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All tetrapods have the same body layout, or plan. This is further striking evidence for common descent. Even fish have remnants of limbs from their ancestors. Additionally, animals share similarities in embryonic development. This abundant evidence supports another main theme in Your Inner Fish, that similarities between animals can be explained with common descent. Shubin makes this work of scientific literature more readable for the average person by using reasonable prose and frequent humor. Because of this, I believe this was an extremely effective book. One of the most difficult challenges a scientific author can face is having their book not be read because it is too dense and dull. Shubin wrote a novel about the evolution of the human body and made it enjoyable for the average person, a remarkable feat.

For centuries, we have studied cancer and the affects it bestows upon the human body. Today, we try a variety of methods to tackle cancer and beat it. For our project, we decided to focus our attention on lung cancer. In specifically, non-small cell lung cancer. According to the American Cancer Society about 80%-85% suffer from non-small cell lung cancer. Squamous cell carcinoma, adenocarcinoma, and large cell carcinoma are subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We will be focusing on KRAS and its association with lung adenocarcinoma. In addition, we will also be discussing Keap1 and AATF. One challenge will be facing during our research, is in delivering a treatment that would only target the cancer cells. One idea we are looking into at this moment is to create a drug that will be delivered intravenous. We will be targeting the lungs via the pulmonary vein. Non-small cell lung cancer is a type of cancer which we will be able to build off since it is also known to be metastatic. 

The Neuron Doctrine resulting from Cajal's discovery took over 40 years to be confirmed. Cajal and Golgi were both awarded the 1906 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine. Cajal believed that neurons communicated by contact while Golgi thought the nervous system was one contiuous network. These two ideas went against each other until the electron microscope was invented. The electron microscope allowed scientists to have a closer look at how neurons actually communicated. It was confirmed then that Cajal was right about neurons communicating by contact. The Neuron Doctrine stating that neurons are the basic unit in the network of discrete individual cells in the nervous system was validated in the 1950s. 

The question whether an organism is intrinsic is a very subjective one. To be intrinsic is to be essential within itself; unlike instrumental which is to be useful to others. In a sense, every living thing has intrinsic value just in the fact that it is living because there is value in life. However, it seems that some organisms may hold more value than others. A good way to determine how high an organism’s value is, might be looking at how long it has existed on this planet and how essential it is for life on this planet. Based on this, single celled organisms like bacteria are the most intrinsic, before them no life existed and without them no life would exist. Bacteria allowed oxygen to accumulate which led to more complex organisms, or prokaryotes, to evolve. The next large step was plants and trees and their appearance seems to jumpstart the evolution of many of the more advanced organisms around today.

There are many ideas for downstream experiements that could be utilized in order to delve into remaining questions resulting from this study.  Potential utilization of the more modern idea of optogenetics, which involves the use of light to control the synaptic transmission of neurons that have been genetically modified to express light sensitive ion channels.  The CNO injections used in this experiement take at least an hour to stimulate neuronal activity, which is not a realistic depiction of how memory processes work in real life.  Running the same labeling, training, and retrieval tests using a more realistic method of generating synthetic memories might depict more accurate and applicable results.  Another idea would be to include female mice in a totally separate experimental group that undergoes the same synthetic memory generation.  All male mice were utilized in these experiments in order to rule out any discrepancies that might result from a difference in hormones, and the subsequent affect on memory retrieval.  It would be interesting, however, to actually prove if there is a difference associated with hormones and memory.  This difference might explain why some sexes are more predisposed to experience certain neurological conditions associated with memory, such as women being more likely to experience Alzheimer’s.  

My summer research project has two major components. Both components use a tetracycline-controlled transcriptional activation system, a system designed to control transgene expression. The system can be designed so that the addition of tetracycline turns on expression or turns off expression, giving the systems the names Tet-On and Tet-Off, respectively. In this experiment, I will be using the Tet-On system. In a Tet system, the tetracycline transactivator (tTA) must be bound to an operator sequence on the DNA in order for transcription to occur. In the case of Tet-On, the tTA is only able to bind to the operator when also bound to tetracycline or a tetracycline derivative such as doxycycline. The addition of the doxycycline allows transcription to begin, giving very tight temporal control. 

Pregnant women now have access to a new blood test called “cell free fetal DNA testing” that can be used to screen the DNA of a fetus for chromosomal problems. Just like all medical practices, there are some advantages and disadvantages to this new procedure. The appeal of this blood test is that it is less invasive than an amniocentesis, which removes cells from a fetus using a needle and adds a small risk for miscarriage. The downside is that despite the increased convenience of this new method, a follow up amniocentesis can sometimes be recommended because it is still the most definitive diagnostic tool if a problem is found.

Surgeons performed direct electrical stimulation under local anesthesia on patients in order to find out where the intention of actions originated from. To start off the surgeon informed the patient that a stimulation was about to start. The surgeon counted out loud to let the patient and experimenter know the beginning and end of a stimulation. The experimenter asked the patient whether he/she felt something or whether he/she moved. Other stimulations were done to determine areas potentially responsible for movement and language. It was found that even in the absence of actual motor responses, stimulation of the posterior parietal cortex caused patients to intend to move and to report having moved. Stimulation of the premotor cortex also triggered limb and mouth movements that weren’t consciously detected by patients. As a result it was concluded that motor intention and awareness are emerging consequences of increased parietal activity before movement execution. The subjective (and potentially illusory) feeling that we are executing a movement does not arise from movement itself, but is generated by prior conscious intention and its predicted consequences.

IMCL content within skeletal muscle is known to be a source of energy in numerous daily tasks. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of age and sex on IMCL contents. These lipids were analyzed using electron microscopy (EM) images of the vastus lateralis. Based on our analysis we found that there is a significant age by sex difference in lipid area in which older women had a smaller IMCL lipid area than younger women.

    According to our analysis there is also a significant sex difference in respect to lipid circularity. Specifically, men appear to have lipids which are more circular than those found in women. We suspect that such a difference can affect the efficiency of lipid metabolism within muscle fibers which can in turn affect overall muscle function.By examining such relationships we hope this data will be helpful for creating clinical interventions to improve lipid metabolic efficiency which is beneficial for overall muscle function.

Website Validity

            The website being reviewed is about the conservation of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus. Right off the bat you can tell that the website is well made. It features several tabs about the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus, including general information, FAQs, sightings, media presence, and even links to actual conservation websites. Despite the website’s sharp appearance however it does not hold up upon closer inspection. There are no actual references on the website to validate the Tree Octopuses existence. It simply states “facts” about the Tree Octopus in the hope that it looks official enough that you will believe it. Once you get to the “sightings” section you can also tell why this website is untrustworthy. While some images are well photoshopped, others simply show toy octopuses laid in tress while being covered by a few branches. It is fairly humorous, but also completely invalid. Finally, the website actually links real conservation websites in an attempt to trick those who didn’t delve too deep into the readings beforehand. While these conservation websites are indeed real they also have no mention of the Pacific Northwest Tree Octopus anywhere on it. These observations help to solidify that this website is not reliable, valid, or trustworthy. It is simply a joke meant to trick people who don’t pay close attention to detail.