Yay for electrical engineers contributing to biological research.

Yay for electrical engineers contributing to biological research.

One of my old mentors always said, "Measure what you want to measure!"
(and its corollary,)
"You cannot study what you cannot measure."

Here is an example of how finding/innovating the right tool for the job helps to pinpoint the mechanism of a genetically-linked cause of diabetes that has been very difficult to study (until now).

Yay for electrical engineers contributing to biological research.

"Perhaps the Investigators were lucky in this case, but their findings tell us that the method for measuring islet function precisely matches the defective pathway - such as the use of electrical monitoring of impaired insulin granule fusion [(at the cell vesicle membrane)] - the genetic effect is [finally seen as being quite significant contributor]."

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/reprint/362/4/361.pdf

NEJM 362;4 Jan 28, 2010
They implicate an "alpha 2 adrenergic receptor" (the adrenalin / norepinephrine receptor)
(stress --> adrenalin --> dysfunctional receptor mechanism described in article --> over time --> big risk for diabetes).