Machine Diagram

I started the machine diagram with the expectation that I would have to give up in frustration after a few hours, but it turned out to be fairly easy once you really break down the "machine" that you're researching. In my case, once I separated the process into the transferring of new insulin-producing cells derived from the patient's blood cells back to the patient's suppressed immune system, it was simpler to break down the process of this "machine" into the separate parts and properties, which reminded me a lot of doing the same thing with a bicycle during one recitation. I now have a rough draft which will probably be altered a bit after I get a better idea of the specifics of the process and after I get some input from my teachers. I've also finalized my questions. I started out thinking too broadly and was basically trying to ask enough questions to define the entire field of research in type 1 diabetes. Needless to say, I scrapped this idea and tried to focus my questions so they really narrowed in on the exact treatment I was researching. This was difficult when I did not know exactly what treatment I was researching; it was much easier afterward. I've typed out the basic introduction for my research paper: symptoms, treatment options, causes, etc. Next up will be the hard part: compiling the sources I've researched and making an actual research paper. I'm feeling optimistic though, at least I have a topic now.

Decided on a Topic

I've finally decided (a day before I have to meet with my TA to discuss my progress) to research the treatment of type I diabetes using stem cells taken from the patient's own body and dedifferentiated. The details of this process, which involve the suppression of the patient's immune system to prevent rejection, will be the focus of my research paper. One problem that I think I'm going to run into, after gathering some sources, is that the experiments and results that I've found all contain small variations in method and execution. Some procedures use stem cells created from the patient's blood cells, others use skin cells or cells taken from bone marrow. The method of dedifferentiation also seems to be different between the experiments. The results are also measured in different ways. Levels of C-peptide, certain antibodies, and hemoglobin A(1C), or different combination of these indicators are all used to gauge the effectiveness of the treatment. I think I will have to think of some way to form a baseline or common measurement system to be able to compare these various sources. On the plus side, though, the dedifferentiation method in each experiment is constant: some kind of procedure named autologous nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (or HSCT for short), which, judging from the name, I'm sure will take many hours of staring for me to understand it enough to describe in the research paper.

Deciding on a Topic

Wow, it's hard to decide on a topic. I've decided to research treatment of Type I Diabetes using stem cells, but this generates additional, more detailed, questions about the research paper. Do I focus on embryonic stem cell research, or non-embryonic stem cells, or both? I was afraid that if I pick just one of this topics I may not be able to find enough research to fulfill the 3 to 5 page requirement. After looking through some sources, however, it seems that there is a wealth of information about treating this disease with stem cells taken either from other sources (donors, umbilical cord) or from the patient him/herself (via immune stem cells, blood stem cells) and its positive effect on the treatment of diabetes. However, there is also a good deal of information involving embryonic stem cells and I'm reluctant to abandon this branch of researching until I look at more sources. I'll decide by next post and finalize my questions, hopefully.

Starting the Research Project

When I was first introduced to this research project and told to pick something related to the biomedical field with a focus on concepts rather than mechanisms, my first idea was diabetes. I have been curious about this disease ever since I was young. In elementary school, I had several friends who all suffered from type I diabetes and I remember being curious about the nature about this disease and why there was no cure. It seemed very unpleasant to me that my friends had to constantly prick their fingers and monitor what they ate in order to regulate their blood sugar constantly. Diabetes was one of the first chronic illnesses I witnessed and this is probably the reason that it came to mind so quickly, as it has been in my mind ever since I was young. My initial questions were about the nature of the disease, the link between type I and type II, and the different types of treatments. This, however, was much to broad a topic. I also found out that the prompt was changed and that the new directions were to focus on a biomedical topic and develop a machine-centralized idea that viewed something from an engineering viewpoint. I decided to stick with diabetes but move towards different types of treatments. I did a small amount of research about the different levels of treatments, from the microscopic to the macroscopic. These techniques differed from “pumps” that can deliver on-demand insulin to inhaled insulin to more experimental techniques such as artificial pancreas. However, even the topic of treatments seems too broad; I think I’m going to have to focus on one specific type of treatment or one level of treatment. I learned about research being conducted to try and create islet cells out of stem cells that could be transplanted into a patient; I’m going to look at this subject more carefully and hopefully decide soon on exactly what my research project is going to be on.

The final length scale that I will be observing the banana on is the millimeter length scale (picture below). The useless vestigial seeds of the bananas are about a millimeter across. They are soft and the yellow fruit flesh around the seeds is slightly darker than the rest of the banana. It looks similar to a large vein or tube that could store or transport water or nutrients to the banana, much like transport systems that can be found in other places in nature, like how trees deliver nutrients and water to extremities via tubes in the branches. There are clumps of these black seeds near the middle that seem to run all the way up and down the banana. As I posted before, today’s edible bananas are grown by cutting and grafting limbs of other banana trees. The shrinkage of biological parts that have become useless is a pattern that is frequently shown in nature. As a consequence of natural selection (or in this case, artificial, the robustness of the seeds no longer has any say in how well the bananas reproduce and it is also possible that the farmers who grow the bananas that we eat today specifically selected banana trees that produced seeds that were tinier in order to maximize the taste, as the seeds were no longer an indicator of the healthiness and viability of the trees. Natural selection has shown that no longer useful organs or body parts such as the tailbone or appendix in humans have gotten small and have no vital use for the body. Closer similarities are apparent in seedless watermelons and seedless grapes, which are also produced by artificial breeding ("Seedless fruit," 2009). Well, that’s about as much analysis I can do on bananas. After doing this assignment, I find that the structure of the banana has much more similarities to other things in nature than I would have thought. I initially only thought that I could find structural similarities between bananas and other fruit; I did not expect to find comparisons to things as different as animals or trees. When I really analyzed and thought about the basic function as well as the connection between the structure and what it was used for, many more comparisons in nature opened up.


(2009). Seedless fruit. Retrieved from http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/f/fruit.htm

More Banana: Inside Banana

The next length scale that seems to make sense is on the inch-level, inside the banana. Coincidentally, the diameter of the cross-section of the middle of it is about an inch wide (picture below). Looking at the cross-section dead-on, the peel is about half a centimeter thick. Farther inside, there is about a centimeter to a centimeter and a half of pulpy fruit flesh. In the very center, there are a few black seeds, which are apparently the “vestigial remnant” of seeds (Kruszelnicki, 2005). New bananas are made by grafting cuttings from other banana trees (Kruszelnicki, 2005). The tiny, black, and infertile seeds are a few millimeters thick. There are tiny circles (about a millimeter thick) starting with the outside of the peel and moving towards the softer flesh inside which get progressively larger and more dispersive before melding with the flesh itself. They seem to be long, relatively thin tubes that perhaps are tubes used to transport nutrition. They also could be used to for protection from impact if the tubes are filled with air. However, it is difficult to tell what is inside these tubes because they are so small and the flesh inside is the same color as the rest of the banana. Using hollow structures filled with a soft medium for protection is a mechanism that is frequently seen in nature. Examples include eggs that are laid many at a time and clustered together, such as frog or fish eggs, which contain soft sacs and material around them in order to protect them from impact or predators by adhering them to small places. On an even more basic level, the mechanism of putting the most vital information (seeds) in the center of as many layers of protection as possible is even more common. In fact, one could argue that it is impossible to find evidence of organisms that do not do that. From the vital nuclei of cells to the heart and brain of animals, it only makes sense that natural selection favors organisms that cushions the most important structures beneath less important structures. Tomorrow, I’ll zoom in even further to the millimeter level and describe the “seeds” even more in depth.

Kruszelnicki, K.S. (2005, September 05). Banana fruit and tree. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2005/09/08/1453046.htm

Blogging about Structure: the Banana

Over the next few posts, I’m going to attempt to rigorously define the structure of banana by looking on it over three different length scales, as well as relating the separate scales to objects in nature and their function. The first length scale I’m going to observe the banana on is the largest: the foot scale (picture at bottom). Since the fruit is roughly seven inches long, the first scale is the overall banana, peel and all. From the outside, you can only see the peel, which is a bright yellow with tinges of green, relatively hard, and smooth material. The stem is a rough, fibrous substance and roughly an inch long. The bottom of the banana is black, made of a similar substance to the stem, and about a centimeter thick. The purpose of the banana peel seems to be to protection from “predators” such as insects or animals. In addition, squeezing the peel seems to release a small amount of water; this seems to indicate that the peel is also used as a water storage device and to retain nutrients. The function of the peel also seems to be a way to regulate the temperature of the more vulnerable fruit inside. This structure of using a harder external “shell” is similar to numerous other things that can’t be found in nature. The most obvious similarities that come to mind are other fruits; they have external skins to protect the softer, inside flesh safe as well as store important substances, such as nutrients. In fact, this basic makeup is reflected almost everywhere in nature, from large animals to microscopic organisms. Cell walls, skin, peels, and exoskeletons are just some examples; this basic protection from external factors is obviously an effective and time-tested composition. That’s it for the largest scale analysis. Next up I’m going to observe the banana’s structure on a smaller and deeper length scale: inches instead of feet.