Monthly Archives: September 2018

Do Birds Have a Butt-Brain?

This summer, I worked with Dr. Monica Daley in the Structure and Motion Lab located at the Royal Veterinary College just outside of London. I was working on characterizing the function of a specialized spinal structure in birds and some dinosaurs known as the lumbosacral organ (LSO). This organ is hypothesized to function as a balance sensor by responding to changes in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) flow, or by sensing strain in associated spinal ligaments. At its core, the spine is just a bony tube that surrounds the spinal cord, with CSF sloshing around between these two structures. When a bird experiences a disruption in balance, the LSO may sense this and restore equilibrium with a fast spinal reflex, instead of sending the signal up to the brain. This work has implications in physiology, motor control, and evolutionary biology. Firstly, this is a novel balance sensation mechanism that will give us a better idea of how bipedal land birds can quickly overcome balance perturbations. Their motor control strategy may be applied in robotics to create more efficient and resilient locomotor systems. Additionally, the LSO is thought to be important in the transition from dinosaurs to birds. Better characterizing its structure and function may shed light on this key evolutionary event.

The everyday life of a scientist can vary widely across labs and research projects. One of the many reasons I love biomechanics as a field is the sheer scope of techniques that I get to employ on a daily basis. While the core of my project involves simulating CSF flow on a computer, often times I find myself breaking up my day with hands-on work as well. For instance, I might begin a simulation in the morning, but conduct a balance perturbation experiment on a live guineafowl while the program runs. The next day I could be dissecting and staining specimens, commuting into downtown London to run CT scans, 3D printing an experimental apparatus, or writing code for numerical models. I get to feel like a biologist, mathematician, and engineer all in the same day.

Research is not always as glamorous as it is portrayed in high school and college courses. I often found myself frustrated with code or software that wasn’t working as I thought it should be, for seemingly no reason. Additionally, the results that you generate are often very difficult to interpret at a first glance. A large amount of my time was spent troubleshooting, writing data analysis scripts, and consulting colleagues to help develop intuition for the physical phenomena I was observing in my fluid dynamics simulations. Despite these struggles, I always felt inspired and motivated by the fact that I was conducting research that had never been done before. The reason why conducting sound experiments and interpreting data is so challenging is because it is literally uncharted territory. The intellectual rewards of making progress in a research project are very satisfying and often outweigh the struggles of achieving them.

Ethan Wold is a rising junior at Brown University in Providence, RI where he is majoring in Biology and Geophysics. At school, he works with Dr. Thomas Roberts studying the biomechanics of muscle and connective tissue in a variety of organisms including frogs and turkeys. This summer, he worked in Dr. Monica Daley’s lab in the United Kingdom studying the biomechanics of balance sensation in bipedal land birds as an IOSP fellow. After graduating, Ethan plans to do some traveling and conservation work, and then pursue a PhD in biomechanics or bio-inspired engineering.

Going from Textbooks to Reality: Creating Preventive Medication for Negative Effects of Radiation on the Heart

Possible Preventives That May Decrease the Negative Effects of Radiation on the Heart

With the possibility of radiation exposure from terrorist attacks or accidents, the need for radiation research is needed. In simple terms, our research has shown the negative effects of radiation on the cardiovascular system. Our study involved a mouse model, in which the results found from the mice were effectively comparable to the effects appearing in humans. We used a LD50 (lethal dose that kills about 50%) dose of radiation when we radiated the mice. We noticed a peak in detrimental effects in the loss of cells that line the blood vessels at two weeks, and interestingly, we also found an increase of iron present in tissue and serum. We have been studying the use of two different iron inhibitors to try to decrease the amount of iron in the tissue to see if there would be any effect on the tissue thickness. Recently, we found that the data suggest that somehow the increase of iron is related to thinning of the arterial tissue! This recent discovery is exciting because it shows that we may be on the right track toward helping create a radiation preventative medication. One matter to keep in mind is that our study has involved such a high dose of radiation that is not commonly prevalent; however, that high of a level of radiation may occur through accumulative radiation used to battle cancer. This research may prove to be beneficial to those at risk of high radiation exposure.

I believe that the word “research” automatically implies a difficult endeavor. However, it was a contrast to what I formally thought research would entail. One of the lessons I learned early on was that in the beginning mistakes are inevitable and mistakes are detrimental… Any minor mistake could likely cause the whole procedure to go down the drain (literally). One specific error that had occurred in lab happened on the very final step. My partner and I were using a multiple-micro-pipette to fill a series of wells that would eventually read the concentration level. However, we failed to remember to check the calibrator value (the calibrator value is the number shown on the side of the pipette and is easy to adjust to the amount that you need to use) and the volume increased from about 100 to 200 microliters. Anyone who has done research knows that that difference was huge. Not only did we run out of the solution before we could fill the last two rows of the wells, but all the other wells’ concentrations were off…Blood rushed from our faces, as we realized what had happened. Thankfully, our Principal Investigator (PI) was so patient and understanding, even though we had completely ruined days’ worth of research. One saying that our PI would repeat is, “After you make a mistake, you won’t ever make it again.” Regardless of the seemingly simplicity of some steps, I’ve begun to understand the extent of that statement because when you make a mistake you feel nauseous and learn to be more conscious of each step.

So yes, there were mistakes and that has caused me to be more appreciative of lab work and much more careful. But there were also “ah-ha!” moments that were so joyous! The feeling of finding out game-changing results after tedious, multi-procedural projects, made up for everything. It’s been wonderful digging deep in other research articles to come up with possible studies to apply to our research. One particular beauty that comes with research is that you are looking into things that no one has been able to figure out before! In front of you lies a puzzle that looks impossible to put together, but slowly yet surely, the pieces begin to line up. Soon others get on board and offer advice on which puzzle pieces may fit more properly, and then a picture begins to form.

Day-to-Day of a Scientist

Starting off the day was relaxing, as we would begin to prepare for a busy day. Our PI made extra coffee for those in the lab, providing a social aspect of community amongst us. I worked closely alongside another undergraduate and a high school student, along with my PI. My PI and the other undergraduate (as she had been in the lab for a few years because of a local STEM program) were extremely helpful at explaining what we were doing. It felt like we were a team, all working together for the good of others. From periods of seriousness to times of laughter, friendships bloomed. In the university lab setting it was a much more intense atmosphere struggling to finish a three hour (+) lab before your next class. Usually, you wouldn’t finish, and you would have to work on it later in the evening. I was surprised to find that even though I was in the lab for 8 to 9 hours a day, it didn’t feel nearly that long. Mistakes were more crucial in the research lab setting than in a lab for class; however, the benefit of the results of the experiment were more satisfying. You didn’t always know what the end results would be, and those results would affect what you were going to focus on next. I absolutely loved the experience of research because what we have been studying has meaning and will likely one day benefit others! It’s been a rewarding summer. I came in struggling to understand most of the abstract to desiring to learn even more than I could have ever imagined.

Abbey Russell is a junior majoring in Biology at the Taylor University in Upland, IN. She is a 2018 Short-Term Research Education Program to Increase Diversity in Health-Related Research (STRIDE) Fellow working in Dr. Steven Jeffrey Miller’s lab at the Indianapolis University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, IN. Abbey’s fellowship is funded by the APS and a grant from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute (NHLBI) (Grant #1 R25 HL115473-01). After graduation, Abbey plans to pursue a career as a medical physician or surgeon who also does academia research.

More Than a Powerhouse

Over the summer, I have been conducting research in Dr. Sathish Venkatachalem’s lab at North Dakota State University. Our lab investigates the effects of sex steroid hormones such as estradiol on asthma. Asthma currently affects 1 in 13 people in the United States and results in 14.2 million doctor’s office visits each year.¹In recent years it has been discovered that pre-menopausal women have a higher rate of asthma than men, suggesting a role of hormones (a chemical secreted from glands) in asthma.² While men have a small amount of estradiol secreted into their bloodstream, pre-menopausal women have much more estradiol which helps to regulate the menstrual cycle among other functions. My project focuses on how different hormones in men and women could have an impact on asthma. My focus is specifically on a specialized structure in cells called mitochondria. Mitochondria are largely known for converting energy into a usable form of adenosine trisphosphate (ATP), but they also play many other roles. For example, mitochondria act as a reservoir for calcium within the cell which is important because calcium is an essential component of contraction, cell signaling, and nerve cell function, among other roles. My hypothesis is that if mitochondria are not functioning properly to buffer calcium, they cannot help with calcium regulation which may cause more contraction in the muscle cells surrounding the lung airway. As a result, the airway could narrow, and breathing could become difficult if not impossible. My project investigates how mitochondria change shape in asthmatic conditions and whether they are working together as a team to regulate calcium in cells. It is crucial for mitochondria to buffer calcium so that proper contraction and relaxation of the lung airways can occur. Proteins called Drp1 and Mfn2 regulate the fusion and fission process between mitochondria and are key in my investigations into mitochondrial morphology. Fusion proteins cause mitochondria to bind together, while fission proteins cause mitochondria to break apart. If too many fission proteins are present in mitochondria it can result in increased breakage and the failure to properly buffer calcium. In the future, mitochondria could be a target for treatment of asthma to reduce contraction and allow a patient to breathe more easily.

Image of mitochondria.

Research is quite different from other punch-in punch-out jobs I have had. Often, experiments demand that you come early or stay late to get results. I have been fortunate to work under a graduate student who has helped me prioritize which experiments need to be done and at what time. Through the summer, I have come across quite a few challenges and I have found that my critical thinking skills have been sharpened because of it. For example, at the beginning of the summer I was trying to identify a certain protein within my mitochondria, but it proved to be elusive at first. Through trial and error, I modified the protocol of the experiment until proper results were obtained. During those weeks, I felt discouraged because it was not exciting to repeat the same experiment multiple times over. However, I learned to problem solve through scientific protocols and I grew as a researcher because of it. The part of my project that I have found the most rewarding is taking images of my mitochondria. Results come quickly because the mitochondria absorb a dye quickly, then they light up under my microscope. I have learned to view the pictures of those mitochondria as art; the bright green squiggles that show up on the imaging screen never fail to amaze me and remind me of what I can do in this field.

Christy pictured in Dr. Sathish Venkatachalem’s lab at North Dakota State University.

Being a scientist in a lab for ten weeks has revealed to me the need for creativity in science. When I did not know how to proceed with an experiment or a result, I had to think outside the box, ask other scientists, or modify the protocol. Some days were exciting because the data turned out very well after many days of work. Other days were packed with processing mitochondrial data in front of a computer. I really enjoyed that my day-to-day experience in the lab was constantly changing due to the different experiments that I had the opportunity to run. I was also surrounded by brilliant scientists and colleagues that were willing to explain a finding to me or sharpen my skill at a certain technique in the lab. I have learned that science needs to be collaborative because many minds combined are better than one. I am grateful to the American Physiological Society for the opportunity to learn these lessons during ten weeks of research this summer.

References:

(2018, April 24). Retrieved from https://www.cdc.gov/asthma/default.htm
Sathish V, Martin YN, Prakash YS. Sex steroid signaling: implications for lung diseases. Pharmacology & therapeutics. 2015; 150:94-108.
(2015, April 26). [Image of mitochondria]. Retrieved from https://www.bbc.com/news/health-32434347

Christy Jesme is a senior at North Dakota State University in Fargo, ND. She is majoring in biology and minoring in chemistry and psychology while working in Dr. Sathish Venkatachalem’s lab. The lab investigates the role of sex steroid signaling on asthma. During the summer of 2018, Christy was awarded the Undergraduate Summer Research Fellowship funded by the American Physiological Society. She is currently in the process of applying to medical school in hopes of attending classes in the fall of 2019.