Category: biology

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An Interview with Dr. Jenna Judge, Marine Biologist

by Talya Klinger, MSS Intern

Driftwood is a common sight on beaches, but what happens to driftwood when it sinks to the seafloor? Dr. Jenna Judge, a recent doctoral graduate of UC Berkeley’s Department of Integrative Biology, researches evolution and ecology in deep-sea habitats, such as driftwood, as well as hydrothermal vents and sunken whale bones. Her research shows that these unusual substrates host diverse, lively communities shaped by the wood they inhabit. Attend her research presentation at Terra Linda High School, Room 207, from 7:30-8:30 pm on September 9th.


In Dr. Judge’s words:


1.   Why did you decide to become a marine biologist in the first place?

Well, I grew up in the mountains, but I was always interested in nature and science. I also loved the beach when my family would go on camping trips to the coast. However, I really decided to pursue marine biology in high school after learning about extreme deep-sea environments and the strange animals that live there from my AP Biology teacher. From there, I looked for colleges that offered a marine biology major for undergraduates and went to UC Santa Barbara. My interests in the ocean and the deep sea in particular were reinforced with each class I took and especially the semester abroad I spent in Australia doing a marine biology program. At the time, the obvious next step for me to take was to apply to graduate school to pursue a career as a marine biologist. While this route has served me well, I usually advise college students to take some time after graduation to explore options before jumping into graduate school. It is a big decision, and it’s important to have a strong sense of yourself and what you want to get out of an advanced program before choosing a program and an adviser.

2.  How did you decide to research driftwood?

I ended up studying sunken wood as a habitat for deep-sea animals after learning that the communities on wood are similar to other deep-sea ecosystems I was initially interested in, but had been much less studied. These ecosystems were hydrothermal vents (basically deep-sea volcanoes), cold seeps, and whale falls, which I’ll explain more about in my talk. Due to a series of conversations with scientists at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, I was given the opportunity to test whether the kind of wood matters in shaping animal communities by sinking a bunch of wood at about 2 miles deep and waiting 2 years to see what happened. You’ll see what happened during my talk.

3.   How does your work on communities that form around driftwood relate to other ecosystems?

The experiment I did on sunken wood showed that, like forests and other terrestrial (land) ecosystems, the immediate habitat can act as a filter that shapes the community that colonizes that habitat. This means that the ocean isn’t just a big bathtub with a soup of organisms floating or swimming through it, but that even on small scales, the complexity of a habitat can significantly affect who decides to settle down there. I see all ecosystems as a connected web across the Earth, and I am especially interested in links between the land and the ocean, like wood, but also how the increase in artificial materials like plastic is affecting marine ecosystems.

4.  What advice do you have for high school students who aspire to be biologists?

Follow your curiosity! Ask questions and read about what interests you to keep learning and following your interests. Reach out to people who are doing things you find interesting. Scientists are always happy to hear from people who appreciate what they are doing, and it will help you learn more about what it might be like to pursue certain career paths. And once you have some ideas, research colleges that will support that passion and allow you to fully explore and develop your passion. You might find that the best program for you isn’t at the “top” university in the state or the country. For me, I was only looking at CA schools, and I was really excited about marine biology. So, I focused on applying to schools that had specific aquatic or marine biology majors like UCSB and UCSC, but I did not bother applying to UC Berkeley or UCLA even though they rank higher overall. I encourage you to find a good fit for your interests (and of course a good personal fit!) when choosing a college, and if you don’t have a clear idea about what you want to pursue (most people don’t, I was unusually focused), take your time. If you are looking to pursue marine biology in particular, here is a good site that lists all the programs across states: http://marinebio.org/marinebio/careers/us-schools/.

5.  One final question: do you have a favorite driftwood-dwelling creature?

My favorite wood-dwelling creatures would have to be limpets, since they are what led me to studying sunken wood in the first place. Limpets are snails that have no coil in their shell and a particular group of them are specialized to live in a wide range of deep-sea habitats, including hydrothermal vents, cold seeps, whale falls, and sunken wood. They also  live on empty shark egg cases, crab carapaces, worm tubes, squid beaks, algal holdfasts, and likely other organic substrates that sink to the bottom. 

Join us Wednesday, September 9th, 2015, 7:30 – 8:30 pm at Terra Linda HS, 320 Nova Albion, San Rafael – Room 207 – to hear Dr. Judge talk about her work.  Link to Dr. Judge’s Marin Science Seminar profile. 

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Interview with Dr. Katie Ferris of UC Berkeley

by Angel Zhou, Branson School

Monkey Flower 

Monkey flowers and mice – two radically different things. Yet, biologists, like Dr. Katie Ferris, are studying how native monkey flowers and mice have adapted to drastically different environments. 
Dr. Ferris currently works with Dr. Michael Nachman at UC Berkeley, using genetic sequencing and samples of monkey flowers and mice to show how organisms are often adapted to their local environment and that these adaptations are genetically based. 
To learn more about Dr. Ferris and her work with Monkey flowers and mice, read the following interview:
1) How did you decide to enter your field of work?
I decided to become a biologist pretty early on in life. When I was little I loved being outside and interacting with the natural world, especially with plants. Because of my attraction to plants I often got in trouble for picking flowers in my mother’s garden. When I was three years old I picked off every single bright green new hosta lily shoot that popped out of the earth. My mother was furious that I had laid waste to her hostas. After she calmed down a little she told me that when I grew up I should be a botanist because then I could pick any plant that I wanted without getting in trouble. The notion stuck and I pursued biology throughout high school and into college. In college I got a job in a lab that studied plant evolutionary genetics and learned a lot of new and exciting things through doing my own research. That experience is how I became interested in my current field of the genetics of adaptation in wild organisms.
2) Describe your typical day at work as a geneticist. What are the best parts of your job? What are the worst parts?
My typical day at work involves several different kinds of activities, which is something I like. Typically I will attend a scientific talk on something related to my interests, do hands-on work with mice (or monkey flowers in my former job), spend an hour or two doing molecular biology in a wet lab and of course spend a little time working on my computer analyzing data or reading scientific papers. The work with animals and in the wet lab usually involved working with undergraduate students who volunteer in the lab in order to participate in research. Some of the best parts of my job are getting to work with students and trying to spread my love of biology and scientific research. I also enjoy the precious and satisfaction of laboratory work and the personalities of the mice. The worst part of my job is when I have to spend a lot of time dissecting dead mice. I did not go into medicine for a reason 🙂
3) How did you decide to study monkey flowers and wild mice specifically? What conclusions have you drawn thus far in your research?
I decided to study monkey flowers when I was interviewing for graduate school. I visited a lot of different labs that studied plants, but the monkey flowers were by far the most captivating. They are bright yellow, happy little things and closely related species live in an incredible range of different environments from old copper mine tailings to salty coastal sand dunes. They are just really cool plants. I became interested in wild mice because of the work my post-doc advisor had done on the genetics of mouse coloration. He found the genetic changes that caused light colored desert mice to become dark when they lived on black rock outcrops. The mice that live on the dark rocks can then blend in to their surroundings and are less likely to be eaten by predators. I like making hypotheses more than drawing conclusions, but I would say that the main conclusion I have drawn from my research so far is that organisms are often adapted to their local environment and that these adaptations are genetically based. I have also concluded that biology is very complicated 
4) What is your ultimate goal in studying the genetics of adaption and speciation?
My ultimate goal in studying the genetics of adaptation and speciation is to understand better how the world around us works. I want to understand which genes are involved in important traits and if the same genes are used repeatedly to evolve the same traits in different organisms. In short, I want to know if the genetic basis of adaptation is predictable in any way. I also just generally want to contribute new knowledge to the scientific community. A better understanding of the genetic basis of ecologically important traits like drought tolerance or coat color can also be used by scientists in applied field to help improve agriculture or medicine. 

Dr. Katie Ferris, UC Berkley
To learn more about the genes and species’ adaptation to extreme environments, join us on Wednesday, April 1st for Dr. Katie Ferris’ seminar, “From Monkey Flowers to Wild Mice: A Tale of Genes, Adaptation and Extreme Environments” in Room 207 at Terra Linda High School in San Rafael. For more information, visit Marin Science Seminar’s Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/events/850586588342167/
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Interview with Alex Gunderson, Ph.D: The Price is Wrong

Join us Wednesday, November 19th, 2014 for:

Interview with Alex Gunderson Ph.D.
by Isobel Wright, MSS Intern, Tamalpais HS

How can you compare a game show to climate change and its effect on animals? Well, Alex Gunderson has. Alex Gunderson, Ph.D is a physiological ecologist who specializes in thermal biology and is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at UC Berkeley. His current research is aimed at answering these questions. How do physiology and behavior interact to influence the vulnerability of ectotherms to climate warming?  How do divergent climatic habitats shape physiological phenotypes, and how does physiological divergence contribute to evolutionary radiations? To answer these questions, he has studied the Caribbean Anolis lizards but is now exploring the crustacean systems. Read the following interview to learn more about his life and work as a physiological ecologist. 

Alex Gunderson, Ph. D.

1.    How did you decide to enter this line of work, as it is so specialized?
I think I gravitated toward biology as a profession because I love being in nature. I grew up in a very rural part of the Midwest where I spent a lot of time outside, on lakes and in the woods. That led me to be interested in how the natural world works.
2. Why did you decide to use the Price is Right as an analogy for the effects of global warming?
The Price is Right was as easy choice for me because it is one of my favorite game shows. When I was in grade school and would get sick and stay home, it was the show I looked forward to watching most. I have always wanted to spin the big wheel!
Anole Lizard

3. What have you learned from working with the Caribbean Anolis lizards?

I have learned a lot! Maybe one of the biggest things is how subtle nature can be. On Puerto Rico there are ten different species of Anolislizard and to most people they all just sort of look like a generic lizard. But when you look closely, you see that they have evolved all of these small differences that allow them to live and thrive in different habitats. It really is amazing!
4. What level of education do you need to do what you do?
It depends on what your ultimate goal is. You can get paid to do biology with a Bachelor’s degree, but many positions require graduate degrees like a Master’s or PhD. My goal is to be a college professor, so a PhD is required.  
5.  If there was one thing you could tell us to do to prevent climate change, what would it be?
The biggest road-block to making progress on climate change is political inaction, so speak up about it through your vote (if you are 18!), letters to politicians, and outreach activities. On a personal level, there are a lot of things you can do to reduce your contribution to climate change. The Nature Conservancy has a great website where you can calculate your carbon footprint and learn about ways to reduce it: http://www.nature.org/greenliving/carboncalculator/ 
6. What was your biggest “Aha” moment in life so far, relating to your work?
I think the biggest “Aha” moment I had was when I decided that I wanted to study how animals adapt to different climates. It was my first year as a PhD student, and I was in Puerto Rico for the first time. I thought I wanted to study the evolution of animal signals, or how animals communicate with one another. I had been studying one species in northern Puerto Rico, but I knew the same species also lived in southern Puerto Rico so I decided to drive down there. I was driving south through the mountains with my cousin Neil (he was helping me do my research) and all of a sudden, the landscape changed dramatically. It went from cool, shady tropical rainforest to hot, dry desert in just a few miles. I thought there was no way the same species could live in such different conditions. But sure enough, the same species was there. I wanted to know how they did it, and my fascination with thermal biology was born!
7. What are the best parts of your job? What are the worst parts?
There are two things that I think are best about my job. First, my job takes me amazing places to study amazing animals. Over the years, I have studied lizards in the Caribbean, frogs in the back-country wilderness of Montana, and seabirds in the Galapagos, to name a few. Hard to beat. Second, in many ways, I am my own boss. With some caveats, I get to decide what I study, where I study it, and how I study it. That kind of freedom is hard to come by in many professions.
The worst part of my job? Writing grants. Because most scientific research doesn’t generate profits like a business, you have to convince other people to give you money to do it. Those “other people”are usually government agencies like the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. It’s fantastic that they give the money, but the grant writing itself is often extremely tedious. 

Learn more about Alex Gunderson and his research here. 

Join us and Learn! 

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A Renewed Sense of Porpoise – An Interview with Jonathan Stern

by Claire Watry, Terra Linda HS
Harbor porpoises have returned to the San Francisco Bay after a 65-year absence. What does their return mean for the other animals of the bay? Why did they leave? Why might they have returned? This week’s Marin Science Seminar speaker Jonathan Stern will address these questions and provide insight into the world of local harbor porpoises. The video below is a tribute to the harbor porpoise’s return to the bay by the National Wildlife Federation California.



Fast Fasts about the Harbor Porpoise from the National Geographic Society:

Terra Linda High School graduate Jonathan Stern is a lecturer and adjunct professor in the Biology Department at San Francisco State University. He has studied minke whales since 1980 and currently serves as a Co-Principal Investigator at Golden Gate Cetacean Research, where he studies harbor porpoises, bottlenose dolphins, and minke whales locally in the San Francisco Bay. He has also studied an assortment of whales including gray whales, killerwhales, fin whales, humpback whales, and pilot whales. He was the first volunteer at the Marine Mammal Center when it opened in 1975.

How did you decide to study marine life?

My father was a ship captain, who traveled all over the world. When he would come home, he would bring me seashells from the places he traveled. I also watched Sea Hunt and Jacques Cousteau when I was a child and was fascinated by the sea.

From left: Lloyd Bridges stars in Sea Hunt, Seashell collection, Explorer Jacque Cousteau

How do you conduct your research?

This varies depending on what specifically I am studying. I do my observations from the shore and a boat. I also spend a considerable amount of time doing data analysis. I sit with my computer and books about statistical analysis and modeling.


Harbor Porpoise sighting near the Golden Gate Bridge


What is the most difficult aspect of your work?
My works is not difficult; it is challenging physically (being out on the water in a small boat on the open ocean takes its toll over the years) and the data analysis and the writing of papers take time to get things right. The challenge is fun!
What is one of the most surprising or exciting thing you have discovered about porpoises?
We have seen porpoises mating. This sounds like it is not a big deal, but given that these porpoises are among the most commonly seen marine mammal, we are the first to see them mating. The real surprise though is that we can do most of our observations from the Golden Gate Bridge.


What advice do you have for aspiring young scientists?
Prepare yourself! Prepare yourself by taking as many math and science classes as possible. Prepare yourself by learning to keep your focus, but keep your eye on other branches of science. Prepare yourself by learning to ask questions. that is the most important part of science, asking questions. Do not be afraid of the challenge. Prepare to study, work, and have fun. Science is a process.



Report your porpoise sightings! Golden Gate Cetacean Research’s page for Porpoise, Dolphins & Whale sightings in SF Bay & the NorCal coast. http://www.ggcetacean.org/Contact_Us.html



To learn more about the return of the harbor porpoise and its ecological implications, attend the Marin Science Seminar presentation “San Francisco Bay Has a Renewed Sense of Porpoise” with Jonathan Stern Ph.D. of San Francisco State University, January 29, 2014, 7:30 – 8:30 pm, Terra Linda High School, San Rafael, Room 207. See the flyer here

Want more information? Check out the websites below.
National Wildlife Federation California 
Golden Gate Cetacean Research
National Geographic
NPR 
SF Gate Article

~Claire Watry

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Public Health Plays More Roles In Your Life Than You May Think

by Jessica Gerwin, Drake HS

When you hear the term public health, ideas that may come to mind might be about immunizations or food recalls. However, many of us don’t realize how big of a role public health plays in our everyday lives.  From the faucets that we fill our drinking cups with to the seat belts that we wear in our cars, almost all aspects of our well being relate to Public Health in some way. On October 16th, 2013 Julie Pettijohn did an exemplary job of explaining the topic of public health and talked about what being in the field really involves. As an industrial hygienist, a typical work day for Julie is not just filling out paperwork in an office. Wearing a full outfit of protective gear, Julie often goes to a site to detect possible lead amounts in a work environment. Her job keeps us safe by enforcing the proper health requirements. The work and service of people like Julie in the public health field may often be taken for granted. Nevertheless, by attending the seminar many of us learned that being in the field is not just a job, it is establishing safe and healthy ways of life. I had the honor of asking Julie some questions about both herself and her field. Our interview is below.


1.) I’d like to learn a little about you. What made you decide to go into biology and then public health?


        I have been interested in science since junior high (now called middle school). I had a fantastic physical science teacher that really brought science to life for me. His teaching was unconventional, and his class time was spent mostly applying scientific principles through experiments instead of reading a text book. I was also a child of parents that went to community college while my sibling and I were kids. My parents met a fantastic professor that later became our good family friend. He was a Native American expert and professor of astronomy and geology. We would spend evenings at his home looking through his telescope and I often attended his college geology field trips along with my parents. While in college, I first majored in biological sciences and completed internships at the local community health center; I was thinking of going to medical school after graduation. I was fortunate to attend UC Santa Barbara, a university that is well known for aquatic biology coursework. I switched majors midway through college from biological sciences to aquatic biology and graduated with a degree in this major. This was done to pursue my due to my deep love of the ocean. My first ‘real’ job was with a state department, where I was a contractor working on public health issues related to fish contamination. My mentors at that position encouraged me to get a Master’s Degree in public health, where I could continue to learn about issues related to health, but also environmental issues, thus combining two of my interests (health and the environment).

2.)  I think that public health and public policy are difficult subjects for teenagers to relate to. Can you explain the role of public health in Marin County?


        I work at the state level, so I’m not as knowledgeable about public health issues in Marin County. However, the County Public Health Department provides a number of direct services to Marin residents and the one that I am most familiar with is Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention. County public health nurses and environmental health specialists conduct home visits where children have elevated blood lead levels, putting them at lifelong risk for learning and behavioral problems. The purpose of these site visits is to determine possible sources of the lead in the child’s environment, so that they can be reduced or eliminated.. See http://www.marinhhs.org/content/public-health-updates for some public health updates for Marin. My talk will include asking teens questions, and by the responses that I anticipate, I’m pretty sure that most of them know quite a bit about public health already, but may not automatically associate this knowledge with the field of public health.
3.)  Can you talk a little bit about the sampling equipment you are bringing? What are you sampling for? What personal protective equipment are you bringing?

        I’m bringing with me air monitoring equipment. I use the air monitoring equipment to measure lead in workplace air to assess if workers are being excessively exposed above legal limits and to make recommendations on lead safety. I’m also bringing lead check swabs which are used for immediately assessing the presence of lead surface contamination or the presence of lead in paint. I’ll be demonstrating the use of these during the talk. I’ll also be bringing wipe sampling equipment that can be used for quantitatively determining the amount of lead (or other metals) on surfaces in workplaces, homes, and other places of interest. As for personal protective equipment, I’ll be bringing respiratory protection used for reducing the amount of a chemical of concern (like lead) that may breathed in by workers in workplace air. I’ll also be showing tyvek coveralls which are worn in many industries to keep lead (also other contaminants) from contaminating your street clothes while working. I’ll be bringing a hard hat, gloves, and a traffic safety vest too.
4.)  What are a few examples global climate change that are impacting Marin County?

        Extremes in weather, flooding, and water quality issues.
5). What do you consider to be the largest public health issue involving teens in Marin County?

        This is a great question. From my perspective, public health issues that affect Marin teens are wellness and injury prevention. What I mean by this is that teens should be thinking about personal physical fitness and nutrition. Many teens in our Country are unfortunately overweight putting them at risk for lifelong health issues, particularly as they age (heart disease, diabetes, etc.). In addition, teens are often new and inexperienced drivers, new to employment outside the home, may become sexually active for the first time and may have peer pressure to drink alcohol or take illegal substances. As a result, teens are at greater risk for accidents, particularly on the road, in the workplace, and may be exposed to sexually transmitted diseases, which if left untreated, can have serious health consequences. Besides this, a goal of my talk is to get teens to also think about global climate change and things that they can do to help.
6.)  What steps can our community take to better ourselves on these issues?

Get informed and get involved in the issues, and take care of your health to prevent or reduce future injury or illness.
7.)  Is there anything else that you’ll be talking about?

              The field of industrial hygiene, the program that I work for (Occupational Lead Poisoning Prevention Program of the California Department of Public Health), how lead impacts your health, where lead is found in various industries, and recent work by CDPH on making recommendations to reduce the allowable levels of lead in workplaces, which would be a major change in public health policy for lead workplaces. Also, I’ll briefly cover some career opportunities in public health.

Julie is one of the many people that work in the STEM field (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math). If you are interested in learning more about these fields or just science in general, attending a Marin Science Seminar can be a great way to expose yourself to new topics and learn about a few different environments. Come check out our next seminar on October 23rd “Making Medicine Safer – Drugs, Devices, Software and More” presented by Dr. Wallace. The seminar will take place at Terra Linda High School in Room 207 so come check it out!

October is Nova’s “Innovation Month”. You can learn more about different seminars that are taking place by clicking on the link below.

-Jessica Gerwin

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What Makes a Cancer Cell

by Sandra Ning, Terra Linda HS

Cancer is most commonly treated through radiation, surgery, and chemotherapy.

    While it could be considered cliché to compare cancer cells to supervillains, the similarities are undeniable. Supervillains are cunning, deeply rooted within their far-reaching schemes, and fearsome to the extreme. Cancer cells are just as sly, difficult to remove from the human body and terrifying to the afflicted and their loved ones. It’s not hard to visualize cancer cells as the shady criminal syndicate of the human body; their reach extends to the lungs, bones, tissue and bloodstream, and their tactics are ruthless. Make no mistake—cancer cells have long been antagonists to the scientists fighting for a cure and the patients fighting for their life.
    But when it comes down to the science of it, cancer cells differ from many classic villains in that they aren’t innately evil. Rather, cancer cells and their dangerous properties originate from chance mutations during the division of normal cells. Mutations explain a lot of strange phenomena, from unexpected eye colors to increased resistance to diseases. These unexpected changes in gene sequences can be harmless, or even beneficial. However, they have an equal chance of damaging DNA, mutating it in such a way that the cell distorts into fast-splicing cancer cells.
     Usually, mitosis—the process in which a cell divides—takes precautions against such mutations. “Checkpoints” during a cell’s growth period scan for identity-changing DNA mishaps, ensuring things are running as expected. If something is wrong, the cell will stop growing; if the damage to the DNA can’t be repaired, the cell will kill itself in a process called apoptosis. Through such self-sacrificing vigilance, cells that are mutated beyond repair never get the chance to multiply into a runaway number of damaged cells. But sometimes cell mutations go undetected, due to the sheer number of cells within the human body, with its trillions of constantly dividing cells, each with their own double-helix sequences and enzyme and lysosomes. In such a rush, a handful of mutations can slip by even the strict quality standards cells hold to themselves. Many of these mutations go undetected because they’re harmless to the identity of that cell—but some aren’t so benign.

Normal and cancer cell division. Most damaged cells die through apoptosis.

     When a cell with damaged DNA successfully slips by and divides, it creates the first two in a series of cells that will rapidly divide and spread incorrect DNA, beginning the first rapidfire stages of cancer. The speed of growth and division of cancer cells is unmatched, and unyielding; a cancer cell’s daunting ability to keep multiplying without ever dying, as normal cells do, is often referred to as ‘immortality’. This trait is due to two substances within the cell in particular: telomere and telomerase.
      Telomere is a repeating DNA sequence that essentially acts as a cap for the chromosome it’s on. The sequence acts as a buffer between valuable DNA sequences within the chromosome and the often messy process of dividing a cell. Without the telomere, the ends of the chromosome would lose important base pairs much like a rope fraying at the ends. The more a cell divides, the more telomere is lost in protecting the chromosome. Once all of the telomere is gone, the chromosome reaches “critical length” and no longer replicates. When this happens, the cell doesn’t divide and dies through apoptosis. The erosion of telomere thus measures the age of a cell, with long telomere sequences indicating young cells and short sequences indicating old ones.

The repeating TTGGGG sequence is telomere; the enzyme and RNA template belong to telomerase, which rebuilds worn-down telomere.

     To restore and keep the cycle of cells replicating in our body, telomerase is needed to extend the eroding telomeres. Telomerase is an enzyme made of proteins and RNA. As an enzyme, telomerase enables certain reactions that couldn’t happen without it—in this case, rebuilding and elongating telomeres to a longer sequence again. Telomerase is sparingly used in somatic, or body, cells, which comprise most of the human body. As a result, humans age without much interference from telomerase.
     While telomerase is rarely active in normal body cells, the enzyme becomes ten to twenty times more active in cancer cells. The abundance of telomerase gives cancer cells an endless supply of telomere, and with it, the ability to multiply indefinitely.
    In addition to ‘immortality,’ cancer cells have several additional unique properties that explain why finding a cure is proving so difficult. In addition to fast replication, cancer cells don’t undergo apoptosis easily; high levels of survivin, a protein, inhibits the usual method of cell death. Cancer cells need neither the physical space nor the same amount of nourishing chemicals, known as growth factors, that normal cells need. Instead, they pile freely on top of each other, and remain undeterred by a diet on growth factors. The clusters cancer cells often find themselves in form the lumps within the breasts and testes that doctors and outreach campaigns warn about. Despite their ability to clump, cancer cells have unfortunately high mobility, too. While normal cells anchor themselves onto neighboring cells, cancer cells can break away and travel through the body, infecting other organs. Their ability to invade and infect other areas is made possible through the ability to break through the lamina. The lamina is a noncellular shield that protects the tissues, organs and surfaces within the human body, deflecting normal cells with ease. Cancer cells don’t have the same limitation, and spread to different organs with relative ease.
     With its unique properties, cancer remains frustratingly difficult to cure. Treating cancer needs to somehow overcome the mobility and speed of replication cancer cells exhibit. Current treatments for cancer actually do better than that—the chemotherapy method of treatment uses the cancer cells’ speedy multiplication against it. Chemotherapy sends chemicals throughout the body that kill fast-replicating cells. Cancer cells are efficiently targeted and wiped out through this method, being some of the fasted replicating cells in the body.
     However, chemotherapy has serious faults in its accuracy; by targeting fast-replicating cells, chemotherapy hits hair and blood cells particularly hard. A broad swath of helpful cells get caught in the crossfire between chemotherapy and the cancer cells it’s meant to target. As a treatment for cancer, chemotherapy can cause hair loss, amongst other more painful side-effects.

Chemotherapy affects the fast-growing hair cells as well, which is why cancer patients’ hair often falls out.

     Other treatments are available, when cancer cells are concentrated in specific parts of the body. Radiation focuses on a single area, maybe one organ, to destroy cancer cells. When cancer cells are concentrated in a single area, forming a tumor, surgery can excise the infected part. Sometimes, a mixture of the three treatments are required to treat a patient.
     There is still no way to accurately target and eradicate cancer cells without collateral damage. For that reason, and for the growing number people with breast cancer, leukemia, and other forms of cancer, research for better treatment and ultimately a cure is incredibly important. Cancer is internal, deadly in its silent machinations and intimidating with its arsenal of lethal properties. It’s up to the bright minds and generous hearts of every scientist, doctor, donor and activist to combat, quite literally, the enemy within.

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Interested in cancer cells and what scientists are doing to treat it? Come see Dr. Brad A. Stohr present “Why do Cancer Cells Grow Forever and Can we Stop Them?” Dr. Stohr will be presenting this Wednesday, April 17th, at the Marin Science Seminar. The Marin Science Seminar takes place during 7:30 to 8:30 p.m., in rm. 207 of Terra Linda High School. Come check out the Marin Science Seminar on our website and Facebook!

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Sources:

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Sandra Ning

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Interview With Dr.Susan Fisher

by Julia McKeag, Terra Linda HS

Susan Fisher, Ph.D. is the Director of Translational Research in Perinatal Biology and Medicine at UCSF. She is also a Professor in the Departments of Oral Biology, Pharmaceutical Chemistry, and Anatomy and Faculty Director at the Biomolecular Resource Center, UCSF. She is also a member of the UCSF Biomedical Sciences Graduate Program (BMS).

(Figure 1- refer to end of interview) 
What type of experiments does your lab do?
We study the early stages of human development. One of the approaches we use includes deriving human embryonic stem cell lines.
How did you become interested in stem cell research?
Stem cell research is rooted in developmental biology, which I have been interested in for as long as I can remember. I have always been fascinated by how one cell becomes an entire human being.
How do you think stem cell research will benefit humanity?
Eventually we will understand how to cure human diseases using cell-based therapies.
 
(Figure 2)
Do you think Stem cell research will continue in the future despite its surrounding controversy?
Yes. We have learned so much already using stem cell models. This is a very compelling reason for continuing these lines of investigation.
Are animal stem cells similar in structure and function to human stem cells?
There is not a clear-cut answer to this question. We know from comparative analyses that there are similarities and differences. My personal conclusion is that work in both areas is important.
 
(Figure 3)
What is the most interesting thing you’ve discovered about stem cells during your research?
We have developed a new method of deriving human embryonic stem cells that appear to be less differentiated than analogous cells derived by standard methods.
What is an average day as the Director of Translational Research in Prenatal Biology and Medicine at UCSF like? What does this position entail?
I am also head of the UCSF Human Embryonic Stem Cell Program. as Director of Translational Research, I lead programs in which we study placental function in normal pregnancy and in pregnancy complications. My job in the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Program focuses on embryonic rather than placental development. Therefore, between both jobs I get to study the cells that form the placenta and the offspring, which it supports. The work is mesmerizing and extremely rewarding! We get to ask questions about processes that very few people get to study.
Figure 1: Human Embryonic Stem Cells- in a recent medical case, Doctors at Glasgow’s Southern General Hospital grew stem cells into neural stem cells, then injected them into a stroke patient’s brain

Figure 2: Cluster of Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Figure 3: Humans, Animals, and Plants have clusters of stem cells that sustain growth and replace damaged tissues.  


Join Dr. Fisher and Marin Science Seminar this Wednesday to learn more!
Wednesday, March 28th
From 7:30 to 8:30pm
Terra Linda High School
Room 207
Julia McKeag

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Interview with Edward Hsiao MD PhD of UCSF

by Julia Moore, Drake HS

How did you become interested in musculoskeletal disorders?
I’ve always been interested in the skeleton. Although we typically think of bones as being solid and unchanging, they undergo a variety of very significant events throughout our lifetime, including growing and repairing after injury. In addition, bones are central to us as a living organism. They provide structure to our bodies, protect soft or vital organs, allow us to move efficiently, and provides bone marrow space for blood formation. We now know that many medically important diseases including osteoporosis, atherosclerosis, and heterotopic bone ossification are all a result of problems affecting normal bone formation.
How are we currently treating different types of musculoskeletal disorders?
Since we don’t  understand how many musculoskeletal disorders develop, our ability to prevent them is pretty limited. Treatments for established disease are also very rudimentary and mostly symptomatic. For example, many inherited diseases of the bone can only be treated by surgery to remove the affected bone. In some cases, we can use metal implants or joint replacement, but these have a relatively short lifespan. Even common diseases, such as osteoporosis or arthritis, have only limited medical treatments.
How do you do your research?
My research is driven by a desire to understand how hormones and genetics control human skeletal growth. Since getting samples of diseased tissues from patients is often difficult, I use a variety of model systems to study skeletal disease. This includes mouse models where I can control hormone signals, and human stem cells created from patients with genetic skeletal diseases (human induced pluripotent stem cells). Together, these models are helping us understand what causes disease and how we can develop new treatments.
What are artificial hormones and how are they advancing research and treatment?
Nature uses hormones as a way to communicate between different parts of the body. One major class of hormone molecules is called G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs). Since there are over 500 GPCRs in the human genome, figuring out what each individual receptor does is a huge challenge. Our strategy uses a synthetic receptor that only responds to a synthetic drug. This system acts like an artificial hormone – if we add the drug, we can turn the system on; if we take away the drug, we can turn it off. This system allows us to “mimic” a normal hormone system and control that pathway using our drug. This model has proven useful for studying hormone signaling in complex organ systems, including cardiac disease, the brain, and now bone.
What do you think is the future of treatment and prevention of musculoskeletal disorders?
I think that developing robust prevention strategies is important. We also need to develop better combinations of surgical and medical management that have fewer side effects. Much of this can be gained by a better understanding of what happens in normal growth and how those mechanisms go wrong in disease. Finally, I believe that human stem cells provide a valuable new tool in this effort by allowing us to study lab-derived human tissues directly. These stem cells are already providing insights into some rare and dramatic bone diseases. We hope to be able to extend our findings to more common disorders.

Edward Hsiao will be speaking at Terra Linda High School in Room 207 on
Wednesday February 29th at 7:30-8:30pm

Written by: Julia Moore 

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What’s in Our Genes?: How our genes make us who we are”

Wednesday, September 28th, 2011
Terra Linda High School, 320 Nova Albion Way, San Rafael, CA
Room 207

RSVP on FaceBook

with Jane Gitschier, Ph.D. of UCSF’s Institute of Human Genetics

What makes us male or female?  What makes us susceptible to disease?  What makes us different from each other? And what makes us different from other animals?  Come learn the answer to these questions.  It’s all in our genes! Download the flyer. (September 28, 2011)
 

Dr. Gitschier’s laboratory has broad interests in the field of human genetics, ranging from past work on the molecular genetics of hemophilia, through gene discovery for a variety of inherited disorders. Combined with discovery of genes in mouse mutants and the generation of mouse models for human disease, her research has led to a deeper understanding of heavy metal metabolism and has provided more accurate genetic diagnosis and prognosis for families. Currently her lab is engaged in two unusual projects. The first concerns understanding the genetic basis for absolute pitch perception, a rare cognitive trait in which the pitch of a tone or sound can be named without any reference tone. While she hypothesizes that AP has a large genetic component, exposure to music in early childhood is also key. A second project involves the use of DNA haplotypes to infer ancestry, an endeavor known as genetic genealogy.
 
Jane Gitschier joined the UCSF Faculty in 1985 following post-doctoral work at Genentech. She received her PhD from MIT in Biology in 1981. She was an HHMI Investigator and a Guggenheim Fellow. Her longstanding interest is in human genetics. She lives with her daughter Annie Steinberg and cat Pogo in San Francisco.
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