Disease My Group Chose: Cystic Fibrosis
Background
For this project our assignment was to pick and research a protein based disease, as well as its scientific causes, symptoms, treatments, and diagnosis process. We were then tasked with picking some form to present our knowledge of our disease to the class in an entertaining and interesting way.
Concepts
Protein Synthesis: Protein Synthesis is a process that involves DNA, different kinds of RNA and ribosomes. This is the process responsible for synthesizing proteins. This process is crucial for the body having the correct proteins it needs and when the process is done incorrectly or something is coded wrong, this can lead to some dangerous and deadly outcomes such as a protein based disease depending on what went wrong and where in the process it went wrong. One example of a protein based disease is Cystic Fibrosis.
Ribosome: Small particle in the cell called and organelle that puts together proteins and is made of Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.
rRNA: rRNA stands for Ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid which is a major factor in the makeup of Ribosomes.
Mutation: A mistake (or mistakes) when the code is being copied leading to incorrectly copied DNA which can lead to unplanned or unintended outcomes.
DNA: Stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid that is our genetic code which is the instructions to make proteins. DNA is stored in the Nucleus of the cell and is the beginning of the process of protein synthesis. DNA is the code that gets copied so cells can replicate and also make new proteins.
mRNA: Stands for Messenger Ribonucleic Acid, that copies the code of the DNA in a chain and leaves the nucleus with this information and goes into the Cytoplasm to find a Ribosome. At the Ribosome mRNA is read by tRNA to assemble Amino Acids into a protein.
tRNA: tRNA stands for Transfer Ribonucleic Acid, which translates the mRNA code into an Amino Acid chain which can be shaped into a protein.
Protein: One of the major Macromolecules, which we had studied previously. It is a major part of a human diet but also has important jobs in the cell such as, making up enzymes and repairing the cells and growth. When specific proteins are damaged they can cause a different disease. For example the protein that is misshapen to cause Cystic Fibrosis is the protein CFTR which controls chloride ions in cell membranes.
Codon: In the process of making protein, codons, which are a three nucleotide sequence in mRNA, take the code written in the mRNA and build an Amino Acid chain accordingly.
Polypeptide chain: A chain created by Amino Acids that is folded (either by itself or with others) to create the shape of a protein.
Amino Acids: Building blocks of the polypeptide chain. Each Amino Acid is coded for by a single codon.
Ribosome: Small particle in the cell called and organelle that puts together proteins and is made of Ribosomal RNA (rRNA) and proteins.
rRNA: rRNA stands for Ribosomal Ribonucleic Acid which is a major factor in the makeup of Ribosomes.
Mutation: A mistake (or mistakes) when the code is being copied leading to incorrectly copied DNA which can lead to unplanned or unintended outcomes.
DNA: Stands for Deoxyribonucleic Acid that is our genetic code which is the instructions to make proteins. DNA is stored in the Nucleus of the cell and is the beginning of the process of protein synthesis. DNA is the code that gets copied so cells can replicate and also make new proteins.
mRNA: Stands for Messenger Ribonucleic Acid, that copies the code of the DNA in a chain and leaves the nucleus with this information and goes into the Cytoplasm to find a Ribosome. At the Ribosome mRNA is read by tRNA to assemble Amino Acids into a protein.
tRNA: tRNA stands for Transfer Ribonucleic Acid, which translates the mRNA code into an Amino Acid chain which can be shaped into a protein.
Protein: One of the major Macromolecules, which we had studied previously. It is a major part of a human diet but also has important jobs in the cell such as, making up enzymes and repairing the cells and growth. When specific proteins are damaged they can cause a different disease. For example the protein that is misshapen to cause Cystic Fibrosis is the protein CFTR which controls chloride ions in cell membranes.
Codon: In the process of making protein, codons, which are a three nucleotide sequence in mRNA, take the code written in the mRNA and build an Amino Acid chain accordingly.
Polypeptide chain: A chain created by Amino Acids that is folded (either by itself or with others) to create the shape of a protein.
Amino Acids: Building blocks of the polypeptide chain. Each Amino Acid is coded for by a single codon.
Content
We started by researching different diseases when we decided on Cystic Fibrosis. We set to work then researching the scientific causes of the disease as well as different treatment options. After completing our research, we set to work writing a script and creating a list of characters to have played, there were supposed to be more characters but we ran out of time to film the entire script, so we did what we could with a few characters. We spent a lot of time filming, as it was a very timely part of the project.
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Reflection
In this project, I was proud of how I pitched in and tried my hardest to contribute even if I felt as thought I could have contributed more to the group. However I did particularly like learning about the disease and being able to understand what caused it. This project has definitely been my favorite so far, I was excited to learn more about body systems. I felt I did particularly well with the research portion of this project, doing even further research to learn more because I was so curious, I also felt I did well with the script writing and pitching in writing and editing a bunch of planned scenes (unfortunately only one made it into the final film). I do feel as though I could have contributed more to being on camera and helping keep the group on task. I do regret doing the extra research after the script was written so I was not able to add on what new information I had learned when I chose to dig deeper in learning about the disease.