Investigations: Journal Post 7

After spending hours upon hours staring at a computer screen doing homework, I decided to steer away from my work and engage in aimless internet activity. This probably wasn't a good idea at the time but little did I know I would be lead to a link that would be productive for my blog this week.

I typically go on Tumblr or Pinterest and scroll through pages of nothing. I follow many science related blogs so I'd like to think I get a good daily dosage of educational content. One link lead to another and I came across a recent news article posted yesterday that was rather interesting. The article, which can be accessed here, spoke of a research conducted by Steve Caplan Ph.D. , UNMC researcher,  who was studying cilia and their effects on human development. He discovered that cilia are used in monitoring the environment surrounding the cell as a way to monitor and stabilize signals sent to the cell in order to control tissue development. In some cases, disorders occur where the development of certain cells and features are disturbed. These disorders are known as ciliopathies.

After reading this article, I became interesting in this type of disorder and felt I needed to learn more about it. I was intrigued about how small something can be, such as cilia which are microscopic filaments on a cell, and still cause a world of chaos when something goes wrong with them.

Ciliopathies are disorders characterized as as genetic mutation which encodes for proteins that are defective. This causes abnormal formation and functions of the cilia. These abnormalities in in kidneys, eyes, nervous system and other systems of the body. This disease may also lead to greater deficiencies such as diabetes, skeletal malformation, and liver problems (Waters & Beales, 2011).

Over 20 known ciliopathic diseases are known to this day with 1 in 1000 people effected. The studies that the doctor was conducting will hopefully provide insight on the complete function and interactions which cause disease such as this (Ciliopathy Alliance, 2014). The purpose of his study is to hopefully come up with a solution to ciliopathic diseases and a way to treat those who are effected by them.

Before seeing this article, I did not know this type of disease existed. Again, the cilia is such a small part of a cell. Initially, I knew it functioned in the interaction between the cell and its environment as well as some cases for movement. Never did I think that it would be the cause of many diseases that I know today.


For more information on the topic, the Ciliopathy Alliance has an extensive website with much information on the subject and can be accessed here.


References

Waters, A., & Beales, P. (2011, January 6). Ciliopathies: An expanding disease spectrum. Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3098370/

Welcome to the Ciliopathy Alliance. (2014, January 1). Retrieved February 27, 2015, from http://www.ciliopathyalliance.org/

Encounter: Journal Post 6

This week in lab, we discovered who our culprit was for our DNA fingerprinting experiment. After being able to partake in such an experiment that allows someone to determine whether someone was at the scene of the crime or not was pretty exciting. The knowledge that can be found from a single cell sample is remarkable.
At home I was watching TV when I came across an episode of CSI and was captured by the context of the episode. They off course were investigating a murder and were finding ways to determine who the killer was. Afterward, I began watching a show with my mom on Investigation Discovery and again, they used the same method to determine who the murder was.
I then began to think how spectacular the science community is and how it has grown. So much can be determined by a single cell. Someone accidentally leaves a hair somewhere that a murder occurs and they are immediately a suspect.
While things like this probably don't cross people's minds on a regular basis, being exposed to the methods of DNA Fingerprinting made things like this more evident.

Dictionary: Journal Post 5

This is week in class focused on COP I, COP II, and Clathrin. These are types of vesicle coat proteins which transport proteins from the rough Endoplasmic Reticulum to the Golgi apparatus.

COP I-
This protein transports from the Golgi to the ER.
This consists of ARF-1 and the coat protein present is coatomer. These components polymerize into a cage like structure which breaks down the membrane to a bud.

COP II-
This protein works opposite the way COP I works. It moves from the ER to the Golgi.
This consists of  protein dimers Sar-1 , Sec 23/24, and Sec 13/31 as coat proteins.

Clathrin-
This protein transport to various places from the Golgi. Pathways include from the Golgi to lysosomes, Golgi to endosomes, and Golgi to plasma membranes.
Coat proteins for include, ARF-1 and Clathrin.

The following images help illustrate the paths each protein takes as well as their structures.

 

For more useful information about how vesicle proteins work and helpful animations, click here.

Reflection: Journal Post 4

The last few weeks in lab have been focusing on PCR and on discovering if certain products were genetically modified. Such an investigation caused me to become more interested in the food around me. I went grocery shopping the other day at my local Trader Joes and Costco. It hadn't really occurred to me to check if some foods were GMO until this investigation. I read through many of the products I purchased at Trader Joe's and was pleased with the amount of organic foods. I then ventured to Costco and went on the same journey. I was pleasantly surprised with how many of the products they have were not genetically modified although the majority were. It was just a different experience to realize how much genetics are important and how they can affect us everyday.
Another realization I had is how much I love experimentation. Of course I should. I am a science major. But I have such a love for learning new things and finding out the truth for myself. It is so rewarding to know something because you yourself took the steps and time to make the discovery.
I enjoyed the lab conducted these past few weeks and look forward to the weeks coming.