This week a Japanese music video has taken flight. PPAP has taken the internet by storm. Pen Pineapple Apple Pen is simply the best. Memetastic. This old man is balling out of control.
Hours after axing like 12 sources and literally gathering another 14 from scratch over the weekend (exaggerating). My paper looks better.
My research question is
Do certain changes at the conserved positions of LAC1 significantly change the function and dynamics of the protein?
1. Scope: My scope is narrowed to LAC1 and the position I will mutate is at 52 on the LAC1 chain. I chose 52 because it is the most conserved position on the protein according to one of my studies. I will consult with my professor on the position number. My scope is manageable, I can even look at more positions in different levels of conservation.
2. Definitions: I need to define, LAC1, conserved, dynamics. I do define them in my literature review.
Certain proteins block the DNA transcription. These molecules are called repressors. The function of the genes that lac suppresses is to code for proteins that break lactose into glucose, galactose, and other sugars. Lac 1 is a repressor. Lac repressor prevents the creation of Beta-galactosidase, which is the enzyme that performs the first step in lactose metabolism, making glucose and galactose. Conserved positions are segments of a protein that are essential to the structure of a protein. Dynamics are the movements of the protein. An assumption may be that conserved positions are important to look at, but its justified in the definition.
3. Variables: The function and dynamics are variables that I will analyze
4. Researchability: 100%
I am going to work with the people who created DFI, and I will use DFI to analyze the proteins. DFI will show the changes in the dynamics of LAC1
5. Gap: LAC1 has not been computationally analyzed with DFI. And understanding the dynamics of LAC1 is significant because of its function of breaking down lactose. Also DFI has not been used that often, and using it again to possibly justify or corroborate with other methods can help support the method.
6. Significance: The larger real world implications include solving protein folding diseases, and understanding how changing protein code leads to human diseases.
And with that I can finally sleespflpcm,va.gagaregf.....
12 hours of sleeping later, I am posting this blog.
Ashwath! It seems like you have a pretty good grip on your research. I think if you're going to limit your scope to 52, then you should put it in your question, just so it's established from the beginning. Also, it would be awesome if you could have given a short definition of the things you plan on defining! And, how do you plan to link them into your argument in your literature review?
ReplyDeleteI also think that you need to have more of an explanation of how conserved portions affect the structure of the protein because I'm kind of confused right now.
Also the stuff about the variables was kind of short and what exactly about the function and dynamics are you analyzing.
Researchability-wise, are there any more subtle factors that you feel could pop up and make your topic harder to research?
For your gap, I think you should discuss how this lack of analysis (DFI analysis?) has led to shortcomings in analyzing the gene.
For the significance, I think you should give some more specific examples of how understanding protein coding in LAC can lead to further findings in other important diseases and how many people this research could impact.
Everything is there, it just needs to be explained more!
Word Count: 214
Snap back to reality, oh there goes gravity ok sorry
ReplyDeleteIt seems like your research is going really well and it looks like you have a grip on what you're doing. This is just a side note, but in your blogs, since it's not just the basis students following along, make sure to include a short definition of things in your blog posts.
So I know you said that you're limiting your scope to position 52 on the gene because thats one of the most crucial parts of the protein, structurally, but I don't know what that means. You have to give me more in this blog post so I can legitimately understand what you're talking about and I feel like you didn't really give me much to work with.
I think in your paper you should also give a brief overview of DNA transcription and how LAC 1 plays into that process. I think also if you're going to analyze statistical significance, i think you have to give a brief explanation of what that really means in the context of your paper.
So in terms of your actual question, you say you're going to look at how specific changes significantly alter the function of the protein. I think you should include those changes in your question.
So what your gap tells me is that you're looking at the efficacy of DFI in examining proteins and you're trying to prove it by comparing the results of the DFI test to other proven tests. Also, what is DFI bc you never tell me what that is.
Also, what are some of these diseases this could cure bc right now to me it seems like your significance is underdeveloped.
Do certain changes at the conserved positions of 52 LAC1 significantly change the function and dynamics of the protein?
ReplyDeleteOkay, so I think I'm hearing echoed in the comments still problems with understanding the material, so you have to work on that more. Again, saying it every week is growing tiresome.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I agree with Daphne about including the position in the question if it's part of your scope. You'll obviously need to justify why you're isolating your research to that position.
"Certain changes" seems incredibly vague. I understand that you want to leave it open to discover whatever is going on, but it seems really open right now, in a way that may cause you to lose direction during your research. Is there any way that we can make the language more precise or focus on a few factors?