BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: biology (Page 2 of 6)

CRISPR Mini | New Territory Unlocked

By

On March 20, 2022

In Student Post

For over a million years, DNA has centered itself as the building block of life. On one hand, DNA (and the genes DNA makes up) shapes organisms with regard to physical appearance or ways one perceives the world through such senses as vision. However, DNA may also prove problematic, causing sickness/disease either through inherited traits or mutations. For many years, scientists have focused on remedies that indirectly target these harmful mutations. For example, a mutation that causes cancer may be treated through chemotherapy or radiation, where both good and bad cells are killed to stop unchecked cell replication. However, a new area of research, CRISPR, approaches such problems with a new perspective.

The treatment CRISPR arose to answer the question: what if scientists could edit DNA? This technology involves two key components – a guide RNA and a CAS9 protein. Scientists design a guide RNA that locates a specific target area on a strand of DNA. This guide RNA is attached to a CAS9 protein, a molecular scissor that removes the desired DNA nucleotides upon locating them. Thus, this method unlocks the door to edit and replace sequences in DNA and, subsequently, the ways such coding physically manifests itself. Moreover, researchers at Stanford University believe they have further broadened CRISPR’s horizon with their discovery of a way to engineer a smaller and more accessible CRISPR technology.

This study aimed to fix one of CRISPR’s major flaws – it is too large to function in smaller cells, tissues, and organisms. Specifically, the focus of the study was finding a smaller Cas protein that was still effective in mammalian cells. The CRISPR system generally uses a Cas9 protein, which is made of 1000-1500 amino acids. However, researchers experimented with a Cas12f protein which contained only 400-700 amino acids. Here, the new CasMINI only had 529 amino acids. Still, the researchers needed to figure out if this simple protein, which had only existed in Archaea, could be effective in mammals that had more complicated DNA.

To determine whether Cas12f could function in mammals, researchers located mutations in the protein that seemed promising for CRISPR. The goal was for a variant to activate a protein in a cell, turning it green, as this signaled a working variant. After heavy bioengineering, almost all the cells turned green under a microscope. Thus, put together with a guide RNA, CasMINI has been found to work in lab experiments with editing human cells. Indeed, the system was effective throughout the vast majority of tests. While there are still pushes to shrink the mini CRISPR further through a focus on creating a smaller guide RNA, this new technology has already opened the door to a variety of opportunities. I am hopeful that this new system will better the general well-being as a widespread cure to sickness and disease. Though CRISPR, and especially its mini version, are new tools in need of much experimentation, their early findings hint at a future where humans can pave a new path forward in science.

What do you think? Does this small CRISPR technology unlock a new realm of possibility or does it merely shed light on scientists’ lack of control over the world around us?

CRISPR Gene Editing: The Future of Food?

By

On March 16, 2022

In Student Post

Biology class has taught me a lot about genes and DNA – I know genes code for certain traits, DNA is the code that makes up genes, and that genes are found on chromosomes. I could even tell two parents, with enough information, the probabilities of different eye colors in their children! However, even with all this information, when I first heard “gene editing technology,” I thought, “parents editing what their children will look like,” and while this may be encapsulated in the CRISPR gene editing technology, it is far from its purpose! So, if you’re like me when I first started my CRISPR research, you have a lot to learn! Let’s dive right in!

CRISPR

Firstly, what is CRISPR Gene Editing? It is a genetic engineering technique that “edits genes by precisely cutting DNA and then letting natural DNA repair processes to take over” (http://www.crisprtx.com/gene-editing/crispr-cas9).  Depending on the cut of DNA, three different genetic edits can occur: if a single cut in the DNA is made, a gene can be inactivated; if two separate DNA sites are cut, the middle part of DNA will be deleted, and the separate cuts will join together; and if the same two separate pieces of DNA are cut, but a DNA template is added, the middle part of DNA that would have been deleted can either be corrected or completely replaced. This technology allows for endless possibilities of advancements, from reducing toxic protein to fighting cancer, due to the countless ways it can be applied. Check out this link for some other incredible ways to apply CRISPR technology!

In this blog post however, we will focus on my favorite topic, food! Just a few months ago, the first CRISPR gene-edited food went on the market! In Japan, Sicilian Rouge tomatoes are now being sold after the Tokyo-based company, Sanatech Seed, edited them to contain an increased amount of y-aminobutyric acid (GABA). “GABA is an amino acid and neurotransmitter that blocks impulses between nerve cells in the brain” (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crispr-edited-tomatoes-are-supposed-to-help-you-chill-out/). It supposedly (there is scarce scientific evidence of its role as a health supplement) lowers blood pressure and promotes relaxation. In the past, bioengineers have used CRISPR technology to “develop non-browning mushrooms, drought-tolerant soybeans and a host of other creative traits in plants,” but this is the first time the creation is being sold to consumers on the market (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crispr-edited-tomatoes-are-supposed-to-help-you-chill-out/)!

Tomatoes

So, how did Sanatech Seed do it? They took the gene editing approach of disabling a gene with the first method described above, making a single cut in the DNA. By doing so, Sanatech’s researchers inactivated the gene that “encodes calmodulin-binding domain (CaMBD)” in order to increase the “activity of the enzyme glutamic acid decarboxylase, which catalyzes the decarboxylation of glutamate to GABA, thus raising levels of the molecule” (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crispr-edited-tomatoes-are-supposed-to-help-you-chill-out/). These may seem like big words, but we know from biology that enzymes speed up reactions and decarboxylation is the removal of carbon dioxide from organic acids so you are already familiar with most of the vocabulary! Essentially, bioengineers made a single cut in DNA inside of the GABA shunt (a metabolic pathway) using CRISPR technology. They were therefore able to disable the gene that encodes the protein CaMBD, and by disabling this gene a certain enzyme (glutamic acid decarboxylase) that helps create GABA from glutamate, was stimulated. Thus, more activity of the enzyme that catalyzes the reaction of glutamate to GABA means more GABA! If you are still a little confused, check out this article to read more about how glutamate becomes GABA which will help you better understand this whole process – I know it can be hard to grasp!

After reading all of this research, I am sure you are wondering if you will soon see more CRISPR-edited food come onto the market! The answer is, it depends on where you are asking from! Bioengineered crops are already hard to sell – many countries have regulations against such food and restrictions about what traits can actually be altered in food. Currently, there are some nutritionally enhanced food on the market like soybeans and canola, and many genetically modified organisms (GMOs), but no other genome-edited ones! The US, Brazil, Argentina, and Australia have “repeatedly ruled that genome-edited crops fall outside of its purview” and “Europe has essentially banned genome-edited foods” (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/crispr-edited-tomatoes-are-supposed-to-help-you-chill-out/). However, if you are in Japan, where the tomatoes are currently being sold, expect to see many more genome edited foods! I know I am now hoping to take a trip to Japan soon!

Thank you so much for reading! If you have any questions, please ask them below!

How to Keep Your New Year’s Resolutions: The Making and Breaking of Habits

By

On February 27, 2022

In Student Post

What is a habit? A habit is “a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition or physiologic exposure that shows itself in regularity or increased facility of performance“ (Merriam-Webster). With this being the second month of 2022, New Year’s Resolutions are still in many people’s minds. February is statistically the time when individuals give up on their life-changing aspirations that the new-year inspired, “virtually every study tells us that around 80% of New Year’s resolutions will get abandoned around this month” (This Is The Month When New Year’s Resolutions Fail—Here’s How To Save Them). The “new year, new me” mindset is beginning to seem a little too hard to accomplish. If we can create habits that contribute to our new year’s resolutions, maybe they won’t seem so difficult. So, how can we make these resolutions into good habits and break existing bad ones?

New Years Resolutions

Habits are created through associative learning. Essentially, as you repeat a certain behavior in the same context, it becomes an automatic response rather than a thought-out action and that is when it is a habit. When this switch happens, that behavior/action moves from the intentional mind to the habitual mind. So, if we can intentionally make certain changes as a part of a resolution, we will eventually do them without thinking and maybe accomplish a resolution! 

Brain

Now, let’s look at some interesting science involved in the study of habits! Specifically, the dorsolateral striatum. This is a part of the brain that “experiences a short burst of activity” as the brain begins to create a new habit (Revving habits up and down, new insight into how the brain forms habits). As a habit becomes stronger and harder to break, this burst also intensifies. This was proved in an MIT study where rats were taught how to run in a maze and received a sugar pellet reward at the end. As we have learned in biology, neurons are nerve cells that send and receive signals. In fact, we know all about how these signals are transmitted! In this study, using optogenetics, scientists controlled the neurons in the dorsolateral striatum with light. “A flashing blue light excites the brain cells while a flashing yellow light inhibits the cells and shuts them down” (Science Daily). As the rats were running through the maze, if the neurons were excited, they ran faster and habitually, whereas when the flashing yellow light inhibited the cells, the rats slowed down and no longer knew where to go, making wrong turn after wrong turn. Senior author of the study Kyle S. Smith said, “Our findings illustrate how habits can be controlled in a tiny time window when they are first set in motion. The strength of the brain activity in this window determines whether the full behavior becomes a habit or not”. This shows us, it is fairly easy to form habits if you continue it repeatedly as the action first begins! While this can be good or bad, with the other information you will learn in this blog post, I hope that this is encouraging! 

In a recent study rewards were also shown to help form habits. This study explored how giving individuals in India a reward for washing their hands before dinner created good hand washing habits. “The study involved 2,943 households in 105 villages in the state of West Bengal between August 2015 and March 2017. All participants had access to soap and water. Nearly 80 percent said they knew soap killed germs, but initially only 14 percent reported using soap before eating” (Small bribes may help people build healthy handwashing habits). These households were divided into groups. Those that received a reward for washing their hands before dinner did 62% of the time, whereas those who did not receive a reward only washed their hands 36% of the time. This is a big difference! “Significantly, good habits lingered even after researchers stopped giving out rewards” (Small bribes may help people build healthy handwashing habits). Rewards helped create the habit, but once the habit was formed, it was automatic and even without the reward, the habit still took place! Now you may be wondering, why is this information relevant? Well, reward yourself! If your goal is to do one pull-up everyday, give yourself a piece of chocolate every time you do it and eventually you will not need any chocolate! 

So, based on this information, how can we break bad habits? First off, go to a new environment. Due to the fact that habits form from repeated behaviors in the same context, by changing our surroundings, it is much easier to not participate in that behavior. Secondly, repeat a new, replacement behavior over and over. For example, if your goal is to eat less pears, make it a habit to reach for an apple every time you walk into the kitchen. As we know, repetition forms habits! Lastly, keep this new environment and action consistent – don’t start reaching for a banana every time you get home if you have been reaching for an apple when you walk into the kitchen. In order to form a habit it is critical to repeat a certain behavior in the same context. 

Now, we can now create good habits and break the old bad ones! With this information, make this the year that you actually follow through on your new year’s resolutions! Don’t let this month stop you. You have the knowledge and resources, get to it! New year, new you! Good luck! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below!

New Years Resolution

Cancer In Humans VS. Plants

By

On February 25, 2022

In Student Post

Cancer is a disease that has ranked 2nd in the deaths of the US only falling behind to heart disease. In our AP Biology class, we learned that cancer in humans is caused by a cell that has a genetic defect that is multiplying too quickly causing clumps and tumors. Whilst this has been devastating to humans and other animals for years, how does it affect plants that are another kind of multi-cellular organism?

An article that highlights the effects of cancer on plants states that cancer in plants acts differently than cancer in humans. Within plants, the cells aren’t moving so it can’t affect many other tissues like in animal cells. Furthermore, plants, specifically trees, don’t have any vital organs whereas with humans if cancer reaches an organ such as the Brain or the Liver we will die, however, if cancer reaches a branch the tree can simply grow a new one. In a New York Times article, C. Claiborne Ray states that “Excess plant cell production in the form of galls sometimes benefits future generations of insects” This relationship is not seen in Animals and can really help the wasps as they lay their eggs in the fast-growing tissue. Cancer in plants can almost be seen as helpful to the environment.

Cancer stem cells model

Cancer in humans is vastly different because there is no upside to having cancer as an animal. Cancer in animals is caused by an old cell not dying but instead rapidly multiplying and thus creating an abundance of defective cells that cause things such as tumors and if it were to reach your vital organs you would most likely die. In humans, the only real way to treat cancer so far is to use Chemotherapy. This method of treatment is very basic as it doesn’t distinguish between what fast-growing cells are which and kills any cell that is growing too fast. It is not 100% effective nor is it side effect free. The patient’s hair falls off as hair is very fast-growing and the therapy believes that it is cancer cells so they kill it off.

In conclusion cancer in Humans and Plants are similar at the beginning with things such as how they contract cancer and what exactly happens. However, the effects for plants are severely less than the effects on humans. While plants cancer gives a nice home for wasps to lay eggs as well as simply give the plant a minor bump. Human cancer is a devastating disease that caused the death of millions. Let me know what you think down below!

 

Cellular GPS: A New Cancer Treatment

By

On February 16, 2022

In Student Post

In recent years, it is estimated that 40% of people will face cancer during their lifetime. Still, there exist few reliable treatments for cancer, whereby it has become one of the leading causes of death in the world. Ideally, if a tumor is confined to one area of the body and is easily accessible, doctors may simply try to remove it with surgery. However, tumors are usually widespread and not so easily identifiable, whereby doctors turn to treatments such as chemotherapy which causes mass death of both healthy and unhealthy cells throughout the body. Nonetheless, scientists have discovered a potentially more targeted treatment for cancer, involving guiding magnetic seeds to tumors and burning them.

Bodily cells undergo the cell cycle, a controlled series of stages referred to as interphase, mitosis, and cytokinesis. Interphase is comprised of the G1, S, and G2 phases where cells perform normal activities, grow, undergo DNA replication, and duplicate organelles. Next, mitosis marks the division of the nucleus while cytokinesis marks the division of the cytoplasm. During this process, there are “checkpoints” at the end of the G1 phase, G2 phase, and mitosis. For example, maturation-promoting factors may trigger a cell’s passage through the G2 checkpoint if it has successfully duplicated and grown or stop a cell’s passage through this gateway if it has incorrectly copied itself. Cancer is caused when mutations in certain genes cause uncontrollable cell growth; this unchecked and rapid division causes many cells to pack closely together into tumors which hijack bodily functions, ultimately proving fatal unless treated.

Recently, researchers have proposed a new method to treat cancer patients, especially those with tumors in hard-to-reach places like the cranium. This treatment would send a highly magnetic thermoseed into one’s body which would be remotely heated once at the site of the tumor. Here, like driving a car on a loopy road, a doctor would use an MRI scanner to carefully guide the magnetic seed through the patient’s body. MRI scanners are reliable tools in scanning the location of tumors, so they would accurately pinpoint where to target and where to avoid with the thermoseed. Thus, this controlled method of eradicating tumors poses less of a threat with regard to damaging the body as a whole or even damaging surrounding tissues.

Although the prospect of such innovative research for remedies fuels optimism, it surely raises the question of which patients should undergo the new thermoseed treatment rather than well-trusted treatments like chemotherapy or open surgery. According to the study, this method would be greatly influential in treating glioblastoma, a common brain cancer. With traditional open brain surgeries, patients merely survive a year to a year and a half on average. Moreover, side effects are always a large risk with many current cancer treatments. However, I believe that killing the tumor remotely with a thermoseed and MRI has the potential to be a breakthrough, successfully eliminating the tumor and posing fewer long-lasting effects. While this treatment is still an idea at the beginning stages of research, its projected benefits make me optimistic about its future.

What do you think? Will this proposed cancer treatment be the reliable cure scientists have been looking for or a futile treatment that only reminds us of the challenge we are up against?

Glaciers Hold Less Water than Previously Thought. Is this Good?

By

On February 16, 2022

In Student Post

Last summer in Alaska, I was kayaking up to the Holgate Glacier when I noticed the water getting colder. I began to feel the katabatic winds as I got even closer to the massive wall of ice. Small ice chunks began to surround the kayak, and I could see the fast moving silt deposits flowing beneath me. I then heard a noise which boomed and echoed off of the surrounding mountains, and I saw a massive chunk of ice break off (“calve”) from the glacier and plummet into the sea. I’ve always known that climate change was happening, but seeing it before my eyes reaffirmed my fears.

Aialik glacier pano 2

Holgate Glacier, Aialik Bay, Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska

I’m not here to talk about my fantastic trip to Alaska, but rather to talk about the new scientific findings which will further predict the climate change battle. Previously, scientists believed that warmer-than-average temperatures can begin to melt glaciers, causing the sea levels to rise and cause disastrous flooding. Just recently, satellite image glacier research spearheaded by Romain Millan of Grenoble Alpes University in France has determined that glaciers hold 20% less water than previously thought. This means that, if all of the glacier ice were to melt, that the seas are predicted to rise 10 inches instead of 13 inches.

This is great news, right? Well, some could argue that less flooding means less disaster (landslides, wipe out infrastructure, etc), and that it’s good news. But it’s not, because even if the sea levels were to rise just a few inches lower, still 29% of the entire world’s population would be predicted to be immediately affected by flooding, and within a few days, 99.9% of the entire world’s population would feel the indirect effects through shortages or outages. In addition, less water quite literally means “less water.” 2 billion people currently rely on glaciers as their primary source of water, so “less water” would effect them through a drought. As

Parque estatal Chugach, Alaska, Estados Unidos, 2017-08-22, DD 94

Glacier at Chugach State Park, Alaska (which I too visited)

we’ve learned in AP Biology, water is one of the most, if not the most, important molecules to biological existence. A drought can affect human life from hundreds of angles, such as famine, or more immediately, dehydration. Water is extremely crucial to performing catabolic reactions such as hydrolysis, which we learned in AP Biology.

Factoring in mountaintop glaciers and their water content, Millan is able to determine the rate at which communities will run out of water. But for the non-alpine communities, these mountaintop glaciers are only a tiny drop in a large bucket. Millan’s research lacks one major component: the antarctic and arctic glaciers. If these unbelievably large ice fields continue to melt at the current pace, 90% of the United States is predicted to be underwater by 2050. To be honest, I believed this statistic was exaggerating until just recently. In Alaska, one of the glaciers named “Exit Glacier” had markers at the glacier’s terminus for each year. As I got closer to the glacier, I noticed the markers getting further and further away, signaling that the glacier was melting quicker and quicker. Take a look at the graph below, specifically how the year intervals begin to get smaller, and let me know how it makes you feel in the comments. Although it does not take a trip to Alaska to realize that climate change is really happening, new and emerging headline-worthy research like Millan’s is truly highlighting the immediate issue we all could face soon.

Exit Glacier Terminus Position From 1950-2020

 

 

Stop Mice-ing Around Gene Editing in Mitochondria Is Now Possible

By

On February 15, 2022

In Student Post

Mitochondria is often nicknamed the powerhouse of cells. It consists of a double membrane, DNA, ribosomes, inner membrane surface area fold called cristae, an inner fluid-filled space called the matrix. Mitochondria can self reproduce and can move around cells and change shape. It is also the site of cell respiration.  

Mitochondrion structure

Structure of Mitochondrion

Mitochondrial DNA makes up only 0.1% of the human genome and is passed down exclusively from mother to child. There are around 1,000 copies of mitochondrial DNA in each cell.  A cell is heteroplasmic if it contains a mixture of healthy and faulty mitochondrial DNA. If a cell has no healthy mitochondrial DNA, it is homoplasmic.

 

Mistakes in mitochondrial DNA affect how well the mitochondria work. Often more than 60% of the mitochondria in a cell will need to be damaged or mutated for mitochondrial diseases like mitochondrial diabetes to emerge. These diseases are often severe and, in some cases, fatal. They affect around every 1 in 5,000 people. These diseases are incurable and largely untreatable. Well until now….

 

The MRC Mitochondrial Biology Unit at the University of Cambridge found a possible answer in 2018. They used an experimental gene therapy treatment in mice. There they discovered that in heteroplasmic cells, they were successful in targeting and eliminating faulty mitochondrial DNA. Dr. Michal Minczuk shares that this new research does come with a catch, “It would only work in cells with enough healthy mitochondrial DNA to copy themselves and replace the faulty ones that had been removed. It would not work in cells whose entire mitochondria had faulty DNA.” 

 

Pedro Silva-Pinheiro tells us, “This is the first time that anyone has been able to change DNA base pairs in mitochondria in a live animal. It shows that, in principle, we can go in and correct spelling mistakes in defective mitochondrial DNA, producing healthy mitochondria that allow the cells to function properly.” He, along with Dr. Minczuk and their other colleagues, have also used a biological tool known as a mitochondrial base editor. They use this to edit the mitochondrial DNA of live mice. The treatment works by it being delivered into the mouse’s bloodstream using a modified virus. It is then taken in by its cells. The editor looks for unique combinations of the A, C, G, and T molecules that make up DNA.  Next changes the DNA base, changing a C to a T. Mitochondrial base editor can correct inevitable ‘spelling mistakes’ that cause the mitochondria to malfunction.

 

A recent example of how this research had been used is mitochondrial replacement therapy, or other known as three-person IVF. Mitochondrial replacement therapy replaces a mother’s defective mitochondria with a healthy donor’s. However, this process is extraordinarily complex and happens in fewer than one in three cycles in standard IVF.

 

Optimus Prime, Megatron, Proteins? The New Transformer Vaccine Candidate!

By

On January 17, 2022

In Student Post

Amid the global outbreak of COVID-19, with no end in sight after nearly two years, the future wellbeing of humans is in danger. Coughs, fevers, and shortness of breath have lent way to millions of deaths across the globe. As thousands of researchers relentlessly work to find solutions to this virus, multiple vaccine candidates have emerged. Specifically, in the United States, millions of Americans have received doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen vaccines. However, scientists at Scripps Research recently recognized a new, self-assembling COVID-19 vaccine as a potentially more efficient and effective way to fight this worldwide battle.

 

Primarily, it is critical to understand how vaccines function as they help protect the immune system. The COVID-19 vaccines currently in effect are mRNA-based; in other words, the messenger RNA signals one’s body to produce a harmless viral protein that resembles the structure of a spike protein. The body, with the help of T-Helper cells, recognizes this structure as a foreign invader as B cells bind to and identify the antigen. The T-Helper cells will then signal these B cells to form B-Plasma cells and B-Memory cells. When getting the vaccine, the B-Memory cells are especially important as they prevent reinfection. This is a process known as adaptive immunity. Here, in the event of future infection with the spike-protein COVID-19, the memory cells would help carry out the same response more quickly and efficiently. Essentially, this process acts as the body’s training in case of any future infections.

 

While the Scripps Research COVID-19 vaccine would evoke a similar immune response to that described above, it differs from other candidates in how it assembles in the human body; this new vaccine would be comprised of proteins that are able to self-assemble. On their own, these nanoparticle proteins would transform into a sphere protein structure surrounded by smaller proteins, mimicking the coronavirus’s shape. Here, the self-assembled spike proteins are more sturdy and stable than in an mRNA-produced structure. Thus, it more accurately prepares the body for future infection with COVID-19. In fact, multiple tests found that mice who were given the experimental vaccine were able to fight off not only SARS-CoV-2 but also SARS-CoV1 along with the alpha, beta and gamma variants.

 

Nonetheless, influencing the public to get a newer vaccine instead of the well-trusted vaccines already in production requires proof of the candidate’s benefits. Primarily, as mentioned, early results find that this new candidate would perform well with many different strains of COVID-19. Additionally, researchers assert that this vaccine would be relatively simple to produce on a mass scale. Lastly, scientists found that this vaccine may well be more protective and long-lasting than current vaccine candidates. Although the process of vaccine approval is lengthy and often difficult, I am hopeful for the future of the Scripps Research vaccine if it is put into production. Moreover, I believe that such experimentation with self-assembling nanoparticle proteins transcends the current pandemic. The benefits of this field present a wide array of opportunities, and I look forward to seeing what its future may hold.

 

What do you think? Are these transformer-like self-assembling particles a gateway to the future of medicine or an unnecessary distraction from effective treatments already in circulation?

The COVID-19 Vaccine: How, What, and Why

By

On December 20, 2021

In Student Post

We have all seen the news lately – COVID, COVID, and more COVID! Should people get the vaccine? What about the booster shot? Are vaccines more harmful than COVID-19? Will my child have birth-defects? This blog post will (hopefully) answer most of your questions and clear up a very confusing topic of discussion!

Discovery of monoclonal antibodies that inhibit new coronavirus（Wuhan virus）

First off, what are some potential effects of COVID-19? They include, but are certainly not limited to, shortness of breath, joint pain, chest pain, loss of taste, fever, organ damage, blood clots, blood vessel problems, memory loss, hearing loss tinnitus, anosmia, attention disorder, and the list goes on. So, our next question naturally is: what are the common effects of the COVID-19 Vaccine? On the arm that an individual receives the vaccine the symptoms include pain, redness, and swelling. Throughout the body, tiredness, a headache, muscle pain, chills, fever, and nausea can be experienced. To me, these effects seem much less severe than COVID-19’s!

COVID-19 immunizations begin

Now that we have covered effects, you are probably wondering what exactly the COVID-19 Vaccine does – will it make it impossible for me to get COVID-19? Will I have superpowers? Well, you may not get superpowers, but your cells will certainly have a new weapon, which we will discuss in the next paragraph! The COVID-19 Vaccine reduces “the risk of COVID-19, including severe illness by 90 percent or more among people who are fully vaccinated,” reduces the overall spread of disease, and can “also provide protection against COVID-19 infections without symptoms” (asymptomatic cases) (Covid-19 Vaccines Work).

So, how does the vaccine work? Many people think that all vaccines send a small part of the disease into us so our cells learn how to fight it at a smaller scale. However, this is not the case with the COVID-19 vaccine! As we learned in biology class, COVID-19 Vaccines are mRNA vaccines which use mRNA (genetic material that tells our cells to produce proteins) wrapped in a layer of fat to attach to cells. This bubble of fat wrapped mRNA enters a dendritic cell through phagocytosis. Once inside of the cell, the fat falls off the mRNA and the strand is read by ribosomes (a protein maker) in the cytoplasm. A dendritic cell is a special part of the immune system because it is able to display epitopes on MHC proteins on its surface.

Corona-Virus

After being made by the ribosomes, pieces of the viral surface protein are displayed on the surface of the dendritic cell (specifically the MHC protein), and the cell travels to lymph nodes to show this surface protein. At the lymph nodes, it shows the epitope to other cells of the immune system including T-Helper Cells. The T-Helper Cells see what they’re dealing with and create an individualized response which they relay to T-Killer cells that attack and kill virus-infected cells. This individualized response is also stored in T-Memory cells so that if you do end up getting COVID-19, your body will already know how to fight it! The T-Helper Cells additionally gather B-Plasma cells to make antibodies that will keep COVID-19 from ever entering your cells. T-Helper Cells are amazing! As you can see, the vaccine never enters your nucleus, so it cannot effect your DNA! No birth-defects are possible!

You are now equipped with so much information and able to disregard many common misconceptions about the COVID-19 vaccine! Additionally, you can make an educated decision about whether or not you should get the vaccine. I think yes! If you have any questions, please feel free to comment them and I will answer. Thanks for reading!

 

Can a Plant Based Diet Protect You from Covid?

By

On December 17, 2021

In Student Post

The Covid-19 pandemic has affected and devastated millions of people all over the world over the past two years. Even after religiously wearing masks and more than half of the world’s population getting vaccinated, we still need to live in caution of getting infected with this virus every day. Although Covid-19 is known to be one of the most contagious viruses to exist, it has been discovered in a recent article that maintaining a healthier lifestyle and diet will decrease your chances of getting infected as well as minimize any symptoms if you do happen to get infected. We all know that overall if you are able to maintain healthy habits, your immune system will be stronger and therefore, able to fight off infection more effortlessly, but applying this same idea to Covid-19 may help us escape this pandemic sooner than expected. 

Since data on this theory was lacking, Dr. Jordi Merino and his colleagues conducted an experiment to gather more evidence. 592,571 participants were selected and began by completing a questionnaire assessing their dietary habits before the pandemic. Participants who had healthy eating habits had a 9% lower chance of contracting the virus and a 41% lower chance of developing severe Covid-19. Merino concluded that in addition to wearing masks and getting vaccinated, we should all try to maintain healthy, plant-based diets to fight against Covid.

Healthy non-sugar diet

In addition to the health benefits of having a plant-based diet, it improves your immune system because of the antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals found in plants. These components work to keep your cells healthy and working at their fullest potential to fight off infection. They resolve inflammation in the body by neutralizing toxins, processed foods, bacteria, and viruses. With all the benefits, why wouldn’t you go plant-based?

It may sound pretty simple: if I go plant-based and I won’t get sick, right? Not exactly. It is found that the risk of  Covid-19 is greater in areas of high socioeconomic deprivation. This is because the people who inhabit these areas are unable to maintain the same lifestyle as people who are more fortunate. Plant-based diets and healthier lifestyles are generally more costly, causing them to be less accessible to everyone. This is one of the main reasons that Covid is still a great risk to our society. For more information about a plant-based diet decreasing Covid risks, click here.

In AP Biology we learned how your immune system works to fight against any invading viruses in your body. When you are contracting a virus, the pathogen first needs to pass through your barrier defenses. These are the natural defenses with which you are born. For example, they include mucus, skin, stomach acidity, blood and lymph proteins, etc.. If you are an unhealthy person and these defenses aren’t working properly, you are much more susceptible to disease and then need to rely on your internal defenses.

Primary immune response 1

This diagram shows how the humoral and cell-mediated responses work in the body to fight off disease.  When a pathogen enters the body, your immune system will attack either the pathogen itself when loose in your bloodstream and bone marrow or attack and kill an entire infected cell. Keeping your immune system strong by eating right and frequent exercise will also ensure that these defenses will fight off disease quickly and form antibodies to prevent future reinfection. A healthy person is by no means immune to a virus, but they will experience fewer symptoms as well as recover faster because their immune system works faster. This means that fewer cells will become infected and the virus will have less time to replicate and multiply.

As someone who runs track and cross country, it is very important to me to keep my diet as healthy as possible. Though a plant-based diet doesn’t suit my lifestyle best, I do make healthy food choices as often as I can to properly fuel myself and to ensure I don’t get sick. This seems to be working well for me as I am still yet to get infected with Covid-19 or show any symptoms.

The Importance of Gut Health: How to Live Long and Be Happy

By

On October 26, 2021

In Student Post

Gut health – why is it so important? I had always thought that the concept of good gut health was a myth and only lived on the side of a bottle of Kombucha. I could not have been more incorrect!Kombucha, Health-Ade,

It turns out that a happy gut is critical to live a long, happy, and healthy life! The gut, also known as the digestive tract or gastrointestinal track, includes the mouth, esophagus, stomach, small intestine, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, colon, and rectum. Therefore, it processes all of the nutrients you take in, fights diseases, serves as a center for communication, and produces hormones. These are all critical tasks that affect your everyday well-being!

202004 Gut microbiota

When thinking about gut health, scientists are usually referring to the gut microbiome. In short, the gut microbiome is all of the microbiomes in your intestines. Humans would have a very hard time surviving without the gut microbiome. It digests breast milk when babies are first born, controls the immune system, digests fiber, and even helps control brain health. In fact, a recent study done with mice suggests that gut health affects social interaction/behaviors, stress, anxiety, and autism spectrum disorder. Additionally, in 2011 another study was done with mice, which involved antibiotics killing “bad” gut bacteria, also known as, gut flora. These mice became scientifically less anxious after killing the gut flora and “showed [positive] changes in their brain chemistry that have been linked to depression”  according to Live Science.

Gut flora is not the same for everyone. Another study done with gut flora showed that obese individuals tend to have less diversity in their gut flora when compared to lean individuals. This difference is because of an increase in Firmicutes and decrease of Bacteroidetes in obese individuals. Gut flora also affects an individual’s metabolism because of its affects on the breakdown of a key organic compound we have learned about in biology, carbohydrates. As we know, carbohydrates provide energy for the body which is imperative for all individuals. Another subject we have discussed in our class, amino acids, can have an increase in production because of gut flora (Live Science).

Now, you may be wondering, “how can I keep my gut happy?” The key to a healthy gut comes from diet. After an extensive amount of research, here are some tips I have gathered and why they work:

  1. Eat a variety of foods – to keep your microbiome diverse (recommended to eat specifically a variety of fruits and vegetables for fiber, vitamins, and minerals)
    Fresh fruits and vegetables in 2020 06
  2. Eat fermented foods (ex. yogurt, kefir, kimchi, pickles, sauerkraut) – it “can reduce the amount of disease-causing species in the gut” (Healthline)Vegan yogurt, March 2012
  3. Eat nuts, seeds, and legumes for fiber and proteinNuts on Spice Bazaar in Istanbul 01
  4. Eat whole grains for dietary fiberHome made whole grain bread
  5. Eat prebiotic foods (ex. bananas, artichokes, apples, asparagus, oats, flax seeds, garlic, onions, broccoli) – to “help boost the population and diversity of good bacteria” (Orlando Health)29 Nov 2011 - Apples and BananasThree Onion in Peng Chau
  6. Limit antibiotics – they kill both good and bad bacteria in the gut, which decreases necessary varietyAntibiotic pills
  7. Take a probiotic supplement – it “can help restore the gut to a healthy state after dysbiosis” (Healthline)Red and blue pill

These are all relatively small changes for the huge benefits that they reap. Start incorporating them today to improve your gut health and live a longer, happier, and overall healthier life!

 

Ernest Everett Who? The One Who Flew Under The Radar

By

On March 8, 2021

In Student Post

Keeping up with this month’s theme of Black history and social justice, the topic of Black excellence is always a good one. It is very interesting to learn about how these people in under-represented social groups are able to achieve so much with such little resources. It is truly amazing, and also what’s weird is that we never hear about these people. Let’s look at one of these people and highlight their significance in this world – Ernest Everett Just, PhD.

 

Who was he?

Dr. Just was a pioneering biologist and scientific writer. He was born and raised in South Carolina on August 14, 1883. He was the son of an alcoholic father when he was just 4 years old his father had passed away due to alcoholism. From then on, he was raised by his single mother. 

File:Ernest Everett Just.jpg

Image of Dr. Just

 

How educated was he? 

Dr. Just’s mother, Mary, wanted him to just become a teacher and decided to send him to a high school in the south. But, Mary then believed that the schools in the south were inferior and then sent him to a preparatory school in the north. From then, he graduated from Dartmouth and developed an interest in Biology and specifically in fertilization and egg development because of a newspaper he read on this topic. After graduating from Dartmouth, he earned distinguished honors for topics such as history, biology, and botany. Safe to say he was one incredibly intelligent and educated individual.

 

What did he do next after college and into his career? 

As his mother wanted, his first job after graduating college was becoming a teacher at the famous Howard University. He then later received his PhD from the University of Chicago where he majored in embryology. As stated earlier, he was a pioneer. He found many new areas in the stages of development, including fertilization, experimental parthenogenesis, hydration, cell division, dehydration in living cells and ultraviolet carcinogenic radiation effects on cells. Also stated earlier, Dr. Just was an academic writer who edited for major magazines and won the NAACP’s first ever Spingarn medal which stands for outstanding achievement for an african american individual. Dr. Just also faced many racial challenges growing up and living in the United States of America. He was awarded a position in the Julius Rosenwald Fellow in Biology of the National Research Council which allowed him to work in Europe. Since his work was hindered so heavily in America, this position was very good for him. During his time in Europe, he published many research papers. He, to this day, is seen as “a biologist of unusual skill and the greatest of our original thinkers in the field.” 

 

What are some of his greatest discoveries?

Dr. Just is known for his discovery of the “wave of negativity” that sweeps of the sea urchin egg during fertilization, and his elucidation of what are known as the fast and slow blocks to polyspermy. He discovered that a “wave of negativity” sweeps over the egg during fertilization – it is a wave of ectoplasmic structural change that blocks additional sperm from binding to the egg and is associated with what is known as the fast block to polyspermy. He distinguished this fast wave from the slower wave of fertilization membrane separation. He noted that the rapid wave of negativity preceded the slower one defined by membrane separation. Complicated right? Well, at least he and other biologists understood it. Dr. Just was a very underrated scientist, nobody has ever heard of him! Hopefully this can give you insight to a man that persevered through rough times, socially through racism and mentally through the troubles with his early life.

Suleman Hussain’s Journey into Biomedical Research

By

On March 8, 2021

In Student Post

Antigens are foreign substances which induce an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies. The antibodies then latch on to the foreign substance in an attempt to mark them to be destroyed. This ability to bind to specific molecules makes antigens ideal probes in cell research, where they are used to latch onto, and thus help isolate and identify, molecules of interest in and on cells. Suleman Hussain, a researcher in the lab of Daniel Higginson and Simon Powell at MSK, discovered a novel and efficient way of preparation, fixation, and embedding of tissue for electron microscopy.

His research proved that Antibodies raised against aldehyde-fixed antigens improve sensitivity for post-embedding electron microscopy. To prove their hypothesis, he and his team immunized rabbits with antigen pre-fixed with glutaraldehyde (GA, which is commonly used in electron microscopical investigations). The results were consistent with their hypothesis, thus marking the discovery that will improve future biomedical research in terms of efficiency.

Despite all of his accomplishments, Suleman Hussain has experienced numerous hardships due to his sexuality. Being a member of the LGBTQ community, Hussain had trouble finding himself. He lived in India where homosexuality was criminalized so he kept his true self under covers, hidden from the rest of the world. Hussain grew up Muslim so to this day, his family still doesn’t know that he’s gay or that he’s married. “But I have grown more comfortable and more confident in myself. At this point, if they somehow find out then I’m ready for it.”

The reason why visibility of LGBTQ people in science is so important is because we serve as examples to gay teens, who go through a lot. For them to be inspired to do what they are really capable of, that’s what motivates me to be visible. It’s become much easier now overall than what it was before, but still there are a lot of homeless LGBTQ teens and higher rates of suicide too. So in that sense it’s very important for them to have examples.

-Suleman Hussain

Mutation in the Nation

By

On January 12, 2021

In Student Post

We constantly think of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, as a single virus, one enemy that we all need to work together to fight against. However, the reality of the situation is the SARS-CoV-2, like many other viruses, is constantly mutating. Throughout the last year, over 100,000 SARS-CoV-2 genomes have been studied by scientists around the globe. And while when we hear the word mutation, we imagine a major change to how an organism functions, a mutation is just a change in the genome. The changes normally change little to nothing about how the actual virus functions. While the changes are happening all the time since the virus is always replicating, two viruses from anywhere in the world normally only differ by 10 letters in the genome. This means that the virus we called SARS-CoV-2 is not actually one species, but is a quasi-species of several different genetic variants of the original Wuhan-1 genome.

The most notable mutation that has occurred in SARS-CoV-2 swapped a single amino acid in the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. This caused SARS-CoV-2 to become significantly more infective, but not more severe. It has caused the R0 of the virus, the number of people an infected person will spread to, to go up. This value is a key number in determining how many people will be infected during an outbreak, and what measures must be taken to mitigate the spread. This mutation is now found in 80% of SARS-CoV-2 genomes, making it the most common mutation in every infection.

Glycoproteins are proteins that have an oligosaccharide chain connect to them. They serve a number of purposes in a wide variety of organisms, one of the main ones being the ability to identify cells of the same organism.  The spike protein is a glycoprotein that is found on the phospholipid bilayer of SARS-CoV-2 and it is the main tool utilized in infecting the body. The spike protein is used to bind to host cells, so the bilayers of the virus fuse with the cell, injecting the virus’s genetic material into the cell. This is why a mutation that makes the spike protein more efficient in binding to host cells can be so detrimental to stopping the virus.

In my opinion, I find mutations to be fascinating and terrifying. The idea that the change of one letter in the sequence of 30,000 letters in the SARS-CoV-2 genome can have a drastic effect on how the virus works is awfully daunting. However, SARS-CoV-2 is mutating fairly slowly in comparison to other viruses, and with vaccines rolling out, these mutations start to seem much less scary by the day.

 

File:New COVID19 mutant.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

Diagram of the SARS-Cov-2 mutation

A Friendzyme of the Environment

By

On October 20, 2020

In Student Post

A team of researchers at the University of Portsmouth in England have engineered an enzyme that breaks down plastic six times faster than the previous most efficient plastic destroying enzyme. This enzyme specializes in breaking down PET, polyethylene terephthalate, the material most plastic bottles are made of. They created this by reengineering the previous enzyme, PETase, and combining it with another enzyme, MHETase, to create a ‘super enzyme’. They used a method normally utilized by companies in the biofuel industry, who combine enzymes to break down types of cellulase. Granted, it is still far too slow to be effective in breaking down the vast amounts of plastic waste we are faced with, but it is certainly a step in the right direction.

Enzymes are made of proteins which are made up of amino acids. Amino acids consist of a carboxyl group, an amino group, and a unique R group. Amino acids create chains in which carboxyl group match with amino groups, linking together using covalent peptide bonds, formed after dehydration synthesis. The chains of amino acids begin to fold and create proteins, which are the basis of almost all enzymes.

I think this issue is an important endeavor that should be funded by governments all around the world. We all share the Earth, and it is currently under threat by a number of issues, a prime example being pollution. Up to 8.8 million metric tons of plastic waste may enter the oceans every year. Some studies put the amount of seabirds that contain some form of plastic waste in their system at upwards of 90%. Plastic waste needs solutions before it makes the oceans uninhabitable for more creatures, and a mass produced enzyme may be a valid solution. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a large convergence of currents in the Pacific Ocean that has collected so much garbage, a large portion of which is made of plastic, that it is comparable to the size of Texas. Developing an effective enzyme that could quickly break down plastic could become a serious help to minimizing the environmental impact of the Garbage Patch.

While we cannot develop enzymes ourselves, several tips for mitigating our plastic waste are:

-Try to use aluminum cans instead of plastic bottles.

-Always recycle or reuse plastic bottles.

-Cut the holes of six pack rings before disposing so animals cannot be caught in them.

-Use metal and paper straws as a substitute for plastic straws.

 

File:PETase active site.png - Wikimedia Commons

^ The enzyme PETase 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Did ants originate from zombies? This fungus will give you the answers.

By

On January 22, 2020

In Student Post

There is a certain fungus that turns ants into zombies, but afterward, they explode. When ants are just walking by minding their own business they step on fungal spores. It attaches to the ant’s body and the fungal cell goes inside of the ant. The fungus feeds from within and increasingly multiples cells and it is called, Ophiocordyceps,   mainly living in the tropics. The danger about this fungus is that the ant is unaware of this whole process, it goes about its daily life, searching for food and bringing back to its nest. However, the fungus takes up half of an ant’s body mass. It undergoes a parasitic relationship where the fungus benefits, while the ant is harmed.

Once the fungus is done feeding, the ant will feel a needle-like sensation. What is happening here is that the fungus is pushing on the ant’s muscle cells. And the cell signals also get sent to the ant’s brain, then the ant will climb upwards above its nest. Ophiocordyceps does something very weird where it allows the ants to move upwards to a leaf above ground and then the ant bites down, where it locks its jaw. Then it sends out “sticky threads that glue the corpse to the leaf.” The ant’s head then bursts open, called a “fruiting body”, where it looks like horns projecting from the ant’s heads and the horns disperse more of these fungal spores onto its nest below it leaving behind a trail of spores. 

“The ants are walking over a minefield,” said David Hughes, an expert on Ophiocordyceps at Pennsylvania State University.

Hornlike antlers that come out of the ant’s head

There is still so much that is unknown about Ophiocordyceps because scientists don’t even know what kind of chemical gets into the ant’s brain causing it to climb. There are ants that age back to 48 million years old gripped onto leaves.  Scientists thought there was one species that zombified ants but it turns out there are at least 28 different fungal species that attack other insects as well. Dr. Araújo drew out a family tree to see what was infected by Ophiocordyceps. It became known that all Ophiocordyceps species come from a common ancestor, first infecting beetles larvae, not hemipteran.

The beetles that are affected by the larvae live in eroding logs.

“They’re mostly solitary creatures, with a very different life history,” compared to ants, she said.

It can now be inferred that possibly millions of years ago when this was happening to beetles, ants picked up the fungus if they were living in the same logs. Thus a constant cycle and more spreading of fungal spores. Even though natural selection favored keeping the ant’s host healthy and away from parasites, Ophiocordyceps had to find a way to make the ant leave the nest, not far enough from its environment, but just in the right place to send out the spore to infect whatever other ants were living around it. 

Because this behavior is so unordinary it is not possible that only one gene is responsible for all of this. They keep finding new species. Dr. Hughes and Dr. Araújo are still researching to find that there are hundreds of other species of Ophiocordyceps that are yet to be discovered.

Robot Frogs??

By

On January 22, 2020

In Student Post

30th Medical Group upgrades biological diagnostic system

Scientists working in a tissue culture room, similar to where these robot frogs were born.

Yes, you read that title right. A team at the University of Vermont has figured out how to make robot frogs. These life forms are only millimeters long and are neither a living organism or robot. Currently, they can move toward a target and heal themselves after being injured, but not much else. One of their creators, Joshua Bongard, referred to them as “Novel living machines” and also said, “They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal. It’s a new class of artifact: a living, programmable organism.” The new creature was designed on a supercomputer at the University of Vermont, but was actually assembled and tested by biologists at Tufts University.

Image result for supercomputer"

A picture of a supercomputer, much like the one used at the University of Vermont that made all of this possible.

The creators of this new form of life see many different opportunities for it to do good, like searching out radiation, or gathering microplastics from the oceans, or even clearing plaque from arteries. Genetically engineering organisms has always been a widespread thing, but this is the first ever time that something was genetically modified from the ground up. The supercomputer at the University of Vermont ran hundreds of algorithms to test the optimal design for the organism, it would take many types of cells and put them into a bunch of forms and body shapes. Until they were finally able to decide on the optimal body type, thanks to the help of this computer. After the shape was decided the scientists at Tufts then incubated each cell on its own then used tiny forceps and an electrode in order to merge the cells together. They were then assembled into a form never seen before in nature, they were able to move in coherent fashion, but struggled from getting up from their backs like a beetle or a newborn baby.

Personally, I think the biggest use for this technology is drug delivery throughout the body. Certain medicines for certain diseases that only affect a certain region of the body need to be delivered directly to the source, and taking it orally, or even through injection cannot get it there with the effectiveness that something like a frog carrying a certain treatment like a mailman could, which could mean a lot for medicine. These robots would also be the perfect messengers because they can rapidly heal themselves, since they are comprised of stem cells, if they were to be attacked by the immune system, and because after 7 days they can be programmed to stop working and become regular dead skin cells. So, in turn, they are both biodegradable and effective. Robot frogs are cool, but there is also a lot of uses for them, and a lot of ways this silly invention can help the world.

 

Do we never have to workoout again?

By

On January 22, 2020

In Student Post

Could it really be possible to get all the benefits of a rigorous workout without moving a muscle?

Recent Biological findings show promise that protein supplements can cause similar effects as a full body workout. The protein is called Sestrin and as of now it has only showed compelling results in flies and mice. However this new drug could be the key to a more healthy population.

 

What evidence is there?

A Michigan University study set up an elaborate experiment involving flies climbing or flying up the inside of a test tube, only to be shaken back down to the bottom. This practice was repeated for hours on end to test the endurance of the flies. The researchers made use of multiple apparatus in order to effectively test multiple variables. One such variable was the amount of sestrin present in the flies muscles. This could be controlled through the genetic engineering of multiple generations of flies to select for certain traits like high or low amounts of sestrin. Through multiple lengthy trials it was determined that flies with higher amounts of sestrin showed better increases in endurance over time as well as perhaps the most important result, flies that were extremely abundant with sestrin were without exercise better suited to climb or fly for longer amounts of time than flies without it that had been training for longer. This result serves as a great case for why sestrin might be the super drug some speculate.

How does it work?

Sestrin, a part of a highly conserved family of proteins, is hypothesized to work by coordinating metabolic homeostasis by  selectively turning on and off different metabolic pathways as a means to imitate the effects of exercise.

Image result for metabolic pathways

Metabolic Pathways possibly affected by Sestrin

What do you think?

Is sestrin truly the drug of the future? Personally I remain skeptical until  a multitude of studies come to similar conclusions. Are the days of gym memberships and unkept new years resolutions over? Leave a comment with your thoughts!

Neurological Implications of a Dog’s Brain

By

On January 22, 2020

In Student Post

In this article, the brains of dogs and their neurological capacity is explored.

Biology Letters published their results on the mechanisms of a dog’s brain.

Gregory Berns, a senior on this study stated, “Our work not only shows that dogs use a similar part of their brain to process numbers of objects as humans do — it shows that they don’t need to be trained to do it.”

In the study, an fMRI was used to scan the dogs’ brains. On these images, it was shown that the parietotemporal cortex produced a lot of contrast and response.

This system supports the ability to rapidly estimate of objects in a scene, such as the number of threats approaching or the amount of food available.

However, much of the research conducted included an intensive training of the dogs.

Berns is founder of the Dog Project which is an organization that studies the evolution of dogs. The project was to first to train dogs to voluntarily enter an fMRI scanner.

Berns states his findings, “Our results provide some of the strongest evidence yet that numerosity is a shared neural mechanism that goes back at least that far.”

Overall this study found that “new canine numerosity study suggests that a common neural mechanism has been deeply conserved across mammalian evolution.”‘

Is Air Pollution Exposure In Childhood Linked To Schizophrenia?

By

On January 21, 2020

In Student Post

Research has shown that pollution affects physical health, but does air pollution also affect our psychological health? A study, which combines genetic data from iPSYCH with air pollution data from the Department of Environmental Science, reveals that children who are exposed to a high level of air pollution while growing up have an increased risk of developing schizophrenia.

“The study shows that the higher the level of air pollution, the higher the risk of schizophrenia. For each 10 ?g/m3 (concentration of air pollution per cubic metre) increase in the daily average, the risk of schizophrenia increases by approximately twenty per cent. Children who are exposed to an average daily level above 25 ?g/m3 have an approx. sixty per cent greater risk of developing schizophrenia compared to those who are exposed to less than 10 ?g/m3,” explains Senior Researcher Henriette Thisted Horsdal, who is behind the study.

To put this research into perspective, the lifetime risk of developing schizophrenia is approximately two percent, which is equal to two out of a hundred people developing schizophrenia in one’s life. For people exposed to the lowest level of air pollution, the lifetime risk is just under two percent. The lifetime risk for people exposed to the highest level of air pollution is approximately three percent.

“The risk of developing schizophrenia is also higher if you have a higher genetic liability for the disease. Our data shows that these associations are independent of each other. The association between air pollution and schizophrenia cannot be explained by a higher genetic liability in people who grow up in areas with high levels of air pollution,” says Henriette Thisted Horsdal about the study, which is the first of its kind to combine air pollution and genetics in relation to the risk of developing schizophrenia.

The study included 23,355 people in total. Out of those people, 3,531 developed schizophrenia. Through the results of this research one can see that there is an increased risk of schizophrenia when the level of air pollution during childhood increases; however, the researches cannot comment on the cause. Instead, the researched emphasize that further studies are needed before they can identify the cause of this association.

Schizophrenia is thought to mainly be a result of genetics, brain chemistry, substance use, and exposure to viruses or malnutrition before birth. So, I think it is very interesting that exposure to air pollution during childhood may be a cause as well. Additionally, I hope that these findings and further studies become very useful to schizophrenia research and prevention, as schizophrenia is a very serious mental illness and there is no cure.

 

Page 2 of 6

← Previous

Next →

Archives

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén

Skip to toolbar