Writing in Biology

My friend got a hamster yesterday. Her hamster is a female Syrian Hamster, also known as a Teddy Bear Hamster or Golden Hamster. Her nickname is Chubby until she decides what to actually name her.  She is very fluffy. The scientific name of this hamster is Mesocricetus auratus. As a member of the rodent family, she has sharp ever growing incisors. She nipped my finger after she smelt me and it hurt more than I thought it would. She has cheek pouches that expands when she eats or tries to bring food back to her little house. She fur is soft and is a light brown color. Syrian hamsters are usually between 5-7 inches in length and weigh about 120 grams. As pets, they can live up to 3-4 years, and in the wild up to 2 years.  

My friend got a hamster yesterday. She lives off campus and let me come over to see it. She is a Syrian Hamster, also known as a Teddy Bear Hamster or Golden Hamster. Her nickname is Chubby until she decides what to actually name her.  The scientific name of this hamster is Mesocricetus auratus. As a member of the rodent family, she has sharp ever growing incisors. She nipped my finger after she smelt me. She has cheek pouches that expands when she eats or tries to bring food back to her little house. She fur is soft and a light brown color. Syrian hamsters are usually between 5-7 inches in length and weigh about 120 grams. As pets, they can live up to 3-4 years, and in the wild up to 2 years.  

https://f1000research.com/posters/5-1984

The poster design does seem basic with 4 columns with a straight forward flow going down each column. Each column has a specific header and the information flows nicely. Figures are also placed in the right columns based on what they show. The poster only uses the colors blue and green. The writing is in bullet points so it is easy to follow but if presented, it might distract from the presenters speech. Graphs were legible and easy to get too. 

In my opinion, the writing is very clear. In each of the four sections outlined above, the writing is organized by bullet points with one sentence following. This length of writing seems suitable for a poster. The figures are high resolution, notably the picture of the immunohistochemical expression of PD-L1 in squamous cell carcinoma. No raw data is shown. The only data shown includes four odds ratios with confidence intervals and P-values. The data for the figures is not displayed in its own chart. The bar graphs serve to visually engage the viewer to the results. Without reading the text, the viewer can see the PD-L1 expression levels in tumor cells and lymphocytes, and how this varies across tumor type.  

I believe that the poster has an attractive design. I like the use of the light blue background for the text on the sides, with the figures in the middle of the poster. The poster is easy to follow, with four headings: ‘Introduction,’ ‘Design,’ ‘Results,’ and ‘Conclusions,’ clearly marked, and flowing in this order from top left to bottom right. I like how the ‘Conclusions’ section is simply one sentence, serving as the discussion. It reads “our results provide further support for the rationale of using immune checkpoint inhibition in patients with penile SCC, especially in those with high-grade tumors.” Sometimes when I read literature, I struggle to figure out exactly what is so great about the paper. This one line does an excellent job of phrasing the significance of the paper in an understandable way. It also is a great hook, because if I were to walk up to this poster at a poster session, I may skip straight to the conclusion before deciding if I want to engage the authors or spend time studying the poster. In this case, I definitely decided that this is worth my time, which is important for the authors.  

The first clue that eukaryotic DNA contains several types of sequences not present in prokaryotic DNA came from studies in which double-stranded DNA was separated and then allowed to reassociate. When double-stranded DNA in solution is heated, the hydrogen bonds that hold the two nucleotide strands together are weakened, and with enough heat, the two strands separate completely, a process called denaturation or melting. The temperature at which DNA denatures, called the melting temperature (Tm), depends on the base sequence of the particular sample of DNA: G–C base pairs have three hydrogen bonds, whereas A–T base pairs have only two, so the separation of G–C pairs requires more heat (energy) than does the separation of A–T pairs. The denaturation of DNA by heating is reversible: if single-stranded DNA is slowly cooled, single strands will collide and hydrogen bonds will form again between complementary base pairs, producing double-stranded DNA. This reaction is called renaturation or reannealing.

          In this experiment, 3-methylbutyl acetate was synthesized via esterification using acetic acid and 3-methyl-1-butanol as reagents and sulfuric acid as the catalyst. The odor of acetic acid resembled that of vinegar, while the odor of 3-methyl-1-butanol resembled an artificial sour apple smell. The odor of the product, 3-methylbutyl acetate, resembled an artificial banana smell. This indicates that the product was successfully synthesized, because 3-methylbutyl acetate is known informally as banana oil. The percent yield of the product was 84.42%. The low yield could have been a result of transfer loss from some product remaining in the reflux column. The product was also identified via IR spectroscopy. The IR displayed an alkyl C-H stretch at 2959.90 cm-1 and a C=O stretch at 1741.80 cm-1, as well as no large absorptions above 3000 cm-1, indicating that there are no O-H containing impurities. These experimental data are consistent with the known  IR spectrum of a typical alkyl ester, which is characterized by an alkyl C-H stretch that is just to the right of 3000 cm-1 and a C=O stretch that is at about 1750 cm-1. This supports the conclusion that 3-methylbutyl acetate was successfully synthesized.

Overall, the concentration of citric acid was slightly higher than the concentration of phosphoric acid. This makes sense because citric acid is the only thing used to obtain the tart flavor for clear soda whereas phosphoric acid is used as a compliment with caramel to obtain the flavor for dark soda. The Ka’s found during this lab appear to be slightly larger for both citric acid and phosphoric acid when compared to the Ka’s found in our previous lab.

Eukaryotic organisms vary dramatically in the amount of DNA per cell, a quantity termed an organism’s C-value. Each cell of a fruit fly, for example, contains 35 times the amount of DNA found in a cell of the bacterium E. coli. In general, eukaryotic cells contain more DNA than prokaryotic cells do, but variation among eukaryotes in their C-values is huge. Human cells contain more than 10 times the amount of DNA found in Drosophila cells, whereas some salamander cells contain 20 times as much DNA as human cells. Clearly, these differences in C-value cannot be explained simply by differences in organismal complexity. So what is all the extra DNA in eukaryotic cells doing? This question has been termed the C-value paradox. We do not yet have a complete answer to the C-value paradox, but analysis of eukaryotic DNA sequences has revealed a complexity that is absent from prokaryotic DNA.

When T cells are activated, there are both stimulatory and inhibitory pathways that are activated. CD28 is the activating cytokine. It binds to CD80 and CD86 receptors on antigen-presenting cells. CTLA-4 is homologous to CD28. In fact, it binds CD80 and CD86 receptors with much greater avidity than CD28. Therefore, after some time, the T cell response will be inhibited. In immunotherapy, it has been shown by James P. Allison that blocking the CTLA-4 inhibitory mechanism leads to improved cancer treatment. James Allison won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine for this discovery.