Omelette

Introduction:

It is an easy dish for breakfast, but may vary a lot from different preparations. 

Ingredients:

2 eggs

10g tomato

10g spinach

5g peas

10g mushrooms

10g onion

10g bell pepper

0.5g dry basil

0.5g dry thyme

1g parmesan cheese

1g Sriracha hot chili sauce

2g salt

1g black pepper

10ml whole milk

1 leave of fresh basil

5g lobster meat from steamed lobster

30 ml olive oil

Preparation:

1. Chop onion, bell pepper, mushroom, spinach, tomato, into small pieces

2. Crack 2 eggs into a mixing bowel, and beat well with chopsticks

3. Add the chopped vegetables, peas, parmesan cheese, dry thyme, dry basil, salt, black pepper, hot chili sauce, and milk into the eggs to stir well 

4. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan on the stove over high heat for 1 minute, then turn to mild heat

5. Spread the prepared mixture into the hot oil evenly, wait for 10 seconds for the mixture to firm a little and use spatula to direct the left wet mixture to the sides

6. Wait for 1 minute or until the mixture is 80% firm

7. Fold the mixture into a plate, decorate with the lobster meat slices, basil leave, and hot chili sauce

Tomato sauced Spaghetti with lobster

Introduction:
It is an easy Italian dish, but may vary a lot from different preparations. I use commercial tomato sauce to make it simple, but you can always prepare your own sauce with your favorite flavors. The boiling of spaghetti is essential for success, not hard, not soft, just right. The lobster meat add some taste of the sea, lightly.

Ingredients:
100g spaghetti
50g tomato sause
10g peas
10g lobster meat from steamed lobster
30 ml olive oil
10g onion
10g ginger
10g garlic
2g salt
10ml red wine
1g black pepper

Preparation:
1. Heat water in a pot to boiling, add spaghetti and continue heating for 20 minutes, take out the spaghetti and dip into cold water, then drain the water, and keep aside, add some olive oil to prevent dry in the air
2. Chop onion, ginger, and garlic into small pieces
3. Heat the olive oil in a fry pan on the stove over high heat for 1 minute
4. Add ginger, garlic, and onion into the hot oil and stir for 1 minute
6. Add tomato sauce into the pan and stir for 1 minute, then add red wine, and stir for 5 minutes
7. Add peas into the pan and stir for 2 minutes
7. Add salt, and black pepper into the pan, and continue to stir for 2 minutes
8. Put spaghetti into a dish, and top with the finished tomato sauce, decorate with the lobster meat slices

Stir-fried chicken livers with jalapeños

Introduction:

It is an easy-to-prepare dish based on the taste of chicken liver. You can add your favorite spices to adjust the final flavor. Not as exquisite as geese liver though, it will give you enough satisfaction.

Ingredients:
500g chicken liver
100g jalapeños
30 ml canola oil
10g bunching onion
10g ginger
10g garlic
5g sugar
5g salt
1g black pepper
1g potato starch

Preparation:
1. Cut chicken liver into 0.5 cm x 4 cm pieces, put into cold water in pot, heat to boiling to remove the blood, drain the water and keep aside
2. Cut jalapeños into 0.3 cm thick round slices
3. Chop the bunching onion, ginger, and garlic into small pieces
4. Heat the canola oil in a fry pan on the stove over high heat for 1 minute
5. Add the ginger, garlic, and bunching onion into the hot oil and stir for 1 minute
6. Add chicken liver pieces into the pan and stir for 1 minute, then add jalapeños slices into the pan and stir for 1 minute
7. Add sugar, salt, and black pepper into the pan, and continue to stir for 3 minutes
8. Thicken with potato starch to finish

Diagram of a research proposal

Pilgrim monument in Provincetown

 

Braised beef with potatos

Introduction:
It is said that this dish was originated from Hungarian Beef Goulash. It was introduced to China during 1950s by the way of Soviet Union. The basic cooking methods are the same, but the Chinese version is simpler than the Hungarian version, which has more ingredients, such as green peppers, carrots,  and tomatoes.

Ingredients:
500g beef
250g potato
30ml canola oil
10g bunching onion
10g ginger
10g garlic
5g sugar
5g salt
1g black pepper
1g dry hot pepper
30ml red wine
15ml light soy sauce

Preparation:
1. Peel potato, cut into 3cm cubs
2. Cut beef into 3cm cubes, put into cold water in a pot, heat to boiling to remove the blood
3. Chop the bunching onion, ginger, and garlic into small pieces
4. Heat the canola oil in a fry pan on the stove over high heat for 1 minute
5. Add dry hot pepper powder into the hot oil and stir for 2 minutes, then add the ginger, garlic, and bunching onion into the hot oil and stir for 1 minute
6. Add beef cubes into the pan and stir for 1 minute, then add sugar, light soy sauce and red wine, and stir for 5 minutes, or until the beef browns
7. Add 2 cups of boiling water, cover the lid, and stew over low heat for 40 minutes
8. Add potato into the pan, stew over low heat for 20 minutes
9. Adjust with salt and black pepper

A hope for Down syndrome patient

Recently, a research paper published in Nature sheds some light on the treatment of Down syndrome, a genetic disorder due to an extra copy of chromosome 21 in human cells. A group in University of Massachusetts developed a strategy to silence the extra copy of chromosome 21 and restore the genes in Down syndrome cells to normal in the culture dish.

Down syndrome is a genetic disorder that affects one in 691 live births in US; it causes mental retardation, seizure, early onset of Alzheimer disease, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, and many others.  The British physician John Langdon Down first described the syndrome in 1866, and the French physician Jerome Lejeune first identified the cause of Down syndrome as the presence of an extra copy of chromosome 21 in cells of patients. In the past 147 years, generations of scientists have extensively studied this disorder, and gained much knowledge on the genetics, pathology, diagnosis, and management of Down syndrome. However, due to the complexity of multiple genes over-expressed from the extra copy of chromosome 21 (more than 500 genes have been identified on chromosome 21), there is no cure for this syndrome yet.

Nature is always our best teacher: we learned to use sonar navigation from bats and lighten up cells with green fluorescence protein from jelly fish. Women have two copies of X chromosomes in their cells, but only one copy is activated, with the other copy shutting down during early fetal development. This is caused by a gene on X chromosome, named X-inactive specific transcript (XIST). In 1990s, scientists have discovered that XIST gene translocated to the other chromosomes can silence all the gene expression from that chromosome. But it is not until this year that scientists in University of Massachusetts use this strategy to shut down the genes on chromosome 21 in cells from Down syndrome.

The XIST gene was inserted into one selected location on chromosome 21 in induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) from Down syndrome patients by using a Zinc Finger protein targeting technique. The iPS cells were made from skin cells of a Down syndrome patient; with the characteristics of embryonic stem cells, the iPS cells have the potential to develop into all types of tissues and organs. Because XIST functions in early embryonic development, they used iPS cells for XIST silencing. After the gene insertion by homologous recombination (a natural DNA replication and repair during cell division), they initiated the XIST gene expression by turning on a drug-controlled switch. They then analyzed the gene profiles including mRNA expression and DNA methylation level and found the cellular activities restored to the normal two-copy chromosome level.

The limits of this technique include very low efficiency of inserting XIST gene into chromosome 21, and use of stem cells for the gene integration. However, with the first working proof, the improvement and alternative approaches will grow, and this strategy may provide a real cure for Down syndrome in the future.

References:

Jiang J, Jing Y, Cost GJ, Chiang JC, Kolpa HJ, Cotton AM, Carone DM, Carone BR, Shivak DA, Guschin DY, Pearl JR, Rebar EJ, Byron M, Gregory PD, Brown CJ, Urnov FD, Hall LL, Lawrence JB.  Translating dosage compensation to trisomy 21. Nature. 2013 Aug 15;500(7462):296-300.  (http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature12394.html)