Cindy Kwok
Sept 27, 2017
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm. Accessed 27
Sept. 2017.
Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease
The article I read was called “Cellular ‘message in a bottle’ may provide path to new way of treating disease” from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. It was about the finding of a new extracellular vesicle, which is a “sac secreted from cells that contains proteins and RNA molecules”, called ARMMs. Extracellular vesicles are many times more numerous than the number of cells in our body. ARMMs differ from the previous extracellular vesicles due to the way it was formed and what it can potentially do. ARMMs are secreted from the cell’s plasma membrane. It has a unique ability to “facilitate NOTCH receptor signalling at a distance”. NOTCH is a type of intercellular communication. Because NOTCH generally requires cell to cell contact, the vesicle’s ability to activate it without touching is central in the role it can play in future health. Some ideas that biologists are thinking about is swapping molecules inside of ARMMs for antibodies, and using it to direct towards specific cells and tissues in the body.
I think this article did a great job describing the potential use of ARMMs in the future. I especially enjoyed how senior author Quan Lu talked about the path that this new discovery can lead to. He describes his idea of directing ARMMs inside the body, but claims that it won’t be at least until 10 years later with sufficient research to even put the idea to use. One part I thought the article could do better on was describing the multiple ways to put the discovery to use. This may seem contradictory as I previously claimed to like this part of the article. However, the article ONLY points out the use of ARMMs from Lu’s point of view, meanwhile briefly mentioning how Lu’s idea differed from that of other researchers who were also researching extracellular vesicles. I thought the article could go more in depth about the other researchers because it may be interesting to see how their ideas could potentially combine.
This article in general was extremely interesting. I liked how it talked about ways this new discovery can lead to such a large impact on humans in the future, but emphasizes on how there is still lots of research to be done. When research is done however, this discovery can lead to easier ways of navigating antibodies and vaccines into the body and targeting specific areas, which has always been an obstacle.
Nina Veru
ReplyDeleteCurrent Event 3
October 2, 2017
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm. Accessed 27
Sept. 2017.
After reading the review by Cindy Kwok, on the article “Cellular ‘message in a bottle’ may provide path to new way of treating disease”, it was easy to pick up on what made the review well thought out. First of all, Kwok did an excellent job of incorporating quotes. For instance, Kwok begins to describe a new extracellular vesicle discovered by scientists. By furthering her description, Kwok incorporated a quote used in the original article. The quote added to the description, opposed from taking away from it. In addition, Kwok summarized complex scientific concepts in a way that was easy to understand. For example, she does a good job of explaining NOTCH: a type of intercellular communication. Kwok claims, “NOTCH generally requires cell to cell contact, the vesicle’s ability to activate it without touching is central in the role it can play in future health”. She explained NOTCH without going into too much detail well. In addition, it was interesting to hear about what she did not like about the article. She claims she would have liked to see how the discovery can be put to use, besides from the ways Quan Lu uses them. This allows for the reader to research other uses of this information.
Although the review was excellent, there can always be room for improvement. To make the writing more sophisticated, the author could have eliminated the use of stating “I think”. When this phrase is used in writing, it can sound somewhat informal. For example, Kwok states, “I think this article”. By simply eliminating “I think”, the writing would sound more formal. It was a bit confusing when Kwok stated how what she disliked contradicted what she did like. The writing could have been more sophisticated if she did not claim that it was a contradiction. The review would make more sense if Kwok just claimed how she wished the article stated other viewpoints besides Quan Lu’s.
After reading this review, I learned a lot about a new scientific discovery: ARMM’s. This new vesicle contains proteins and RNA, and has the ability to facilitate NOTCH receptor signalling. NOTCH is a type of intercellular signalling that generally requires cell to cell contact. The vesicle can activate this intercellular communication without touching, which is a key aspect to biology. In the future, I look forward to reading more about this discovery and its benefits to science.
Abbey Thomas
ReplyDeleteAP Biology
Mr. Ippolito
3 October 2017
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm. Accessed 27
Sept. 2017.
Overall, Cindy did an excellent job on her response to “Cellular ‘message in a bottle’ may provide path to new way of treating disease”. One thing she did particularly well was provide background information of extracellular vesicles, increase the reader did not have any knowledge of the subject. Along with providing background information, she explained the importance of this find going forwards, like how it can be used to treat diseases. Lastly, Cindy did a fantastic job at incorporating quotes into her response. She chose meaning quotes that strengthened her response, rather than picking random quotes.
The main recommendation for this piece is on the writing. While overall it is a good piece, there were some points were the writing was choppy. It occurred mostly in the first paragraph and included the use of short sentences. She also could have provided more detailed critics of the piece. She informs the reader what she does not like, but does not go into further depth about why it is problematic.
I had never heard of ARMMs or NOTCH receptors before so the information was very new and exciting to me. ARMMs and NOTCH receptors are involved in cell signaling, so it was nice to connect something learned to class to innovative research.
Current Event #3: “Cellular Message in a Bottle May Provide Path to New Way of Treating Disease
ReplyDeleteIsabel Sondey
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm. Accessed 27
Sept. 2017. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm
Cindy’s article centered around the discovery of a new extracellular vesicle and this new vesicle’s function. Cindy’s knowledge on the topic at hand was quite extensive, and this was evident in her report. She provided very thorough background on the topic at hand, explaining that the new vesicle is a “sac secreted from cells that contains proteins and RNA molecules” and is called ARMMs. She also explains some background on the previously discovered vesicles and how this newly-discovered extracellular vesicle differs from those previously identified. Cindy also does a very nice job of explaining the topic in very simple, understandable terms, which speaks to her depth of understanding of the topic. She was able to explain the function of the new discovery in a very clear and understandable manner, which engages the reader. She describes how the newly-discovered vesicle is secreted from the plasma membrane and how it is involved in a type of intercellular communication. Third, the structure Cindy adopts for her review allows her to effectively communicate the information contained in the article. She first presents the topic she will be discussing, describing the new vesicle and its function. She then goes into the background of the vesicle and soon transitions into its function. This format contributes to the flow of her review and makes it very understandable and easy to follow.
While Cindy provided a very thorough analysis on the article, one thing her review lacked was an in-depth explanation of this discovery’s relevance today. In order to make this review more powerful and more understandable, Cindy could include some information on the biological importance of this discovery and how, if at all, it alters our understanding of extracellular vesicles. After reading the article itself, it became clear to me that this new discovery could allow for the development of new treatments for diseased tissue, and the inclusion of this information would have further engaged and informed the reader. Additionally, Cindy only includes a very basic explanation of the topic at hand, and could potentially include more information. The information that she chose to include was very clear, direct, and informative, although the addition of more information on the function of the newly-discovered vesicle, or potentially discussion of where this vesicle is found in cells and how many there are in each cell, would allow for the reader to develop a deeper understanding of the topic.
Overall, Cindy did a very nice job of conveying the information in her article regarding the discovery of a new vesicle in cells in an understandable and meaningful way. This article was appealing to me since I am very interested in learning about the function of the different components within me, including cells, and even smaller components: organelles. I found it very interesting that there is still research being done on organelles, and new discoveries are still being made. In other words, there is quite a bit that scientists still do not know about cells, organelles, and their functions. This article is very relevant to us today, as this discovery could lead to the development of new treatments for tissue with diseases.
Clio Dakolias
ReplyDeleteAP Bio
Current Event 3
October 2, 2017
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm.
Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
For Current Event 3, I chose to read Cindy’s review of the article “Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” From reading the article it became very clear that Cindy knows exactly what her article is about, and her knowledge on the topic on discovery of a new extracellular vesicle and this new vesicle’s function. Cindy did a great job in her introduction paragraph by immediately describing the new vesicle, allowing readers to immediately grasp understanding of the discovery, allowing for further investigation. She also describes the background of the vesicle, and how it differs from previously identified extracellular vesicles. Cindy also did a great job with incorporating quotations. By using them at specific times, it helped put much of what she was describing into much simpler terms, helping readers to fully understand the topic. Lastly, Cindy did a great job of describing the significance of the topic of her article. She mentions how the use of ARMMs in the future, but makes sure to state that there is more research to be done.
While her review was fascinating and well-written, Cindy definitely could have improved on a few notes. While she does incorporate quotations to better explain her topic, at some points these quotations failed to be explained, and she quoted something without describing its relevance, or even crediting the person who said it. Adding credibility to her review could have enhanced reader's’ faith in her writing and the truth of her statements. There were also parts of the article that contained grammatical and sentence structural errors, or simply very short sentences. For example, the sentences “this may seem contradictory as I previously claimed to like this part of the article” and “ARMMs are secreted from the cell’s plasma membrane” were very short and did not demonstrate great writing skills. Even with these few mistakes, Cindy’s review was excellent, and a great read.
Having never heard of NOTCH or ARMMs prior to reading this response, I feel as if I learned a great deal from Cindy’s review. It was fascinating to learn about their role in intercellular communication and cell health. Learning that research is still being done was also interesting to me, as many of the organelles and extracellular vesicles we learn about have been known to be existing for years, and there is not as much new information to learn.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteMairead Cain
ReplyDeleteMr. Ippolito
A.P. Biology
2 October 2017
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm.
Accessed 27 Sept. 2017.
Cindy did a very nice job with her current event review on the article “Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease” from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.I decided to review her report as the title of the original article is rather intriguing and raises many questions. There are many good techniques she uses throughout the report. One example is how she gives detailed definitions of each unknown vocabulary word that was present in the original report. This allows readers a deeper understanding and familiarity with the topic at hand. Another aspect of Cindy’s writing that was done rather well was when she discussed possible future methods that can be used to treat disease.This gives readers an insight about how the many advancements in certain fields of science can one day lead to less disease. Lastly, I appreciated how Cindy found opportunities to interject quotes into her current event report. These quotes gave relevant information and a deeper understanding of the source material being used.
Overall, Cindy’s report was extremely interesting and informative, however there are some details that she could tweak and add to make her current event article even that much stronger. I recommend that she explains how, exactly, the discoveries being made will impact the future of medicine. This would have been beneficial because it would have given readers a worldly connection to the information provided in the report. Also, she could have added some quotes that came directly from Quan Lu, who was one of the main contributors to the recent scientific discovery. This would have granted readers an even better understanding of the source material.
Cindy’s report was very informative and I learned extensively about how different scientific methods are being used as possible resources to treating disease. Before reading the report, I had little knowledge about what, exactly, scientists are doing to counter certain diseases. Countless people across the world are affected by and suffer from disease. If there is a possibility that certain diseases can be countered, then it is evident that further research and funding should be put into this cause.
AP Bio
ReplyDeleteOlivia Scotti
10/1/17
Current Event #3
“Cellular 'message in a bottle' may provide path to new way of treating disease.” ScienceDaily,
ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm. Accessed 27
Sept. 2017.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/09/170927093316.htm
There were many aspects of Cindy’s review written well. One part of her review that I felt she did particularly well was her descriptive summary of the article. Cindy was able to describe all the main points of the article in a detailed summary. For instance she states how “Extracellular vesicles are many times more numerous than the number of cells in our body. ARMMs differ from the previous extracellular vesicles due to the way it was formed and what it can potentially do. ARMs are secreted from the cell’s plasma membrane.” Through this detailed description of the issue researched in the article the reader understood what was done and what evidence there is that cellular ‘message in a bottle’ could provide a new way to treat diseases. Another part of the review which was done well was her statements about the flaws of the article. In her review she added statements like “However, the article ONLY points out the use of ARMs from Lu’s point of view, meanwhile briefly mentioning how Lu’s idea differed from that of other researchers who were also researching extracellular vesicles.” These statements provided the reader with flaws of the article and also allowed the reader to read another opinion about the study and its discussion in the article. The final aspect of the review which was done well was her ability to incorporate multiple quotes into the review. For example, “sac secreted from cells that contains proteins and RNA molecules.” Her addition of these quotes helped the reader understand the article more and allowed the reader to understand the writing style of the author.
Although there were many parts of Cindy’s review written well there were areas for improvement. One part of the review that could've been improved was the lack of quotes from the different researchers in the article. Although she did add a summary of what the senior researcher Quan Lu said there were no direct quotes from him or any other researchers. She could easily fix this by examining parts of the article which have quoted him and go along with what she is describing. Another part of her review which could have been improved was her critique paragraph. Although she was able to add some strengths and weaknesses of the article, I felt they were not very detailed and prevented the reader from fully understanding Cindy’s opinion of this article.
Overall I felt Cindy wrote I strong review of the article which the reader could easily understand. Her review was written clearly and smoothly which allowed the reader to learn about the topic more easily and understand the research conducted. I enjoyed reading this review because I learned about how cellular message in a bottle could provide ways to treat diseases. Also through adding details about improvements of the article the reader understood what was done poorly in this article without reading it. Overall I liked how she described the research that was done and the effects on the present world. Through her discussion of this article the reader got a better grasp on the topic and the importance of this new research.