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Gurdon, Sir John Bertrand

(Encyclopedia)Gurdon, Sir John Bertrand, 1933–, British biologist, Ph.D. Oxford, 1962. He has been a researcher at Cambridge since 1971. Gurdon was the joint recipient of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Med...

taxon

(Encyclopedia)taxon (pl. taxa), in biology, a term used to denote any group or rank in the classification of organisms, e.g., class, order, family. ...

Greider, Carol Widney

(Encyclopedia)Greider, Carol Widney, 1961–, American molecular biologist, b. San Diego, Calif., Ph.D. Univ. of California, Berkeley, 1987. Greider was a researcher and professor at the Cold Spring Harbor Laborato...

sex

(Encyclopedia)sex, term used to refer both to the two groups distinguished as males and females, and to the anatomical and physiological characteristics associated with maleness and femaleness. Sex relates to the t...

atrophy

(Encyclopedia)atrophy ătˈrəfē [key], diminution in the size of a cell, tissue, or organ from its fully developed normal size. Temporary atrophy may occur in muscles that are not used, as when a limb is encased ...

Klug, Sir Aaron

(Encyclopedia)Klug, Sir Aaron klo͞og [key], 1926–2018, British biochemist, b. Lithuania. Raised and educated in South Africa, he moved to England and completed his doctorate at Trinity College, Cambridge, in 195...

bacteriophage

(Encyclopedia)bacteriophage băktērˈēəfājˌ [key], virus that infects bacteria and sometimes destroys them by lysis, or dissolution of the cell. Bacteriophages, or phages, have a head composed of protein, an i...

skin cancer

(Encyclopedia)skin cancer, malignant tumor of the skin. The most common types of skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma, and melanoma. Rarer forms include mycosis fungoides (a type of lymphom...

acetylcholine

(Encyclopedia)acetylcholine əsētˌəlkōˈlēn [key], a small organic molecule liberated at nerve endings as a neurotransmitter. It is particularly important in the stimulation of muscle tissue. The transmission ...

Schenker, Heinrich

(Encyclopedia)Schenker, Heinrich hīnˈrĭkh shĕngkˈər [key], 1868–1935, Austro-Polish music theorist. Educated at the Vienna Conservatory, he devoted his life to teaching and research. Schenker developed the ...