Writing in Biology

An initial step in identifying DNA as the source of genetic information came with the discovery of a phenomenon called transformation. This phenomenon was first observed in 1928 by Fred Griffith, an English physician whose special interest was the bacterium that causes pneumonia: Streptococcus pneumoniae. Griffith had succeeded in isolating several different strains of S. pneumoniae (type I, II, III, and so forth). In the virulent (disease-causing) forms of a strain, each bacterium is surrounded by a polysaccharide coat, which makes the bacterial colony appear smooth (S) when grown on an agar plate. Griffith found that these virulent forms occasionally mutated to nonvirulent forms, which lack a polysaccharide coat and produce a rough-appearing colony (R).

To a 10 mL round bottom flask, tert-butyl methyl ether (TBME) (3mL) and nutmeg (1.000 g) were added in addition to boiling chips. For ten minutes, the solution was refluxed. The solution was filtered into a tared 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask after the solution had settled. To the round bottom flask, TBME (2 mL) was added and briefly refluxed and then filtered as before. Air was passed over the solution to evaporate the solvent. The crude product (0.578 g) and acetone (7 mL) were added in a 25 mL Erlenmeyer flask to recrystalize. After cooling in an ice bath, the crystals were dried and obtained via suction filtration and were rinsed with cold acetone (~1 mL). A small portion was set aside for the melting point. Trimyristin (0.60 g). 6 M NaOH (2 mL), ethanol (2 mL), and boiling chips were added to clean round bottom flask and refluxed for 45 minutes. The remaining trimyristin was then recrystallized for the second time and was cooled at room temperature for 10 minutes before cooling on ice for an additional 10 minutes. After 45 minutes of hydrolysis, the contents were poured into a clean 50 mL beaker that contained 8 mL of water and 2 mL of concentrated HCl, which was added dropwise. After all the contents were well stirred in the beaker, the solid was collected via suction filtration. The product was rinsed three times with 1 mL water and then allowed to dry overnight.

Our method was to study two feeders; one feeder is in an area that experiences a moderate level of human traffic while the other is on a trail that experiences relatively low human traffic on a daily basis. We wanted to test out whether human traffic would affect the number of birds that were coming to each feeder; we tried to do our data collections around the same time in order to ensure that time would not be a determining factor; however, there was a margin of human error in the form that we all went when we were able to fit the visit into our schedule. Our experimental sites were at the Silvan parking lots forest bird feeder and the forest bird feeder at the path that leads to Orchard Hill. We chose those sites because they are within walking distance from where everyone lives. We plan on conducting our experiments at least four times a week until April 11,  a week before the project is due. We plan on observing bird competition on different days and different times in order to avoid pseudoreplication. We have two sites; they are not that far apart so we will most likely have to find another site because if we use our current two we run a high risk of pseudoreplication. We will also do a variety of individuals and pairs when it comes to data collection; during the pair collection ideally, you collect data individually just to ensure randomization of data.

We hypothesize that there is a strong correlation between the presence and number of perch-feeding birds and the number and presence of ground-foraging birds. We also hypothesize that within interspecific feeding competition between perch-feeding birds as well as the interspecific feeding competition between ground-feeding birds that size and innate behavior will determine dominance, and therefore access to the feeder. Our hypothesis is that size will be the biggest factor in terms of feeding success. It is expected that the species that have a larger body mass, girth, or height and exhibits more aggressive behaviors, such as displaying wings and bills, pecking, or mobbing will be capable of outcompeting smaller and more docile species between the two groups that we are studying.

As a group we became intrigued with the dynamics between perching birds that use feeders as their source of food and foraging birds that rely on food that they find on the ground. The main question that continued to arise was whether there was a competitive relationship between these two groups, the first question being whether perching birds attracted foraging birds. As birds perch on a feeder and eat, seed will be dropped from the feeder to the ground. Understanding that, our first goal was to examine if there was a correlation between a bird being at a feeder and the appearance of a ground forager or if they were unrelated and both groups operated individually from one another. Our next question was whether there was a level of competition present among each group and between each group.  As a result, our group decided to analyze the interspecific feeding competition between perch-feeding birds as well as the interspecific feeding competition between ground-feeding birds.

It is essential for the three monoclonal antibodies for CD44, CD24, and ESA to bind to only PaCSCs. Although these antigens are overabundant in PaCSCs, variants may also be expressed in healthy pancreatic cells. As a result, the liposomes will be engineered so the antibodies will only bind to CD44, CD24, and ESA when these antigens are present in high enough concentrations. Titration assays can determine significant thresholds for these effective antigen concentrations. The liposomes will be administered weekly via intravenous infusion in an aqueous or hydrophilic solution to the patient due to their polar exteriors. Dosage efficiency can be evaluated through repeated titrations for a standardized therapeutic threshold of 95% or greater based on liposomal binding and delivery of contents. After approximately five rounds of treatment, 99.99% of PaCSCs should be eliminated, allowing for a relatively short duration of stem cell therapy.

The design of the overall poster has a nice flow. There are defined columns, and the section headings are highlighted and the same size and color which easily allows the veiwer to digest the material. The abstract and introduction, which are the only sections writen as paragraphs, have the same size and color text. The conclusion is writen a bit bigger as bullet points. This imediately draws the eye to the main focus of the project. There are some spacing issues throughout the poster which is a bit distracting.

The poster is organized efficiently. All of the necessary sections are completed. The literature is cited. The information flows nicely. It follows the format of a lab report going from abstract to introduction and so on. Each section is the appropriate length. The graphs and images are confined to the same area and followed by a conclusion. However, there is no figure description, which would have been useful.

The writing is done in paragraphs in the abstract and introduction. It is nicely reduced and to the point. There are few assumptions made in the writing. Overall, there were no gramatical, spelling, or typocraphical errors. There is a few spacing issues that may have been caused due to formating issues. Key points have been reduced to bullet points in the conclusion. Appropriate scientific writing is used on the poster. 

The poster is very informative. The highlights from the study are presented. Some of the data is raw, but it is explained in the conclusion. The graphs are very clear with high resolution. They are eye catching and all have similar color schemes. The poster is ulitmately very persuasive. 

It was once unexplained why European hair color varies so greatly, from black to blonde to even red. This article is about how scientists have discovered over 100 genes linked to European hair color. This article clearly explains that hair color is polygenic, which is a concept we discussed in class. A trait is polygenic when it is controlled by two or more genes, which causes them to be continuously variable. Here, we can see hair color is controlled by a plethora of genes throughout the genome that cause European hair to vary as much as it does. According to this article, the researchers who discovered these genes hope for their work to contribute to finding treatments for pigment disorders. They believe that some of the genes that they found affect hair color may also be associated with diseases such as Crohn’s disease and skin cancer. In other words, they believe that some genes that influence hair color are pleiotropic, which is a also a concept discussed in class. Pleiotropy is when a single gene affects several traits.

All cellular RNAs are synthesized from DNA templates through the process of transcription. Transcription is in many ways similar to the process of replication, but a fundamental difference relates to the length of the template used. In replication, all the nucleotides in the DNA molecule are copied, but in transcription, only parts of the DNA molecule are transcribed into RNA. Because not all gene products are needed at the same time or in the same cell, the constant transcription of all of a cell’s genes would be highly inefficient. Furthermore, much of the DNA does not encode any functional product, and transcription of such sequences would be pointless. Transcription is, in fact, a highly selective process: individual genes are transcribed only as their products are needed. However, this selectivity imposes a fundamental problem on the cell: how to recognize individual genes and transcribe them at the proper time and place.

Waterfowl ethograms for observational studies are of the specific type and can include differing categories of behaviors depending on the organisms observed. Muscovy duck (Cairina moschata) behavioral categories in one ethogram include social and reproductive, agonistic and alert, foraging and related, locomotive, resting and comfort, and other, each of which were further scrutinized into approximately seven observable behaviors (Downs et al. 2017). These were observed in a subtropical, urban university campus. An ethogram of Anas platyrhynchos categorized behavior through locomotion, resting, resting on water, comfort, courtship, agonistic, alert, surface feeding, subsurface feeding, and land feeding (Mason et al. 2013). These were observed in a semi-urban environment. Another ethogram of Anas platyrhynchos categorized behavior through locomotion, ingestion, vigilance, comfort, resting, and aggression (Welsh et al. 2017). These were observed in a rural environment. Although these behavioral categories assist in understanding waterfowl, it is crucial to evaluate when species display them based on their environment. It remains unclear exactly when Anas platyrhynchos display these behaviors on an urban university campus set in a rural environment.