After the success of piloting Leading the Way in 2013 we return in 2014 with 2 schools participating in Leading the Way 2014 – Biomarkers.
Over the next two weeks we will be publishing a series of Biomarker related blog posts for Monkseaton Middle School and Excelsior Academy Year 8 pupils to read and discuss.
Below is the first of these posts.
The Leading the Way team is with Monkseaton Middle School and Excelsior Academy between (3rd-13th June 2014) during their science lessons.
We have organised the chance for each team to work with one of us on preparing a poster on the topic of BIOMARKERS over 3 days. Do not worry we are here to help you and remember this is a team project.
A very important part of our work as scientists is to explain to the Government and the Public (you) why our research is important and why we need to do those key experiments. Sometimes the numbers involved help the justification.
For example, in 2012 approximately 5 % of the adult population in the UK were suffering from Diabetes (source: www.diabetes.org.uk). This is approximately 2.9 million individuals and has been estimated to cost the NHS:
This is a very strong reason why we should invest in Diabetes research to identify innovative ways of preventing, diagnosing and managing the disease. As maybe our research can help the NHS reduce this cost (even a saving of £10000 an hour soon adds up).
Poster Criteria
1) Choose a biomarker to study.
2) Justify why that biomarker.
3) Justify why we need to know its shape.
On Friday 13th June we have organised a Poster Fair at each school. During this event researchers based at Newcastle University will judge your posters.
Competition Prize: The winning team will win a day at either Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biosciences or Centre for Bacterial Cell Biology to see the research of the judges in action.
It is therefore time to get our thinking caps on. As a team you will need to begin to think which type of biomarker you wish to research with us and why. Do you want to focus on a particular disease you have heard about? Do you want to consider a screening system for foods? or Do you want to research the use of biomarkers to tell us if one of our organs is functioning properly?
Remember the key experiment you are justifying is identifying your chosen BIOMARKER as a good candidate for diagnosis or treatment.
Good Luck
The Leading the Way Team
Science is a prominent topic that our traditional media outlets as well as newer platforms such as blogs frequently discuss. Here we provide you with a number of articles from the BBC News – Health website as examples of Science in the news.
When reading through these articles consider these discussion points with respect to biomarkers:
1) Is the topic being discussed a candidate biomarker?
2) Could the location of the biomarker be as important as the ability to define if it is present?
3) If we identify a biomarker is there the opportunity to use it for any other reason?
A really visual look at some human diseases.
Hidden Beauty: Diseases become art under a microscope: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-22476101
These are two articles on a debate about the importance of using antibiotics to treat infectious diseases.
Battling the bacterial threat to modern medicine: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20554921
Antibiotics resistance ‘as big a risk as terrorism’ – medical chief: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-21737844
Finally an interesting example of science innovation.
The light fantastic: Harnessing Nature’s glow: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-21144766
We are sure you will all appreciate the importance of names. Names provide you, your favourite team, favourite biscuit or favourite game with an identity. A name also leaves a legacy behind it. Get the name right and people will never forget your impact. You will be working as a teams through the experiments and lessons during Leading the Way.
Pre-event challenge: we would like you to meet your team mates and discuss your team name.
The only rule: We ask when considering your team name that you stay within the theme of human health – remember during Leading the Way we are exploring the use of biomarkers in detection and the importance of knowing their shape.
Your team name needs to be submitted to your Science teacher by 23rd May. The Leading the Way team will then be awarding a prize to the best name when we meet you between on 3rd June if your are at Excelsior and 9th of June if you attend Monkseaton Middle School.
One of the greatest challenges currently facing doctors, is how to best diagnose a patient’s condition, quickly and efficiently.
Doctors are very busy people and often a visit to your GP will be managed on a timetable of either 5 or 10 minute meetings. So in reality they do not have much time available to be directly involved in the tests needed. This is a driving force in current research into diagnosis – How can we do this rapidly and accurately? Here time is key as some of these tests would have a huge health benefit if the results were immediate. Money is also important. A diagnostic test needs to be simple and cheap. Efficient and rapid diagnosis can have long term effects on our economy by reducing unnecessary treatment costs.
When we discuss diagnosis, scientists now exploit the term “Biomarkers” to generally describe the subject of a specific test.
Wikipedia defines a biomarker as anything that can be used as an indicator of a particular disease state or some other physiological state of an organism. We discuss them in more detail here.
Biomarkers have been used in medicine for decades but have not always been described using such terminology. Some examples of well defined biomarkers include determining your glucose levels if you are diabetic or in the diagnosis of Cancer. What each of these tests look for are SPECIFIC BIOMARKERS associated with the reason you are being screened. Glucose is a sugar found in your blood and different types of cancers can be told apart.
Leading the Way Focus: During our time with you we will be considering the importance of knowing the physical shape of biomarkers and how this can help us detect them.
Discussion points: How quick would you want a result? Would you always want an immediate response? are you prepared to wait? Can you think of any other examples of BIOMARKERS?
The Leading the Way team is with George Stephenson High School between 3rd-6th June 2014 during their science lessons.
We have organised the chance for each team to work with one of us on preparing a poster on the topic of AGEING over 3 days. Do not worry we are here to help you and remember this is a team project.
A very important part of our work as scientists is to explain to the Government and the Public (you) why our research is important and why we need to do those key experiments. Sometimes the numbers involved help the justification.
For example, in 2012 approximately 5 % of the adult population in the UK were suffering from Diabetes (source: www.diabetes.org.uk). This is approximately 2.9 million individuals and has been estimated to cost the NHS:
This is a very strong reason why we should invest in Diabetes research to identify innovative ways of preventing, diagnosing and managing the disease. As maybe our research can help the NHS reduce this cost (even a saving of £10000 an hour soon adds up).
Poster Criteria
1) Choose an age related health risk to study.
2) Justify why that health risk.
3) Justify why we need to research into improving an aspect of healthcare or preventation associated with the chosen risk.
On Friday 6th June we have organised a Poster Fair. During this event researchers based at Newcastle University will judge your posters.
Competition Prize: The winning team will win a day at the Mitochondrial Research Centre to see the research of the judges in action.
It is therefore time to get our thinking caps on. As a team you will need to begin to think which health risk you wish to research with us and why. Do you want to focus on a particular disease you have heard about? Do you want to consider a prevention or healthcare improvements? or Do you want to research this topic in for a different outcome?
Good Luck
The Leading the Way Team
There are two forms of Diabetes Type I and Type II. Type II is the most common and represents up to 90% of all cases of Diabetes.
A key issue with Type II diabetes is that in the majority of cases it is defined as an age related health issue as its onset begins when adults reach their mid 40’s or older.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes is a disease where there is too much sugar (glucose) in the blood. Glucose enters your body from the foods you eat such as cakes, fruits, pasta and bread. Your body uses glucose as energy for everything you do.
The insulin peptide structureInsulin is a hormone that is made in the pancreas when there is too much glucose in the blood. Insulin acts like a key that opens the doors that lets glucose move from the blood and into your cells. It is then used for energy.
When someone’s body loses its ability to produce Insulin, they have Type 1 Diabetes and when someone’s Insulin loses its ability to ‘open the door’ to their cells, they have Type 2 Diabetes.
Symptoms
Problems caused by Diabetes
Some facts about Diabetes…
Type 1 Diabetes
Type 2 Diabetes
Our eyes are crucial to help us make sense of the world around us. We use them to visualise our surroundings, to guide our movements, and in our social interactions with other people.
A schematic diagram of the eye showing the retina and macula. (Source: www.Stevenharris-opticians.com)
As we get older, there are natural changes that occur within our eyes which can have drastic effects on the quality of our vision and therefore our ability to perform everyday tasks. Most of these changes do not occur suddenly; they progress very gradually so may not be noticeable for many years.
Here are some examples of common changes that cause visual deficits in older people:
People >40 years old
Have you ever wondered why many adults require varifocal glasses as they get older?
The reason is scientifically defined as Presbyopia. This isn’t technically a disease but it is by far the most common effect of age on vision.
Sufferers have difficulty focussing on nearby objects. It happens because the lens of the eye becomes inflexible with age and loses the ability to focus light onto the retina is reduced. To correct this, many older people use special reading glasses or varifocals when they need to look at things close to them. A recent study suggested that more than 1 billion people across the world are currently affected by presbyopia.
People >50 years old
Loss of vision sometimes can not be rectified by wearing glasses!
An example is Macular degeneration that causes loss of ‘central vision.’ This is when things that are directly in front of the eyes look very blurred. This is because the centre of the retina (the macula), deteriorates gradually over time. Patients with macular degeneration have normal peripheral vision and have to learn to use this remaining sight to manage their everyday tasks.
People >60 years old
As we get older we can potentially encounter other visual deficits. Two examples are:
1) Cataracts – this is a progressive clouding of the lens in the eye which stops light getting through. Treatment in developed countries like the UK involves surgical removal of the damaged lens and replacement with a plastic one. Whilst this is very successful, in the developing world for many people cataracts will lead to blindness. Age-related cataracts cause 51% of world blindness amounting to an estimated 20 million people.
2) Glaucoma – This is a general term relating to a group of eye diseases that affect the pressure inside the eye. Increasing pressure leads to damage of the nerve which transmits information about what you see from the eye to the brain. Patients experience ‘tunnel vision’ initially as their peripheral vision is lost first, but glaucoma can eventually lead to blindness.
There are very few cures for any of these diseases and symptoms gradually get worse with age. Early detection and treatment is important to preserve as much vision as possible.
Discussion Points: How much consideration do we place on the health of our eyes? What do you think it was like 100 years ago? Do we take the technology to correct our eyesight for granted?
We are sure you will all appreciate the importance of names. Names provide you, your favourite team, favourite biscuit or favourite game with an identity. A name also leaves a legacy behind it. Get the name right and people will never forget your impact. You will be working as a teams through the experiments and lessons during Leading the Way.
Pre-event challenge: we would like you to meet your team mates and discuss your team name.
The only rule: We ask when considering your team name that you stay within the theme of human health – remember during Leading the Way we are exploring the topic of Ageing.
Your team name needs to be submitted to your Science teacher by 23trd May. The Leading the Way team will then be awarding a prize to the best name when we meet you on Monday 2nd June
Over the next two weeks leading up to Leading the Way 2014 at George Stephenson High School we will be publishing several blog posts relating to the topic of Ageing.
For now why not have a read of two recent media reports relating to Ageing that highlight the work Newcastle university do on this topic.
The Ageing Game – BBC Website 7th May 2014
Your Diet and Ageing – The Journal 13th May 2014