Week 7
I finished the cell counting this Monday, and we also had a lab meeting. I took off Tuesday because the axel on my car was broken and I had to take it into the shop so I couldn't drive to work. Today it is Wednesday and I am back in the lab.
Tomorrow I will go to Sonora Quest Lab to see if I have been immunized to Hepatitis B. This is required of all UA employees who could potentially be handling blood, because they want to insure everyone is immunized and not at risk. Recent studies have shown that a small percentage of people who get immunized against Hep. B are not actually immune, so this blood test will determine that I am actually immunized.
There isn't much for me to do in the lab until I can work in the vivarium, so there won't be too much for me to blog about this week.
Also, I have been getting a lot of questions asking what the green dots mean on the brain pictures. I realize it is a little complicated, so I will try to explain again. Basically, half the mice in the study are wild type mice that have the Egr3 gene, while the other half are "knock out" mice that do not have a functional Egr3 gene. Egr3 is activated in response to stress, so once the mice are sleep deprived, more Egr3 should be transcribed. The hypothesis of the lab is that Egr3 is transcribed to be a transcription factor that regulates the gene responsible for making serotonin 2A receptors. The green dots show where the serotonin 2A receptor gene has been activated in the brain. The knockout mice should have very little or no green dots if the hypothesis is correct, because they lack the Egr3 gene, meaning it would not be inducing the serotonin 2A gene. Hopefully that cleared things up?
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Hello and happy Friday!
Since there isn't really anything for me to do in the lab right now I will write a bit about animal models in neuroscience. Part way through my project I made the focus of my project more on the use of animal models to better understand mental conditions in humans, and I have gotten lots of interesting information on this topic while talking to people in the lab.
When using animal models for human conditions, ethics is always a concern, so every study must find a balance between using an animal with a more developed brain that is more similar to a human but considered more unethical to use, and using an animal with a less developed brain that is less similar to a human but considered to be more ethical to use. Very little research is done using primates, because although they would make good animal models as they are quite similar to humans, it is considered unethical to do many experiments on such an intelligent animal. This is why many labs use animals like mice or rats, as they are considered to have developed enough brains to be relevant models for human conditions, but are not as intelligent as a primate.
I find it interesting that animals that seem so different, like humans and mice, still have analogous brain structures and functions. Anyway, have a nice weekend!
Hey Serena! How do they check if the spots are where the serototonin 2A receptors are being made? Can they see this using the brain pictures or is this another process? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe lab already knows the knockout mice have fewer serotonin 2A receptors than the normal wild type mice. They are looking for a correlation between knockout and low Egr3 levels, and wild type and high Egr3 levels, because that would tell them there is a correlation between serotonin 2A and Egr3.
DeleteThanks, Serena! I found that explanation super helpful, and I now have a clearer idea about what's going on in the lab. If the Egr3 gene does indeed regulate the serotonin 2A receptors, what would be the next step in the research for schizophrenia? I can't wait to hear the results!
ReplyDeleteIf Egr3 is regulating serotonin 2A receptors then altering the gene could be a way to change the phenotypic differences in the knockout mice. Basically it would give the lab a clearer idea of why the mice have the problems they have, and how to fix that. In the future this could translate to ways to help humans, but for now the lab is just focused on understanding the condition using mice.
DeleteEverything being researched focusing on environmental factors and mental disorders may be a small break through step in finding preventions and even cures. I hope you are enjoying Dr. Gallitano's lab!
ReplyDeleteI am enjoying my experiences in the lab. Thanks for reading my blog!
DeleteHi Serena! Thanks for clarifying the green dots! Lab work that requires experimentation on animals is always a touchy subject. It's difficult to find the perfect median between being an accurate model for humans and being ethical. And I agree; the subtle similarities between diverse species that reminds us of our common roots are always interesting. Now that you have experience working in a lab, do you think this is something you would like to do in the future? What are favorite and least favorite parts of lab research? Thank you for the update!
ReplyDeleteI do think working in a lab is something I would be interested in doing in the future. My favorite part of working in the lab has been seeing the real world application of the things I learned in school, and my least favorite part has been the repetitive nature of some of the tasks I have had to do. Still, overall it has been a very good experience!
DeleteHey Serena! Thank you so much for the explanation, it definitely cleared up my misconceptions. However, I have a few basic questions. If there is an Egr3 and seratonin 2a correlation, how might the gene be altered to reduce the behavioral symptons of the knockout mice? Furthermore, would this potentially be a long term cure to schizophrenia if it worked, or would medication still be needed afterwards. Sorry if that's too hypothetical. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThe lab is currently conducting a study where they inject a virus carrying a gene into the brains of the mice. I am not very familiar with this particular study, but I will try to explain it. The injected gene will hopefully increase serotonin 2A production and undo the problems caused by the lack of an Egr3 gene in the mice. This does not show a cure, for mice or humans, but it would prove that, at least in the mice, Egr3 is causing a lack of serotonin 2A receptors, and this is the primary cause of the abnormal symptoms, and it can be reversed by increasing serotonin receptor levels. This study has not been concluded yet though, so for now this is all just a hypothesis.
DeleteHi Serena! Sorry about the car thing. I don't have a car, but it does sound like a pain to have to go to the car shop before work. If primates are much closer to humans, would there be a chance that labs can actually work these animals or is it completely off limits to use primates in a study? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteSome labs do use primates for certain studies. I believe there are some labs at ASU that work with primates. The labs at the UA Biomedical collaborative where I am working do not, they only use mice, rats, and fruit flies. The research that can be done on primates is much more limited than what can be done on rats or mice, because of ethical concerns.
DeleteHey Serena,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry you had car problems and could not go to work this week, but at least you still had an eventful Monday! Since primates are more similar to humans, are they used after success with the mice to make sure that the work with humans will be successful too? I hope next week will be more eventful, especially if you get to work in the vivarium. Have a good week!
Julie Loison
The lab I am working with does not use primates, and is not currently testing procedures on the mice that will later be used on humans. They are simply trying to better understand the causes of the condition using these mice as models. Other labs do sometimes test procedures or pharmaceuticals using primates before they are used in humans.
DeleteHi Serena! I was wondering why the intelligence of primates makes them an unethical option for research? If they are more similar to human beings, wouldn't it be easier to model of primates if the have a similar functions? Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYes, in most cases primates would make better models for human conditions as their brains are more complex like our own. However they are not used very often because having a more complex brain makes them less ethical to use. Many people believe it is less ethical to experiment on more intelligent animals because virtually all experimentation will cause some stress or pain and ideally we don't want to do that to animals that are more intelligent and more similar to humans.
DeleteHey Serena! Thank you for clarifying the green dots and I'm sorry about your car. I'm glad that you mentioned ethics as a concern when working in the lab. I was wondering if there were any other animals that would produce better results than a mice, but is more ethical than a primate?
ReplyDeleteFor the specific study the lab is doing, mice are the model that best meets the necessary requirements for ethics, cost, and effectiveness. For different studies, different animals are better models than others. For example, in addiction studies where animals self administer a drug by pressing a lever, mice are too small to have a drip constantly attached to inject the drug, so rats are used instead. Certain pharmaceutical companies test new products on many different animals, including mice, rats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and primates.
DeleteHey Serena! It's nice to hear you were able to relax a bit more this week in the lab! In regards to the ethical concerns you discussed earlier, what is your opinion on the issue? Do you agree that rats and mice should be tested on, but not primates? Can't wait for next week's blog! Good luck!
ReplyDeleteSophia Vaidya
I think it is a very complicated issue. I believe some animal testing is necessary; certain topics cannot be studied without using animals and animal testing has allowed for many important breakthroughs in science. However, I think studies should always be designed to minimize the pain or stress of the animals wherever possible. I do think it is more ethical to use animals with less developed brains like rats and mice rather than primates.
Deletehey Serena! sorry that you can not do much i the lab, but at least once you get certified you can start on the more fun parts of your research. i was wondering how to the researchers account for the neurological differences between the experimental animals and Humans?
ReplyDeleteA model, by definition, is not a perfect representation, and any animal model for a human condition will be imperfect. However, by studying specific things that are the same in the model and in humans they can be useful. For example, these knockout mice have many similarities to human schizophrenia patients, including a reduction of serotonin 2A receptors, memory deficits, etc. By using a model that is as similar as possible and focusing the study on the similar areas it is possible to get information from the model despite the neurological differences.
DeleteHey Serena sorry about your car but I hope you had a better rest of the week. In your opinion are there any types of testing regarding neurotically associated methods that you would be totally against when testing animals?
ReplyDeleteI am not familiar with every type of animal testing so I can't give my opinion on specific types, but I do not believe it is ethical to do procedures that cause lots of pain and stress on highly intelligent animals, and I believe animal testing should only be done when it is necessary.
DeleteHi Serena! I found your discussion on ethical research very interesting. Are there other animals that have analogous brain structures and functions? Would the lifespan play any part in choosing which animals to test on or not?
ReplyDeleteave analogous brain structures and functions. Anyway, have a nice weekend!
Lots of animals have certain structures in their brains that are analogous to parts of the human brain. Depending on the particular part of the brain you want to study, different animal models are better.
DeleteTo answer your second question, yes, lifespan does play a role in choosing lab animals. The mice are a convenient animal to use because they have a new litter of pups every few weeks, and mature rapidly. This means that they are quickly of age to be used in experiments and the population keeps growing with rapid litters.
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ReplyDelete