Source: Biology Bully
When it comes to Li Ronghao, what will everyone think of, singer? star?
After listening to so many songs of Li Ronghao, the author never thought that one day Li Ronghao would cross the border and appear in a biology class.
Recently, a microblog by singer Li Ronghao has aroused heated discussion among netizens, in which Li Ronghao said: I did not expect that one day I would actually contribute to the biological world.
Image source: Weibo
Originally, Li Ronghao was used as a case study in PPT, an immunology course at Liaoning University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, to illustrate heterophilic antigens.
Next, let's take a look at what kind of sacred antigen that makes Li Ronghao "glorious crossover" is
What is the connection between heterophilic antigen and Li Ronghao?
Heterophilic antigen, also known as Forssman′s antigen, is a common antigen that is widely present among humans, animals, plants, and microorganisms.
As the name suggests, this antigen is associated with Forssman.
Specifically, in 1911, J. Forssman discovered that the antibodies produced when immunizing rabbits with the aqueous extract of guinea pig kidneys played a hemolytic role in sheep red blood cells, so he called this antibody "Forssman's antibody", and its corresponding antigen was called Forsman antigen.
Image credit: Glycophylogenetic Aspects
Because an animal's Forssman antigen can also react with Forssman antibodies based on other animal antigens, the Forssman antigen is also known as an heterophilic antigen.
Structure of the Forssman antigen
Heterophilic antigens have been found in a variety of substances:
E. coli O86 with human B blood group substances, pneumococcal type 14 and human A blood group substances, E. coli O14 lipopolysaccharides and human colon mucosa, hemolytic streptococcus antigens and glomerular basement membrane and heart tissue; Rickettsia and Proteus.
Similarly, although people and dogs are very closely related, there may also be common antigens, that is, heterophilic antigens.
As for why Li Ronghao and this puppy are used as an example, the reason may be that he and the puppy look too similar, reminiscent of people and dogs can have common antigens (and of course, common appearance).
But not only the author thinks so, the majority of netizens, including Deng Ziqi also feel that the two are too similar ~ ~
Forssman antigen has a very important position in biology, but I don't know Li Ronghao's cross-border biology, can I let students remember this knowledge point by example?
Li Ronghao is not the only one who has "contributed to the biological world"
If Li Ronghao's cross-border creature was shot lying down and "inexplicably" put on the PPT by the teacher, then Wang Lihong is the first star of CRISPR gene editing science.
Image source: Network
CRISPR technology is no stranger to everyone, this is one of the most important revolutions in biology and medicine, through CRISPR technology, we can effectively edit the genomes of many organisms. Because of the groundbreaking nature of this work, CRISPR technology won the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry shortly after its birth.
Image source: Nobel official website
But in 2015, when CRISPR was still limited to a small circle of scientists, do you dare to believe that Wang Lihong has begun to popularize CRISPR?
In November 2015, Wang Lihong posted on Weibo, introducing Professor Zhang Feng and CRISPR, which can be called the first person in the star industry to popularize CRISPR science.
In the original Weibo article, Wang Lihong said:
"Professor MIT, Feng Zhang, is the inventor of a system that can customize DNA called CRISPR. The world will surely know what CRISPR is in the future. Too many possibilities! He's only 34 years old... This is the creator!"
Today, 6 years later, we have to admit that Wang Lihong's view at that time was indeed very predictable, although Zhang Feng did not win the Nobel Prize, but its position in the field of CRISPR has long been recognized by everyone, as for CRISPR technology, how many biological dogs do not know it?
However, Wang Lihong's high opinion is actually reasonable, after all, his brother is an oncologist and researcher at the National Medical Center of the City of Hope in the United States, and Wang Lihong majored in biology in the first year of Williams College, and then changed to majoring in music.
Count the cross-border linkage between the entertainment industry and the scientific research circle
In fact, it is not uncommon for stars to interact with scientific research across borders, although most of them are not active.
Some time ago, the journal "World Ecology" published an academic paper entitled "A new species of the genus Psychicenidae (Pterodycene: Pseudacraneae) in Sichuan Province, China", which has aroused widespread concern among netizens.
Image source: World Ecology
In the paper, this new species of insect was named by the authors as "Nemoura hugekootinlokorum Wang & Meng, sp. nov.) ", among them, "Hu" refers to the film and television star Hu Ge, and "Gu" refers to Gu Tianle.
Specifically, the author notes that "the species is named in tribute to the famous actors Mr. Hu Ge and Mr. Koo Tin-lok as a tribute to their contributions to environmental protection and basic education in the mountainous areas of western China".
Not only is it a Chinese star, but foreign stars have also had interesting interactions with the scientific research circle, and this celebrity is certainly no stranger to everyone, she is Lady Gaga.
In the previous article, Gu Tianle and Hu Ge were used for species additions, while the name Lady Gaga was used by biologists to name genera. A new genus of ferns distributed in the Americas was released in 2012, and the genus name was given Gaga.
Image credit: Systematic Botany
As for the reason, the official reason is to commemorate Lady Gaga's tireless defense of equality and freedom of expression for individuals. And the real reason, who knows if it's because...
Image source: novataxa.blogspot.com
In addition to being used for species naming, stars may also haunt the thesis's acknowledgements, the most famous of which is none other than Lin Junjie.
In 2018, Hu Jianghua, a student from the Department of Ophthalmology of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University, thanked singer Lin Junjie in the acknowledgment part of his SCI paper, saying that "in the past ten years, Lin Junjie's songs have given me strong spiritual support".
Image source: Hindawi
This move can be said to be a new height of star chasing, of course, the author's mentor also gave a positive response, praising the author's work, but also joking about the author's thanks to JJ.
But then again, what other stars in the cross-border scientific research circle do you know?