Robert Pollack | Columbia University (original) (raw)
Papers by Robert Pollack
The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith, Jan 31, 2000
A Vision of …, 2008
General undergraduate education intends to broaden a student's perspective, to advance alternativ... more General undergraduate education intends to broaden a student's perspective, to advance alternative ways of thinking, and to develop empathy for other worldviews. While colleges and universities have ballooned with science courses in recent years, they do not often teach the scientific process nor cover the breadth of interesting, contemporary science content. There are many barriers that prevent undergraduates from learning science content and process. When science is not well integrated into a core education curriculum, students may choose not to take elective science courses because they view them as too difficult or worse, unnecessary for their future lives. The subsequent science illiteracy is a detriment to functioning in modern society. Columbia University has endeavored to repair this problem locally by creating a new required undergraduate course that makes science a chief component of a solid core curriculum ; one that is collaborative and multidisciplinary and offers students an opportunity to debate and discuss the philosophical, historical and methodological contexts of current research. This course also allows the faculty to create a forum for open discourse among the diverse student population where nearly eighty percent of students are humanities majors. Teaching science to all entering students in a context where the humanities have historically dominated is our laboratory for the development of a curriculum that shows how science can be made accessible to people of all backgrounds. Bridging barriers between science and the humanities General education seeks to develop students into well-rounded productive members of society, broadening student's perspectives by exposing them to new ideas and a diversity of worldviews while giving them the tools to engage them. However, the physical sciences-important courses that teach critical thought and the process of experimentation-can
Virology, 1979
Abstract We have studied in detail the parameters of anchorage-independent growth of normal rat c... more Abstract We have studied in detail the parameters of anchorage-independent growth of normal rat cells and two clones of simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed rat fibroblasts. Normal secondary rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) suspended in soft agar neither form large colonies (greater than 0.2-mm in diameter) nor show any appreciable increase in total cell volume. A clone of wild-type SV40-transformed REF grows in agar with a colony-forming efficiency of 54% and an increase in total cell volume greater than 10 3 . A clone of REF transformed by the SV40 early deletion mutant 884 has a colony-forming efficiency in agar of only 0.02%, but the total increase in cell volume is greater than 100-fold. In defining anchorage transformants, a distinction must be made between the ability to form large colonies and the ability to undergo a significant number of doublings. Transformation by the viable deletion mutant 884 apparently is impaired far more in the former aspect than in the latter.
The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith
CrossCurrents, 2016
Let me begin with a quotation from Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. It poses the ... more Let me begin with a quotation from Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. It poses the problem I wish to discuss: how may one keep imagination, will and intellect aligned? This is from a reading in a Colloquium Amy and I are taking this semester at the Heyman Center.
Nature Reviews Cancer, 2016
How can we stop cancer progression? Current strategies depend on modelling progression as the bal... more How can we stop cancer progression? Current strategies depend on modelling progression as the balanced outcome of mutations in, and expression of, tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes. New treatments emerge from successful attempts to tip that balance, but secondary mutational escape from those treatments has become a major impediment because it leads to resistance. In this Opinion article, we argue for a return to an earlier stratagem: tumour cell reversion. Treatments based on selection and analysis of stable revertants could create more durable remissions by reducing the selective pressure that leads to rapid drug resistance.
The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1976
The Journal of Cell Biology, 1980
Cultures of established and transformed fibroblasts were less able to contract a hydrated collage... more Cultures of established and transformed fibroblasts were less able to contract a hydrated collagen gel than normal precrisis cells. Postcrisis fibroblasts from different rodent strains and species underwent a further reduction in contraction ability and either spontaneous or simian virus 40 (SV40) transformation. Human precrisis fibroblasts contracted much more efficiently than two SV40-transformed human lines. Fibroblasts from a patient with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia were intermediate between all other human fibroblasts assayed and the SV40-transformed human lines. The absolute efficiency of contraction was dependent on temperature and serum concentration, but no conditions were found that resulted in equal efficiencies for the three types of cells. Precrisis cells were extremely sensitive to the passage procedures when assayed for collagen contraction.
Cancer Research, 1979
Several in vitro phenotypic characteristics frequently asso ciated with neoplastic cells were exa... more Several in vitro phenotypic characteristics frequently asso ciated with neoplastic cells were examined in a series of spontaneous and benzo(a)pynene-induced Syrian hamster clonal cell lines which differed in their degree of tumonigenicity. Nonparametric statistical analysis demonstrated ...
Genes & Development, 1991
Cytometry, 1982
The binding of a fluorescein-isothiocyanate derivative of insulin to Swiss 3T3 cells was measured... more The binding of a fluorescein-isothiocyanate derivative of insulin to Swiss 3T3 cells was measured by flow cytometry. The kinetics of the subsequent internalization were also measured; at a concentration of 1 pM labeled insulin approximately 25% of the internalization was insulin-specific. The kinetics of endocytosis were contrasted to those of fluorescent derivatives of histone and dextran. In addition, the fusion of endocytic vesicles containing insulin or dextran with ly-sosomes was detected by measuring the pHdependent increase in fluorescein fluorescence caused by the addition of chloroquine. The application of these results to the analysis of growth control by insulin and related hormones is discussed.
Journal of dental education, 1987
The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith, Jan 31, 2000
A Vision of …, 2008
General undergraduate education intends to broaden a student's perspective, to advance alternativ... more General undergraduate education intends to broaden a student's perspective, to advance alternative ways of thinking, and to develop empathy for other worldviews. While colleges and universities have ballooned with science courses in recent years, they do not often teach the scientific process nor cover the breadth of interesting, contemporary science content. There are many barriers that prevent undergraduates from learning science content and process. When science is not well integrated into a core education curriculum, students may choose not to take elective science courses because they view them as too difficult or worse, unnecessary for their future lives. The subsequent science illiteracy is a detriment to functioning in modern society. Columbia University has endeavored to repair this problem locally by creating a new required undergraduate course that makes science a chief component of a solid core curriculum ; one that is collaborative and multidisciplinary and offers students an opportunity to debate and discuss the philosophical, historical and methodological contexts of current research. This course also allows the faculty to create a forum for open discourse among the diverse student population where nearly eighty percent of students are humanities majors. Teaching science to all entering students in a context where the humanities have historically dominated is our laboratory for the development of a curriculum that shows how science can be made accessible to people of all backgrounds. Bridging barriers between science and the humanities General education seeks to develop students into well-rounded productive members of society, broadening student's perspectives by exposing them to new ideas and a diversity of worldviews while giving them the tools to engage them. However, the physical sciences-important courses that teach critical thought and the process of experimentation-can
Virology, 1979
Abstract We have studied in detail the parameters of anchorage-independent growth of normal rat c... more Abstract We have studied in detail the parameters of anchorage-independent growth of normal rat cells and two clones of simian virus 40 (SV40)-transformed rat fibroblasts. Normal secondary rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) suspended in soft agar neither form large colonies (greater than 0.2-mm in diameter) nor show any appreciable increase in total cell volume. A clone of wild-type SV40-transformed REF grows in agar with a colony-forming efficiency of 54% and an increase in total cell volume greater than 10 3 . A clone of REF transformed by the SV40 early deletion mutant 884 has a colony-forming efficiency in agar of only 0.02%, but the total increase in cell volume is greater than 100-fold. In defining anchorage transformants, a distinction must be made between the ability to form large colonies and the ability to undergo a significant number of doublings. Transformation by the viable deletion mutant 884 apparently is impaired far more in the former aspect than in the latter.
The Faith of Biology and the Biology of Faith
CrossCurrents, 2016
Let me begin with a quotation from Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. It poses the ... more Let me begin with a quotation from Galileo's Letter to the Grand Duchess Christina. It poses the problem I wish to discuss: how may one keep imagination, will and intellect aligned? This is from a reading in a Colloquium Amy and I are taking this semester at the Heyman Center.
Nature Reviews Cancer, 2016
How can we stop cancer progression? Current strategies depend on modelling progression as the bal... more How can we stop cancer progression? Current strategies depend on modelling progression as the balanced outcome of mutations in, and expression of, tumour suppressor genes and oncogenes. New treatments emerge from successful attempts to tip that balance, but secondary mutational escape from those treatments has become a major impediment because it leads to resistance. In this Opinion article, we argue for a return to an earlier stratagem: tumour cell reversion. Treatments based on selection and analysis of stable revertants could create more durable remissions by reducing the selective pressure that leads to rapid drug resistance.
The Quarterly Review of Biology, 1976
The Journal of Cell Biology, 1980
Cultures of established and transformed fibroblasts were less able to contract a hydrated collage... more Cultures of established and transformed fibroblasts were less able to contract a hydrated collagen gel than normal precrisis cells. Postcrisis fibroblasts from different rodent strains and species underwent a further reduction in contraction ability and either spontaneous or simian virus 40 (SV40) transformation. Human precrisis fibroblasts contracted much more efficiently than two SV40-transformed human lines. Fibroblasts from a patient with Glanzmann's thrombasthenia were intermediate between all other human fibroblasts assayed and the SV40-transformed human lines. The absolute efficiency of contraction was dependent on temperature and serum concentration, but no conditions were found that resulted in equal efficiencies for the three types of cells. Precrisis cells were extremely sensitive to the passage procedures when assayed for collagen contraction.
Cancer Research, 1979
Several in vitro phenotypic characteristics frequently asso ciated with neoplastic cells were exa... more Several in vitro phenotypic characteristics frequently asso ciated with neoplastic cells were examined in a series of spontaneous and benzo(a)pynene-induced Syrian hamster clonal cell lines which differed in their degree of tumonigenicity. Nonparametric statistical analysis demonstrated ...
Genes & Development, 1991
Cytometry, 1982
The binding of a fluorescein-isothiocyanate derivative of insulin to Swiss 3T3 cells was measured... more The binding of a fluorescein-isothiocyanate derivative of insulin to Swiss 3T3 cells was measured by flow cytometry. The kinetics of the subsequent internalization were also measured; at a concentration of 1 pM labeled insulin approximately 25% of the internalization was insulin-specific. The kinetics of endocytosis were contrasted to those of fluorescent derivatives of histone and dextran. In addition, the fusion of endocytic vesicles containing insulin or dextran with ly-sosomes was detected by measuring the pHdependent increase in fluorescein fluorescence caused by the addition of chloroquine. The application of these results to the analysis of growth control by insulin and related hormones is discussed.
Journal of dental education, 1987