Dr. Ian Stansfield, School of Medical Sciences, University of Aberdeen
[E] i.stansfield"at"abdn.ac.uk
[T] +44 (0)1224 555806
Our research: for the non-expert
Our research is focused on understanding how cells make proteins. Proteins perform many important functions in cells, performing complex chemical reactions as well as acting as structural scaffolding components.
The instructions for assembling proteins are stored in the genetic material of the DNA. DNA information is stored in a long string called a chromosome. Chromosomes themselves are composed of packets of information called genes. If you think of DNA as the book of life, a gene is one page in that book.
The information within a gene is then copied into another long string molecule called mRNA. Think of this as the page of information (gene) being photocopied: the photocopied page is mRNA.
Click here for the explanation continued....
DNA: a double stranded helix. This picture shows about 12 bases of DNA - a tiny fraction of a gene, which may be thousands of bases long.
