For the end of our first semester, we were assigned a symposium to research and make a presentation on a genetically-linked disease. My parter, Abi Grassler, and I chose Cri du Chat as our genetic syndrome. Cri du Chat is a syndrome resulted form a deleted portion of the 5P chromosome, resulting in mental retardation, speech impairment, and most distinctly a cry that sounds like the cry of a cat. To learn more about Cri du Chat and see our presentation, click here or on the following link!
Cracking the Code of Life is a documentary that focuses on the Human Genome Project and the race to decode the complete set of nucleotide pairs in the entire human genome. The race is between a private and public institution, both of whom had the same goal: to find a new and efficient way to map out the letter sequence of DNA in humans. The previous method, which was to decode each phosphate band – A, C, T, and G – by hand, was scheduled to take about 15 years. The race started when a man named Craig Venter created his own private company by the name of Celera Genomics to find a quicker way to do this in 2 years instead of 15. Machines were created which could decode 1,000 genes per second; humans, on the other hand, could only map out about 100 per day the previous way. In turn, the government (public institution) stepped up its game to create new machines and laboratories so that they could find the information first and therefore make the information open to the general public instead of patented. In the end, Bill Clinton declared a tie between the two organizations after they had mapped out all 3 billion base pairs by using each other’s work.
This documentary also focuses on two genetic disorders: Tay Sach’s disease and Cystic Fibrosis. We followed around two families who each had babies affected with with each disease. I personally found the parts that focused on these families and these diseases to be the most interesting.The idea of my future children being diagnosed with either scares me a lot though, because each are extremely small mutations in the fact that only one (Tay Sach’s) or three (Cystic Fibrosis) letters are changed. I think it would be so extremely sad to be a mother and hear that your beautiful child only has a few more years to live. Both diseases are incredibly evasive, and those few years the child has left will be spent in close to a vegetable state, with total reliance on the parents. I don’t know if I would be able to handle that as a parent, to be honest – it’s a scary concept.
Overall, I enjoyed this documentary. I personally think the movie would have been better if there was a stronger focus on documenting families who are affected by genetic diseases. However, I understand that really was not the main point of Cracking the Code of Life, and enjoyed watching nonetheless. I really find movies to be an engaging way to learn, and look forward to hopefully receiving more assignments such as this one in the future!
Our class went on a field trip to the wetlands of the San Francisco Bay last tuesday. Save the Bay is an organization which specializes in restoration of the San Francisco Bay using both specialists and volunteers (i.e. citizen science). Since the early 1900s, the wetlands have been reduced 90%. This has greatly affected the wildlife, endangering many native species.
Here is what I learned:
1. Pickleweed evolved to be able to live in salt water. This directly relates to evolution and adaptation, which we learned about in Unit 1. Genetically, most species of wildlife has mutated somewhere along the line in order to adapt to the environment.
2. The California drought has been one of the worst droughts in the history of California, and has greatly affected the wildlife and the statistics of information that Save the Bay collects.
3. The San Francisco Bay is the second biggest estuary in the country, after the Chesapeake Bay. As an estuary, the San Francisco Bay harvests both freshwater and saltwater plants, thus increasing specie diversity.
Citizen Science is a branch of science where data and information is taken and recorded by citizens of the general public. Citizen science, while maybe not all as accurate as science performed by a professional, is important because there is a lack of scientists but a surplus of discoveries to be made. Generally, the more information collected the better for scientific purposes and projects, and citizen science encourages this. By taking this data, not only did collect data for the Save the Bay organization which can potentially go to new project and statistics, but I also gained respect for the San Francisco Bay and Save the Bay.
In my small group, I was the data collector. I highly enjoyed this position; being the scribe and organizing data is my specialty. We tested soil salinity, moisture, pH, conductivity, and biodiversity.
Overall, I had a ton of fun on this field trip. I always look for an excuse to get out of the standard classroom and this trip enabled my classmates and me to do so. Assisting on this Save the Bay project made me feel like we were doing a lab, except this time I was really able to connect a lab-like experience with real life experiences. I will always remember Ms. Cerels getting stung by a wasp, which I think is safe to say was a traumatizing moment for everyone involved. If I could change one thing about the field trip, I would have it on a day where the weather is a little bit better, because the fresh rain arose the wasps and made them a little bit angry. I really liked my leader, Mugwart (aka Brian), and for some reason the fact that this was his first time working on this specific project too calmed me down and made the experience more enjoyable. I definitely think this field trip was worthwhile and would love to go again.
On Wednesday, November 17th, our class is going on a field trip to work with the organization Save the Bay to help do some research and learn about the environment and what we can do to preserve it. I personally am a huge fan of field trips – they are just as fun during 12th grade as they were during kindergarten. I believe that getting out of the classroom and having more of a hands-on approach to learning makes the material more memorable. Also, I think just changing up the environment and the normal schedule of a student makes the experience special and thus leaves more of a positive connotation. Field trips are similar to labs in the sense that they both demonstrate real life applications of whatever material is being studied to the real world.
I personally am really excited to observe the animals in the wetlands and learn about preventive measures to save the environment. As an animal lover I am primarily concerned with the negative effects pollution has on wildlife. I would like to learn more about how severely human activity is hurting the environment and what the future looks like for our planet if we do not make drastic changes to the way we treat it. Obviously, I would like to positively affect the environment. I don’t think anyone has the intention of having a negative impact on the environment (or at least I hope not), but I know the third option, apathy, may unfortunately be the dominant choice. Humans are naturally selfish beings, and many people simply do not care enough about what happens to the planet to make any efforts to improve its condition. I hope on this field trip to learn some basic ways that even one person can make a difference in order to try and solve this problem.
Visit http://blog.savesfbay.org to learn more about Save the Bay!
I collaborated with Abi Grassler to create a moving project that demonstrates the steps of meiosis in gamete cells. We used craft supplies – mainly Pipe Cleaners – to symbolize various organelles and depict the changes made and steps taken during meiosis. We then took pictures on an IPad, and used the Stop Motion application to string these pictures together in a motion film. You can view this video below:
Meiosis is a form of sexual reproduction and cell division. Unlike mitosis, which creates clones of the parent cell, meiosis creates genetic diversity – especially through crossing over, which occurs during Prophase I. Meiosis is similar to mitosis in that the cell goes through similar phases in both processes. However, meiosis goes through two divisions, producing four daughter cells, as opposed to mitosis which divides only once and produces two.
While Abi and I enjoyed using Stop Motion and taking pictures to create an animation of meiosis, using the craft supplies was challenging. Both Abi and I were originally unclear about the general process of meiosis, and we found that this confusion (on top of the struggle of using Pipe Cleaners and the time crunch) resulted in a lot of difficulties. However we did our best, and we are both really happy with the outcome of our project!
Work Cited:
Reece, Jane B., Lisa A. Urry, Michael L. Cain, Steven A. Wasserman, Peter V. Minorsky, and Robert B. Jackson. Campbell Biology. AP Edition ed. Vol. 10. Boston, MA: Pearson Learning Solutions, 2014. Print.
Title: Examining Cells from the Tip of an Onion Root to Determine the Time the Average Cell Spends in Each Phase of Mitosis
Purpose: The purpose of this lab is to determine how long cells spend in each phase of mitosis
Introduction: Mitosis is the process in which a cell divides, splitting the nucleus, and creating two identical daughter cells. Mitosis can be broken down into five major phases: Prophase, Prometaphase, Metaphase, Anaphase, and Telophase. The cell spends most of cell life in Interphase, however, which is a time for cell growth and DNA replication. Interphase takes part during the G2 cycle. During Interphase, a nuclear envelope encloses the nucleus, which contains one or more nucleoli/nucleolus. The cetrosomes have duplicated, and chromosomes cannot be seen yet. The chromosomes begin to become apparent during Prophase, the first phase of cell division, where the chromatin fibers condense and tightly coil. The nucleoli disappear during this phase and the mitotic spindle begins to form. Though prometaphase is the next phase, where the nuclear envelope begins to disintegrate and the kinetochores attach to the centromere, for the sake of this lab we did not identify this phase because it is so short and hard to distinguish. Next, during metaphase, the nuclear envelope completely dissolves and the centrosomes are now at opposite polls of the cells. The chromosomes line up in the middle at the metaphase plate, and the sister chromatids are attached to the kinetochore microtubules coming from opposite poles. Anaphase comes next, which is when the spindle fibers begin to shorten and the two sister chromatids of each pair start to part, moving toward opposite ends of the cells. The cell begins to elongate, and by the end of anaphase the two ends of the cell have equivalent and complete collections of chromosomes. The last phase is telophase, which is when two daughter nuclei form in the cell and the envelopes begin to reform. The nucleolus split, and the cleavage furrow begins to form. After telophase is cytokinesis, which is not technically a phase because cytokinesis is the splitting of the cell, and mitosis refers to the division of the nucleus. Each stage of mitosis takes different amount of time, and while the observation of a complete cell cycle (24 hours) under a microscope is impossible, scientists can get a idea of the time spent in each stage by studying an onion root cell, and counting how many cells within the onion root are in each stage, thus creating an average percentage of cells per phase.
Method:
1. Take a sample of an onion root tip and put it under an electric microscope to observe.
2. Count and record how many cells there are total in the section of the cell you are looking at.
3. Identify which phase each cell is in, and record the data.
4. Once you have a count of how many cells are in each phase, divide the cells in each phase over the total amount of cells to find the average percent of cells in each phase. Then, by multiplying that percentage by the number of minutes in an hour (1440 minutes), find the amount of time the cells spend in each phase.
5. Record all date. Compare the percent of cells in each stage to find approximately how much time each phase would take by looking at the percentages relative to each other.
Data:
Possible Errors:
Because we are fortunate enough to live in a age of advanced technology, I was able to use my phone to take a picture through the microscope. This thus magnified my view of the onion root tip, lowering the cell count. While this made the cells easier to observe/manage, but minimizing the amount of cells I now realize I also minimized my data accuracy. Therefore, the percent of cells in each stage, as well as the time a cell spends in each phase, is more of an average. The more data one has the higher chances of accuracy, and because I only had two points of data that also takes away from the accuracy of the results.
Works Cited:
“Online Onion Root Tips.” Online Onion Root Tips. The Biology Project, n.d. Web. 02 Nov. 2014. <http://www.biology.arizona.edu/cell_bio/activities/cell_cycle/cell_cycle.html>.
This is a video about the background of Ebola: where the disease originated, what it does, symptoms,etc. Here are the basics about a disease that has wrecked havoc and elicited fear from hearts everywhere:
In order to understand a disease, one must understand the logistics of the virus and what is happening on a molecular level. Here is a link to Amanda’s video, which demonstrates the process behind cell signaling:
To learn more about Ebola on a quantitative level, watch Davis’ video which includes data, graphs, and statistics:
Lastly, to find out what scientists are doing now about the current Ebola outbreak, view Abi’s video to learn about current research:
Reflection:
I believe that many people simply look at the fatality rate of Ebola and blow it out of proportion as an “unsolvable monster disease”, forgetting that it follows the basic behaviors of the typical virus. If one were to simply break down the virus and exactly what it does (both the steps and the effects), it makes Ebola a little less scary and the possibility for a cure seem more plausible. I really did not know what Ebola did to the white blood cells or why the bleeding/hemorrhaging occurred. Doing all of this research also led to my connection of fatal diseases to deeper, root problems, such as poverty, sanitation, and water accessibility. By looking at the differences between the death percentage in first world and third world countries affected by ebola, I understand that while a disease can affect anyone, the conditions of the area it affects can determine how detrimental it will be. This motivates me to want to understand what these core problems are and how I (and others) can help.
Works Cited:
“Ebola Virus Disease.” WHO. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Nov. 2014. <http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs103/en/>.
See my driving question presentation here!
Chromatography is the process of physically separating substances in order to be identified and analyzed. The major factor that affects chromatography is the type and saturation of the solvent being used. The dimensions of the chromatography paper, temperature of the solution, and particle size of the solution all act as factors on the rate of chromatography as well. In our particular lab, we focused on the chromatography of pigments in leaves. The purpose of the chromatography paper was to distinctly show the separation of pigments, and the purpose of the solvent is to move the pigments up the chromatography paper through capillary action in order to separate the pigments. Before testing on leaf pigments, we used chromatography to separate the pigment colors in a black marker. The results were actually quite beautiful.
In our lab, part of the purpose was to find the Rf value of each pigment. The Rf value stands for Relative Mobility Factor, which is referring to the movement of a substance in relation to the other protein bands. It is calculated by (Dunknown)/(Dsolvent). Dunknown stands for the distance that the solute traveled up the chromatography paper and Dsolvent stands for the distance the solvent traveled up the chromatography paper. Because each substance/pigment has a different Rf value, scientists can study the value in order to identify different types of pigments.
After testing chromatography using marker, we went on the the actual lab: using chromatography to separate the pigments in plant leaves. Our results were as following:
Our group was only able to identify two types of pigments in the green leaf: Carotene (the orange band) and Chlorophyll a (the light green band). In the purple leaf, we were able to identify carotene as well, and some other unknown pigment, which made a purple color. What we noticed is that in the purple leaf, that purple pigment masked the bands of the other pigments – however, it was evident that there were still other pigments there. Our group really enjoyed this lab because it is so aesthetically appealing. However, we found it hard to identify the different colors and to be able to tell where the rings were, because they faded a great deal. In our two green leafs, the results of the Rf value were extremely close (.88 and .89) which correlates with the fact that if the conditions for a set of chromatography are consistent, the Rf value will be constant as well. In plants, pigment is the means of which the energy of the sun is captured for photosynthesis, because pigments absorb the light energy and transfer it, which excites the electrons and thus makes way for the beginning steps of photosynthesis. My major question after doing this lab is how/why plants change color in the fall. I don’t understand how pigments are added or taken away for the start of the new season, or how one suddenly becomes dominant and masks the other.
Thanks for reading! Make sure to MicroSCOPE out the rest of my blog!
*All photos taken by our lab group*
“Affect of Different Colored Lights on Photosynthesis.” Affect of Different Colored Lights on Photosynthesis. CU Boulder, n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014.
Light Absorption for Photosynthesis.” Light Absorption for Photosynthesis. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Oct. 2014.
As Ebola has spread across Africa so has fear of this vicious virus. So far, according to the Center for Disease Control, Ebola has spread to a confirmed five countries since its outbreak in Guinea. The mortality has been thought to be up to 90%, meaning 9 out of 10 people infected with Ebola dies. One of the main challenges of fighting Ebola is containment: due to lack of proper health and sanitation care in African, this has become one of the most prominent reasons the virus has continued to spread. The international community has attempted to help control containment by putting international troops in these infected countries in attempt to try and contain the disease. However, I think the best way to control this virus (along with many other diseases) is to find the root of the problem – public health. By donating money and supporting foundations to help with public sanitation and health in Africa, other countries can in turn help with overcoming viruses such as Ebola. It is essential that other nations attempt to help in the fight against Ebola – otherwise, Ebola will go from some horrific-far-away-disease to a reality in our nation. Unless Ebola is stopped in its tracks, it WILL spread to other nations and become even more of a worldwide problem. This Ebola issue has affected how I think about health and medicine in my community because it has made me realize that access to good health care universally may be the ticket to stopping these diseases before they even start.
Works Cited:
“How Can We Help Fight the Ebola Outbreak?” KQED Education KQED Public Media for Northern CA. N.p., n.d. Web. 22 Sept. 2014.
MicroSCOPE It Out 