BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: future

Unlocking Genetic Mysteries with CRISPR!

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On April 17, 2024

In Student Post

At Oak Ridge National Laboratory, researchers are tackling the challenge of enhancing CRISPR, a groundbreaking gene-editing tool sort of like molecular scissors. While CRISPR has revolutionized genetic engineering in larger organisms such as mammals and fruit flies, its effectiveness in smaller organisms is limited. This limitation prompted a team to jump into the complex world of quantum biology, an area of study that investigates how quantum mechanics influence biological processes.

CRISPR logo

In AP Biology, we were introduced to the complexities of cellular structures and genetic mechanisms, and CRISPR is a topic of connection. CRISPR operates at the DNA level, precisely targeting and modifying specific sections of the DNA molecule. The passage highlights how CRISPR can be used to alter an organism’s traits by editing its DNA. This concept ties directly to the unit on genetics, where we learned about how changes in DNA sequence can lead to variations in phenotype. CRISPR technology allows scientists to make precise changes to the genetic code, providing a powerful tool for studying gene function and genetic disorders. In their search to understand why CRISPR behaves differently across various organisms, the researchers explored the movement of electrons within cellular structures, drawing insights from some principles of quantum mechanics. This exploration led them to develop a deeper understanding of the underlying mechanisms influencing CRISPR’s efficiency.

CAS 4qyz
Based on their discoveries, the team launched to develop a sophisticated computational model. This model, which integrates elements of artificial intelligence and quantum chemistry, is designed to predict the most effective targets for CRISPR within microbial genomes. Basically, they are leveraging the principles of quantum biology to enhance the precision and efficacy of CRISPR editing in smaller organisms. The implications of this research have promise for addressing genetic diseases and advancing biotechnological applications in human health and agriculture. Through their efforts, they inspire new pathways for harnessing the power of CRISPR to solve new mysteries and pave the way for a future characterized by innovation and discovery.

Next-Gen Therapeutics!

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On January 8, 2024

In Student Post

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have launched a massive mission to confront the escalating challenge of antibiotic resistance in Mycobacterium abscessus (Mab), a pathogen naturally resistant to antibiotics. The urgency of this is emphasized by the increasing threat of Mab infections in healthcare settings, mainly those with compromised lung function or weakened immune systems. In response to the need for innovative therapeutics, the researchers at St. Jude undertook a careful approach, which focused on redesigning the antibiotic spectinomycin to generate new versions capable of overcoming the primary driver of resistance, which is something called efflux (the process cells use to remove drugs). The findings of their work, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, discovered the development of structurally distinct N-ethylene linked aminomethyl spectinomycins (eAmSPCs), outperforming standard spectinomycin by up to 64 times in power against Mycobacterium abscessus.

Antibody

Connecting to class, this work underscores the significance of antibodies (Unfortunate Ned), which are proteins produced by B cells in response to specific pathogens. The development of this variant against Mab links to the antibody-mediated immune response. Engineering more potent antibiotics against Mab shows a real-world application of understanding and manipulating the immune system’s humoral response, highlighting the importance of B cells in providing long-term protection against infections.

Humoral Response Drawing

Overall, the significance of this breakthrough is not only in the efficiency of eAmSPCs, but also in solving their course of action. By explaining how these compounds avoid efflux, the researchers have paved the way for a shift in antimicrobial therapy. The researchers discovered that eAmSPCs show compatibility with various classes of antibiotics used to treat Mab, while retaining their effectiveness against other mycobacterial strains. This adaptable characteristic leads eAmSPCs to be the potential future of therapeutics, offering hope for patients struggling with limited or nonexistent treatment options.

 

(Post Includes Edits Made Through Grammarly)

New Male Birth Control Drug Works on Mice

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On March 5, 2023

In Student Post

Researchers have been attempting to create male birth control for many decades; however, much of the progress made in this research has been on long-term, hormonal methods. Examples include injections and implants. According to a study published in Nature, a new form of birth control has shown results in mice. The study says that one injectable dose of a new drug (TDI – 11861) may be able to temporarily pause fertility in male mice. The drug works within 30 to 60 minutes of injection. According to Forbes,”it is also temporary, with efficacy dropping to 91% at three hours and fertility returning to normal by the next day.” Although researchers attempted to use a pill form to administer the drug, they found that they would need an extremely large pill because the stomach breaks down some of the compound.

File:Workers' Birth Control Group.jpgThe injection inhibits soluble adenylyl cyclase. This enzyme is necessary for sperm’s ability to move efficiently and to mature properly. Researchers also tested the drug on human sperm in a lab dish. They showed similarly low levels of efficient movement and maturation. Additionally, the male mice in the study showed normal mating behavior patterns. The only abnormality was that they did not impregnate the female mice.

Unlike many current male contraceptives, this new injectable birth control does not impact sperm development; however, it does decrease sperm motility which essentially makes the sperm producer temporarily infertile. The birth control options on the market for men are pretty limited. Male condoms are only 98% effective, and many may not want to undergo a surgical procedure such as a vasectomy. Additionally, while vasectomies may be reversed, they often have permanent negative effects on fertility. Hormone-based contraceptives for men already exist, but side effects like mood disorders deter many from using them. This new drug is not hormone based, and therefore does not have these side effects.Injection closeup view.jpg

 

AP Bio Side Note 🙂 

With the Supreme Court’s recent decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I think the development of a male birth control method is even more critical. I believe that male birth control is one step forward in an equal society, especially considering the fact that women need to deal with unwanted side effects from hormonal birth control. Soluble Adenylyl cyclase plays a role in the cAMP-dependent pathway. During this pathway, a signaling molecule binds to a receptor on the cell surface, leading to the activation of a G protein, thus activating adenylyl cyclase. Adenylyl cyclase produces cAMP from ATP which then serves as another messenger to activate signaling events. Please comment down below if you found this article interesting!

SARS-CoV-2 Is Making My Heart Ache??

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On January 16, 2023

In Student Post

New research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s (UMSOM) Center for Precision Disease Modeling identifies the specific protein in SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19, that causes damage to heart tissue.

Protein Structure Gif

Some experiments they did were performed on fruit fly hearts. When Nsp6 is present in a fruit fly heart, the heart shows structural defects compared to a normal heart without the viral protein. However, when fruit fly hearts with the viral Nsp6 protein are treated with the drug 2DG, the hearts begin to resemble normal hearts more closely.

In their latest study, researchers found that the Nsp6 protein is the most toxic SARS-CoV-2 protein in the fruit fly heart. They also discovered that the Nsp6 protein hijacks the fruit fly’s heart cells, activating the glycolysis process and disrupting the mitochondria, which produce energy from sugar metabolism. When they blocked sugar metabolism in fruit fly and mouse heart cells using the drug 2DG, they found that it reduced the heart and mitochondria damage caused by the Nsp6 viral protein.

Dr. Han, the lead researcher, says this about the protein : “We know that some viruses hijack the infected animal’s cell machinery to change its metabolism to steal the cell’s energy source, so we suspect SARS-CoV-2 does something similar. The viruses can also use the byproducts of sugar metabolism as building blocks to make more viruses,”

 

Drosophila melanogaster under microscope

Thus, the University of Maryland School of Medicine’s research identified the specific protein in SARS-CoV-2 that causes damage to heart tissue and has found a potential treatment for it. The protein, called Nsp6, activates the glycolysis process in heart cells and disrupts the mitochondria, which are responsible for producing energy through glycolysis and oxidative phosphorylation. By blocking the processes  with the drug 2DG, the researchers were able to reduce the heart and mitochondria damage caused by Nsp6. This discovery aligns with the topic of glycolysis and ATP generation in AP Biology as it highlights the importance of proper metabolism in the functioning of cells and the potential consequences of disruptions to this process.

 

Robot Pills And The Future Of How Medication Is Delivered

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On October 24, 2022

In Student Post

For years society has struggled to develop an efficient way to deliver complex drugs through the body. But this is not the case anymore; thanks to biomedical engineer Shriya Srinivasan we can take pills for medicines that we would not usually be able to. For example, Cancer drugs, Diabetes drugs, and many other drugs that require a shot. 

Smallpox vaccine

“say goodbye to painful shots”

According to Megan Rosen’s article, Shriya Srinivasan’s invention of the robot would be “a huge game changer” in the medical industry. Before her invention, pills struggled to enter the bloodstream because of the mucus that would trap the pill from entering the stomach acids so it could dissolve. However, with the Robot pill, we can overcome the mucus and enter the stomach, where the acid will dissolve, and the desired drug will enter the bloodstream.

Robot pill in action video link

The robot pills use unique engineering methods to break up the mucus in a path. Some of these methods consist of surface grooves and small torpedo fins to break up the mucus in the human body. But, there is only one problem; breaking up mucus is a difficult task. This is because mucus has proteins, specifically glycoproteins, bonded strongly by covalent bonds. Covalent bonds are the strongest because they share an even amount of electrons. The strong covalent bonds make it difficult to break up the substance, which is where the fin and surface grooves come to break up the bonds of the strong mucus proteins.

Human alfa2beta2 hemoglobin

With new inventions, people save lots of time and pain. Society will no longer have to inject shots into the body but rather take a pill. That said, we ultimately conclude that robotic pills are the future of medicine.

 

Forbidden Baby Editing

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On January 21, 2020

In Student Post

We all at this point in life have come to know what gene editing is. The technology for it is slowly and forever becoming more and more advanced. The scary thing about editing genes is the fact that we have to potentially affect a baby’s life their entire time alive. It has many different problems which is why its going to take a long time for it to fully get approved in the hospital.

Well unfortunately in an article found here there was a fright to figure out that someone had actually edited the genomes of some babies without people knowing. Many scientists condemned scientist He Jianku as it came to light that he had done something that the science was not ready for yet. He used CRISPR Cas9 tech in order to alter some genes of a few babies. The definition of CRISPR is here but basically it is a general tech to edit the genomes of babies that haven’t been born yet. People were up in arms about the process because he had bypassed the ethical laws and needed up editing the genes of a real live human. People in the science community go on to say that the CRISPR technology just isn’t ready to be executed on a human. There needs to be many more trials before it is used on a person for real. There is progress to make sure this doesn’t happen such as fines and bans from research however they are trying to make sure that it doesn’t happen at all. It gives scientists a bad name and he is trying his best to not let that happen. Technology will always advance and the hard part is trying to make sure that tech is ethical. Hopefully this gives insight to how we can prevent things like this happening in this day and age

Click Here to Learn About the Tomato’s Fancy New Makeover

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On January 12, 2019

In Student Post

The sun rose on a dimly light Monday morning when Adriano Nunes-Nesi, Lázaro E.P. Peres, Agustin Zsögön, Lucas de Ávila Silva, Ronan Sulpice, and Emmanuel Rezende Naves published their groundbreaking discovery that could revolutionize the cultivation of chili’s forever.   These insanely talented and well established scientists figured out how to use the CRISPR-Cas9 editing tool to turn a tomato into    a chili.

Capsaicinoids are what give peppers their heat and when these scholars of science mapped the tomato’s and chili’s genomes, they saw that the tomato has genes that, when transcribed, produce these spicy and hot capsaicinoids.

The reason why this is important is because the chili’s cultivation process is extremely tedious and requires many specific conditions, not to mention it having a small yield.  Since the yield of tomatoes is 30x that of the chili, using the CRISPR-Cas9 tool, they could change the shape and taste of the tomato to that of a chili. The price of a chili peppers, per kg, compared to tomatoes is roughly 60 cents higher. It may not seem a ton, but in bulk orders, it quickly adds up.

Lázaro E.P. Peres, who is aProfessor of Plant Physiology at the University of São Paulo and one of the scientists on the team, says, “The proof of concept here is that we can transfer the unique thing endemic to a less-produced plant into another plant that is more widely produced”.  The paper states the tomato “is highly amenable to biotechnological manipulation”. This would drive the price of the chili down which would help markets, restaurants, and Gardners worldwide.

The only issue to this is the publics opinion. For years, the already established “organic” companies having been labelling genetically modified food as unhealthy compared to non-GMO foods.  This claim is simply outright false.  “Any plant or animal product is full of DNA that our body readily digests, messing with one or two genes isn’t going to impact human health. The only way GM food could affect human health is if the modification somehow produce a protein product that was actively toxic to humans.”  This quote is from an article by the Genetic Literacy Project, which could be seen as having bias towards GMO foods, however their mission says,”is to aid the public, media and policymakers in understanding the science and societal implications of human and agricultural genetic and biotechnology research and to promote science literacy.”  All they are interested in doing is educating the public because so many people have been lied to by big organic corporations and the media to prevent customers from eating GMO products.  What would they have to gain by saying they are safe when they are not?    If the public can get passed the idea of genetically modifying foods, I believe turning a tomato into a chili pepper would save much money from hundreds of thousands of businesses– big or small.

What do you guys and gals think of GMO products?

For more information, please go check out the primary source of this article and the researchers report

 

 

Goodbye Leukemia– We Are Getting Closer!

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On January 2, 2018

In Student Post

A new finding suggests that the protein nup98 found in mouse cells may have another job. This is big in the biology world! Scientists already know this protein helps control the movement of molecules in and out of the nucleus, but they didn’t know it is directly involved in the development of blood cells. After further study, scientists from the Salk Institute found that nup98 enables immature blood stem cells to differentiate into mature cell types. However, this was not even the biggest finding– this differentiation process can contribute to the formation of leukemia!

The journey to make this discovery Salk’s Chief Science Office, Martin Hetzer calls, “combined genomics, proteomics, and cell biology.” It was a complex process at the least. It all started with the Hetzer’s lab focusing on a class of proteins called nucleoproteins (nups), part of the nuclear pore complex, which regulates the space between the nucleus of the cell. Why is this space so important? Because it is where the genetic material is located and the cytoplasm contains multiple important structures! There are about 30 of these proteins and some of them even have functions beyond forming the nuclear pore as transcription factors. Thus, the idea that a protein has more than one function (like nup98) was not a total surprise for the researchers (I still would have been surprised).

Although we know that nup98 has plays a role in hematopoietic (blood) cells, we do not know how yet. That is a question of the future. However, “The investigators found that it acts through a link with a protein complex called Wdr82-Set1/COMPASS, which is part of the cell’s epigenetic machinery.” Wait what do those numbers and epigenetic machinery mean? It is basically just a process that controls when genes are transcribed and when genes are blocked (hope that helped). The other big question is how this study will parallel in primates and humans, but the future is bright.

The continuation of this study in regard to Leukemia is now left in the hands of leukemia researchers, but cancers driven by a single genetic change like this have been proven easier to treat with drugs than cancer driven my multiple genetic changes. Although this discovery is only the first of many, there is hope for an even bigger finding in the future! I am excited to see what research is to follow. What about you?

GATTACA review

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On March 10, 2013

In Student Post

Who ever knew a movie staring Jude Law, Uma Therman and Ethan Hawke does not just explore romance and drama but also takes a look into the revolutionizing and weary scientific future our world has yet to see!  The movie, GATTACA(standing for the 4 DNA bases-Guanine, Adenine, Thymine, Thymine, Adenine, Cytosine, Adenine), starts with the birth of Vincent Freeman, an ordinary child just like you and me.  But unfortunately for him, Vincent falls way below average in his society that revolves around eugenics.

I belonged to a new underclass, no longer determined by social status or the color of your skin. No, we now have discrimination down to a science. –Vincent Freeman in GATTACA

This discrimination that Vincent is referring to is based on ones genetic profile.  In the GATTACA world, the creation of a child occurs in a lab, where there parents can choose what genes they want and don’t want their child to inherit, making for one, almost genetically perfect kid.  In the movie, they have facilities that resemble bank tellers but are in fact genetic “profilers”.  One can bring a strand of hair they found to the facility and receive a print out of that persons genetic profile, along with it stating if that person is Valid(genetically engineered) or invalid(ordinarily created).  Because Vincent was not created this way he is forever categorized as In-valid, causing him to have limited options in life, like not getting hired.

I don’t want to give away more of the story, but it goes into deep investigation of what this world, that potentially can one day happen, would be like.  It questions the morality and ethics behind genetic modification, profiling and discrimination.  It also shows a very depressed world devoid of joy.

In today’s world, we already have genome services similar to the ones in GATTACA. The company 23andMe can create your genetic profile with a swab of your DNA.  You can find out what your genetic ancestry is life, what disease you are at risk for, why you like the foods you like and so on.  Some people are very hesitant to viewing their genetic profile. after reading this article, of a women who had her genetic profile made through 23andMe, do you think you would want yours made?  Why or why not?

License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.en
Link to Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wonderferret/2854706889/
Photographer: wonderferret

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