VISTA Discussion Posts

Subject: Re:List of things I have found confusing thus far... Topic: General questions
Author: Amanda Wong

Q5 -
- Western blotting is the most common one, so I don't know if it would be the 'superior' method, but it's the easiest and relatively cheapest.
- ELISA can be used to measure concentration of the protein, by calculating the quantity of the protein present proportional to the reagents to proteins used
- Mass spec can determine protein mass by measuring TOF (time of flight) when the ionized atoms of the protein is shot through an electrical field
- Protein assays can be used to determine the protein concentration in a solution. ie. Lowry protein assay uses colorimetrics or Bradford protein assay uses spectroscopy

Hope that helps! 
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Subject: Aging  Topic: Progeria projects Author: Amanda Wong

For those who are interested, I learned in another class that telomere length are responsible for aging. As telomeres shorten (due to the end-replication problem), they correlate to aging at a cellular level. The end replication problem is because transcription only occurs 5'-3', so there's always a 3' overhang that can't be replicated. The telomere hypothesis is that immortal cells maintain telomeres, so if telomere length can be retained, aging can potentially stop (at a cellular level). However, this is also linked to cancer formation, but I think this could maybe be explored if people want to slow down aging.

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Subject: Developmental Biology Questions
Topic: Assignment week 1--post your three questions here! Author: Amanda Wong

Since I'm hoping to get into genetic studies related to cancer research, some developmental biology questions I'd like to ask include:

1. What are the most common defects in gene control or morphogenesis that give rise to tumors?
2. Can signalling pathways, such as those that are disrupted by mutation in cancer, be manipulated to change cell growth and differentiation?
3 What's the difference between tumorigenic cancer stem cells and normal stem cells? 

Amanda

email: manda147@interchange.ubc.ca | Student Number: 92681071