Mini Labs and Plant-Based Vaccines Look to Stop Next Pandemic

Last year, the H1N1 virus, and it's rapid worldwide spread showcased the global system's inability to swiftly and effectively distribute vaccines for newly discovered strains of influenza. In fact, the first H1N1 vaccines were distributed in October of last year, even though the first cases were reported that April. Project GreenVax, which is being led by the Texas Plant-Expressed Vaccine Consortium, looks to fix this problem before another possible pandemic develops.

Part of the reason why the H1N1 vaccines took so long to be distributed is that the process used to create them was very inefficient. Chicken eggs were used to create most of the vaccines; doctors would slightly open an egg and inject the virus into the fluid surrounding the embyro. The virus multiplies for a few days, until the eggs are opened again to remove the virus, purify it, and prepare it for use in a vaccine. This process takes up to 2 weeks in total, and doesn't produce a large number of vaccines. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, it would take 900 million eggs to produce 300 million vaccines.

The scientists behind Project GreenVax believe that they are able to create vaccines at a much more productive rate, and much quicker using plants. By using essentially the same process, just substituting plant leaves for chicken embryos, it is possible to reduce the time needed to create the vaccine and increase the number of vaccines that could be made. The only problem is that, despite more than a decade of research, there still haven't been "any approved vaccines made using the plant-based approach".

This is most likely because of the fundamental differences between plant cells and animal cells. However, Project GreenVax is devoted to finding a way to use plants to create a more effective method of creating vaccines. They have a combined $61 million in funding, and start research next week.

NOTE: The powerpoint should be up sometime before Wednesday

Link Between Influenza Outbreaks and Humidity

Jeffrey Shaman, an Oregon State University atmospheric scientist, has discovered a link between absolute humidity and influenza outbreaks. This discovery does not shock the scientific community in that scientists have long suspected a link between humidity and seasonal(epidemic) flu outbreaks.  While scientists have focused on relative humidity, absolute humidity is the actual amount of water in the air, irrespective of temperature. Researchers used thirty-one years of observed absolute humidity conditions to create a mathematical model of influenza and found that the simulations reproduced the seasonal cycle of influenza in the United States.

            Beginning observations in New York, Washington, Illinois, Arizona and Florida, then spreading to the rest of the continental U.S.  Shaman and his colleagues discovered that the start of many influenza outbreaks during the winter came after a period of weather that was drier than usual. Shaman makes it a point to clarify that a dry period is not a necessary requirement to trigger an influenza outbreak, nor can the information help predict where there will be an influenza outbreak . However, this discovery could have a major impact on the development of strategies forlimiting spread of infection.

Outbreaks Of Influenza Linked To Changes Of Ab

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Lacking Telomeres May Make You Age Faster

Lacking Telomeres May Make You

Age Faster

By Clay Walsh and Dana Berger

Scientists may have made a breakthrough in establishing the cause and speed of biological aging by researching telomeres. Telomeres are DNA pieces on the end of chromosomes which help protect the chromosomes from damage and degrading over time. They are almost padding or protection to the weak DNA inside of them. Some scientists now think that these shrinking as cells divide is the cause of biological aging. First, it is important to know the difference between biological and chronological aging. Biological aging is how your cells are physically after the splitting of these cells. Chronological age merely refers to how long you have actually lived. What these scientists are saying is that someone with smaller telomeres who has lived 45 years may actually have the body of a 55 year old individual.

Scientists from the University of Leicester led by Nilesh Samani actually examined 500,000 genetic variations to find different telomere lengths in the variations. The scientists found a certain variant inside some people that cause them to have shorter telomeres. This variant is actually genetic, and is passed from parent to child. It is like any chromosome with each parent passing one copy down to their child. Previous studies on animals showed that animals with shorter telomeres actually do have faster biological aging. According to scientists, on average, people with one copy of variant are 4-5 biological years older then someone the same chronological age without the variant. Someone with two copies, one from each parent, looks biologically 6-8 years older then someone their chronological age without the variant.

Samani says that it is actually rather common for people to have at least one copy of the variant. He has said "About 7 percent of people carried two copies of the variant, and 38 percent of people [carried] one copy. He also has said that the scientists do not know if people actually look physically older. It seems like it would be difficult to actually tell or judge if they did. Samani has also brought up concerns of early heart disease, as he works as a cardiologist at the university. He has said that shorter telomeres may lead to earlier heart disease, and that very old people chronologically may have perfect heart health, and some younger people chronologically may be at severe risk. This raises large concerns for people who may consider themselves healthy, but actually are at severe risk. It will be very interesting to see if these scientists are able to distinguish older biological people by looks. It also might be a good idea to research a way to create longer telomere transplants for people to prevent premature aging.

The white pieces on the end are telomeres.

Source: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=aging-telomere
Acknowledgements: Scientific American for writing the first article, and Nilesh Samani and the University of Leicester for conducting the research

Lacking Telomeres May Make You Age Faster

View more presentations from Student Wilsonsbiologylab.

Scorpion Venom Used to Cure Pain

Professor Michael Gurevitz and other scientists at the Tel Aviv University Department of Plant Science are investigating a new way for painkillers to work. They are going to use the natural compounds that can be found in scorpion venom. The research that has been conducted has proven that because the venom has evolved over time, it showed to be extremely effective on the body because there seams to be low side effects after use. This is only a theory that Prof. Gurevitz has made. The way the venom can help reduce pain, is that the venom found in scorpions have toxins called Peptides, which interacts with sodium channels in the muscular system and nervous system. The sodium channels conduct the pain. Scientists believe that if they can isolate the pain receptors in the channels, they can develop an even more effective painkiller than morphine. Along with people following scorpion venom as a painkiller, others have found that it is an efficient way to treat epilepsy.

The Israeli Yellow scorpion's venom works in the way that neurotoxin works. When the neurotoxins get inside the body, the they will almost instantly paralyze the prey preventing them from fleeing, and fighting back. The venom from the Israeli Yellow Scorpion is only affective on small prey, but when the venom is put inside a bigger animal, like a human, there is not as bad of an effect.

There are many dangerous things that need to be worked on right now in the new painkillers with venom in it. The scientists are dealing with the Israeli yellow scorpion which is one of the deadliest scorpions in the world. This scorpion is very poisonous. The Israeli yellow scorpion has 300 different peptides in its venom and only some of them have been researched. Many of the peptides' affects are unknown. There are also many dangers in the scorpion's toxins. Currently Prof. Gurevitz and other scientists are trying to produce these new painkillers with minimized problems of the venom's bad bioactive components.

Though this drug does have some side affects there are great things that can also come from this new pain killer. If the scientists were to successfully produce this painkiller it could solve one of the biggest problems in the medical world today. Aspirin does not help with extreme pain and morphine is an addictive drug. These new drugs would help with serious burns, bad cuts, would be a good thing to use in the military, and would be useful to people with bad injuries after earthquakes and other natural disasters. This new painkiller would work quickly, effectively, and there would be no addiction associated with the drug.

Ack:

- http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216163341.htm?
utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+%28ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News%29&utm_content=Netvibes
-www.wilsonsbiologylab.com
-google docs
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc13vSPrXNd4s1wnw70JNJqA-hGZRCQqGmIOLLlWY2pNsdZ826aACAwjtWtYm-gvh-lH9XQy7HR4Su8saA30ZMY3I-ZuQNi0q094HjWCep-qMiW38XxpMc6g4m-6IyUJZtWCn9QN9H-qXJ/s200/arizona_bark_scorpion.jpg
http://files.turbosquid.com/Preview/Content_2009_07_14__00_07_03/scorpio.jpg92B9A1A1-299D-40C6-BBEA7F68FD4402EF.jpgLarge.jpg
- http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/flight-international/scorpion.gif

By: Phillip Messineo, Lally Homans, and Gordon Spector

Dolphins May Help In Finding A Cure For D

Dolphins May Help In Finding A Cure For D

View more presentations from guestc52331.

Can dolphins help with diabetics?

New research has added to the fact that bottlenose dolphins go into a safe diabetic state during their overnight fasting. This results in maintaining high levels of glucose in their blood. On February 18th, at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, more research was presented suggesting that dolphins could be a good model for studying and experimenting with for diabetes. It could provide greater understanding and results for people living with the disease as well. Carbohydrates usually give animals a large amount of glucose. What dolphins eat cause them to have a lot of protein and not so much glucose-rich carbohydrates. It is possible that dolphins have something called a "diabetic switch" which gives them food even when they do not eat. Veterinary epidemiologist Stephanie Venn-Watson said "Brains need sugar to function, but a diet of fish has no sugar". This believed in "switch" could possibly enable dolphins to control their diabetic state. A person with type 2 diabetes has high levels of glucose when they are resistant to insulin. They do not respond to the insulin, which tells their body tissues to soak up the glucose from in the blood. Dolphins, however, are a different case altogether. When a person has a high level of glucose it can prove to be hazardous, but for a dolphin it might help fuel their big brains when they are in between meal times.

Studies show that this "insulin resistance" that dolphins have can be bad. The insulin level in something is when cells in the liver, muscles, and fat tissue take glucose from the blood and keep it in the liver and muscles. From this resistance the dolphins could start to produce a "pathological form of diabetes," meaning there is no way for the diabetes to go away, and they cannot control it. For weeks scientists worked to study dolphin's insulin levels. They did this after each dolphin ate, and they studied six dolphins. They found that when dolphins fast, they "show changes in blood chemistry" and they also have changes in their glucose level, which is exactly like humans. Humans and dolphins are very different, but we both have big brains and large blood cells which can carry big amounts of glucose. Some scientists believe that humans have a similar "switch," like the dolphins, in our bodies. Scientists believe that after the ice age, humans could not eat carbs because all the foods with carbs froze. So, they believe that humans used this "insulin resistance" to keep glucose in the brain. They believe something similar to this happened to the dolphins many years ago. In conclusion, scientists think and hope that maybe they could find a diabetic "switch" in humans.

By, Raina, Irena, and Aliza

Attacking Cancer Cells With Hydrogel Nanoparticles

Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found a new way to aid chemotherapy and lessen the dramatic effects it has on the body. They are using special apoptosis causing RNA (siRNA) to kill cells in the specific area where the cancer is. Therefore, this procedure can target just the cancerours cells and not kill non-cancerous cells like chemotherapy does. This newly discovered type of siRNA does not totally do the job of chemotherapy, but it can make chemotherapy more effective and therefore lessen the time chemotherapy is actually used. This siRNA inhibits the EGFR’s (Epidermal growth factor receptors). In cancerous cells there is an overabundance of EGFR, which causes cells to go through mitosis faster and more often, and it also inhibits the cells apoptotic function. By interfering with the EGFR, siRNA allows the cell to regain its apoptotic function and also stop the constant reproduction of new mutated, cancerous cells.

The siRNA cannot survive outside of the cell very long, since it denaturalizes. However, the researchers have also found a hydrogel that keeps the siRNA intact outside the cells and therefore can be safely transported into the cancerous cells. The hydrogel does another, more important job. If the siRNA is only released at one time the cancerous cell can recover its control over the EGFR and therefore the treatment would be ineffective. However, the hydrogel releases the siRNA slowly and constantly over a period of time, which allows the cell to either go through apoptosis or for the chemotherapy to kill the cell.


Works Cited:
http://www.medgadget.com/archives/img/sirna.jpg

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100216140404.htm?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciencedaily+(ScienceDaily%3A+Latest+Science+News)&utm_content=Netvibes

http://www.odec.ca/projects/2005/thog5n0/public_html/Tumour.gif