Drafts

ONC201, also called TIC10, is a small molecule inhibitor that is water soluble, orally bioavailable, and can cross the blood brain barrier. It functions as an Akt/ERK inhibitor and can assist in inhibiting apoptosis mediated by TRAIL. This makes it an intriguing factor for the treatment of pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Studies have also shown that ONC201 has a synergistic effect in vivo with ABT263, a Bcl-2 inhibitor in various types of cancers (2). Further research of pancreatic adenocarcinoma treatments show a beneficial synergistic interaction between ONC201 and gemcitabine, another chemotherapy (1). The researchers would like to expand on synergy between ONC201 and additional therapies to target pancreatic adenocarcinoma. The use of gemcitabine is not ideal as it is not specifically targeted to the cancer, and therefore may cause many adverse clinical side effects.

1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006291X16308142

2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4742189/

Like I stated earlier, the first step in genotyping adult zebrafish is fin-clipping. By fin-clipping, we obtain tissue we can use to extract the DNA. Each clipped fin should be placed in labelled PCR tubes. I'm going to discuss extraction using an extract-n-amp kit. To the PCR tubes, add 25µl extract and 6.25µl tissue prep, from the kit. Incubate at room temperature for 10minutes. Then, incubate at 95⁰C for 3 minutes. Add 25µl neutralization buffer and dilute 1:10 in DEPC water. It is essential to extract DNA so that we can gain more insight into the genotypic nature of the adult zebrafish. After, we can run polymerase chain reactions(PCR) to isolate the gene of interest.

Simple species counting is not enough when accounting for our ecosystem, it is too simplistic. It is argued that biodiversity is much more than counting a number of species within a system that allow it to function to produce ecosystem services. It was found that the equivalent of millions of years of pollinator evolution was lost. This data was lost in highly altered agricultural environments. These environments decreased pollination services above and beyond what would have been expected from simple species counting. Filling this knowledge gap is vital to our evolutionary history and our future. The species count may fail to protect ecosystem functions and the full diversity of life from which they are derived. Information taken from report titled “Agriculturally dominated landscapes reduce bee phylogenetic diversity and pollination services” in Science.

    Why are people in need of a reason in order to start something? Why is a reason required in order to start doing something? Something as simple as getting up and starting to study, there’s a commonality that exists amongst most younger people where we like to start work when the time is at a even 5 or 0 (like 6:15, or 9:45). There’s no real reason behind it, we just do it because it “feels better” than starting at say, like 4:23. Do we need a reason to pick up the guitar, or to go out and meet new people? Do we need a reason to pursue a new career path because we’re fed up with our current jobs? I think it’s ridiculous that sometimes people search for a reason to start or end something, when in the end the happiness that’s derived from starting or ending something should be more than enough of a reason to do it.

It is quite sad what happened to the passenger pigeons as such a plentiful and full species was annihilated entirely purely for our own needs and sport. One of the largest species that lived for nearly six million years was killed off in a few decades. As the direct cause of several species extinctions in our existence, I do believe it is our responsibility and moral obligation to repair some of the damage. As far as bringing back a species that has been gone for a long time, this raises question because ecosystems and species are constantly evolving, especially when a certain organism goes extinct, the environment must adapt. So bringing back say, the passenger pigeons, especially when they were at one point a dominant species, in such a short segment of time may prove to cause damage to ecosystems and further challenges than there already are. Our best option now is to protect the species that exist now, that we do now have the technology and the willpower to protect. It is not really up to us whether or not a species be resurrected.

Tau levels are present in the brian and it is associated with Alzheimer’s disease. The lack of sleep or sleep deprivation could increase tau levels in the brain, which increase tau tangles and that leads to brain damage. Scientists reduced sleep in rats and disturbed the rats in their sleep. What was found was that there was an increase in synuclein protein, which is associated with Parkinson’s disease. As Alzheimer’s Disease is more focused on memory development which involves the hippocampus, which is where most of the tau tangles develop. Which is why people with Alzheimer’s tend to lose their memories.

Apoptosis can be activated extrinsically by both the TNF and Fas pathways. Ligands can bind to either the TNF receptor or the Fas receptor, which have different downstream elements. In the TNF pathway, binding of the TNF-alpha ligand to receptor 1 activates caspases via death domains. TNF-alpha binding can also lead to the activation of transcription factors that are expressed in apoptosis and the inflammatory response. In the Fas pathway, the binding of the Fas ligand forms the death inducing signaling complex, which includes caspases. The formation of this complex also activates a positive feedback loop that keeps the apoptotic process moving forwards. Understanding how apoptosis works both extrinsically and intrinsically is crucial to developing targeted cancer treatments that can induce these pathways in tumors.

          The documentary emphasized the importance of water to both human society and natural ecosystems, outlined the normal water cycle, absent human interference, and went on to describe the ways governments and private companies try to control water, as well as the ways grassroots activists organize in defense of water rights. All of these components of the video offered context for the overarching theme, which was water scarcity. I found the ecology of overcompensation interesting, as the video explained that overpumping of groundwater supplies leads to desertification of the surrounding area, and that when the land can no longer absorb moisture, precipitation runs off into the ocean, contributing to more severe storms. In regards to water management policy, I was somewhat surprised to learn that international organizations like the UN defined water as a commodity, not a right. The example offered of the World Bank refusing to finance a water co-op in Bolivia, and subsequently trying to force Bolivia to privatize their national water system, leading to an actual civil war, was shocking. Furthermore, the way the private sector unsustainably exploits water supplies elsewhere around the world for short-term profits, even going so far as to bribe government officials, was frustrating to hear about.

Dominance of an allele does not predict the outcome of allelic frequencies. Dominance simply refers to the outcome of a phenotype. The common misconception in terms of dominance is that dominance determines which of two alleles will persist. It is misconceived that a dominant allele will go into fixation, and cause the recessive allele to disappear in the population. In fact, dominance cannot determine whether or not alleles go into fixation. It is through selection that determines the outcome of allelic frequencies. If the dominant allele was selected for, in that case, the allele frequency of the dominant allele will increase, otherwise, if there is no positive selection for that allele, it will remain at a constant frequency. Likewise, recessive alleles may also be selected for and its frequency may also increase. To reiterate, dominance only determines the outcome of the phenotype, and if acted upon by negative selection, could potentially disappear from the population.

We will compare the damaged plants (mechanical and jasmonic acid spray) with a regular amount of fertilizer and the non-damaged plants with a regular amount of fertilizer in order to analyze the effect of spraying jasmonic acid onto plants. We will compare them by measuring how tall the plants grow, the rate they grow, the surface area of the leaves before and after, and if there are any signs of chlorosis or necrosis. By doing so, we will be able to see how mechanical and jasmonic acid damage affects new versus old growth on the plant.