I appear to have missed something.

To be slightly more precise, I’ve missed a film.  Called “Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist“, it looks into the lives of three graduate students as they work towards their PhDs under the tutelage of Dr Lawrence Shapiro.

And it takes place in a molecular biology lab - something with which I have a particular affinity, given that that was the field of science I studied.

Said students are trying to elucidate the structure and mechanism of a protein called AMPK, also known as the “cellular fuel gauge”.  In other words, and I quote*:

“The overall effect of AMPK activation is to switch off energy-using pathways and switch on energy-generating pathways, thus helping to restore the energy balance within the cell.”

So yes - I’m keen to see it.  Has anyone else?  If so, what did you think?

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7zIRl0quLw[/youtube]

Reference:

*AMPK, by David Carling, published in Current Biology. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2004.02.048