Wicked Witch of the Western Blot: March 2019

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Mitochondria: The Powerhouse of the cell

This is an assignment for JRN 504 (re: this post) where I am supposed to post a photo and video.

Mitochondria, the powerhouse of the cell! We've all likely heard this and/or have seen the many memes. I'm in training as a mitochondrial biologist so I obviously care about them. But why should you care? Well, check out this quick (less than 2 minutes) chalk talk by the National Science Foundation to find out why and get a general overview of mitochondria.

Here are the main points of the video:

Mitochondria produce energy for most complex living things including people, plants and animals. This energy is produced in the form of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). TL;DR mitochondria = energy, no energy = death!
Mitochondria contain their own DNA. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) is inherited from only your mother (there are exceptions, there are always exceptions but it is rare), which also let's us trace back human origins.

Ready to move on?

Okay, let's dive a little deeper. Since we are talking about DNA, let's take a minute to refresh ourselves on the central dogma of molecular biology. And if you didn't know it before, you will now and you'll learn the secret - molecular biology really isn't all that hard. ;)

Central Dogma of Molecular Biology

DNA either undergoes replication, which is making copies of itself, or it gets transcribed into RNA (transcription), which are instructions and tools to make proteins. The messenger RNAs (mRNAs) are then translated by processing machinery called ribosomes into proteins. These ribosomes also use the transfer RNAs (tRNAs) as tools to build the proteins. And lastly there are ribosomal RNAs or rRNAs which are parts of the ribosome itself. This basic overview of the central dogma applies to both the cell and the mitochondria. See?! I told you molecular biology is not that hard!

But let's focus on just the mitochondria. The DNA in the mitochondria (mtDNA), encodes for 13 mRNAs, 22 tRNAs and 2 rRNAs. All of these help build only part of the respiratory complexes, or factories that produce ATP (energy). The mitochondria and the respiratory complexes obviously need a lot more than 13 proteins for it's complex structure/job, so all the other proteins (thousands!) are supplied or transported into the mitochondria by the rest of the cell. The mitochondria have their own ribosomes, called mitoribosomes. My PI (principal investigator aka boss) studies the assembly of mitoribosomes. I, however, am interested in studying mitochondrial RNA its processing. I'll go more into detail on what I study in future posts but for now, I want to introduce one of my favorite tools to study mitochondria.

The SIM!

The SIM is a really high powered microscope (SIM = super illumination microscopy) that let's me not only see the mitochondria but look at the organization within them. Mitochondria are really freaking tiny so that is one heck of a zoom. To put that in perspective, a human hair is about 75 microns (micrometers, um) wide and I'm looking at a 5um level. Here is what this bad boy looks like:

SIM Microscope at Stony Brook University Core Facility

And here is an image of two human cells with nuclei out of frame (that's how zoomed in we are, a whole cell doesn't even fit in the frame). The green outlines the mitochondria by staining for TOM20, a protein that is all over the outer membrane of the mitochondria (mitochondria have two membranes - inner and outer). The red is DNA (remember mitochondria have their own DNA).

Mitochondria with SIM

Please comment below with any questions or suggestions on what you'd like to learn about mitochondria.

Wednesday, March 6, 2019

Should you delete your social media?

This is an assignment for JRN 504 (re: this post). Here is my response to Jaron Lanier on "Why You Should Delete Your Social Media Accounts Right Now." Listen to it here (transcript also available).

Who is Jaron Lanier? He is a computer scientist/philosopher and author of the book "Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now." The 10 reasons being:

You're losing free will
Quitting social media is the most targeted way to resist the insanity of our times
Social media is turning you into an asshole
Social media is undermining truth
Social media is making what you say meaningless
Social media is destroying your capacity for empathy
Social media is making you unhappy
Social media doesn't want you to have economic dignity
Social media is making politics impossible
Social media hates your soul

Honestly, I don't quite disagree with him but I also can't help but to roll my eyes. At the end of the day, social media is what you make of it.

I don't disagree that if we as a society were to do away with social media as we now know it (manipulative business model) that we would be better for it. But I don't see that revolution happening anytime soon. I think people will always use it so we need to learn to work with it.

Plus, I personally am a big fan of social media. Here's my personal take on the big three: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Facebook is a great way for me to keep in touch with friends and family that aren't near me. I moved 1200 miles away 5 years ago now, so I miss out on lots of friends/family's birthdays, weddings, having kids, holidays, etc. With Facebook I can see these updates in a hassle-free way for both them and me. We're all busy and it takes a lot of time to reach out to everyone to tell them news one on one. I am not saying we shouldn't do that for those you're really close to (I loved that one of my good friends called to tell me they were having a baby before they put in on FB), but a FB update is an easy way to keep people updated on plenty of things that don't need a personal call. I can't keep up with everyone individually via texts and calls (I don't have the time) so FB let's me keep my ties. And when I go home we gather and we discuss the really important stuff and it feels like no time has past.

Twitter is easily my favorite social media, even more so now that I'm in grad school. I don't really use it for friends; I connect with people here that I never would in person. I "meet" other scientists and learn about their fields and opinions on how to deal with stresses in academia. It's great! I find it inspiring, motivating and sometimes a place for me to just yell into the void (hey, sometimes you just need to vent).

And lastly, Instagram. I hate IG. I deleted my account a few years ago and have never looked back. I had it for a few years and felt pressured to post photos of how great my life was (and it was/is) but the pressure of having to post annoyed me. It felt so fake. Also I'd fall down rabbit holes of scrolling through memes when I had better stuff to do (now I procrastibake and procrasticlean instead which are both better IMO). So I made the decision to just get rid of it. And this is what I meant by before when I said social media is what you make of it. IG didn't work for me, and that's okay. I deleted it because it mostly only added stress and guilt to my life and why would I want that? But if it works for you, you do you.

TL;DR You gotta use the right tool for the job, so decide what that job is for you and if social media fits that roll and you enjoy it, use it.

P.S. I feel I should mention I do call and/or send snail mail sporadically to my good friends. I don't think social media could ever replace real connections but I think it keeps the doors open for them so that you can be thoughtful when you have time instead of it being a stressor.

Friday, March 1, 2019

Hello world!

Hello world! I'm starting this blog as a requirement for the Alan Alda Center for Science Communication course I am taking this semester, Spring 2019, called JRN 504 Communicating Science Using Digital Media. It will run for 5 weeks; March 4th-April 8th (you're right, you can count and that's 6 weeks, because there is spring break in the middle there).

I will be posting blog posts and assignments as required by the course. But I will also likely post additional blog posts of my own accord. I will specify which category they fall into. This post is one of my own accord because I felt like I should have an intro. So, here we go:

Hi! I'm Caitlyn. I graduated from Minnesota State University, Mankato in 2013 with a B.S. in Human Biology and Psychology with a minor in Chemistry. Post-graduation, I worked in Quality Control at Coloplast (a medical manufacturing company) and as a Research Assistant for the Behavioral Medicine division of Psychiatry at Columbia University. I am now a Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology Ph.D. student under the guidance of Dr. Daniel Bogenhagen at Stony Brook University; where I study RNA processing in the mitochondria. Outside of lab, I enjoy running, yoga and watching hockey. At least I used to enjoy watching hockey, I haven't exactly had as much time to do so since I've started grad school. I am not even sure I know how my team is doing. Jk, I know they aren't doing so hot. But either way go Minnesota Wild!