Jean Prounis
Homework Four Question Strategy
9/22/09
1. What’s available for conducting a project on neuroscience?
C. elegans and Drosophila are popular model organisms used to study
neuroscience.
2. How does it act?
These organisms allow us to learn more about the nervous system in genetically
similar organisms. An example of a test may be testing the C. elegans
chemotactic response to certain odors.
3. How can you change the affect? (Variable)
You can change the c. elegans response to the odors by perhaps shocking them.
4. How can you measure or describe the response?
To measure the response, you can observe them under a compound microscope
or a fluorescent microscope.
Article 1
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
"Antioxidant Controls Spinal Cord Development; Johns Hopkins
Neuroscientists Discover New Molecular Control." Ascribe Newswire. 17 Sep
2009. eLibrary. ProQuest LLC. MANHASSET SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. 22
Sep 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>.
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
Recently, researchers at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered
how one antioxidant protein controls the activity of another protein, which is critical for
the development of spinal cord neurons. The research of the never-before known
mechanism of protein control was published in Cell. In their previous research, it
showed that the GDE2 protein could cause immature cells in the spinal cord to
differentiate into motor neurons. Too little GDE2 can cause neurons to not develop,
where as too much GDE2 causes neurons to develop too quickly. Due to this, the
researchers reasoned that there must be a tight control of GDE2and looked for other
proteins that could bind to GDE2. By isolating all proteins that normally bind to GDE2
in developing the spinal cord, the research team found a few hundred proteins. Others
had reported the protein, Prdx1, for having tumor-suppressing abilities. This ability
caught Sockanathan’s eye for further investigation. Their research suggested that Prdx1
is somehow involved in motor neuron development. They found that Prx1 breaks a
specific bond in GDE2, allowing it to promote motor neuron differentiation.
3. How is your area of interest important to society? Need
This research is important to society because it suggests a new general control
mechanism that regulates when cells divide and when they differentiate.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name
of university)?
Some of the top scientists in this field include Shanthini Sockanathan, Ph.D., an
associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Solomon H. Snyder Department of
Neuroscience and Ye Yan and Priyanka Sabharwal from Johns Hopkins as well.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic? Is
this available in Manhasset’s lab or can we get it? You need to check your
research journal or e-mail Mr. Guastella to find out
peter_guastella@manhasset.k12.ny.us
In order to study this topic, the researchers observed spinal cord development.
They tested the results from removing certain proteins in spinal cord neurons to isolate all
proteins that normally bind to GDE2. This research would not be able to be conducted in
Manhasset’s lab because in order to conduct the research, you would need to use an
organism with a spinal cord, which is not allowed.
Article 2
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
"Rutgers University; New findings on Parkinson's disease and effect on patient
behavior." Mental Health Weekly Digest. 27 Jul 2009. 14. eLibrary. ProQuest LLC.
MANHASSET SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. 28 Sep 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>.
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
Dr. Mark Gluck, professor of neuroscience at the Center for Molecular and
Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, created a new neuropsychological
memory test to help uncover how Parkinson’s disease can alter people’s ability to learn
about costs of the choices they make. Gluck and his co-researchers found that nonmedicated patients in the early stages of Parkinson’s were selectively impaired at
learning from reward. Gluck found this unsurprising because it has been long known
that dopamine us used to carry reward information throughout the brain. However,
Parkinson’s patients have lost most of their dopamine-producing cells by the time they
are diagnosed. This explains why many Parkinson’s patients experience depression.
Gluck and colleagues found that this reward-learning deficit in un-medicated
Parkinson's patients is a contrast to what is seen in patients once they begin treatment
with dopamine agonists.
3. How is your area of interest important to society? Need
This research is important to society because it can help pave the way for
identifying which patients are most likely to experience agonist-related feedback
problems so they can be treated with alternate medications. This also can help
researchers find out more about Dementia, Depression and Drug Addiction.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name
of university)?
This research was done by Dr. Mark Gluck, professor of neuroscience at
Rutgers University and his colleagues Nikoletta Bodi and Szabolcs Keri of Semmelweis
University, Hungary, and Nathaniel Daw, assistant professor at New York University.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic?
To conduct this research, Gluck and his colleagues observed patients with
Parkinson’s.
Article 3
1. Write a bibliography of at the top of the page of each the article
Naik, Gautam. "Currents: Deep Inside Bacteria, a Germ of Human Personality --Scientists Hope to Fight Infections by Blocking the..." Wall Street Journal. 08 Sep
2009. A18. eLibrary. ProQuest LLC. MANHASSET SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. 28
Sep 2009. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com>.
2. Write a brief review (100 words) about the article
Researchers have always found bacteria to lead dell and unfussy lives. New
research finds that this notion is just the opposite. Bacterium is surprisingly social, it
can communicate in two languages, tell self from nonself, friend from foe and it thrives
in the company of others. Dr. Bassler was the first to identify the molecule that bacteria
use to communicate with members of other species. She hopes her research will lead to
a new kind of drug that won't yield to antibiotic resistance. Dr. Bassler’s current
research includes working with C. elegans to look for a drug that would disrupt a
bacteria's quorum-sensing system.
3. How is your area of interest important to society? Need
This research is important to society because it can help scientists create
antibiotics that don’t necessarily kill bacteria, but cut off their communication lines with
one another.
4.Who are some of the top scientists in this field? Where are they working (name
of university)?
Researchers in this field include Bonnie Bassler, microbial geneticist at
Princeton University, Microbiologist Richard Novick of New York University, and
researchers at Broad Institute in Cambridge, Mass.
5. What type of equipment or organism do they use when they study this topic?
To conduct this research, Dr. Bassler used C. elegans as a model organism and the
bacterical species C. violaceum, whose relatives include salmonella and E. coli.