BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: nescleus

Do Eating Times Lesson Your Chances of Developing Type 2 Diabetes?

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On April 30, 2023

In Student Post

On April 6th, 2023 an experiment  to test how we can reduce the chances of developing type 2 diabetes was conducted by the University of Adelaide and published on Science direct.  This experiment  compared  two different eating habits, one was an intermittent fasting diet and the second was a lessened-calorie diet. The purpose was to see which diet was more effective in limiting the chances of type 2 diabetes in people who are more likely to develop it.

 

Type 2 diabetes occurs when a body’s cells doest effectively use and make insulin. Type 2 diabetes also effects people’s blood glucose levels. In biology class, we have learned the importance of insulin. Insulin is an essential hormone in our bodies. It helps our bodies turn food into energy and controls our blood sugar levels. Without insulin, our blood glucose levels can become dangerously high. About 60 percent of type 2 diabetes cases could be helped with changes to diet and lifestyle.

Insulin glucose metabolism

It was discovered that people who followed the intermittent fasting diet, eating between 8am and 12pm for three days had a higher tolerance to glucose after 6 months and had lower chances of developing type 2 diabetes than those on a low calorie diet. It was also revealed that participants who were intermittent fasting had more sensitivity to insulin and had decreased blood lipids compared to those on a low calorie diet. As we learned in biology class high insulin sensitivity allows the cells of the body to use blood glucose more effectively, reducing blood sugar.

 

The conclusion of this study implies that meal timing and fasting have many health benefits to reduce the chance of type 2 diabetes and other health issues. This is very intriguing to me because I have heard many mixed opinions from friends and family if eating times do have any type of effect on our health!



New CRISPR Technique can Potentially be a Treatment for Leukemia

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On April 23, 2023

In Student Post

An article published on December 11, 2022 on newscientist, shares fascinating information on a 13 year old patient with leukemia, having no detectable cancer cells after being the first person to receive a new type of CRISPR treatment, to attack cancer.  

The 13-year-old leukemia patient, Alyssa, has had many treatments that have been unsuccessful in helping her condition. Leukemia is caused by immune cells in the bone marrow dividing and growing rapidly. This relates to what we learned about in Biology class in how cancer cells become cancerous by cells dividing uncontrollably. It is also related to how cancer is caused by changes to the DNA (mutations) that alter important genes and change the behavior of them. Leukemia is also caused by the mutations in DNA.

Normal and cancer cells structure

The most common treatments for leukemia are known as killing all bone marrow cells with chemotherapy and then replacing it with a transplant. If this treatment is unsuccessful, an approach known as CAR-T therapy is used. This involves adding a gene to a type of immune cell known as a T cell that causes it to destroy cancerous cells. This also relates back to how in biology class we learned about the functions of T- cells being vital because they protect us from infection. The modified cells are called CAR-T cells. Alyssa’s leukemia was caused by T cells so if they used this technique to modify CAR-T cells to attack other T cells, it would lead to these cells killing each other. Wasseem Quasim at the University College London Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, has discovered many drawbacks with this treatment. Due to the many problems conventional gene editing can cause, Qasim and his team used a modified form of the CRISPR gene-editing protein, and Alyssa is the first person ever to be treated with. Alyssa received a dose of immune cells from a donor that had been altered to attack the cancer, and tests revealed 28 days later she had no signs of cancer cells. CRISPR is technology that can be used to edit genes. It finds specific DNA inside a cell and then changes that piece of DNA. It has also been discovered that CRISPR can be an effective tool for cancer  treatment. This new approach to CRISPR treatments could be hugely beneficial  to cancer patients and Many other treatments involving CRISPR base editing are being developed.  

 

 

 

 



Artificial Photosynthesis

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On March 5, 2023

In Student Post

On January 25, 2023, Science Daily released an article about new research discovered by Osaka Metropolitan University regarding the Synthesis of fumaric acid by a new method of artificial photosynthesis, using sunlight to make biodegradable plastic. 

Global warming has caused a growing issue in our environment due to greenhouse gasses such as CO2. This research states that by using artificial photosynthesis CO2 can be reduced, hence limit global warming. This discovery shows that fumaric acid can be synthesized from CO2 and biomass-derived compounds using renewable solar energy.

Greenhouse-effect-t2

As we have learned in Biology class, photosynthesis is an anabolic reaction because it builds up glucose, a bigger molecule, from water and carbon dioxide. Although –overall– photosynthesis is an anabolic reaction, catabolic reactions occur throughout photosynthesis because the large molecules, CO2 and H2o are broken down into their individual components- oxygen, carbon, and hydrogen- and then rearranged to create glucose using energy from the sun. In the Calvin Cycle, the goal is to produce G3P, from CO2, which will eventually become glucose, or sugar, however, this can’t be done without NADPH. 

Calvin-cycle4-ptbr

Research discovered by Professor Yutaka Amao, stated that CO2 could be reduced by mimicking this process and can reduce CO2 by combining it with organic compounds. While fumaric acid is typically synthesized from petroleum to be used as a raw material for making biodegradable plastic, this research team was successful in synthesizing fumaric acid,  from CO2, powered by sunlight. This process is known as artificial photosynthesis. 

It is really interesting how mimicking the process of photosynthesis can lead to  CO2 being reduced when combined with organic compounds, and used as raw materials, which can be converted into sustainable structures such as plastic!



Why are some people’s sense of smell unable to recover after COVID-19?

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On January 16, 2023

In Student Post

A recent finding published on December 21, 2022, in Science Daily, regarding the topic on why COVID-19 affects our ability to smell in the long run, was uncovered by the Duke University Medical Center. The biological mechanisms that are behind the loss of smell many people face who have had COVID-19, may also be the reason for some of the other symptoms of COVID-19 such as fatigue, shortness of breath, and brain fog.

SARS-CoV-2 without background

 

Although many people recover from the side effects of being infected with SARS-CoV2 within a few weeks, there are many cases where some people’s smell is still altered for several months after. An experiment at Duke University conducted by  Bradley Goldstein, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor in Duke’s Department of Head and Neck Surgery and Communication Sciences and the Department of Neurobiology, collected 24 biopsies and examined the olfactory epithelial in each one. Using a single- cell analysis to examine the biopsies, it was discovered that multiple T-cells were heavily inflamed in the olfactory epithelium and that there was a loss of multiple olfactory sensory neurons. This is why many people have had a loss of smell even in the absence of SARS-CoV-2. 

In biology class when learning about the immune system and can fight and prevent viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. We also learned about the importance of T-cells, which are a large group of lymphocytes that play an important role in the immune response. We also specifically touch upon the central roles of T- cells and how “helper T- cells” recognize antigens and stimulate humoral and cell mediated immunity by releasing cytokines. We have discussed how vital T- cells are to our bodies while fighting off viruses because they protect us from infection and Without T cells, every exposure of pathogens that we face daily could be life-threatening to us. This relates to why our smell could be altered for so long after being infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus because our T-cells aren’t able to properly function since they are inflamed in the olfactory epithelium.

Healthy Human T Cell
According to Goldstien, other COVID-19 symptoms might be caused by a similar inflammation that affected people’s loss of smell. 

 

Why is SARS-CoV-2 able to evade our immune system?

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On December 8, 2022

In Student Post

On December 1st, 2022,  Nature Immunology published an article based on discoveries, founded by University of Birmingham researchers, regarding why SARS-CoV-2 still continues to invade our bodies and harm our immune systems!

Structural model of SARS-CoV-2 infection - Oo 422117

In an experiment funded by the National Institute for Health and Care Researcher, CD4+ T cells (which are a necessity for our immune systems to protect from viruses) were tested at the beginning of the pandemic in healthcare workers that were infected with COVID- 19. This experiment determined that T-cells were successfully able to identify epitopes in the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 but as SARS-CoV-2 continued to  evolve and mutate, the T-cell recognition was impaired. Against certain variants of SARS-CoV-2 such as Omicron, it was shown through this experiment that the T-cell recognition was less effective against the Omicron variant. Due to SAR-CoV-2 constant mutation affecting the role of our T- cells, this causes a lack of protection from our immune system which effects our health. This relates to biology class where we have been learning about how our immune systems can fight and prevent viruses, such as SARS-CoV-2. We have discussed the central roles of T- cells and how “helper T- cells” recognize antigens and stimulate humoral and cell mediated immunity by releasing cytokines. Learning about how vital T- cells are to our bodies while fighting off viruses makes me understand why after 3 years we are still being affected by SARS-CoV-2 virus!  This is also interesting to understand why certain variants of SARS-CoV-2 can be more detrimental to our health than other variants.

Healthy Human T Cell

This study also makes it clear that while the current vaccines are still essential to protect us from COVID-19, researchers are continuing to develop new vaccines that are specific to other variants.



 

Can Eating Late Increase the Obesity Risk in Humans?

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On October 20, 2022

In Student Post

Are you frustrated that, despite your healthy diet, you constantly feel like you are lacking energy, gaining weight, frequently hungry, and fatigued? Did you know that adjusting the time you consume meals could resolve this? Let me enlighten you on why you might be facing these symptoms!

A recent study  by Brigham’s women’s hospital orchestrated experiments to answer the following question “Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?”.  In the experiment, 16 patients with a BMI (body mass index) that indicated they were overweight, were examined closely. The 16 patients were on strict schedules so that their behavioral and environmental factors wouldn’t disrupt their results. They all had the same amount of sleep, the same diets, the same amount of physical activity, and the same wake up time. The only thing manipulated was the times each of them ate their meals. Each patient recorded the times they felt an increase in appetite, had their body temperature and energy levels measured and gave blood samples. The conductors of this experiment performed biopsies  of adipose tissue from the patients, to evaluate how their eating times affected how the body stores fat. 

The test results showed that the participants that were on a later eating schedule had a decrease in a hormone called leptin, which  is a hormone that regulates your appetite and energy level. The patients with a later eating scheduled were caused to feel more hungry than the group that consumed food earlier due to their body’s decrease in leptin. Eating later also had an effect on Ghrelin which is a hormone that increases your appetite.

The experiment discovered evidence that the group eating later was more at risk of obesity.  The adipose tissue gene expression revealed the pathways involved with lipid metabolism, receptor tyrosine kinases, and autophagy was altered in a way that decreased lipolysis and increased adipogenesis. Lipolysis is the process  of breaking down lipids. In our biology class, we learned how hydrolysis is the process where water is added to a molecule, which results in the molecule breaking into smaller molecules. In lipolysis, hydrolysis breaks down triacylglycerols into glycerol and free fatty acids. In biology class, we learned that lipids provide us with mass amounts of energy when they are broken down and if they aren’t being properly broken down in our body it can lead to damage in our cells and tissues. We also learned in biology class that autophagy allows your body to break down and reuse old cell parts so  that our bodies won’t work as efficiently. 

Lypolosis

Overall, the time of our eating has many effects on our appetite, body temperature, weight fluctuation, number of calories we burn, energy level, and risk of obesity, and can even cause  molecular changes in our fat tissue. In the future, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, hope to perform more related experiments to discover further information about this topic and specifically the relationship between meal time and bedtime on energy balance.

I have always tried to be the healthiest version of myself, which will make me feel like my best self. I remember telling my brother that I was feeling sick because I ate really late at night and he laughed at me and said I was being dramatic. It is really interesting to learn the science behind eating late at night and how it can affect how you look and feel. I especially liked gaining a better understanding of this topic because now I know the factors that cause my body to not feel as great when I eat later than usual! 

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