After Vincent genetic test:

Vincent: What about the interview?

Dr. Lamar: That was it.

Basically GATTACA  is a movie about a future where your DNA becomes your Curriculum Vitae.

What does “GATTACA” means?

In the movie, it is the name of the facility where the action occurs, and apparently, it was the better way that was found by the creators of the movie for arranging the four “bases”  in the DNA (Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine) in such a way that it sounds like a name.

The title sequences highlight these letters that represent the nitrogen bases in the DNA:

GATTACA main message is:

“There is no gen for the human spirit”

For additional information about this movie, please visit the Moviecular Biology page.

Of course, the post “New lights on Dragon Metabolism”, posted on April 1^st. was a joke for April Fools day. I invented

the whole Dragogenin issue!

Some clues that could have allowed the readers to detect that it was a joke:       

-          The date of the release of the information, April 1^st., is repeated three times along the post.

-          The News Agency:  It is not Reuters, or UPI, or AP or AFP, but an imaginary AMP (Adenosin MonoPhosphate agency!).

-          The place where the information was released: Nogare, an imaginary place, whose name is the name of the famous dragon movies “Eragon” written backwards.

-          Komodo University: Of course, an imaginary University.

-          The reference to imaginary, mythological creatures as ancient dragons that were living in Europe in the V -VII centuries.

-          And of course, the note at the end of the post: “This post was released on April, 1^st, 2009 (Happy A.F.)”, meaning Happy  April Fools!

Conclusions: Do not believe everything you read, mainly if it is on April Fools!

“And Edward was staring at me curiously, that same, familiar edge of frustration even more distinct now in his black eyes.

I stared back, surprised, expecting him to look quickly away. But instead he continued to gaze with probing intensity into my eyes. There was no question of me looking away. My hands started to shake.

“Mr. Cullen?” the teacher called, seeking the answer to a question that I hadn’t heard.

“The Krebs Cycle,” Edward answered, seeming reluctant as he turned to look at Mr. Banner.”

Related posts:

Porphyrias at the movies

John Michael Crichton, M.D. (October 23, 1942 – November 4, 2008) was an American author, film producer, film director, and television producer best known for his science fiction and techno-thriller novels, films, and television programs. His books have sold over 150 million copies worldwide.

Medicine, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology were present in an important part of his novels. He graduated from Harvard Medical School in 1969, and did post-doctoral fellowship study at the Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California, from 1969 to 1970. In 1988, he was Visiting Writer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Among his novels and works that include Medicine, Biochemistry and molecular topics are included ”A case of Need” (Abortion), “The Andromeda Strain” (Disseminated Intravascular coagulation, blood pH, mutations), “Next”, (Genetic Research), “Jurassic Park” and its sequel ”The Lost World” (Genetic Research), “The Terminal man” (Psychiatry, Epilepsy), and of course, the “ER” television drama (Crichton was also the creator and executive producer).

Michael Crichton also wrote a non-fictional book relating his hospital experiences at Massachussets General Hospital in Boston. In this book, called “Five patients”, Crichton follows the history of five patients, and include issues related to drug prices, and healthcare costs and polices.

The news about his death in TV:

American author Michael Crichton dies at age 66

Michael Crichton

Related page: Moviecular Biology

This movie is called “Unbreakable”, in reference to the character played by Bruce Willis, but from the biochemical point of view, we are more interested in the character of Elijah, played by Samuel L. Jackson: the “Breakable” character, or “Mr. Glass”.

Elijah Price: “I have something called Osteogenesis Imperfecta. It’s a genetic disorder. I don’t make a particular protein very well and it makes my bones very low in density… very easy to break.”

More information, Soon, in a webpage near you!

(Unbreakable: Osteogenesis Imperfecta Case Presentation)

 

 

 

 

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A few days ago I posted a question using some scenes of the movie “A Beautiful Mind” (“A question with a video clip“) 

The answer for that question can be seen in the updated Biochemistry at the Movies Page, where the use of Insulin Shock Therapy, or Insulin Coma Therapy (ICT) that appears in this movie, is described.  John Nash, the Nobel Prize whose battle with schizophrenia was the base of the movie, tells his experience with ICT, but also Leonard Franks, an activist against Insulin Shock Therapy and other psychiatric procedures presents his opinions as a “psychiatric survivor”, about these therapies, that has been abandoned already by the mainstream psychiatry.  Some links to articles with relevant information about ICT have been included in the post

I invite you to visit “A Beautiful Mind: Hypoglycemia and Insulin Coma Therapy” at the Biochemistry at the Movies Page.

Observe the following clip from the movie: “A beautiful mind”:

(I-06) In the clip that appears above, the patient present seizures as a result of:

a)     An electroshock treatment

b)     A sudden increase of the entrance of glucose into the brain as a consequence of the insulin shot.

c)      The paranoic eschizophrenia the patient suffered.

d)     A sudden decrease of glucose in blood.

e)     A hepatic coma as a consequence of sudden entrance of glucose to the liver.

f)       A sudden increase of ketonic bodies in blood.

   See the explanation at the Biochemistry at the Movies page.

Phantom of the Opera: Another biochemical disorder?

Erick disfiguration in Phantom of the Opera has been explained in different ways in different movies: as result of a fire, the action of an acid..but which was the explanation behind the novel,  according to those that studied Gaston Leroux works?

The Biochemistry at the movies page has been updated with information about the Phantom of the Opera’s disease.  Visit it and you will find an answer!

The disease that aflicted him has been object of discussion during many years:  absinthe intoxications, arsenite poisoning, bipolar disorder, epilepsy, Lead poisoning, Meniere’s disease, Syphilis, have been among the atributted causes of his symptoms and signs.

We have talked already about the arsenite poisoning hypothesis.

Since Vincent Van Gogh’s life and medical condition have been presented in at least 5 major films, and I have already a thread about Porphyria in the movies, I invite you to read the basis that supports that Vincent Van Gogh suffered from Porphyria in the Biochemistry at the movies page.

John Hammonds: “- All major theme parks have had delays. When they opened Disneyland in 1956, nothing worked, nothing!”

Dr. Ian Malcolm- “But John, but if the Pirates of the Caribbean breaks down, the Pirates do not eat the tourists.”

“If there is one thing the history of evolution has taught us it’s that life will not be contained. Life breaks free, expands to new territory, and crashes through barriers, painfully, maybe even dangerously.”

Is the premise of the dinosaur’s DNA obtained from the mosquito possible?

What is the Lysine Contingency?

Visit the updated Moviecular Biology page!