PSW 2489 Three PSW Speakers | Mitchell Mathews Kothari

Lecture Starts at 14:38
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PSW 2489
January 26, 2024
Three PSW Scientists
Lloyd Mitchell; Scott Mathews; Ajay Kothari
PSW Science was founded by scientists to be a forum for their work and the scientific work of others. In the spirit of this tradition, this special PSW Science meeting will feature three current members of PSW Science who will each briefly discuss their recent work.
Gene Editing Using the Body’s Own Editor: RNA Trans-Splicing for Therapy
Lloyd Mitchell
Chief Executive Officer, RetroTherapy
To make a protein, a cell must first make an exact RNA copy of the corresponding DNA (gene). In bacteria and other cells without a nucleus, this copy is called messenger RNA (mRNA), which can immediately be translated to produce a protein. In humans and other eukaryotes whose cells have nuclei, this copy is called pre-messenger RNA (pre-mRNA). About 95 percent of our protein coding genes and their corresponding pre-mRNAs have multiple regions that do not contain instructions for making proteins. These non-coding regions (called introns) interrupt the protein coding segments (called exons) and are removed from the pre-mRNA by a process called RNA splicing, where the introns are cut out and the remaining exons are “spliced” back together to create an mRNA. In this lecture, Lloyd will discuss his invention (RNA trans-splicing), which may be useful in imaging and/or killing cancer or viral infected cells.
Thorium Molten Salt Reactors for Net-Zero and Clean Energy
Ajay Kothari
President, Astrox Corporation
Thorium fueled Molten Salt Reactors offer an amazing solution. They do not need the 2-300 atmosphere pressure containment vessels required by the prevalent Light (or Heavy) Water Reactors (the so-called PWRs, Pressurized Water Reactors) that have resulted in explosions such as TMI, Chernobyl and Fukushima, thus as a result being inherently safe. They work at 700-1200 C temperatures, making them more efficient for conversion to electricity. They leave only 1-5% waste products as opposed to about 95% for PWRs. No pollution and no CO2 during operation, the smallest footprint, and may offer the cheapest LCOE. Aren’t they then our ideal climate change solution? There is enough Thorium in the U.S. to provide us electricity for 600 years, and enough in the world to provide electricity for many thousands of years.
Magnetic Mistakes and Their Correction
Scott Mathews
Materials Science and Technology Division, Naval Research Laboratory
For more than 80 years, it has been widely assumed that the ascending branch of a magnetic hysteresis loop could not cross over the descending branch (and similarly, the descending branch could not cross over the ascending branch). This magnetic phenomenon, known as a hysteresis branch crossing, was deemed impossible based on the erroneous assumption that it violated the Laws of Thermodynamics. He and colleagues published the first paper correctly identifying and explaining the hysteresis branch crossing. They showed that the hysteresis branch crossing is a robust and reproducible phenomenon which violates no fundamental law. This lecture will discuss this work.
For more information on the speakers, see pswscience.org/meeting/2489/.
www.pswscience.org