Ramanujan, Krishna. "Protein That Culls Damaged Eggs
Identified, Infertility Reversed."Cornell
Chronicle. Cornell University, 11 Mar. 2014. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.
<http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/2014/01/protein-discovery-may-lead-infertility-treatment>.
The
article “Protein that culls damaged eggs identified, infertility reversed” by
Krishna Ramanujan, is about how a new protein was discovered by
Cornell University researchers that can help post-chemotherapy patients be
fertile again. The protein, kinase 2, tags damaged eggs in the ovaries with
damaged DNA and destroys them during meiosis. By taking away the protein in
radioactively infertile mice, the body is given more time to try and fix these
damaged eggs. The paper’s senior author, John Schimenti, says “There are genes
responsible for killing defective oocytes, but we didn’t know what they were.
We wanted to identify this genetic quality-control mechanism.”
The
identification of this protein helps to allow chemotherapy patients to have children
again. Researchers are now attempting to find ways to inhibit this protein by
using known drugs. Although is has not been tested in humans, the inhibition of
this protein stops cancer from preventing basic parts of life in its survivors.
The identification of this protein can also possibly begin research on how the
body identifies damaged cells and how it destroys them. This has the
possibility to be used in cancer treatment in the future.
Although
the article is interesting and informative, the writer could have included more
about the research process and how exactly researchers identified the protein.
It would have been interesting to see how the researchers were able to look for
this exact protein and what procedures they used. Despite this drawback, the
article is still a very good read.
I read Matthew’s review of the article “Protein That Culls Damaged Eggs Identified, Infertility Reversed” by Krishna Ramanujan. This review was very interesting and there were three things he did very well in particular. First, I liked how he described the protein in a practical sense but also in a biological one. This allowed me to understand how it could actually be used in everyday life but also how this would biologically be possible. Second, I liked how he used a quote from the senior author of this piece because it shows that he was really reading the article closely and it allowed me to understand the article from the author’s point of view rather than just from Matt’s. Lastly, I liked how he alluded to what the results of this new innovation would be. He described that chemo-therapy patients would be able to have children, which is a huge step forward in medicine.
ReplyDeleteThere were also two things he could have done better. First, his grammar and spelling contained a few errors which prohibited me from reading the review clearly and allowing it to flow. If there were no errors I would have been able to read it a lot easier. Second, I wish he had used more quotes because the first quote he used was very helpful and I suspect that another quote would have been helpful as well.
One thing I learned from this article review is that chemo-therapy patients are no longer fertile after treatment. I never knew this and it is very interesting that this innovation is being tested now. Overall this review was very informative and written very well.
I read Matt’s review of the article “Protein that culls damaged eggs identified, infertility reversed” by Krishna Ramanujan. I thought that both his review and the article that he chose were very interesting. I thought he did a really good job on his review. He summarized the information very well making it easy to understand and including all of the crucial data from the article that was necessary to understand it. He described the protein well so that I really knew what he was talking about. I also thought that Matt did a good job including quotes form the article into his review of the article. Lastly I liked that he made sure to include the cons from the article, which is something that people often forget to include in their reviews of articles.
ReplyDeleteOverall Matt’s article was very good leaving me with little critiques. Having said that I think that he could have talked a bit more about the actual process of the drug used on the patients in the article. Although I think h should have said more about the drug he said that the information about the drug itself in the article was a bit limited. My only other complaint is that Matt had a few spelling and grammar errors that he could have fixed.
I really liked Matt’s article, I thought it was interesting and informative. What I found most interesting about the article is how the problem addressed is very current and has a big impact on people today.
After reading the summary on the article “Protein that culls damaged eggs identified, infertility reversed,” I now know about a protein that was discovered by Cornell University researchers that can help post-chemotherapy patients be fertile again. I think that Matt did a really good job at explaining what the protein does, which is tag damaged eggs in the ovaries with damaged DNA and destroy them during meiosis, in a way that we could understand. Also, adding a quote in by the paper’s senior author about the discovery really enhanced the summary as well. Finally, Matt gave a good description of scientists’ plans for this drug in the future explaining that it cannot be used right now but be used in cancer treatment in the future.
ReplyDeleteOne thing I wish Matt did is include more personal critique of the way the article was written. He included that he wished they talked more about the process of discovering the protein but a more thorough review would have been nice. Also, maybe next time, Matt could include a more interesting beginning for the review to capture the readers’ attention.
One thing I learned after reading this review is that chemotherapy can cause patients to become infertile. This is very sad and I hope this drug will be able to help cancer patients in the future have children. Overall, Matt did a great job and I’m glad I read his review.
Matt did a great job summarizing the article in a concise manner. Not only that, but he was clear in about the protein discovery, which is a topic that can is quite complicated. In addition, I like how he revealed some imperfections in the article at the end. Matt said that the article could have gone more into how the protein was discovered, but I think he himself could have included this in his review. Also, I think Matt could have elaborated on how promising this possible solution looks for the future. I learned a lot from this review. I did not realize there were even many undiscovered proteins. This topic is very interesting to me and this article and review spurred some outside research on my part.
ReplyDeleteI read Matt Dougherty’s current event report on the article entitled “Protein That Culls Damaged Eggs Identified, Infertility Reversed.” I thought that Matt’s current event report was well done. In addition, I thought that Matt did a nice job including a quote. The quote he chose to include helped his report and flowed nicely with the rest of his blog. Likewise, Matt did a good job of critiquing what the article could have improved on and applauding what the article did well. For example, Matt wrote, “Although the article is interesting and informative, the writer could have included more about the research process and how exactly researchers identified the protein.” Also, Matt did a good job at summarizing what the article said. He did not leave out key facts. However, he also did not include too much information that would be overwhelming for the reader. He explained the information from the article in a way that was very easy to understand. Overall, I think that Matt made the report interesting while still completing the tasks described in the rubric.
ReplyDeleteThe blog contained many good facts and interesting analysis. However, the blog could also be improved upon. For example, although I liked how concise Matt’s summary of the article was, I wish he had included more details regarding how the proteins were discovered. In addition, Matt could have better explained how, by taking away the protein in radioactively infertile mice, the body is given more time to try and fix these damaged eggs. Also, Matt’s blog contained many grammatical errors and misspellings. He should have proofed it before submitting it. Even though the blog is an informal source of information, Matt should have reread his writings so he could have corrected his errors. For example, Matt wrote, “Although is has not been tested in humans, the inhibition of this protein stops cancer from preventing basic parts of life in its survivors.” Regardless of the grammatical mistakes, I enjoyed the blog since I learned a lot from it.
I think that Matt’s current event report was well done and included many interesting facts. I was especially surprised that chemotherapy can cause patients to become infertile. I have heard about the many different negative effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea and hair loss, but I never heard of infertility as one of them. I was also surprised that there are still so many undiscovered proteins. It is very exciting that the identification of this protein can possibility be used in cancer treatment in the future.