
Robby Bowles
A Scientist at Duke University with a passion for photography and imaging.
Occupation: Scientist and Photographer
Location: Durham, NC
His ProfilesRankThis is the rank of 'Robby Bowles' out of all Google+ Profiles.: 1,043 (GenderRankFor the gender 'Men'.: 585)
His ProfilesRankThis is the rank of 'Robby Bowles' out of all Google+ Profiles. in United States: 373 (GenderRankFor the gender 'Men'.: 221)
Followers: 64,710
Following: 974
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Latest postings

2013-05-09 16:30:49 (32 comments, 3 reshares, 49 +1s)
Where I've Been.
I have been missing from plus for a bit now and a couple of you have kindly inquired as to my whereabouts. I wanted to share a quick post and photo providing that answer. My wife and I had our first child recently and I have cut back on a few endeavors, including plus, to adjust for his arrival. I do plan on returning as time permits, but for the time being my posting will be limited. Thanks for understanding.


2013-03-17 15:13:18 (1 comments, 6 reshares, 28 +1s)
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest 11 - 17th Mar 2013
Standard genetic parts, graphene speaker, hair-thin endoscope, self assembling tissues, true nanocomposites, robotic cloud, and more.
1. A Precision Genetic Grammar for Engineering Cells.
A research group / company called BIOFAB has launched an online shop for a library of standard biological parts that it has created http://www.nature.com/news/dna-tool-kit-goes-live-online-1.12585. These standard biological parts - DNA sequences - allow precise control of gene activity in the bacterium Escherichia coli and should allow biologists to design bigger and more complicated circuits and engineer cells that can make medicines and perform other useful tasks simply by plugging in various sets of genes. The sequences overcome a significant barrier in synthetic biology in which genes inserted into an organism often do not behave ... more »


2013-03-16 18:08:30 (10 comments, 8 reshares, 24 +1s)
Celebrating +Chad Haney's Birthday with fireworks fruits and vegetables in an MRI. #HappyBirthdayMrMRI
Source: +Andy Ellison's MRI scans from http://goo.gl/bikwW
#HappyBirthdayChad #ScienceEveryday #ScienceSunday

2013-03-16 15:07:17 (6 comments, 27 reshares, 43 +1s)
DNA Goes Down Easy.
#ScienceEveryday (for when it's not #ScienceSunday )
I'm loving this beautiful, short, and clear explanation of many key concepts of DNA. Spend 3 minutes of your Saturday and learn something about DNA!
http://vimeo.com/60747882


2013-03-14 00:40:18 (3 comments, 5 reshares, 19 +1s)
Lego Organs.
#ScienceEveryday (for when it’s not #ScienceSunday)
Organs and tissue are incredibly complex in terms of their cellular and material components. An orchestra of cell signaling and material architecture is necessary to produce and maintain function of these complex tissues. Therein lies one of the great challenges in tissue engineering and growing new organs. How can we create these complex tissues in the lab? A paper recently published in PNAS (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/02/27/1300569110) may provide one key tool to help create these complex structures.
Legos – The concept has been around for a long time in the form of a favorite childhood toy of many. The researchers at Columbia University have created very small building blocks of multiple shapes that allow complex components to be built up to help create complex organs. The key here ... more »

2013-03-12 20:58:10 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 6 +1s)
Likes, Pluses, and Personal Privacy.
#ScienceEveryday (for when it's not #ScienceSunday )
An intriguing paper was recently published in PNAS (http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2013/03/06/1218772110.full.pdf+html) on the ability to predict personal and private traits from facebook likes.
A direct quote from the paper states "We show that a wide variety of people’s personal attributes,ranging from sexual orientation to intelligence, can be automatically and accurately inferred using their Facebook Likes."
It is important to note that the statistical techniques used are not particularly complex. This makes similar methods fairly easy to employ if one has access to the data. With more and more of our lives being made available online through our own actions on social media, this almost seems inevitable.
Will this cause you to cha... more »

2013-03-12 03:37:56 (10 comments, 18 reshares, 60 +1s)
Man has 75% of Skull Replaced!
Now this is just cool and amazing. 3D printing was used to replace 75% of a man’s skull!!
3D Printing - The technique used here was similar to a tissue engineering article I recently posted about (https://plus.google.com/u/0/114146479114949843175/posts/RvjmfiwN2or). The patient had their head scanned and then that data used to produce a CAD (computer aided design) file. This file was imported into a 3D printer, which then produced an implant layer-by-layer with the correct topology to match the patient’s skull! This patient specific technology can dramatically improve implant fit and outcome.
PEKK - The material used for the printing was a thermoplastic, polyetherketoneketone (PEKK). Thermoplastics are polymers that soften above a certain temperature but harden once cooled again. This property allows this materi... more »


2013-03-10 15:14:17 (9 comments, 7 reshares, 33 +1s)
Mysterious Notochord
#Sciencesunday (curated by +Allison Sekuler, +Rajini Rao, +Buddhini Samarasinghe, +Chad Haney, and myself (+Robby Bowles))
I’m sharing this beautiful image from a paper recently published in the Journal of Cell Biology (http://jcb.rupress.org/content/200/5/667) on the notochord and it’s role in spine morphogenesis. Now you may be asking why this would be of interest to you. The reason is simple, back pain is a huge problem, it dramatically reduces our quality of life and has huge societal costs. The cells studied in this paper (notochordal cells) may be playing a significant role in the development of back pain. Here is why.
The Intervertebal Disc - The intervertebral disc is a cartilaginous tissue found in your spine, which is believed to play a role in the development of back pain when injured or diseased. This disc is res... more »


2013-03-10 13:23:13 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 24 +1s)
ScienceSunday is Here Again.
Make sure to share all of the science goodness you can come up with today for +ScienceSunday! Just tag it with #ScienceSunday and our team of curators (+Allison Sekuler, +Buddhini Samarasinghe, +Rajini Rao, +Chad Haney, and +Robby Bowles ), and we will make sure to help spread the science with you here on plus. We look forward to see what you come up with!


2013-03-10 00:02:07 (13 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)
Duke v UNC Tonight.
Looking forward to this game. Just a little photo for those UNC fans out there ;). +Lauren Sutton +Jesse Wojdylo


2013-03-05 17:30:29 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 20 +1s)
Calming Effect.
Sometimes my science has to trump going out and taking photos, which has been the case for the last few months. But I wanted to share a photo I took over Christmas in rural New York. I loved going around and photographing the farm houses and snow covered landscapes while there. It it those times, and the complete relaxation I feel when out there that gets me through the more hectic times. What is your favorite way to relax?


2013-03-04 20:27:18 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)
(Mon06) Cassini spots Venus peaking through the rings of Saturn
Peering over the shoulder of giant Saturn, through its rings, and across interplanetary space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft spies the bright, cloudy terrestrial planet, Venus. The vast distance from Saturn means that Venus only shows up as a white dot, just above and to the right of the image center.
Venus, along with Mercury, Earth, and Mars, is one of the rocky 'terrestrial' planets in the solar system that orbit relatively close to the sun. Though Venus has an atmosphere of carbon dioxide that reaches nearly 900 degrees Fahrenheit (500 degrees Celsius) and a surface pressure 100 times that of Earth, it is considered a twin to our planet because of their similar size, mass, rocky composition and orbit. Venus is covered in thick sulfuric acid clouds, making it very bright.
This view looks toward... more »

2013-03-03 18:51:25 (9 comments, 4 reshares, 24 +1s)
Seeing Invisible Motion
This technology could be used for all sorts of things. The example they are using is to monitor a newborns pulse and respiration without actually needing to touch them or attach devices.
It's amazing what you can find by looking in plain sight! #sciencesunday
"A 30-second video of a newborn baby shows the infant silently snoozing in its crib, his breathing barely perceptible. But when the video is run through an algorithm that can amplify both movement and color, the baby’s face blinks crimson with each tiny heartbeat."
Source article: http://nyti.ms/XM7beH


2013-02-27 18:35:05 (5 comments, 3 reshares, 15 +1s)
Isle of Skye, Scotland, with February snow on the peaks. Mist and mountains - a stirring landscape.


2013-02-27 17:49:49 (6 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)
SciTech #ScienceSunday Digest 8 - 24th Feb 2013
Prosthetic graphene transistors, nanoparticle immune evaders, enzymic hangover cure, bioprinting ears, probing single cells, and others.
1. Liquid-Gated Graphene Transistor for Neural Prostheses.
Researchers have created a new type of graphene transistor with a liquid gate, intended to power next-generation neural prostheses http://www.technologyreview.com/view/511141/graphene-and-the-emergingtechnology-of-neural-prostheses/. They believe graphene is ideal for this application because not only is it flexible and chemically stable, it can be used to make these novel transistors that are gated by the solution in which the transistor sits. The natural body fluids that surround these prostheses will form an integral part of their operation. Testing these graphene interfaces with various cells has also demonstrated that graphene... more »

2013-02-25 16:59:06 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 17 +1s)
Printing Ears.
Here is fun piece of science coming out of Cornell University from my former lab. Dr. Larry Bonassar's lab has developed methods to 3D print and create patient specific tissue engineered implants. High resolution 3D scanning technology was used to obtain the proper size and shape of the ear, and then a specially designed mold was rapidly prototyped, in which cell seeded gels could be injection molded and cultured to produce tissue-engineered constructs mimicking the shape of the "patient's" ear. This research was published in the OPEN ACESS journal PlosOne and can be found here http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0056506
Additionally, this video demonstrates an additional technique to produce these ears that is not reported on in the published paper. They demonstrate how they can directly print the cell s... more »

2013-02-20 14:44:54 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)
Join us for another Science HOA, brought to you by +ScienceSunday as we talk to Dr +Michael Habib about paleontology! Michael is a paleontologist and anatomist working in the fields of functional morphology and biomechanics. He is most well known for his work on extinct flying vertebrates, especially giant pterosaurs. We will be discussing the evolution of animal motion and the use of animal morphology and behavior to inspire new technologies. He will also show us some fossil samples during the HOA! If you have any questions for Michael please leave them on the Event page as always.
+Buddhini Samarasinghe (+ScienceSunday) and +Scott Lewis (+CosmoQuest) will be hosting this event.
Image: John Conway, used with permission (http://johnconway.co/)
#SciSunHOA

2013-02-07 00:34:01 (5 comments, 9 reshares, 18 +1s)
Coming to an NBA Player Near You: Tissue Engineering.
Microfracture Surgery has become a popular intervention for those suffering from articular cartilage defects. Especially a number of NBA players including Andrew Bogut, Anfernee Hardaway, Jason Kidd, Greg Oden, Allan Houston, Kenyon Martin, Tracy McGrady, Chris Webber, and Amar'e Stoudemire. The idea is to create tiny fractures in the subchondral bone, which allows blood and and stem cells to emerge and form a blood clot that can form new cartilage in the defect. However, the cartilage formed is not always of the highest quality.
Researchers at John's Hopkin's have designed a novel hydrogel and adhesive that adheres to the bone and helps produce a better quality of cartilage in the defect than when traditional microfracture is performed. This small trial in humans is promising and the rese... more »

2013-02-03 20:01:24 (2 comments, 7 reshares, 27 +1s)
Who Cares About Orthopaedic Research?
The Orthopaedic Research Society just had their annual meeting, where thousands of scientists came together to discuss their research and progress towards developing new therapeutics.
Why should you care? - Did you know that greater than 50% of those over the age of 65 will show signs of arthritis and its associated pain? Did you know that 65 million people in the US alone suffer from low pack pain annually? These are just some of the diseases that affect the musculoskeletal system, but they can be debilitating and lower the quality of life of those suffering substantially. It is almost guaranteed that you or someone you know will be afflicted by an orthopaedic disease.
By the Numbers - More than 1 in 4 in the US alone suffer from an orthopaedic disease that requires medical attention. This leads to direct an... more »


2013-02-02 21:24:40 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 18 +1s)
Further East is Montreal, with Mount Royal very clear at centre.


2013-02-01 17:26:56 (9 comments, 1 reshares, 40 +1s)
Conferences and Light
Just returned from the Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting 2013! I saw a ton of science from researchers advancing our understanding of orthopaedic disease and developing novel therapeutics to treat them. I'm going to be sharing a few posts soon on some of the interesting work presented there. For a scientist, these conferences can be a lot of fun and a lot of work. You have the opportunity to talk about your research and novel insights with leaders in the field from around the world. I'm always struck by how hard scientists are working to help humanity and make this world a better place. Go Science!
And on a completely unrelated note, here is a photo I took locally here in Durham, NC where I could not pass up photographing the light and patterns within this building.
#FineArtPls (+Marina Chen)
