Week 1
Hello! I just wanted to give an update on my project.
Everything has been going great in the lab. Yesterday I sat in on a meeting that summarized the research the lab has been doing recently. To give a very brief summary, the lab "knocked out" a specific gene in mice, and used these "knock out" mice as a model for schizophrenia. They found these knock out mice were hyper-aggressive and seemed to adjust poorly to novel environments. Now, they are trying to see if they can use viruses to change genes in the knock out mice in order to reduce their symptoms.
Today I got a tour of the lab, and safety training. I was also taught how to use their pipettes. Finally, I got to see a mouse brain get sliced into thin pieces that can then be mounted on a slide to be examined under a microscope. I never realized about how small mouse brains are; they are really tiny, but you can still make out the different lobes and features like the corpus callosum. These thin slices are made with a machine that cools the brain and then moves it up and down against a blade (kind of like a deli slicer for meat).
Anyway, I just wanted to give an update, and let you know I might change my project topic slightly this week based on what I am specifically doing in the lab.
Thanks for reading!
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Hope everyone is having a nice Friday!
On Wednesday, I was trained on how to image the slices of mouse brain. Basically I am putting the slides with mouse brain slices under a microscope that shines a special light on it to make the spots that were stained fluoresce, then I am using a computer program to select each hemisphere of the brain so the camera attached to the microscope can take pictures of it. Or in other words I am sitting in a small room in the dark staring at pictures of mouse brains. I know that sounds incredibly boring, but it is actually really cool, because I can see lots of details, like the neurons that absorbed the fluorescent dye. I am taking these images at 10x, and at that power the neurons look like little green dots (everything is green because of the staining and fluorescent light), and sometimes you can even see the dendrites that look like tiny lines coming off them.
Enjoy your weekends!
Hi Serena! This seems like a really involved and interesting project and I'm excited to hear more. Why did knocking out the gene allow them to model schizophrenia?
ReplyDeleteMy knowledge of the project is a little limited, but I'll try to give an answer. First of all, altered expression of the gene they turned off, EGR3, has been associated with schizophrenia in humans, so turning it off in the mice is a way to use them as a model for the condition. I say "model" because mice cannot be diagnosed with schizophrenia (there is no way to see if a mouse if having a break with reality), but changing this gene does cause behavior changes in the mice. EGR3 is is an immediate early gene, which are genes affected by stress that alter behavior. So by turning off this gene linked to schizophrenia, the mice are worse at adapting to novel situations and are more easily stressed.
DeleteHi Serena! I also really enjoy learning about studies relating to neuroscience and am excited to follow your journey through this research. I know you said that your research is about the connection between environmental factors and schizophrenia. Are there any environmental factors that you have hypothesized impact the intensity of this disorder?
ReplyDeleteI wish you the best of luck on the rest of your research!
Past studies have shown that fetuses infected with certain viruses in the womb have a higher chance of developing schizophrenia, and adults exposed to certain stresses can also have a higher risk. There are a lot of environmental factors that could be involved, but the lab I am working with is currently only looking at the impact of stress and novel situations on the knock out mice.
DeleteHey Serena! I'm excited to see how your project progresses and what you will be able to find out about such an interesting mental illness like schizophrenia. I remember when my sister Angela worked at the Mayo clinic and also learned how to use pipettes. She then taught it to me, showing me that you had to use one hand to tilt the lid up without taking it completely off the box, and then use your other hand to very carefully squeeze the pipette down. I found it surprisingly difficult, but I hope you had an easier time than I did. Was there anything interesting you saw in the mouse brains? Do you think the brains of the genetically-altered "schizophrenic" mice will be significantly different? Thank you for the update! Keep up the hard work.
ReplyDeleteThe brains of the knock out mice will look obviously different, but the lab is staining the brain slices to look at the expression of certain genes, and this might show a difference between normal and knock out mice.
DeleteHi Serena! Glad you're having a great time seeing sliced mice brains on your first week of your project. Sounds like a wonderful afternoon (or morning)! Additionally, your comparison of the blade to a deli slicer sent very gory images into my brain. Thank you for that!
ReplyDeleteAs for my question, straying away from the technical aspect of your project, how was your first time working in a lab (if it was your first time)? Also, what in particular was something you were surprised about or did not expect when you were there?
I'm excited to see how far you will progress in this project!
It was my first time working in a lab, and it was good, just very different from all my experiences in school. First of all, after I was trained on how to use the microscope and image the brain slices I was pretty much left alone to work on it. There is no teacher looking over your shoulder to make sure you aren't messing up! Seriously though, it has been a really cool experience.
DeleteWow, it sounds like you had a very eye-opening (or should I say, brain-opening) first week, Serena! I am so excited to hear more about your lab work. Thanks for being so detailed in your descriptions. I could just picture you examining rat brains through a microscope. Did the microscope work from biology and the dissections from Anatomy & Physiology in school help you know what to expect in the lab or did they teach you new techniques? Will you be in the lab this whole time or will you get to take a break from the microscopes and do something else? Fantastic read, keep it up!
ReplyDeleteThe information I have learned in school did help, but still everything is pretty different so there was a lot of new things for me to learn. Also I will not be doing the same thing the whole time; this project of imaging mouse brains will only last a few weeks. I am not sure what I will be doing next.
Deletehey Serena, this project sounds amazing and that you are having a fun time. i think it is very interesting on how that mice reacted after having a gene "knocked out." i was wondering if you specifically which gene was knocked out and how does it specifically affect mice who still have the gene? i think the work is amazing and i hope one day this research will help people better understand schizophrenia.
ReplyDeleteThats a great question. The gene knocked out was EGR3. It is an immediate early gene, which means it is turned on in response to changes in the environment, and causes behavioral changes. It has also been identified as a schizophrenia risk gene, which is why it was chosen to be turned off in the mice so they can be used to model schizophrenia.
DeleteHi Serena! This past week must have been extremely intersting especially working in a lab with mice brains. I was wondering if you could clarify what a "knocked out" gene is and the more specific effects it had on the nice. Also, does the mouse brain include many of the similar fuctions as the human brain, or how does it differ? I am extremely excited to read your blog next week especially since I am very interested in psychology and mental disorders. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteJulie Loison
The gene knocked out was EGR3. It is an immediate early gene, which means it is turned on in response to changes in the environment, and causes behavioral changes. It has also been identified as a schizophrenia risk gene, which is why it was chosen to be turned off in the mice so they can be used to model schizophrenia.
DeleteAlso, the mouse brain does contain many of the same structures as the human brain (two hemispheres, the corpus callosum connecting them, the different lobes, etc.), and these structures serve similar functions to the human counterparts. However, there are also some big differences, (for example, the hippocampus is shaped very differently). Thanks for reading!
Hi Serena! I'm glad to hear that the first week of your research project went well! While looking at the brain under a microscope, specifically what differences are you looking for between the brain of the mice with the "knocked out" gene and the brain of the unaffected mice? I look forward to hearing more about your research as it progresses over the next few weeks. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSophia Vaidya
My job is just to image the brains, but later other people will be looking to see if certain proteins involved in the production of serotonin receptors have increased of decreased in the brain. They can see this because the brains were stained so these proteins fluoresce.
DeleteHey Serena! Getting to slice a mice's brain sounds super interesting. Was there anything in particular that stood out through the process? Also, what was it like working in a lab and examining the mice brain? How did this experience add to your research on schizophrenia and sleep deprivation? Can't wait to see your progress for the weeks to come!
ReplyDeleteWorking in the lab has been a really cool experience so far. Also, I hadn't realized there was such a big environmental component to schizophrenia risk before I started working in the lab.
DeleteThanks for reading!
Hi Serena! I'm very happy to hear that your research has gone well so far the lab! While working on this study during the week, did you come across any particular finding that you thought you might not have encountered this early on in your research?
ReplyDeleteMy job is just imaging the slides, other people will analyze the data later, so I haven't made any findings.
DeleteThanks for commenting!
Hey Serena! Your experiments with the mice seems so cool! I though that these knock-out mouse were very cool and the experiments performed on them could be very beneficial. However, I was wondering if the different sizes in mouse brain and human brains would alter the effects of certain schizophrenia medications?
ReplyDeleteObviously the size of the animal affects dosage, and also certain medications will have very different effects in mice and humans because of physiological differences. The mice are just being used to model schizophrenia in humans, and like any model, it's not a perfect comparison.
DeleteWow! That is fantastic that you were able to jump right into the research and begin helping out in the lab. I have a very irrational fear of mice, but I would love to see any pictures that you can provide throughout your project!
ReplyDeleteYou mention that the EGR3 gene is "knocked out" of mice, how does the lab do this?
The lab made this particular mouse type themselves, using a virus to insert a piece of DNA that inactivates the EGR3 gene.
DeleteHi! Your blog is really great so far and I am really excited to see it progress. Great work so far. I was wondering how will studying mice brain contribute to your research? Will it reveal certain environmental conditions that can cause schizophrenia? What specific patterns in the brain are you looking for? Thanks.
ReplyDeleteThe lab is looking for neurons on the brain that fluoresce. These look like tiny green dots under the microscope.
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