Category Archives: Science Communication

The Biggest Natural Bomb?

Posted on January 21, 2019 by | Leave a comment

Here’s something that’ll blow your mind – beached dead whales may explode! That is if the body is tampered by people unsafely. One of the most infamous cases of exploding whales was a dead sperm whale beached in Florence, Oregon in 1970. Attempting to dispose of the rotting whale, the Oregon Department of Transportation decided to blow it up with dynamites. What could go wrong?  (asked no one).

Video of the above mentioned Oregon whale explosion, and the magnitude of its spread.
Video by: theexplodingwhale.com (which seemed to have closed their website)

The explosion threw whale bits all over the area, to as far as 250 meters away: roughly equivalent to the distance between the UBC bookstore and the Beatty Biodiversity Museum. Even though the intent with the dynamite was to dispose of the whale through blowing it to bits, More of these explosions occur across the world, when people uneducated or unknown to this danger, mess with dead whale corpse.

What causes the explosion?
You might ask, what is the scientific reasoning behind these explosions? To answer that, we must first understand a few things about what happens after an animal die. A dead animal undergoes decomposition: the process of rotting and decaying. During this process, proteins in the whale’s tissue break down, and other tissues dry out. This results in several gasses produced within the whale, including common gasses like methane and carbon dioxide. Normally, these gasses can leak slowly through holes natural to the body or holes made by hungry scavengers. However, due to blockage or the weight of the body, sometimes these orifices are forced shut, resulting in gas build-up within the corpse’s body. After enough gas build-up in the body, any disturbance to weak spots on the body surface any external sources weakening parts of the body, i.e. poking a hole in it, results in an explosion, or strong expulsion of the whale’s body contents.

Is this a whale-only phenomenon?
Are whales the only one that turns into ticking gas bombs? The answer is no, they’re not. This decomposition and gas forming process are universal across all animals, but due to the size of whales and the size of the cavities within their body, that explosion is significantly more terrifying.

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Science Communication

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Video

Stop cheating yourself! Probiotics can’t treat your stomach flu

Imagine your cousin is terribly exhausted by a stomach flu that he accidentally got during the weekend, and he pukes everywhere. Which treatment would you choose? One pill full of probiotics so that they can fight away the ‘bad germ’ that roams your cousin’s gut? Or just a simple hot water bag and a bowl of thin soup? Which treatment do you think will help you get rid of the terrible puking faster? I bet most of you would choose to take the probiotics, since from what we learnt on the internet, probiotics are effective in fighting away the ‘bad germs’ that lies inside your gut. They can adjust your gut microbes, make your skin looks better, help you digest food more efficiently, and finally build a well-regulated and healthy gut environment. More importantly, they are not as merciless as the antibiotics, which will kill whatever left in the gut and leave a gut free of both good and bad germs behind. At least, that was what most videos on Youtube say about the benefits of probiotics.

However, is it true? Is it possible for just a small pill of probiotics to have the ability to save your gut? How good are these small, almost invisible to naked eyes creatures? The answer,unfortunately, is no. In the case of a gut inflammation caused by virus or bacteria, the probiotics can do nothing better than simple placebos. According to two recent big studies in the U.S., probiotics are inefficient in preventing the development of moderate-to-severe gut inflammation, and symptoms of the researched subject shows no difference against the placebo group.

One of the research mainly focused on Lactobacillus rhamnosus and L. helveticus, both are commonly used probiotics. Participants of this research are 3 to 48 months old children that has been diagnosed as gastroenteritis, commonly known as the gut flu or the stomach flu. In this study, participants were randomly selected and separate into two groups, one receives the probiotics while the other group receive the placebo for two weeks. At the end of the study, the outcome of the participants were evaluated to determine if the probiotics or the placebo had treated their illness.  Among all the participants who received the probiotics, 26.1% of them developed into a moderate-to-severe gastroenteritis, while 24.7% of the placebo group developed a moderate-to-severe gastroenteritis. This means that the probiotics is of no use in preventing the development of moderate-to-severe gastroenteritis.

cartoon shows how probiotics help us to regulate a healthy life

So what exactly should we do when we are facing a gastroenteritis? And is it true that probiotics are all useless? Researchers have not given a clear answer yet. What is true is that next time when a stomach flu strikes, do not panic, before purchasing the expensive probiotics, keep asking yourself do you really need it.

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Posted on January 14, 2019 by in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

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Starving cancer: testing claims of disease prevention with intermittent fasting

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | 2 comments

As the title suggests, yes I don’t eat breakfast *gasp* so I fast for the majority of the day with the first meal being after 12pm, and my second meal with hopefully no snacks in between at 6/8pm. And might I add, most days I limit my carbohydrates intake, meaning no bread, no rice, no sweet happiness.

And why do I go through this trouble and pain you might ask – after looking at my genetic data and family history of cancer combined with very popular research in nutrition emerging in the media, I decided I can take this matter into my own hands and experiment on myself what works best and maybe see results as these studies progress long-term. I started listening bits here and there of podcasts, particularly first FoundMyFitness and then slowly incorporating The Joe Rogan Experience into the repertoire; so these diet changes have taken over my life, with Dr. Dominic D’Agostino being the keynote speaker of this long conference I’m attending since this summer.

Starving cancer: Dominic D’Agostino at TEDxTampaBay by TEDx Talks

Intermittent fasting can be done in various ways, with only 2 days of the week calorically restricted, or the way that I chose – time restricted – done with 16hrs fast and 8hrs eating frame. This approach has existed for ages really, mostly practiced by some religions, but now we’re seeing not only positive effects in terms of weight loss, but also disease prevention, improved biomarkers like insulin resistance, and simply put a better way of life. Moreover, the diet comes with incredible research supporting cell autophagy and repair, and longevity claims thanks to DNA repair. When combined with a carb-limiting diet like ketogenic diet, tumour cells are under intense metabolic stress leading to apoptosis, as those depend mostly on glucose for their life cycle. Also, since you eat at specific times and limit carbohydrates, your energy levels will have fewer spikes (i.e. no sugar highs and crashes) and your body will run at its optimum levels.

I admit, this is hard to wrap your head around let alone commit to such a lifestyle change, as we cannot imagine giving up sweet glucose; but fear not, our brain is flexible and can adapt to the new energy source *ketones* that we can see in the diagram below as beta-hydroxybutyrate going through Krebs cycle generating ATP for our body’s energy:

Finally, I wanted to point out that while the media makes this seem like the cure-all option with sparkling headlines, this is definitely not the case, as we learn in pharmacology “cure-all = probably BS”. A lifestyle change in diet usually has to come hand-in-hand with an exercise regimen, and of course, this promising research has not yet shown its future face. In the meantime, I will continue to experiment with this and maybe kill my family’s cancer (?) I’ll let you know in some years. Research, investigate, get informed and maybe try yourself?

-Nicole Bostan

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Phage Display: A powerful Technique and its Applications

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | Leave a comment

An overview

Phage display is a very strong technique in drug discovery and development. It has many applications in improving the immunological studies such as immunotherapy, diagnosis, and development of monoclonal antibodies and peptides. The technique was initially demonstrated by George P. Smith in 1985. Its use for the production of recombinant antibodies was confirmed by McCafferty and his colleagues in 1990. Since then, a number of research groups have represented essential improvements of the technique for its applications in biological sciences. This technique allows for expression of a protein molecule such as an antibody on the surface of a bacteriophage.

Phage display system. Source:https://www.cusabio.com/Phage-display-service.html

Phage expression system

Phage show differs from traditional expression systems in that the foreign gene sequence is spliced into one of the phage coat proteins, so that the foreign amino acid sequence is genetically fused to the amino acids of the coat protein to make a hybrid fusion protein. The hybrid coat protein is included into phage particles or virions as they are released from the cell, so that the foreign peptide or protein area is displayed on the outer surface.The  foreign peptide might be fragments of antibody molecules containing fragment antigen binding (Fab) or single chain fragment variable (scFv). Both Fab and scFv are parts of antibody, which bind to antigen and expression of these parts on bacteriophage could be very helpful for study of antigen antibody interactions.

Phage_basic-WebGrafiken. Displaying of Fab fragment on bacteriophage. Source:https://www.morphosys.com/science/drug-development-capabilities/hucal

Displaying of scFv on bacteriophage. Source:http://www.kck.usm.my/diagnosticbook/?q=content/chapter-24-generation-recombinant-antibodies-display-technologies-diagnostic-applications

Phage display provides selection of specific antibodies

The produced phage antibodies are very important tools. It is possible to select specific antibodies against a desired antigen among phage antibodies, which received different antibody genes in an antibody library. The selected specific antibodies facilitate both immunotherapy and diagnosis.

The following video demonstrates the phage display system and selection of specific antibody in an antibody library.

Video taken from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AqQDZxoCGqE

Application of phage display

Phage antibodies have been useful for immunization therapies, which may lead to development of new tools used for treatment of cancer, autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease. The utilization of some phage antibodies against breast, colorectal and pancreatic cancer shown some promising results regarding the cell growth inhibition of the cancer cells. The usage of phage display antibodies in designing diagnostic and therapeutic agents for autoimmune disease is growing. In Myasthenia gravis Fab antibodies against nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (AChR) caused reduced function of receptors at the neuromuscular junction. The role of selected phage antibodies in neurological disorders are also reported. Intracellular antibody fragments are potential therapeutic agents for neurological disorders due to their specificity for recognition of unusual intracellular proteins. In addition, the importance of phage display in hematological applications is shown. Anti-ABO, anti-Rh and anti-Kell antibodies were the first antibodies selected against red blood cells for hemagglutination assays.

Phage displayed peptides seem to be better molecular imaging agents compared to radiolabeled antibodies due to their small size, rapid blood clearance and tissue penetration. Recently, the application of phage display technique in the vaccine development and delivery is also described. The prominent role of phage display in healthcare, medicine and diagnostic will continue to expand.

Phage Display Derived Peptides for Osteosarcoma Imaging. Source:http://www.wmis.org/abstracts/2010/forSystemUse/papers/P0844B.html

– Setareh Moazen

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Posted in Biological Sciences, Issues in Science, Science Communication

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Renewable Energy…How About Poop?

Posted on January 14, 2019 by | 1 comment

Yes, you read that right. In a recently published paper, researchers turned human waste into a carbon-rich material, which they found produced enough energy when burned to be considered a potential energy source in the future.

Human waste is typically thought of as unsanitary and harmful, as it has the potential to carry pathogens and transmit diseases. However, it is also composed of high levels of carbon, so after being processed, it can actually be turned into a carbon-rich coal-like material called hydrochar. This method of processing is called hydrothermal carbonization (HTC), and does not generate any hazardous by-products. It heats the wet biomass, dries it by removing most of the water content, and sterilizes the product by degrading most of the micro-pollutants.

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons

The produced hydrochar can be turned into pellets (as pictured) and used as a biomass fuel. (Photo Source: © Kapilbutani and made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)

Human waste is typically treated either chemically or biologically. However, many developing countries have difficulty accessing these treatments, making it difficult to handle and sanitize large amounts of human excreta.

One way of reducing it is using it as a soil fertilizer. Human excreta, specifically feces, have actually long been used as a fertilizer, as it contains key plant nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Humans have repurposed poop before, so why not use it as an energy source? The study found that the amount of energy released as heat from the combustion of hydrochar was high enough to potentially be used as an energy source. If this method is perfected, it would be tackling two problems at the same time – waste and energy.

A man pouring fertilizer onto a field to dry. (Photo Source: © Ahmad Masood / Reuters)

With our climate rapidly changing, it is important to develop new methods of gathering usable forms of energy that are both renewable and sustainable. In my opinion, using human excreta as a potential biomass fuel is very smart, as it is cheap, readily available, can help treat and reduce the amount of human waste in developing countries, and can possibly be used as a sustainable and renewable form of energy in the future.

– Kristy Ip

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There’s A Reason Why Everybody Wants to Toss Around the Word “STEM CELL”

Posted on January 12, 2019 by | Leave a comment

What do you think about when you read the word stem cell?

Maybe you think back to your introductory biology class. Maybe you think about that new skin care product you saw in store.

Whatever your association may be, there is no denying that you are starting to see the word stem cell used a lot more frequently.

For myself, when I hear the word stem cell I back to my co-op term doing research at STEMCELL Technologies. While biotechnology companies are leaders in product design, Trudeau has claimed that he wants Canada as a whole to be a global leader in both research and development. This is why his decision to eliminate funding for the federal government’s Networks Centres of Excellence (NCE) science program was so concerning to hear.

Stem Cell Research Source: WikipediaCommons

Despite choosing to cancel that program the federal government is still handing over money to biotech companies to try and continue Canada’s status in the STEM stream. An example of this was at STEMCELL Technologies, which over the summer was awarded $45 million in government funding to expand and develop its advanced manufacturing facility.

While commercialization is important, the research that goes into making those innovations possible should not be forgotten. The decision to cut funding discontinues world-renowned scientific networks that Canada has shaped, as well as the research, researchers and trainees they support. If Canada truly wants to be a world leader in research and development then we need to keep the money where our mouth is.

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