Papers Explained

It is pretty challenging to proceed smoothly from lectures and lab work to reading science publications and doing independent research. This topic serves as an intermediate to facilitate this transition. It contains thorough step-by-step reviews of papers spanning several different topics. Those reviews offer more depth and detail than the popular science articles introducing new research, but are generally written in a more user-friendly language than a typical paper. They will familiarize you with the applications of the popular experimental techniques as part of large research projects aimed at elucidating various aspects of molecular biology.

SARS-CoV-2 UK Variant

Review of "Early transmissibility assessment of the N501Y mutant strains of SARS-CoV-2 in the United Kingdom, October to November 2020" by Leung et al., 2021.Graphic: https://www.scientificanimations.com CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons, cropped

Multiplex Genome Editing

Review of "Multiplexed genome engineering by Cas12a and CRISPR arrays encoded on single transcripts" by Campa et al., 2019.

Plant Senescence


Detailed, higher-level review of "ATM suppresses leaf senescence triggered by DNA double-strand break through epigenetic control of senescence-associated genes in Arabidopsis" by Li et al., 2020.