Solution to a World Problem
Background Info
This is our last project. My group and I chose to find a biotechnological solution to Parkinson's/ treatment. We had a mentor to help us, and the mentor helped a lot which we are thankful for. And for the project, since we do not have enough neuroscience, money, equipment and so on to perform this we basically have more of a proposal solution that could possibly help and lead scientists to find possible solution since it is not guaranteed it would work. We decided to focus on Parkinson's and how we could possibly treat it. Our main question is : How can we use biotechnology to solve a current issue in the world? Which with genetic engineering and such we could possibly treat Parkinson's if our hypothesis is correct and our hypothesis is: If the mutated gene is replaced by a gene that is the same but healthy, then it will prevent the development of Parkinson’s later in life and save the brain cells from dying. We are not prepared to experiment this but hopefully our proposal could help others.
Vocabulary
Gene- Held to determine some characteristic of offspring by a unit of heredity transferred from parent to offspring.
Chromosomes- Found in nucleus of most living cells, threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein. They carry genetic info in form of genes.
Exons- Segment of DNA or RNA molecule containing information coding a peptide sequence or protein.
Oxidative Stress- damages cells and could result to death cell
Content
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a recessive protein based disease that gets passed down. Parkinson’s causes depression and tremors due to the death of brain cells. It is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting predominantly dopamine-producing (“dopaminergic”) neurons in the substantia nigra which is found in the brain.
Genes known so far to cause pd are mutations in these genes: ATP13A2, GBA, LRRK2, PARK7, PINK1, PRKN, SNCA, UCHL1, VPS35, as well as possible others
Our Solution
Our proposal is to test an animal with parkinson's by using gene therapy and insert PARK7 gene which mutated does not protect cells from oxidative stress leading to cell death. Since Parkinson's is recessive, replacing it by a dominant healthy gene as same gene mutated might get healthy gene to take over and replace which could help stop cell death with PARK7 protecting cells from oxidative stress and other healthy genes inserted to do their job and take over.
Backup Solutions
In case our theroies for our main proposal do not work, I also suggest further research in cancer and parkinson's to find similarities or figure out how to fight off diseases from organisms from the coral reef that manage to do that. Algae is important, and there are other treatment and care.
Mentor
David Begelman was our mentor and he is an Intern at the BUCK institute for Research on Aging
There is more information on the slideshow my group and I created below, and there is more info on the websites in works cited as well
This is our last project. My group and I chose to find a biotechnological solution to Parkinson's/ treatment. We had a mentor to help us, and the mentor helped a lot which we are thankful for. And for the project, since we do not have enough neuroscience, money, equipment and so on to perform this we basically have more of a proposal solution that could possibly help and lead scientists to find possible solution since it is not guaranteed it would work. We decided to focus on Parkinson's and how we could possibly treat it. Our main question is : How can we use biotechnology to solve a current issue in the world? Which with genetic engineering and such we could possibly treat Parkinson's if our hypothesis is correct and our hypothesis is: If the mutated gene is replaced by a gene that is the same but healthy, then it will prevent the development of Parkinson’s later in life and save the brain cells from dying. We are not prepared to experiment this but hopefully our proposal could help others.
Vocabulary
Gene- Held to determine some characteristic of offspring by a unit of heredity transferred from parent to offspring.
Chromosomes- Found in nucleus of most living cells, threadlike structure of nucleic acids and protein. They carry genetic info in form of genes.
Exons- Segment of DNA or RNA molecule containing information coding a peptide sequence or protein.
Oxidative Stress- damages cells and could result to death cell
Content
Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a recessive protein based disease that gets passed down. Parkinson’s causes depression and tremors due to the death of brain cells. It is a neurodegenerative disorder affecting predominantly dopamine-producing (“dopaminergic”) neurons in the substantia nigra which is found in the brain.
Genes known so far to cause pd are mutations in these genes: ATP13A2, GBA, LRRK2, PARK7, PINK1, PRKN, SNCA, UCHL1, VPS35, as well as possible others
Our Solution
Our proposal is to test an animal with parkinson's by using gene therapy and insert PARK7 gene which mutated does not protect cells from oxidative stress leading to cell death. Since Parkinson's is recessive, replacing it by a dominant healthy gene as same gene mutated might get healthy gene to take over and replace which could help stop cell death with PARK7 protecting cells from oxidative stress and other healthy genes inserted to do their job and take over.
Backup Solutions
In case our theroies for our main proposal do not work, I also suggest further research in cancer and parkinson's to find similarities or figure out how to fight off diseases from organisms from the coral reef that manage to do that. Algae is important, and there are other treatment and care.
Mentor
David Begelman was our mentor and he is an Intern at the BUCK institute for Research on Aging
There is more information on the slideshow my group and I created below, and there is more info on the websites in works cited as well
Reflection
Two things that went well is that I managed to contribute a lot which in a way I felt more included than in other projects, and another thing I did well was manage to help contribute ideas to possible solution. One thing I should improve on is using my time wisely. Another thing I should improve on is to stop procrastinating. I think my team and I did a good job overall finishing it on time and making it great. It was fun working with them and I learned a lot.
Two things that went well is that I managed to contribute a lot which in a way I felt more included than in other projects, and another thing I did well was manage to help contribute ideas to possible solution. One thing I should improve on is using my time wisely. Another thing I should improve on is to stop procrastinating. I think my team and I did a good job overall finishing it on time and making it great. It was fun working with them and I learned a lot.