Share your projects with us
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aren't your 5 days up already?
abstract? i don't even have a title. well i do have a tentative title my sponsor quickly jotted down for registration purposes. i'm also weary of giving too much about myself away. i always have this slight fear that people i know (especially those in a professional sense) may happen upon the same sites i do. let me just say it's a good one involving molecular genetics.
it is indeed a bit of a dilemma. If you reveal your project you automatically reveal your identity. And you show a side of yourself that your colleagues might not know about.
I am seriously wondering if I should start with some kind of abstract. It wouldn't be difficult. I have many, that is not the problem. But would it be a wise move?
Alien Mastermind
Registered Senior Member
Yes of course! To me, at least, for I'm very interested what kind of work you guys do there in labs. I'm not even out of grade 9, but I'm still interested to know more about real research life.
Stem cells and root development in teeth
My project
I might have let it slip that I am a developmental biologist and that I work with teeth as a humble PhD student. I can further specify this since I actually work on the problem of stem cells in teeth and root development. These two problems don't seem to have anything in common but we think they actually have.
Do teeth actually have stem cells? Well, that really depends. The tooth is an epithelial-mesenchymal organ, which simply means that is made out of a mesenchymal and epithelial compartment. People did manage to isolate mesenchymal stem cells out of adult teeth and therefore all teeth probably do have mesenchymal stem cells. But I am not studying mesenchymal stem cells. I am studying the epithelial stem cells, because the dental epithelial gives rise to the extremely hard enamel that covers our tooth. The problem is that once a tooth erupts in to the oral cavity (mouth) the epithelium is on the outside of the tooth and exposed. It is then lost forever and hence no dental epithelium can be found there and definitely no stem cells. What could be the other source for epithelium? A tooth consists of two parts, the crown and the root. Is there any epithelium left in the root then? Yes, but unfortunately it seems that normally roots do not have stem cells.
How can I study epithelial stem cells in teeth then? Well, there is a category of teeth that are quite unlike our teeth because they grow continuously throughout the lifetime of the animal. A very good example of these kind of teeth are the incisors of rodents. Also some molars of specific species exhibit the same phenomenon. In these teeth a special epithelial structure is maintained that is normally lost during root development. This structure is called the cervical loop. This is where the epithelial stem cells are located.
I mainly study the molecular regulation of the epithelial stem cell compartment, not only in the rodent incisor but also in molars, ones that grow continuously and ones that do not. By comparing these two types of molars I hope to get a clearer picture of what happens to the stem cell niche in teeth that stop growing and develop roots, and in teeth that grow continuously.
My project
I might have let it slip that I am a developmental biologist and that I work with teeth as a humble PhD student. I can further specify this since I actually work on the problem of stem cells in teeth and root development. These two problems don't seem to have anything in common but we think they actually have.
Do teeth actually have stem cells? Well, that really depends. The tooth is an epithelial-mesenchymal organ, which simply means that is made out of a mesenchymal and epithelial compartment. People did manage to isolate mesenchymal stem cells out of adult teeth and therefore all teeth probably do have mesenchymal stem cells. But I am not studying mesenchymal stem cells. I am studying the epithelial stem cells, because the dental epithelial gives rise to the extremely hard enamel that covers our tooth. The problem is that once a tooth erupts in to the oral cavity (mouth) the epithelium is on the outside of the tooth and exposed. It is then lost forever and hence no dental epithelium can be found there and definitely no stem cells. What could be the other source for epithelium? A tooth consists of two parts, the crown and the root. Is there any epithelium left in the root then? Yes, but unfortunately it seems that normally roots do not have stem cells.
How can I study epithelial stem cells in teeth then? Well, there is a category of teeth that are quite unlike our teeth because they grow continuously throughout the lifetime of the animal. A very good example of these kind of teeth are the incisors of rodents. Also some molars of specific species exhibit the same phenomenon. In these teeth a special epithelial structure is maintained that is normally lost during root development. This structure is called the cervical loop. This is where the epithelial stem cells are located.
I mainly study the molecular regulation of the epithelial stem cell compartment, not only in the rodent incisor but also in molars, ones that grow continuously and ones that do not. By comparing these two types of molars I hope to get a clearer picture of what happens to the stem cell niche in teeth that stop growing and develop roots, and in teeth that grow continuously.
What I used to do:
Electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers (cyanobacterial and green sulfur bacteria), biophysics & biochemistry of integral membrane redox proteins in light harvesting structures in green sulfur bacteria, playing with cryogenic liquids, assisting other labs in the dept. (and outside visitors) work with my lab's EPR spectrometers, checking our collaborator's water supply for copper contamination via EPR (
), helped to start efforts in study of heliobacterial PRCs, occasional bit of EPR on inorganic coordination complexes for background info, wonder how our one grad student still had problems doing basic stoichiometry, ruthlessly mocking my one offiicemate.
What I currently do:
Spend way too much time looking at proteins via Swiss PDB Viewer, too much time fiddling around with protein-protein BLAST searches, trying to learn everything about NMR of proteins/solid state materials/paramagnetic complexes, trying to learn everything about theoretical chemistry and biophysics, avoiding my students with passion....
And procrastinating. Which is why I'm here.
Electron transfer in photosynthetic reaction centers (cyanobacterial and green sulfur bacteria), biophysics & biochemistry of integral membrane redox proteins in light harvesting structures in green sulfur bacteria, playing with cryogenic liquids, assisting other labs in the dept. (and outside visitors) work with my lab's EPR spectrometers, checking our collaborator's water supply for copper contamination via EPR (
), helped to start efforts in study of heliobacterial PRCs, occasional bit of EPR on inorganic coordination complexes for background info, wonder how our one grad student still had problems doing basic stoichiometry, ruthlessly mocking my one offiicemate.What I currently do:
Spend way too much time looking at proteins via Swiss PDB Viewer, too much time fiddling around with protein-protein BLAST searches, trying to learn everything about NMR of proteins/solid state materials/paramagnetic complexes, trying to learn everything about theoretical chemistry and biophysics, avoiding my students with passion....
And procrastinating. Which is why I'm here.
Procrastinating is also my favourite current hobby. And it is not like I have nothing better to do. I have to finish a few manuscripts and do a few easy experiments. And since I am only a student, I haven't earned my silver wings of highflying science yet, and hence have no right to do nothing.
Wow I thought this tnread was going to be dead forever! You guys revived it hehe thanks!
This was my project a few years ago(abstract):
Title: Protein Expression of a New Lectin-Like Molecula Fused with Murine Ly49A on 293T Cell Line
Nk cells have the ability to express C-type lectin molecules at their surface such as the Ly49A receptor. Their receptors are known to be involved in the function of NK cells. In this project the N-terminal region of the Ly49A was used as an epitope tag to characterize a newly cloned protein. For this purpose, a fusion molecule was created using the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique and was transfected in human embryonal kidney cells. No fusion molecule was detected when analyzed on a Western blot using a polyclonal antibody(serum) that specifically recognizes the Ly49A epitope tag. Th negative result could be an indication that this fusion molecule is unstable.
I would share my recent project but it is still ongoing, and my PI is an HHMI investigator, so I don't know if I can or not. I am contributing a small portion of a huge project that could get published some day, if it works. So I'm keeping Ethics in mind.
This was my project a few years ago(abstract):
Title: Protein Expression of a New Lectin-Like Molecula Fused with Murine Ly49A on 293T Cell Line
Nk cells have the ability to express C-type lectin molecules at their surface such as the Ly49A receptor. Their receptors are known to be involved in the function of NK cells. In this project the N-terminal region of the Ly49A was used as an epitope tag to characterize a newly cloned protein. For this purpose, a fusion molecule was created using the Polymerase Chain Reaction technique and was transfected in human embryonal kidney cells. No fusion molecule was detected when analyzed on a Western blot using a polyclonal antibody(serum) that specifically recognizes the Ly49A epitope tag. Th negative result could be an indication that this fusion molecule is unstable.
I would share my recent project but it is still ongoing, and my PI is an HHMI investigator, so I don't know if I can or not. I am contributing a small portion of a huge project that could get published some day, if it works. So I'm keeping Ethics in mind.
we are still waiting for you fetus
picture
here is a picture I found fascinating and I modified it a bit so that it has become useless and I am not going to mention what it is exactly for obvious reasons. But the tissue is of a vole molar, a sibling vole even.
here is a picture I found fascinating and I modified it a bit so that it has become useless and I am not going to mention what it is exactly for obvious reasons. But the tissue is of a vole molar, a sibling vole even.
paulsamuel
Registered Senior Member
HI
epithelial cells but looks like they're secreting some type of matrix. Is that tooth matrix being secreted? Huge nuclei, if those are nuclei. Nice micrograph, one of yours?
epithelial cells but looks like they're secreting some type of matrix. Is that tooth matrix being secreted? Huge nuclei, if those are nuclei. Nice micrograph, one of yours?
yes they are ameloblasts secreting enamel.
paulsamuel
Registered Senior Member
well?
did you induce these cells to secrete the enamel, or are these cells in situ?
did you induce these cells to secrete the enamel, or are these cells in situ?
nothing so fancy. You need to be an insider to see what it is a fascinating picture. But it is nothing earthshocking.