Week 6: The Power of Milkby Shaira Bhanji
It’s no surprise that a mother’s nutrition is important to the health of her baby. It may, however, be surprising that the complications of a poor birth outcome do not stop at birth, but may come back to haunt the child’s adult life. Indeed, the well-known Barker’s hypothesis (also know as the Fetal Origins or Thrifty Phenotype hypothesis) states exactly this—that poor growth of the fetus during pregnancy leaves babies at higher risk of chronic disease later in life. Such diseases include type 2 diabetes, for example. I imagine being pregnant is hard enough even without having to worry about eating the right combination of nutrients to protect one’s baby more than fifty years after birth. And in some places, getting the right nutrients is harder than in others.
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Week 6: The Facts about FACSby Stephanie Wang
Most stem cell laboratories work with a specialized technique called fluorescence-activated cell sorting or FACS. A huge hulk of a machine, FACS sorters are able to sort cells individually, examining thousands upon thousands of cells one at a time in a period of minutes. By the end of this blogpost, I hope you will be able to understand this complicated technique and its significance. In the Wagers Lab, I have utilized FACS to separate muscle stem cells (also known as the skeletal muscle precursor cell population) from other cells derived from the whole skeletal muscle extracted from mice. First taking muscles that range from the rubber-like abdominal muscle to the compact triceps and quads, I then utilize enzymes to digest the muscle in order to separate the myofibers from the whole muscle and then the individual muscle cells from each other. In the end of the digestion and filtration process, I am left with tubes of satellite cells, cells that lay upon the outer layer of the muscle (where the muscle stem cells are located). 8/27/2012 0 Comments 18.085: My Summer at MIT - Week 6Week 6 - The Matrixby Amy Beth Prager
We deal with many complex concepts here at MIT :) My hope in this week's blog is to break one down for you. How many of you know about matrices and matrix multiplication? No, not the movie The Matrix, but the mathematical object called the matrix. A matrix is a sequence of numbers arranged in rectangular form. For example, [1 2][3 4] is a matrix. The elements of the matrix have their own names, as does the matrix itself. I like to call the matrix Amy...no only kidding, let's call it A. Each individual element of A, in this case, 1,2,3,4, are given names as well. A(1,1) is 1 because it is the first row and the first column. Similarly, for all the other elements. Some people like to start with 0 instead of 1. There is actually a lot of debate on the topic. Most computers like to start with 0, and most people like to start with 1. So this is proof that humans and computes differ. Starting with “1” is just so much more emotionally satisfying than starting with “0”. Of course, Spock and Lt. Commander Data like to start with 0. Week 6 - Delicious Science From The Kitchens of Abnormal Databy Rabeea Ahmed
For the past month or so, I have been testing the Hubble Legacy Archive to see if it is fulfilling its job requirement of putting great scientific data out for scientists to study. One of the aspects of this was to look at stars where the energy output per unit area per unit time (i.e. flux) changes between different observations. Normally, the flux is relatively constant and stars burn at the same brightness and flux level over a short time-period spanning months and years. When data of possible ‘variable flux’ stars are outputted by computer, it is my job to sift through to make sure that the observed variation are actually real and not caused by systematic errors in the instruments on the Hubble Space Telescope or other programming-related problems. 8/25/2012 4 Comments You Think What you Eat: Link between malnutrition, DNA and mental health - Week 6Week 6: Developmental Origins of Health and Disease: The Adaptive Response of Diabetes?by Riana Balahadia
An important concept that has unified my research is the idea that one’s early environment can affect adulthood outcomes. The Barbados Nutrition Study elegantly revealed that malnourished children had higher rates of attention deficits and metabolic syndrome as adults. Other famine studies have shown how children born during a famine also had greater risk for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and other chronic diseases. As I mentioned in earlier posts, my summer project was working on the actual mechanisms behind such mental outcomes via epigenetics. I am seeking to answer why stress and malnutrition at early developmental stages have such long-lasting, adverse effects. Can there possibly be an adaptive reason for it? The Developmental Origins of Health and Disease is a recent, exploding field in Darwinian biology that gives an evolutionarily sound explanation for the rising rates of obesity and chronic diseases. It stems from the Barker Hypothesis (or “thrifty phenotype hypothesis”). Basically, an unfavorable intrauterine environment causes adaptive changes in metabolism and physiology that theoretically “prepare” the individual for a similar post-natal environment. However, if the fetal setting does not match the adult setting, chronic diseases (like those we see today) can arise. Week 6: So this gene walks into a bar and says BLAST meby Natalie Punt
Comparative genomics relies heavily on methods to compare genes from one species to another. A popular tool used to compare genes or protein is BLAST. Over the summer, I have been using BLAST to compare cancer-related proteins in the Naked Mole Rat to proteins with similar function and sequence in human, mouse and dog. When I present my work to other students and faculty, I am often met with a resounding, “What is BLAST”? The first time I was asked that question, I thought the student was from a foreign planet, because who hasn’t heard of BLAST?! However, as I was asked the question with increasing frequency I realized that many people have heard of BLAST yet don’t understand how it works. Here, I will attempt to outline the basic concepts of BLAST. In addition, I will give examples of how BLAST has changed our daily lives. Week 5 - What I've learned thus farby Rabeea Ahmed
My internship at the Space Telescope Science Institute has been an amazing learning opportunity on many different levels. Of course, there is the obvious learning involved in working on data quality assessment, but there are subtle lessons learned that I believe truly enrich the internship experience. I will try and summarize them: 1. The Scientific Method I still recall learning about the scientific method in a 6th grade science class in Pakistan. Back then, it seemed like a fairly simple and obvious method of testing theories and explaining phenomenon. At my internship, I learned how the scientific method could be applied to data quality assessment and I did so by observing my mentor and advisor Dr. Brad Whitmore at work. While looking for solutions to problems found in the data sets I was working on, Dr. Whitmore would always make a prediction, state and write it down clearly, before looking at the data-set to check its validity. This physical statement of the hypothesis before the test was something I had not given much thought until I observed the importance Dr. Whitmore gave to it. I later realized that this habit allowed one to seriously ponder over the problem and think deeply about its causes without falling into the danger of coming up with any theory to explain the said problem. Week 5: Farewell, Dear Indiaby Shaira Bhanji
As I sit here writing on my last full weekend in Bangalore, I distractedly flip through photo albums and try to soak in the fact that my time in India is coming to an end. I’ve just returned from Sukh Sagar, where we are now well-known by all the waiters as regulars. My travel buddy and I met up with our friend from Harvard—an experienced Bangalorian who first showed us around the city at the beginning of the summer. We sat drinking masala chai and lemon soda slowly as we recounted all the stories we had accumulated in our two months here. I vividly recall our first week, when our friend was showing us around the city: I was homesick, disoriented, and happy to see a familiar face. And now here I sat, after having thoroughly traveled and experienced India, talking about all the places I had been. Who knew that so much could happen in eight weeks? Week 5: Work hard, be nice to everyone and have high standardsby Natalie Punt
As our summer progresses, the amount of knowledge and skill I am developing increases. This is the first research project that originated from my original idea and holding the reins is thrilling and demanding. So far, I have learned three things from the creation and design process. These three things can be applied to all aspects of life and here is how I applied them to my summer research. 1) Work hard Hard work or working hard is ubiquitous in science. It is the common factor behind most experiments, publications and careers. I consider hard work a gradient, with many integrated levels. What one considers hard may be easy for another. Similarly, some are more capable of sustaining a high level of work and productivity. I am learning what my definition of hard work is and how to maintain a high level of work. I define hard work- as working with purpose towards a set, defined goal. This means modulating my output to match my goals. And working towards a goal requires having a goal that can be defined. Working hard in my project has required me to develop clear, achievable goals and progress with purpose towards my goals. Week 5: Lesson of the Day: It's All About Finding Your Nicheby Stephanie Wang
I remember learning about niches in fifth grade. It was in relation to squirrels—fuzzy critters that managed to enjoy eating and planting acorns for a living. That was their niche, their place in the forest ecosystem. Other animals and plants filled the rest of the forest space in a beautiful, interweaving tapestry of needs presented and needs met. Nowadays, I think of Harvard Yard squirrels satisfying the curiosities of camera-wielding tourists—quite a different type of niche, yet an entertaining one for sure. This summer, I learned laboratory techniques such as performing surgeries on the legs of mice, running them on mouse-sized treadmills, using FACS (Fluorescence-Activated Cell Sorting) to sort muscle stem cells, and doing EMSAs (Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assays). I became a pro at Western Blotting and Western Blot exposing, and I spent dozens of hours at microscopes and in front of computers, counting cell colonies and determining the area of myofibers. I liked the in vivo work I am doing and have found the independence of laboratory research to be truly exciting. |
The Lab JournalWelcome to the summer internship series of 2012! Follow 9 Scientista bloggers through their summer internships to catch a glimpse of what it is like to be a scientista^TM. By Title- India Presents: A "New World Symphony"
- Through The Lens: The Intricacies Of Diabetes - Do Nanoparticles Glow? - Using Unusual Animals to Study Human Disease - Using the Hubble Telescope - You Think What You Eat - Experimenting With the Life of a Scientist(a) - 18.085: My Summer at MIT - Science Heals: A Summer of Global Health Research By BloggerRabeea Ahmed
Riana Balahadia Shaira Bhanji Nzuekoh Nchinda Amy Beth Prager Natalie Punt Juliet Snyder Pin-Wen Wang Stephanie Wang Archives |
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