2 Phone calls and 99 Problems

When we were on the phone with the Wnt signaling expert, I was actually impressed at how our circuitry was withstanding his review. Initially, I was certain the whole thing was going to fall apart, but actually our circuitry did a pretty good job. Then suddenly wrenches came flying out of nowhere into our project. Apparently stem cells, naturally have high levels of Wnt as a natural part of their development. So while our circuitry detected cancerous cells, it also was going to produce a false positive for all stem cells. Several times now we’ve learned something in 7.013 and then applied it in lecture the next day. Professor Sive has yet to disappoint. Thanks for Professor Sive, we just learned all about stem cells in lecture. According to Professor He, the stem cells and cancerous cells are nearly indistinguishable, so we certainly have our work cut out for us. Somewhere we plan on starting tomorrow is that stem cells uniquely divide their mitochondria asymmetrically. In order to do this there must be some transcription factor or unique signal cascade being produced somewhere.  We plan on taking advantage of this and setting up a detection mechanism for this unique factor and finding out what exactly this factor is to help us see if a given cell is really cancerous or if it’s just a stem cell being mistaken as cancerous.

When we were talking to the virology professor, he didn’t seem to optimistic about using our EBV virus. He didn’t seem overall pessimistic about our project, which is at least a sign of hope. He gave us a couple of suggestions that will definitely help to guide us along in our hunt for the optimal vector.

I know I started out the course by saying I was truly hoping we would get to produce something unique and meaningful, and it seemed like it might not be possible to do something like that after our talk with Professor He. Our one shining ray of hope lies in whether or not we can sense the difference between stem cells and cancerous cells. If we’re able to do this and make our project an overall success, we might be able to produce a meaningful project.  While it’s extremely unlikely we will be able to make a legitimate contribution in the field of cancer detection, I would be extremely honored to know I helped inform doctors earlier of even a few cancer patients’ condition. To know that I had a meaningful impact on someone’s survival would be incredible. One day when I have more expertise I hope to be able to visit biological issues such as these and be able to increase someone’s chances of survival.