June 10, 2014
Alexi and I delved into how vaccines work by creating protective antibodies. We studied Gardasil, a vaccine currently given to humans to protect against Human Papillomavirus (HPV).
Alexi learned that vaccines cause your body to create antibodies that recognize pathogens (the bad guys, like HPV). These antibodies are spewed out by the millions and released into the blood so they can 'patrol' your body. They find and tag 'bad guys' for destruction. Since very human is unique, everybody responds to vaccines differently and thus creates different amounts of these protective antibodies. In order to test if a vaccine worked properly in a human being, we can sample their blood a few weeks after they receive a vaccination to see if they have antibodies!
Alexi and I went into the lab to model this experiment. In our case, 12 mice had been vaccinated and we tested their blood for antibodies using a fancy technique called ELISA (Enzyme-Linked ImmunoSorbent Assay). We found that, indeed, some mice made more antibodies than others.
Monday, June 30, 2014
Tuesday, May 6, 2014
Step 2: Intro to the Mammalian Immune System
April 19, 2014
Our second meeting was also a success!
1) Alexi and I (joined by Shannon and Riley) jumped right in to a mouse dissection lab to explore components of the mammalian body: basic anatomy and immune organs.
2) Alexi skillfully dissected out the spleen from her mouse and we began a lab experiment to identify different types of cells that reside in this immune organ.
First we, made a single cell suspension of the spleen by squishing it up and filtering it so that all the cells are floating around next to one another and no longer part of an organized spleen organ. Next, we lysed the red blood cells to get rid of them because we are only interested in which blood cells (the immune cells!). We did this by submerging them in a hypotonic solution. This causes fluid to rush into the red blood cells and pops them open and kills them. Once the red blood cells were killed, we spun the remaining spleen cells at high speed in a centrifuge so that they were all pulled into a tightly packed pellet. This pellet of cells was then 'stained' with fluorescent reagents that can very specifically identify different types of cells. We stained B cells red and T cells blue. Finally, we ran our colored sample through a fancy machine called a flow cytometer so that we could visualize these red- and blue-colored cell types on a computer screen using the special software for this machine. Lexi succesfully completed her first real scientific research experiment!!
At our next meeting, we hope to more specifically explore how vaccines effect the mammalian immune system.
Our second meeting was also a success!
1) Alexi and I (joined by Shannon and Riley) jumped right in to a mouse dissection lab to explore components of the mammalian body: basic anatomy and immune organs.
2) Alexi skillfully dissected out the spleen from her mouse and we began a lab experiment to identify different types of cells that reside in this immune organ.
First we, made a single cell suspension of the spleen by squishing it up and filtering it so that all the cells are floating around next to one another and no longer part of an organized spleen organ. Next, we lysed the red blood cells to get rid of them because we are only interested in which blood cells (the immune cells!). We did this by submerging them in a hypotonic solution. This causes fluid to rush into the red blood cells and pops them open and kills them. Once the red blood cells were killed, we spun the remaining spleen cells at high speed in a centrifuge so that they were all pulled into a tightly packed pellet. This pellet of cells was then 'stained' with fluorescent reagents that can very specifically identify different types of cells. We stained B cells red and T cells blue. Finally, we ran our colored sample through a fancy machine called a flow cytometer so that we could visualize these red- and blue-colored cell types on a computer screen using the special software for this machine. Lexi succesfully completed her first real scientific research experiment!!
At our next meeting, we hope to more specifically explore how vaccines effect the mammalian immune system.
Monday, March 24, 2014
Step 1: Designing and Administering Vaccines
March 23, 2014
Our first meeting was a success!
1) List 4 types of vaccines:
-live attenuated (pathogen is alive, but weakened)
-inactivated (pathogen is dead)
-subunit (just a piece of the pathogen + an 'adjuvant' like alum)
-toxoid (the toxin produced by the pathogen, chemically inactivated)
2) Model them with donuts:
-scraped off the frosting (measles, mumps, chickenpox)
-smashed (polio, Hep A, rabies)
-sprinkles only + alum adjuvant (Hep B, pertussis, HPV)
-cream filling 'toxin' (diphtheria, tetanus)
3) We examined the kitchen-shelf version of alum (used for canning vegetables) and went over how it stimulates the immune system and is used in subunit vaccines.
4) Wet lab: Alexi made her very own REAL vaccine!
-protein from the inside of the flu virus + alum + saline
5) Centrifuge vaccines to demonstrate that protein is fully adsorbed (stuck to) to alum
6) Inject real research subjects: nine 'black 6' mice
-injected intramuscularly, just like how most vaccines are given to humans
Our first meeting was a success!
1) List 4 types of vaccines:
-live attenuated (pathogen is alive, but weakened)
-inactivated (pathogen is dead)
-subunit (just a piece of the pathogen + an 'adjuvant' like alum)
-toxoid (the toxin produced by the pathogen, chemically inactivated)
2) Model them with donuts:
-scraped off the frosting (measles, mumps, chickenpox)
-smashed (polio, Hep A, rabies)
-sprinkles only + alum adjuvant (Hep B, pertussis, HPV)
-cream filling 'toxin' (diphtheria, tetanus)
3) We examined the kitchen-shelf version of alum (used for canning vegetables) and went over how it stimulates the immune system and is used in subunit vaccines.
4) Wet lab: Alexi made her very own REAL vaccine!
-protein from the inside of the flu virus + alum + saline
5) Centrifuge vaccines to demonstrate that protein is fully adsorbed (stuck to) to alum
6) Inject real research subjects: nine 'black 6' mice
-injected intramuscularly, just like how most vaccines are given to humans
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Preparing for Step 1: Designing and Administering Vaccines
We are meeting this weekend for our first experiment! Lexi will meet me at my research facility within National Jewish Health this Sunday, March 23rd.
As researchers, we must wear long pants and closed-toe shoes! We will try our best to collect ample photo evidence of our experiment. We will be modeling four main types of vaccines, creating a REAL vaccine, and administering it to research subjects (mice) so that we can examine how the immune system responds to our vaccine.
As researchers, we must wear long pants and closed-toe shoes! We will try our best to collect ample photo evidence of our experiment. We will be modeling four main types of vaccines, creating a REAL vaccine, and administering it to research subjects (mice) so that we can examine how the immune system responds to our vaccine.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Thursday, February 27, 2014
Vaccine project outline for Lexi Graves (2/26/2014)
Hi again,
Here is a rough draft of an outline for our spring project.
Project: Explore vaccines (what they are made of and how they work). We will make a vaccine, immunize mice, examine the immune response to this vaccine, and explore how this immune response leads to lasting immunity against a real disease (pathogen).
Face-to-face meetings:
**Danielle (and Lexi), please give me a few dates/times that will work for these monthly get-togethers. My schedule is relatively flexible and open, so I found it almost overwhelming to email you with my list of available days :) You can start with just March and/or April if you don't want to schedule out all four quite yet.
March: "4 Main Types of Vaccines." Build the four types of vaccines with props to understand them in a hands-on manner. Also create a REAL 'subunit' vaccine in lab - this is the type I work with. I am going to try to get authorization for you to come with me into the animal facility to actually vaccinate mice for our experiment. Location: either ELA or National Jewish Health (if mouse vaccinations are okayed).
April: "Innate Immune Response to Vaccines." We will do a mouse dissection lab to get familiar with mammalian anatomy and immune organs (where vaccines do their work!). We will look at the early immune response to our vaccine. Location: National Jewish Health (preferred) or ELA.
May: "Adaptive Immune Response to Vaccines." We will look at the later events of the immune response to our vaccine (antibodies that protect you!). Location: TBD.
June (or earlier since ELA ends June 10th): "How Effective are Vaccines at Protecting Us?" We will explore how protective different vaccines are. Let's focus on your interests in STDs and look at some examples of vaccines for those diseases. Location: TBD.
I think the face-to-face meetings will determine what we do for weekly communications, so I can't really plan those yet.
Let me know if you have questions!
Laura
Laura Noges
PhD candidate, Integrated Department of Immunology
National Jewish Health, Kappler/Marrack Lab
lab 303-398-1465
laura.noges@ucdenver.edu
Here is a rough draft of an outline for our spring project.
Project: Explore vaccines (what they are made of and how they work). We will make a vaccine, immunize mice, examine the immune response to this vaccine, and explore how this immune response leads to lasting immunity against a real disease (pathogen).
Face-to-face meetings:
**Danielle (and Lexi), please give me a few dates/times that will work for these monthly get-togethers. My schedule is relatively flexible and open, so I found it almost overwhelming to email you with my list of available days :) You can start with just March and/or April if you don't want to schedule out all four quite yet.
March: "4 Main Types of Vaccines." Build the four types of vaccines with props to understand them in a hands-on manner. Also create a REAL 'subunit' vaccine in lab - this is the type I work with. I am going to try to get authorization for you to come with me into the animal facility to actually vaccinate mice for our experiment. Location: either ELA or National Jewish Health (if mouse vaccinations are okayed).
April: "Innate Immune Response to Vaccines." We will do a mouse dissection lab to get familiar with mammalian anatomy and immune organs (where vaccines do their work!). We will look at the early immune response to our vaccine. Location: National Jewish Health (preferred) or ELA.
May: "Adaptive Immune Response to Vaccines." We will look at the later events of the immune response to our vaccine (antibodies that protect you!). Location: TBD.
June (or earlier since ELA ends June 10th): "How Effective are Vaccines at Protecting Us?" We will explore how protective different vaccines are. Let's focus on your interests in STDs and look at some examples of vaccines for those diseases. Location: TBD.
I think the face-to-face meetings will determine what we do for weekly communications, so I can't really plan those yet.
Let me know if you have questions!
Laura
Laura Noges
PhD candidate, Integrated Department of Immunology
National Jewish Health, Kappler/Marrack Lab
lab 303-398-1465
laura.noges@ucdenver.edu
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