27 November 1895. The statutes of the Nobel
Foundation, which were officially approved by the Swedish Government on 29 June 1900.
This year's monetary award will be 8 million Swedish kronor (SEK) - about $1.2
million. This represents a drop of 20%, compared with last year, from 10 million
SEK, and is due to the turbulence that has hit financial markets.
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4. How are the Nobel Laureates Selected?
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5. Prize Announcement Schedule
• Monday, October 8, 2012 PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE
• Tuesday, October 9, 2012 PHYSICS
• Wednesday, October 10, 2011 CHEMISTRY
• Thursday, October 11, 2011 LITERATURE
• Friday, October 12, 2010 PEACE
•
• Monday, October 15, 2010 ECONOMICS
Prizes were awarded on December 10, 2012
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6. 2012 Nobel Prize winners
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7. Mo Yan
"who with hallucinatory realism merges folk tales, history
and the contemporary”
Has written 11 novels, including The
Garlic Ballads, Red Sorghum Clan,
The Republic of Wine, Big Breasts
and Wide Hips; Life and Death are
Wearing Me Out; Frog
Produced more than 30 long stories,
including Shifu, You'll Do Anything for
a Laugh
Has also written more than 80 short
stories
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8. Peace Nobel Prize
European Union (EU)
"for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace
and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”
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9. Economic Sciences
Alvin E. Roth and Lloyd S. Shapley
"for the theory of stable allocations and the practice of market design"
Shapley used game theory to study matching models, and Roth built on
them to make real-world changes to existing markets, including school
choice and organ transplants, the academy said.
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10. PHYSIOLOGY or MEDICINE
Sir John Gurdon and Shinya Yamanaka
"for revealing that mature cells can be reverted into primitive cells"
Ralph M. Steinman
Rockefeller University, NY
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/health/july-dec12/nobel_10-08.html
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11. Science Report on Sir Gurdon
Nobel Physics interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2lU4uiOPUQ
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12. Stem Cells and its Potential Uses
Nobel Physics interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2lU4uiOPUQ
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13. Adult Cells and induced iPSC
Rewind,Reprogram and Replace
First one converts the somatic cell into pluripotent cell, the second one corrects the
genetic defect and the third one turns the cells into a new cell type that can replace the
diseased cell type in the patient.
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14. CHEMISTRY
Robert J. Lefkowitz and Brian K. Kobilka
"for studies of G-protein-coupled receptors"
There are around 800 known human
GPCRs. But before Lefkowitz identified
them and, together with Kobilka,
determined how they work, nobody
even knew they existed.
GPCRs help us to sense light, flavour
and odour. They are also responsible for
the body’s reactions to chemicals such
as adrenaline, histamine, dopamine and
serotonin.
Fight or Flight: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2GywoS77qc
Epinephrene : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejq99wLEMTw
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15. G-Protein Coupled Receptors
G-protein coupled receptors sit in cell membranes. It’s
their job to tell the inside of the cell what is going on
outside. Thanks to the work of Lefkowitz and Kobilka,
we know about what they are, how they are built and
how they work.
A new molecular portrait shows how the activation of a
hormone receptor (green) by a small signalling molecule
(top) causes a dramatic structural shift in its associated
G protein (yellow, blue and mauve)
GPCRs in one Minute
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=696maX-V5AE
http://www.periodicvideos.com/videos/feature_nobel_prize_2012.htm
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16. PHYSICS
Sege Haroche and David Wineland
"for ground-breaking experimental methods that enable measuring and
manipulation of individual quantum systems”
Sege Harioche David Wineland
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17. Ervin Schrodinger’s Cat (1935)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxqTtiWxs4
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18. Fundamental quantum particles
Schrödinger (1952):
“We never experiment with just one
electron or atom or (small) molecule. In
thought experiments, we sometimes
assume that we do; this invariably
entails ridiculous consequences…”
2012 laureates made it possible to enter
this world!
* precise control + isolation from
environment
* simple small systems
How do we see Light?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dRr-fnPCwM
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19. Quantum Optics
“This year’s Nobel Prize in physics is about the interaction between light
and matter.”
The Nobel Laureates have opened the door to a new era of
experimentation with quantum physics by demonstrating the direct
observation of individual quantum particles without destroying them.
The new methods allow them to examine, control and count the particles,
which were previously thought inaccessible for direct observation. .
David Wineland traps electrically charged atoms, or ions, controlling and
measuring them with light, or photons.
Serge Haroche takes the opposite approach: he controls and measures
trapped photons, or particles of light, by sending atoms through a trap.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UmxpUFxHlGg
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20. 12/28/2012 Science Day Govinda Bhisetti 20

21. Break
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22. Breakthrough of the Year 2012
Exotic particles made headlines again
and again in 2012, making it no
surprise that the breakthrough of the
year is a big physics finding:
confirmation of the existence of the
Higgs Boson. Hypothesized more than
40 years ago, the elusive particle
completes the standard model of
physics, and is arguably the key to the
explanation of how other fundamental
particles obtain mass.
23 December 2011
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23. 2012 Science Breakthroughs
1. The Higgs Boson detected
2. A Home Run for Ancient DNA
3. Genomic Cruise Missiles
4. Crash Project Opens a Door in Neutrino Physics
5. Genomics Beyond Genes
6. Scary Engineering Tames Martian Terror
7. First Protein Structure From an X-ray Laser
8. Brain-Machine Interfaces Start to Get a Grip
9. Majorana Fermions, Quasi-Here at Last
10. Making Eggs from Stem Cells
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24. 10. Making Eggs from Stem Cells
Fertilized lab-derived egg cells yielded embryos—and live mice
Japanese scientists created
viable egg cells using embryonic
stem cells from adult mice. The
breakthrough raises the possibility
that women who are unable to
produce eggs naturally could
have them created in a test tube
from their own cells and then
implanted in their body.
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25. 9. Majorana Fermions
Scientists confirmed the
existence of Majorana
fermions, particles that can
act as their own antimatter
and destroy themselves.
Scientists believe that “qubits”
made of Majorana fermions
could be used to more
efficiently store and process
data than the bits currently
used in digital computers.
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26. 8. Brain-Machine Interfaces Get a Grip
A brain-machine interface
that allows paralysed
humans to move a
mechanical arm with their
minds and perform
movements in three
dimensions. The
experimental technology
is promising for patients
paralyzed by strokes and
spinal injuries.
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27. 7. First Protein Structure from X-ray Laser
Use of an X-ray laser, which
shines one billion times
brighter than traditional
synchroton sources,
allowed scientists to
determine the structure of a
protein involved in the
transmission of African
sleeping sickness.
The advance demonstrated
the potential of X-ray lasers
to decipher proteins that
conventional X-ray sources
cannot.
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28. 6. Scary Engineering Tames Martian Terror:
Landing Curiosity
NASA engineers landed the
3.3 ton Mars Curiosity rover
on the Red Planet by using
an innovative “sky crane”
landing system that dangled
the vehicle, with its wheels
out, at the end of three
cables.
The flawless landing
reassured planners that
NASA could someday land
a second mission near an
earlier rover to pick up
samples the rover collected
and return them to Earth.
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29. 5. Genomics Beyond Genes
A decade long, $288 million study
reported this year in more than 30
papers showed the human genome to
be quite a bustling place, biochemically
speaking. The work—called the
Encyclopedia of DNA Elements
(ENCODE)—builds on the Human
Genome Project, which deciphered the
order of the bases that are our DNA’s
building blocks and found that less than
2% of those bases defined genes.
The ENCODE Project, which showed
that 80 percent of the human genome is
active and helps turn genes on and off.
The new information could help
scientists understand genetic risk
factors for diseases.
ENCODE gives labels and functions to
much of the DNA between genes,
emphasizing the non-coding and
regulatory regions of our genomes.
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30. 4. Crash Project Opens a Door in
Neutriono Physics
That was fast!
Construction of China’s Daya
Bay Reactor Neutrino
Experiment began in 2007.
With 2 months’ worth of data,
it scooped competitors in
Japan, France, Korea, and
the United States.
Researchers discovered the
final unknown parameter of a
model describing how sub-
atomic particles. neutrinos
change as they travel at near-
light speed. The results
suggest that neutrino physics
may someday help
researchers explain why the
universe contains so much
matter and so little antimatter.
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31. 3. Genetic Cruise Missile (TALENS)
Genome engineers got
their hands on powerful
new tools that put the
modification of DNA within
easy reach of biologists
studying a variety of
organisms, including yeast
and humans.
The new tool could be as
effective, and even
cheaper, than current
gene-targeting techniques
Transcription Activator-Like Effector Nucleases (TALENs) are engineered and could let researchers
restriction enzymes generated by fusing the TAL effector DNA binding focus on specific roles for
domain to a DNA cleavage domain. The typical restriction endonuclease genes and mutations in
used is FokI, which has to dimerize in order to cut DNA. For TALENs, two healthy and sick people.
engineered TAL effectors are designed that bind the targeted DNA
sequence on either side of the chosen cut site in the genome. Errors in DNA
repair at the site of cleavage lead to deletions and insertions, and
permanent alteration of the targeted locus.
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32. 2. A Home Run for Ancient DNA
Postdoc Matthias Meyer at the
Max Planck Institute fused a
new technique to sequence
the complete genome of an
enigmatic group of humans
called the Denisovans, based
on a tiny sample teased from
a finger bone about 80,000
years old found in a cave in
Siberia. Nothing was known
about the Denisovans other
than that they were
contemporaries of the
Neanderthals, another
“cousin” species of modern
humans.
Using a novel technique for
sequencing degraded DNA,
researchers sequenced the
Denisovan genome,
shedding light on early
human history.
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33. 1. Breakthrough of the Year: Higgs Boson
That feat marks an intellectual,
technological, and organizational
triumph. To produce the Higgs,
researchers at the European particle
physics laboratory, CERN, near
Geneva, built the $5.5 billion, 27-
kilometer-long LHC. To spot the
Higgs, they built gargantuan particle
detectors—ATLAS, which is 25
meters tall and 45 meters long, and
CMS, which weighs 12,500 tonnes.
The ATLAS and CMS teams boast
3000 members each. More than 100
nations have a hand in the LHC.
In this particle collision, a Higgs boson decays
into two electrons and two positrons (red).
http://podcasts.aaas.org/science_podcast/SciencePodcast_111223.mp3
Higgs Boson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIg1Vh7uPyw
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6114/1524.full
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34. Breakthrough of the Year 2012
Exotic particles made headlines again and again in 2012,
making it no surprise that the breakthrough of the year is
a big physics finding: confirmation of the existence of the
Higgs Boson. Hypothesized more than 40 years ago, the
elusive particle completes the standard model of physics,
and is arguably the key to the explanation of how other
fundamental particles obtain mass. In this video, Science
News Writer Adrian Cho talks about this momentous
finding and what physicists will do next.
http://video.sciencemag.org/SciOriginals/
2047901580001/1/@btoy2012
23 December 2011
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