{"id":738,"date":"2020-05-04T14:30:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T13:30:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/bns\/?p=738"},"modified":"2022-03-21T20:40:01","modified_gmt":"2022-03-21T20:40:01","slug":"my-final-year-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ncl.ac.uk\/bns\/my-final-year-project\/","title":{"rendered":"My Final Year Project"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Liza Petrova, BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Hi everyone! In January I began working on my final year project. In this blog post we will peek into a real neuroscience laboratory, check out the quirky equipment inside and I will share some details about experiments I do every day. <\/span> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A bit of background<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

My project is about alpha-synucleinopathies, which are conditions where a protein called alpha synuclein (ASYN) is mutated and forms toxic \u201cclumps\u201d in the brain. Examples of alpha-synucleinopathies are Parkinson\u2019s disease and dementia with Lewy bodies. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Parkinson\u2019s disease. Photo by Alessandro Grandini on Adobe Stock <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

With my project colleague Dan Whitaker, we are looking into the brain of mice \u2013 both normal and mutant, producing human mutant ASYN \u2013 to compare the changes in some of the cell populations. I\u2019m focusing on the specific brain cells, microglia and astrocytes. I am investigating if these cells express ASYN, change their appearance, vary in number, and how they are distributed. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Why are there paintbrushes in the lab?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Every morning I find my way through the maze of corridors of the Neuroscience department<\/a> to the lab. It\u2019s a small room, full of tables and shelves that are loaded with containers, beakers, flasks, pipettes and other laboratory reagents\/equipment. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One of the small research labs where I did my neuroscience work<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There is even a fridge and a microwave \u2013 but don\u2019t put your lunch in! The fridge is stuffed with various heat-sensitive chemicals, solutions, and \u2013 yikes! \u2013 bits and pieces of animal brain and spinal cord tissue. The microwave is used to heat these samples up, essential for some experiments. Another surprising discovery for me was that the lab is full of\u2026 paintbrushes. But why? Well, because these brushes are used to transfer the brain samples (I will come back to this topic later). <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

What brain are we slicing today?<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We store our brain samples in the fridge and when needed, we cut them into sections using a microtome. The brain is frozen and fixed on a mobile stage which is then pushed towards an incredibly sharp blade that produces thin and flaky sections. Freezing of the sample is essential otherwise it\u2019s easy to damage the soft brain tissue. A potential issue is that the cells may rupture after the brain has been frozen and thawed. To prevent this, the brain must be placed into a special solution overnight \u2013 that\u2019s why it\u2019s important to decide in advance which brain to section – from an old or young mouse? Mutant or normal?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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