Issue 3 Fall 2016
Issue 3 Fall 2016 Editor-in-Chief Ariana Savage Managing Editor Kristen Doucette Executive Board Sophia Streimer Brooke Lucier Alex Kemna Contributing Writers Angelica Coleman Sierra McCaffrey Laura Plaza Gabriela Taslitsky Androssenko Natalie Finn Emma Whited Kimanna Nguyen Lexi Galdo Megan Edwards Sophie Lawsure Amanda Matos Lena Syed Design Ariana Savage Copy Editor Hannah Green Contributing Copy Editors Madeline Uretsky Kelly Harrison Faculty Advisor Bruce Gray, Ph.D. Chair of Biology Department Printing Copy/Mail Center, Simmons College, 300 Fenway Boston MA 02115 Cover Background Laura Plaza
Letter from the Editor Dear Mindscopers, Simmons College has a huge advantage over many other schools because of its location in the city of Boston. There are so many hospitals and institutions that are conducting fascinating research in science and medicine in our area. Once a year the Boston Globe, Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology collaborate to share new and exciting research in art, science, and technology with the community. The event they run is called Hubweek. We were able to obtain press passes for members of our organization to all the Hubweek events and Forbes 30 under 30 event. These events inspired us to create a Science in the Hub section of our magazine. We have six exciting articles that are based off of these events in our issue. Our Mission at Mindscope this semester is to show our love for science, writing, and how we come together to share it with the community. I would like to thank the e-board, writers, editors, Dr. Gray, our faculty advisor, and other faculty that has helped us with Fall 2016 Issue 3. Thank you to Hubweek and Forbes 30 under 30 event for giving us press passes. I am in awe of how new many members joined Mindscope this year. I am so happy to say we have a team of 33 students that have all been so helpful! Enjoy! Sincerely, Ariana Savage Editor-in-Chief
CONTENTS
SCIENCE IN THE HUB 3 Next Generation of Ideas 6 The Intersection of Medicine and Art 7 Honest Future 8 The Complexities of Opioid Addiction 9 The Age of Consequences 10 Honey I Shrunk the Patient
INTERVIEWS 11 Professor Lisa Brown 14 P rofessor Cassandra Saitow
STUDENT STORIES 15 Alumna— Jeannie Foley 16 Simmons Overseas
PUBLIC HEALTH 18 The Price to Save a Life 20 Hospital Aquired Infections 22 The Flint Perdicament 23 Steak with a Side of Antibiotic Resistance
OTHER 24 The Perfect Ingredients for Alien Life 26 Environmental Enrichment for Captive Animals 28 The Genetics Behind Coffee 30 Animal Agriculture and its Water Footprint 31 Zoltan Interview 32 Fall Event - Herb Sussman Fall 2016 N° 3 | 1
2 | MindScope Science Magazine
SCIENCE IN THE HUB
NEXT GENERATION OF IDEAS By Sophia Streimer
Image: HubWeek Environmental Film Festival
This year at the 4th annual Beantown Throwdown, hosted by HUBweek in partnership with MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge, student teams represented their college to pitch their innovative and creative startups to compete for prizes that would help launch their company to the next level. MindScope got a chance to interview one of the participants, Christopher Bodkin from UMass Boston and the co-founder of Circular Blu. What does your company do? Circular Blu is a company that works with hospitals to create custom waste stream analysis’ to help efficiently segregate and recycle a material called Blue Wrap. Blue wrap is a polypropylene plastic that is used to wrap surgical kits prior to surgery to keep them sterile. Circular Blu then coordinates with waste haulers and logistics partners to pick up this material from the hospital to be transported to a centralized location. Once the material is in a centralized location, a portion of it is used for our upcycling, community-based sewing operations to be repurposed into sustainable products such as tote bags, laptop bags, and conference bags. These bag-making programs are meant to bolster local economies by employing people through sustainable jobs. The remaining blue wrap is transported to one of our processing partners to be re-pelletized to make our rigid product line. We create products such as 45 gallon flip top recycling bins, 36 gallon trash barrels, bed pans, and rigid totes to be sold back to hospitals produced from their own waste. Since our resource costs are low we are able to sell the healthcare sector products below market price, meaning that hospitals are saving money by buying products made from their own waste, creating a closed loop circular economy. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 3
Where did you get the idea for Circular Blu? I work as the Data Coordinator for the top healthcare sustainability non-profit which helps hospitals become more sustainable by quantifying their energy, food, purchasing, water, chemicals, and waste consumption and helping them become more sustainable for their employees, patients, and communities. Through doing this work, a few colleagues and I identified the gap of Blue Wrap; waste from this material accumulates in landfills, where millions of pounds end up every year. This material is 100 percent sterile leaving the hospitals and made from polypropylene, which is one of the best plastics to repurpose. We wanted to create a business that helps heal the world, not add to its harm, so we began our journey in creating our circular economic vision.
Since then, our model has evolved and we are no longer hiring people with disabilities directly, but helping support groups that do, by creating programs in different areas of the country. We began to make connections in the plastics recycling community and created our rigid plastic product line to be sold back to the healthcare sector. We help facilitate Blue Wrap recycling all over the country and are working to transform this material into new and usable products.
What hopes do you have for your career or company for the future? We hope for nothing less than to show the world that normal modes of commerce can be inherently good and multi-beneficial. By creating a successful circular economic niche, we can expand the materials we re-purpose, the people we hire, and the products we produce. We define success by diverting plastics from What was your journey like to get where you landfills, and creating sustainable jobs, while are today? also making money. My brother and We wish to be at the I started by forefront of the circular he most rewarding part driving our cars and inclusive economies. to Massachusetts Beneficial products of my job is knowing General Hospital, can also change the that am putting my where an extremely way people think about engaged nurse consumerism, because efforts into progressing would meet us when purchasing in the parking lot products that have toward a healthier future and help us load social and sustainability for communities and the bags of Blue Wrap metrics to accompany into our car. Soon them, people can feel environment enough, we aligned good about what they’re with an organization buying. that works to We see our company help people with becoming the disabilities find employment out of the Worcester namesake of sustainable consumerism and area. We began a program there where we would the quantification of the circular economy. We have our employees process the material to be understand that making money is how many sewn into tote bags. My brother taught himself people define success, so we wish to do so by how to sew and became the operations manager, helping the environment and making peoples lives teaching our employees how to sew our bags. better. Through a colleague we were given the opportunity to pitch our process and program How does being so close to Boston help you? to Johnson & Johnson, which resulted in our Working in the Hub helps us because we have first order for tote bags used internally for an the highest level of academic and business employee engagement sustainability program. leaders here. The smart and transformative From there, we began producing bags for people in Boston make it fertile ground for conferences and businesses that were looking to tectonic shifts in the way our human structures provide their clients or employees with socially are aligned. Helping improve lives and the and environmentally sustainable bags. environment can, and will, be centered here.
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Could you describe what is the most rewarding part of the work you do? The most rewarding part of my job is knowing that I am putting my efforts into progressing toward a healthier future for communities and the environment. Seeing the products we make, and knowing that this waste doesn’t end up in landfill somewhere, gives me the drive to keep working every day. Feeling at the forefront of something is very rewarding. Coming up with solutions and ideas that have not been thought of before is scary, but exciting.
Do you have any advice for college students? Identify the gaps around you. Every thing you do, consume, and throw away, is most likely based upon a model that can be made more efficient, a model that did not take into consideration the degradation of the natural world or the inevitable polarization of the classes. So I would say to closely study the things you do and the things you consume and try to get a 360-degree view of why and how you do those things. Gaps will present themselves and that is how new beneficial businesses are create. I would also say to see failure as evolution.
Image: CircularBlu
MORE INFO ON CIRCULAR BLU
Fall 2016 N° 3 | 5
The Intersection of
Medicine and Art By Brooke Lucier
Hubweek September 27th 2016 With my press pass in my pocket and my roommate in tow, I raced to Massachusetts General Hospital where The Intersection of Art and Medicine Hubweek seminar was taking place. I chose to attend “Michelangelo to Van Gogh: Connecting Medicine and Disease to Art and Artists.” As a nursing student I am very interested in the health field, as well as the humanity side of medicine. When I arrived at MGH, the volunteers who were running this Hubweek event ushered us up a hidden stairwell that brought us to the top of the lecture hall where we had a bird’s eye view of the whole room. This seminar began with a welcome address, and then Dr. Joel Katz presented the topic: “The Arts and Humanities Initiative at Harvard Medical School.” Dr. Katz talked about how “it takes a village,” meaning that there was a whole team of people from multiple disciplines that collaborated on this project, including doctors, nurses, and art historians. They all had the common goal of bringing the field of art to the medical school to further the education of the students and make them more well-rounded. Dr. Katz explained the research his team did that showed that 77 percent of the medical students thought that art could help medicine education. “It is amazing how many medical students don’t go to the MFA that’s right outside their door” I found this statement by Dr. Katz particularly intriguing. How many of us college students never take the time to learn or experience other areas of life and education? How often do math students learn about geography, or nursing students learn about physics? It is interesting to think about all of the different aspects of learning and life we are missing out on just
because we think our majors, or areas of expertise, are unrelated to other disciplines. The next speaker was Dr. Thomas Heyne. His presentation was on “Diagnosing Disease Through Art and Visual Thinking.” Dr. Heyne had a PowerPoint full of artwork made by different artists from all different centuries. Then he asked us, the audience, what we saw wrong with the person in the particular piece of art he showed us. The problem could be swollen limbs, weird spots, broken appendages, discoloring of the body, etc., and from the pictures we could then diagnose the medical problems that these people had. It was so interesting seeing how someone that was painted centuries ago could be diagnosed today using modern medicine. Dr. Heyne even had an example of how a painting disproved a medical theory of the origin of a certain disease. This seminar really showed the connection between medicine and art. It is easy to think artists and doctors are completely different kinds of people with different areas of expertise. However, these two disciplines have two major skills in common: observation and attention to detail. Medicine is an art, and art can depict medicine; they are like opposite sides of the same coin. If you are interested in the intersection of art and medicine then you can visit artsandhumanities.hms.harvard.edu for more information.
Honest Future By Sophia Streimer
Images: Forbes
Annually, Forbes holds their 30 Under 30 Summit to recognize the best and brightest millennials across several areas of science, technology, finance, media, policy, social justice and more. This year, the event was held in Boston across five stages at different universities and historical landmarks. The event brought several change-makers together for keynote panels including speakers such as Bobby Flay, Michael Phelps, Chrissy Teigen, Ashton Kutcher, Jessica Alba and so many more. Fortunately, Simmons MindScope was offered a press pass to have all-access to all the stages during the three-day event. About 6,000 young entrepreneurs, students, and professionals came from all across the country for the event. Jessica Alba, one of Forbes “richest self-made women in America,” gave two keynote presentations on her estimated $1 billion company, The Honest Company. She started by explaining why she started the company, a story most people do not know. As a child, Alba suffered from many allergies and her reactions would send her in and out of hospitals. This put her family under financial strain and left them with confusion and frustration because they couldn’t pinpoint the source of why she kept getting sick. As she got older, she stopped having reactions and focused on her acting career. At the age of 26, when she was pregnant with her first child, she had another reaction after using a laundry detergent her mom recommended for her to use. Then she started to panic, worrying, “is my little baby going to be like me?” That is what made her decide to find alternatives to every day personal
care products. After doing research, Alba found out about the lack of regulation of chemicals found in consumer products in the United States, coupled with the lack of alternatives that were of the same quality and the inexpensive price of goods you could find at your local store. This sparked her to create The Honest Company, which started by selling common household goods in bundles that were, “safe but effective products that are beautifully designed” shipped right to the consumer’s door. Today the company has expanded to some retail stores and also launched a sub-division called Honest Beauty, which sells safe cosmetic products. Alba noted some of the adversity she faced when starting her company. Many questioned why she was doing this and even if she could do it; would people buy her products? She recalls the time that her now business partner and co-founder, Brian Lee, turned down the idea of The Honest Company the first time Alba proposed it to him. She didn’t let this stop her; she kept working because she knew that her vision for this company was something innovative and necessary that consumers needed. When Alba came back to him the second time, after he had his first child, he realized the vision Alba had and understood what it stood for and decided to partner with Alba. Now, four years after the company has been in business, it has an estimated value of $1 billion. Alba left the stage with an inspirational and positive outlook by reminding the audience not to look at no as the “be all end all,” but as a sign “they didn’t get it today but they might get it tomorrow.” Alba is not just the face of The Honest Company, she is the founder. She took her seat at the table and stood up for what she believed in and is now changing the lives of so many people who are using The Honest Company’s products.
Examining the Complexities of Opioid Addiction By Angelica Coleman
Image: AdobeStock
Opioid addiction has been a serious public health crisis in the U.S. over the last few decades. In an effort to raise awareness about the issue and educate the public on accessible forms of treatment, CVS Health sponsored a Hubweek panel entitled, “The Science of Addiction: How Opioids Work in the Brain.” The panelists included Dr. Monica Bharel, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Dr. Sarah Wakeman, medical director of the Substance Use Disorder Initiative at Massachusetts General Hospital; Dr. Scott Lukas, director of the Behavioral Psychopharmacology Research Laboratory at McLean Hospital; and Seth Mnookin, a former opioid user who is also the codirector of MIT’s graduate program in science writing. Dr. Lukas began by describing the unique manner in which opioids relieve pain. This class of drugs has a unique capacity to alleviate physical pain, the perception of pain, and the concern level of the individual in pain. Mnookin described the feeling of using opioids as, “by far the most effective way to smooth everything out.” The addictive quality of opioids lies in the fact that they trigger prodigal levels of dopamine release in the brain, according to Dr. Wakeman. The body develops tolerance to the 8 | MindScope Science Magazine
drug with regular use, creating a heightened need and increasing the withdrawal effects. After repeated usage over time, an individual needs the drug in order to just feel normal, not better. Later in the discussion Dr. Bharel warned against the danger of underestimating prescription opioids. A common misconception is that these drugs are significantly safer which leads to many cases of addiction that could have been avoided. She emphasized the importance of primary prevention through improved prescriber education. Dr. Bharel stressed that opioids should only be prescribed with the utmost discretion, such as for use in treating terminal cases like end-stage cancer. Dr. Lukas commented on the various forms of medical assistance available for treating opioiduse disorders. There are agonist drugs, such as methadone and buprenorphine, which can be used to treat opioid addiction, but they retain some addictive qualities. There are also antagonist drugs, such as naloxone, that work more like outlet covers by keeping the opioid from binding to the receptor. Behavioral therapy is also an important element of treatment. Overall, Dr. Lukas emphasized that the stigma around medical treatment of addiction should be eliminated, with the end-goal of convincing more individuals to seek treatment. Mnookin concluded by expanding on the citizen’s role in fighting opioid addiction. “If I came to your house, the first place I would go is your bathroom medicine cabinet,” he said of his time as an opioid addict. We have a responsibility to dispose of drugs in our possession that have dangerous potential. An alarming number of individuals are able to fuel their addiction in this way. However, the overall outlook is a positive one. Dr. Bharel insisted that the country is on the right track in how we view addiction. It is a disease, and it is important the public views it as such. There are a reported four overdose deaths a day in Massachusetts alone, according to Dr. Bharel. As soon as the public realizes the urgency of this crisis, we can use the existing methods of prevention to their full capacity and, with time, eliminate this grave issue.
The Age of Consequences By Alex Kemna
Image: The Age of Consequences design by: Toros Kose, Hala Alhomoud
Almost everyone has seen a documentary or read a book about how driving cars is ruining the environment or how factory farming has a detrimental effect on climate change. However, I believe a newer, uncommon idea is that climate change has a major impact on U.S. national security and global stability. The compelling and unsettling documentary “The Age of Consequences,” directed by Jared P. Scott, discusses the impacts of climate change on major social conflicts such as migration, the rise of terrorist groups such as ISIS, and more. Veterans, admirals, and Pentagon insiders provided information on the immediate and harmful effects of climate change on water shortage, food shortage, and social tensions. While it was a very interesting and thought-provoking documentary, it was also unnerving to see the effects of climate change on our national security. It was something I had never thought about until watching “The Age of Consequences.” It is definitely a movie that everyone should see. After the documentary was over, there was a rather heated question and answer session with the director and the executive producer, Sophie Robinson, along with a couple of other people that had major roles in the documentary. In attendance there were both climate deniers and people wanting to know how they could make a change. The greatest takeaway for me was the need to become educated on the topic. Knowing what’s going on around you in the world and how it affects not only you, but everyone else living on this earth, is crucial to combatting climate change. We have to take steps to better understand the effects of climate change and provide evidence that this is a real, pressing issue that needs to be confronted. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 9
Honey I Shrunk the Patient By Ariana Savage
Kevin Eggan was the next speaker in the panel. Eggan has a doctorate in biology and is a professor in the department of stem cell and regenerative biology at Harvard. He discussed his research on human models of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease, as well as his work with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), which is caused by motor neuron degeneration. His research focuses on looking at an ALS patient’s gene mutations and genetic contributors to figure out why that specific group of neurons is getting sick. The Harvard Stem Cell Institute is made up of more than 1,000 scientists that focus on treating diseases while advancing scientific research. On Sept. 29, 2016, the Institute hosted the event, “Honey, I Shrunk The Patient,” at the Geological Museum Lecture Hall. Gideon Gil, managing editor for STAT, an online publication reporting on medicine, health, and life sciences, introduced three panelists to discuss their research. The first speaker of the night was Steven Hyman, the director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Hyman discussed psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. He stated that the last advance in an antipsychotic drug was in 1960, and that the reason why this process may be so slow is because there is little understanding of disease mechanisms. “The human brain is the most complex object of scientific inquiry,” he added. Additionally, progress in this field is slowed because human psychiatric disorders cannot be modeled successfully in animals. 10 | MindScope Science Magazine
Finally, Adam E. Cohen, a professor of chemistry, chemical biology, and physics at Harvard University, closed the panel by discussing a challenge that scientists run into with the neuronal model of disease: figuring out what the neurons are doing in the dish. To understand the entire picture, they would like to see the patterns of activity among many cells. To do so, scientists have been trying to figure out how to convert electrical activity into light so that they will able to see a visual of the neural activity. Cohen also talked about his research on proteins such as Archaerhodospin 3, which absorbs sunlight. In Archaerhodospin 3, voltage comes out of the protein and you can see in detail how these images propagate through the cell. To look up more information on these topics, visit the Harvard Stem Cell Institute’s website. The video of the talk is also posted on Youtube as “Honey I Shrunk The Patient.”
Images: Nissim Benvenisty
INTERVIEWS
INTERVIEW WITH DR. LISA BROWN
Image: pixabay.com
By Sierra McCaffrey
We sat down with Dr. Lisa Brown to talk about the perks of the Simmons community and the future of nutrition in science. Were you a nutrition major as an undergraduate student/ where and what did you study and why? As an undergraduate student, I studied at Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts. I originally studied early childhood education (which I minored in and got my teaching certification), and double majored in American government and psychology. Interestingly, the only science I took was astronomy.
After college, I worked at the MetroWest YMCA teaching kindergarten students. I taught a few kids that had GI (gastrointestinal) problems, which sparked my interest in learning more about not only nutrition, but also health related issues in the surrounding area. So, I went back to school to study nutrition at Simmons. Over the course of four years I completed my DPD and master’s degrees and finally did a dietetic internship to become a Fall 2016 N° 3 | 11
registered dietitian. I worked and went to school full time for two years, then worked part time, and then went back to school full-time for two more years. I finished when I was 29 years old, although I later went back to get my doctorate from the Boston University School of Medicine. How did you end up teaching at Simmons College? Well, I worked for the WIC (women, infants, and children) Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for five years after I graduated. I trained originally as a teacher, but I loved nutrition and I wanted to combine the two. It actually worked out perfectly because when I was looking for a job after I completed my doctorate, a very admirable and intelligent professor, Janet Washington, was stepping down in the nutrition department. I applied for the job and was very excited when I received it. What is your favorite memory teaching at Simmons? I love being a part of the new general education program that was launched last year. This program consists of first-year students taking a Boston Course in their first semester to familiarize and adapt to Boston right at the start of their college experience. This course also has elements to help adjust students’ initial writing experience prior to college to ease the transition into college writing. In the second semester of students’ first year, a leadership course is required to work on basic leadership skills and learn what it means to personally be a leader. Second year students take a learning community that helps students facilitate critical thinking skills 12 | MindScope Science Magazine
and see how two seemingly unrelated classes fit together. Third and fourth year students take a “3D” cluster of courses and do their capstone major course(s) that involves internships around Boston in each student’s particular field of study, or doing more in-depth research in their field. Also, at an alumni event a couple of weeks ago, I saw a student that I had mentored in the past who had to persevere through a lot in college, and now she is doing great. She is a dietitian that works with the U.S. Olympic swim team and I am very proud of her. It was very rewarding to hear from her and see her doing so well. What skills do you think would be the most important to develop for students in science? The ability to persevere and fight through obstacles is the most important. There will be times when life and school will be difficult, but the ability to pick yourself up and fight through it is very important. Also, for students to be able to think critically and always ask questions is important in being successful. What advice would you give students interested in nutrition to be more competitive in the field? Students at Simmons are at an advantage - Boston is their resource. I encourage students to take advantage of our location, being in the middle of Boston. Internships, shadowing, mentors, jobs, short-term volunteer programs, any opportunity you have to get out there and see what the field has to offer will only benefit you. There are so many private practices, hospitals, and businesses that constantly welcome college-aged students to explore their work and really get “hands on” to figure out what career suits you the best. Make connections to people, and do not be afraid to reach out to people.
What is your main interest in research? My original research area was cardiovascular disease and dietary patterns. Since I have been at Simmons I have moved more into looking at nutrition information and obstacles of eating well for members of healthy communities. For example, I worked with a group of master’s students to examine if food blogs recipes are any good and did a separate project to see how credible they are. Last year, I worked with a group to look into corporate wellness environments to see if people are generally offered nutritious options and how nutrition in the work place relates to their overall health.
people that utilized the pantry. What was interesting was the two very different perspectives that I got from the workers and the consumers. The workers of food agencies were under the impression that the people that came to the food pantry were “food insecure,” and did not know how to budget, and that is why they used the pantry. However, the people that used the food pantry considered themselves very resourceful, and were very careful about budgeting and planning how they were going to get everything they needed. The participants thought that food costs too much, and a lot of planning goes into their meals and the food pantry is an excellent resource. This project is ongoing and I work with students as well as staff to collect and analyze data regarding these issues.
Can you explain the Healthy Worcester Project? Four years ago, I was asked by alumni who worked with a childcare agency to investigate how to reduce the childhood obesity rate in childcare systems. I worked with a team of students to talk to different community agencies in Worcester and talk to the people who use those agencies. I asked a lot of questions and interviewed many people on their experiences. For example, we explored one food pantry- the people that worked there, and the
Is there anything else you would like to share with the Simmons community? Take advantage of everything! Simmons opens the door to so many opportunities, so take chances and explore. Studying abroad is an amazing opportunity to learn and explore new places and food. That is something I missed out on, but if you have the chance definitely use that experience to meet new people and embrace the culture.
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INTERVIEW WITH PROFESSOR CASSANDRA SAITOW By Alex Kemna
What made you interested in biology and want to pursue a career in it? I have always had a general interest in science. I think for biology specifically I wrote a paper on Ebola in my senior year of high school and it was gruesomely fascinating. So I was interested in infectious diseases at that point. My mom is a scientist and she went back to graduate school when I was a teenager so I saw how much she loved it and how passionate she was about it-graduate school was really fun for her. I was pretty impressionable at that point so it was kind of contagious. How did you get started at Simmons? I started teaching as an adjunct. I taught micro lab and intro bio lab starting right after my son was born, just sort of easing back into work. Then I just really liked it. I really liked teaching and the students. So here I am. 14 | MindScope Science Magazine
What advice do you have for students entering into fields of science like biology? I think my advice is to get as much hands-on experience as you can because that’s how you figure out if you like something or if you don’t like something. Finding out what you don’t like is just as valuable finding out what you do. You’re probably not going to find your dream job in your first internship that you do or the first volunteer opportunity. The more of those you can do, the more you can figure out what drives you and makes you excited. So get as much hands on experience as you can, and also talk to people. Talk to people who are in professions that you think you might be interested in. Keep an open mind about the different types of professions that are out there and what might be a good fit for you. I always advise people to take a year off after school. I think there are a lot of benefits to taking a little space to get some work experience, get some life experience, before applying to graduate school. Anything else you would like to share with the Simmons community? Fun facts about yourself, hobbies, interesting studies you have taken part in? I worked for a company that made vaccines and I got the small pox vaccine, which people don’t get anymore, so that was kind of neat. I like vaccines a lot, which is probably not a secret to anyone who has taken any of my classes. I have three kids so they keep me pretty busy. I also work a lot. My husband jokes that it’s my hobby because I do this cause I like it. It’s really fun.
STUDENT STORIES
WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Jeannine Foley Interview by Ariana Savage
What was your favorite class at Simmons? It is really difficult to choose one favorite class at Simmons because there were many that I enjoyed very much, but if I have to choose one it was probably philosophy of mind. This one stood out because I had no idea how much I enjoyed philosophy before this class. If I had taken a philosophy class prior to my senior year, I probably would have taken more. That class really opened my eyes to a very exciting way of thinking.
Year of Graduation: 2006 Major: I started as a physical therapy major but I started to lose interest and Dr. Gray was there to convince me I would make a good scientist in his lab. As a junior, I changed my major to Psychobiology on the neuroscience track (we didn’t have a neuroscience major back then) Fun fact: I am currently a lab instructor for the Biology 232N Anatomy and Physiology II Lab on Wednesday evenings at Simmons College. What have you been doing since graduation? I worked at MIT as a research technician from 2006-2008 then I went to graduate school at Tufts University. I earned my PhD in Neuroscience conducting research in Phil Haydon’s lab. My research focused on the role astrocytes (a non-neuronal cell type in the brain) play in sleep physiology as well as pathophysiological conditions such as neuropathic pain and addiction. I am currently a post doctoral researcher at Harvard Medical School in the Neurobiology Department. I work in the lab of Gary Yellen researching cellular metabolism in the context of epilepsy and how manipulations of cellular metabolism can be useful treatments for drug resistant epilepsy.
What inspired you the most at Simmons? When I was at Simmons, I was a tutor and a teaching assistant for a few different classes. I remember feeling like I was on cloud 9 whenever I was tutoring or giving a review/study session and I helped someone get to the point where they really understood a topic. I have to say that was extremely inspiring. It was actually tutoring at Simmons that made me decide I wanted to get my PhD, because that is what made me realize I wanted to be a professor. Ever since that point early in my Junior year at Simmons, my plan has been to obtain my PhD and develop my teaching skills so I can have a small lab and teach college courses at a place like Simmons. What was your most memorable moment at Simmons? I have many fond memories from my time at Simmons but if I have to pick one thing that was unique, I will say the most memorable moment that physically took place AT Simmons was watching the Red Sox win the World Series in the basement of one of the resident halls. I forget which one it was... it was the one with a small convenience store next to the mail room. Does that still exist? What is one advice you would give to Simmons Students interested in pursing a scientific career? I think it’s very important for anyone coming out of a small college to have experience in a university lab before making the decision to attend graduate school. The best way to do this is to become a research technician/assistant in a university lab. That way you can get first hand experience in a larger academic lab setting and see how labs like this function. It also helps your graduate school application to get that experience first. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 15
SIMMONS OVERSEAS
Images: Laura Plaza
THE BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE BY LAURA PLAZA
The time flew by during my last days in Boston, the city where I spent my summer taking organic chemistry courses to fulfill my pre-med requirements. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the plane nervously texting my family a last goodbye while the crew recited the instructions before takeoff. The engine started to roar as the plane began to move faster, and as soon as the plane rose into the air, it hit me: the next chapter of my life was about to start. I felt my heart beating in my chest. “Oh God Lau, what have you gotten yourself into?” I thought, as the clouds passed by. However, since it was a night flight it took me only five minutes to fall asleep. 16 | MindScope Science Magazine
“Willkommen zur Schönfeld Flughafen,” the pilot announced right when we landed in Berlin, Germany. Suddenly the doors opened and passengers started to walk out of the plane onto the runway. I was shocked--I had never been that close to a plane before. However, it seemed very ordinary to all the other passengers to be walking between the planes, so I stopped myself from taking a Snapchat. I got to set off on the adventure I always dreamed of. Although everything was different to me, I never felt as alien as I felt when I moved to Texas from Mexico back in 2011. I had just fulfilled my most desired dream. However, I would never have imagined that my experience would be as incredible
as it has been. The courses I studied once in Berlin introduced me to many fields and ideas that I never studied back in the U.S. I have had the incredible opportunity to be taught public and global health by professors who currently are working in the field, and in organizations such as Medecins Sans Frontieres and the World Health Organization. They have taken us to the Charite Pathology Labs where Rudolf Virchow, the father of pathology, started his studies on infectious diseases, as well as the MSF Head Quarters in Berlin. I have met inspiring people who have devoted their lives in India to studying noncommunicable diseases such as diabetes and cancer, as well as professors from Princeton and Humboldt University. Besides taking courses taught by amazing personnel, during the weekends I get to travel all over the continent with my new friends. I have been to Alicante, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Rome, and the Amalfi coast in southern Italy, and I still have many other
places left to explore. I get to take in many different cultures and to understand different perspectives from all over Europe, in addition to immersing myself in the German culture and becoming a Berliner. Simmons College also offered me an incredible opportunity volunteering in the Simmons Leadership Conference in Berlin, where I will be escorting one of the keynote speakers, Dr. Joyce Banda, the former president of Malawi and the country’s first female president and Africa’s second. Studying abroad allowed me to grow academically as I became fluent in German, and socially as I made amazing new friends and met inspiring people. I grew culturally as I learned about the German and European culture and heritage, and personally, since I learned to overcome many barriers that life threw at me during these past two months. I never imagined I would fulfill one of my life dreams of studying in a European country, or travel as much as I have through this unique Simmons College study abroad program with CIEE. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 17
PUBLIC HEALTH
THE PRICE TO SAVE A LIFE By Gabriela Tasilitsky Androssenko Entering the new school year, many parents buy their children EpiPens. However, due to its recent steep increase in price, parents are now thinking twice before buying this life-saving medication. Now consumers and lawmakers are fighting to make these pens more affordable by monitoring the pens’ rebate value, the money pharmaceutical companies owe Medicaid at the end of the year. As a primary emergency allergy treatment, the EpiPen dispenses epinephrine, a drug that reverses the symptoms of severe allergic reactions to food, drugs, and other allergens. In 2007 the pharmaceutical company Mylan obtained the EpiPen. At the time, the manufacturer Sanofi sold a competing product, Auvi-Q; but, in 2015, this product was recalled for not delivering the correct amount of epinephrine. This caused a monopoly situation that has become a problem in the past few months. In the beginning years of the EpiPen, the cost for a two-pen set was less than $100 and has since been steadily increasing in wholesale price. However, since May of this year the price has spiked to an astonishing $608.61, according to data provided by Elsevier Clinical Solutions’ Gold Standard Drug Database. When asked about the rising price of the medication, Mylan said that they offer a $100 coupon for the product, and also blamed high-deductible health plans that are making parents pay out of pocket. Due to the EpiPen being a medication that can be the difference between life or death, Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, was not going to let this go unnoticed. Senator Klobuchar focused The Senate Judiciary Committee and the Federal Trade Commission’s attention to reviewing 18 | MindScope Science Magazine
Image: AdobeStock
whether the price spike of the EpiPen violates any anti-competition rules. After an investigation, it became clear that Mylan, as suggested by Tonya Winders, the president of the Allergy & Asthma Network, should design a specific program for people who have high-deductible health plans. This would decrease the price that people would have to pay out of pocket without making Mylan decrease the price of the EpiPens. However, this has not happened because after further review, lawmakers noticed that Mylan has been misclassifying EpiPens for the purpose of manipulating the drug rebate program. The drug rebate program requires drug companies who have their products covered by Medicaid to pay a rebate on sales through the system. The generic drug rebate rate is 13 percent, and the rate for a brand drug is 23.1 percent. Also, brand-name drugs whose prices rise faster than the rate of inflation have higher than a 23.1 percent rebate rate. Any money Medicaid receives in rebates is split between the state and federal governments that jointly run the program. Mylan has been classifying EpiPens as generic medication for close to 10 years, resulting in a nearly six month-long grace period before they have to pay full rebates for sales of the product. Now the company has to pay Medicaid $465 million. However, many legislators are wondering why the EpiPen will only be classified as a brand-name product for the rebate program on April 1. The six months to re-classify the product will cost Medicaid $120 million--rebate money that they could be collecting from Mylan. This conflict raises the question of how many other drugs are misclassified and how the rebate process can be changed to prevent situations like this from happening again. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 19
HOSPITAL ACQUIRED INFECTIONS By Natalie Finn
Image: Pixabay
H ealthcare in the United States has become digitized with the purpose of ushering medicine into an era of peak performance. Technology can compensate for human error and reduce instances of malpractice. In theory, patients should be recovering to the full extent during their hospital stay; however, clinician malpractice prevents this from happening. The Center for Disease Control reported in 2016 that every day, one in 25 patients hospitalized in an acute care facility contract a Hospital Associated Infection (HAI). 20 | MindScope Science Magazine
These HAIs include bacterial infections such as Clostridium Difficile (C. diff) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which can lead to Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) and Central Line Associated Blood Infections (CLABSI) (Healthcare Associated Infections Progress Report, CDC). The failure to take the necessary measures when treating infected patients makes clinicians active participants in the spread of HAIs. Patients are admitted to hospitals with the expectation that their health will be fully restored. Instead,
about 80 percent of those hospitalized will become infected with a Hospital Acquired Infection (NCHR, 2010). Hospitals agree that treatment should be healing and helpful, not detrimental to a patient’s health. Unfortunately, the reality is that patients can contract an infection that renders them more ill than when they were admitted (The Leapfrog Group, 2016, p. 1). In this age of advanced healthcare, patients should not be susceptible to infections that could be prevented by proper hand hygiene. Central line infections occur when an intravenous line is either placed incorrectly into the vein or not kept sterile (The Leapfrog Group). The failure to perform routine, yet simple, access site cleanings on central lines results in infections of the blood stream and possible death for patients. This is unacceptable practice for the healthcare system. It is impossible to prevent certain complications that can arise during surgery, and for that reason there is a known risk for patients being operated on. But the standard of compromising one’s health care should not be applied to the care patients receive post-operatively. Patients should not have to question the cleanliness of their doctor’s hands. When the basic standards of health care are compromised, the system as a whole cannot function to the best of its ability. Hand washing is a vital action for the prevention of infection. Soap cannot kill the endospores of C. difficile, but the act of scrubbing one’s hands can mechanically remove the spores from
a clinician’s hands (Harvard Health Publications, 2010). Direct skin-to-skin interactions between an infected patient and clinician allow for bacteria to spread onto the hands of the clinician. A method for preventing the spread of infections from direct contact is the use of contact precautions for patients known to be infected with C. difficile or MRSA. Hospitals should have monitors displaying their HAI data for patients to view when they enter the hospital, with charts comparing their measures to those of the hospitals in the surrounding area. Clinicians will be forced to confront their own responsibility in the matter of HAIs if the percentage of CAUTIs for their unit is visible for both patients and families to see. The decrease of Hospital Acquired Infections would result in an increase in the quality of healthcare. Patient’s post procedure length of stay is extended by the contraction of an HAI. Insurance companies pay for this additional hospitalization, and to compensate for this expense, increase insurance prices for policyholders. Additionally, the antibiotics needed to treat these infections unnecessarily kill the probiotic bacteria of the gastrointestinal tract, as stated before. The frequent usage of antibiotics can lead to another mutation cycle for pathogens. Hospital Acquired Infections have serious side effects on patients and the healthcare system but are not being dealt with accordingly. Clinicians take an oath to heal patients, yet will only improve their quality of care if their flaws are made public. Fall 2016 N° 3 | 21
The Flint Predicament: Lead Poisoning
to
Bacterial Disease
By Emma Whited
In April 2014, government officials in Flint, Michigan decided to switch their water supply. Little did the residents of the city know, this decision would have long term, detrimental effects on their health. The polluted Flint River, which was the source of the town’s water, became corrosive and bacteria infested. Due to the water’s corrosive nature, the lead in the service lines running to many Flint homes began deteriorating and subsequently contaminating the water, and the citizens of Flint. Not long after the supply switch, Flint residents began noticing that their water tasted, smelled, and looked odd. The water tested positive for highly dangerous levels of lead, a metal that can cause a number of harmful health effects. Those who are most at risk for lead poisoning are children because they are still developing both physically and mentally. Lead poisoning can affect a child’s growth, and may lead to an intellectual disability. Two years later and the problem is ongoing. The city of Flint switched back to its previous water supply last year, but citizens still have distrust in their government, and many are still wary of using the water for anything, especially handwashing. Just this month, 85 cases of a bacterial disease have been reported in Michigan’s Genesee County, the same county where Flint resides. The bacterial illness is called shigellosis, a gastrointestinal 22 | MindScope Science Magazine
disease caused by the bacteria Shigella , which causes fever, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. The Genesee County Health Department believes that the reason for this outbreak stems from Flint residents distrust in their water supply. Because people are not washing their hands, and instead replacing hand washing with the use of baby wipes, bacteria that is present on one’s hands after they use the bathroom are not being killed. The n o na n t i b a c t e r i a l properties of baby wipes are subsequently causing this bacteria to be easily spread. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend thorough hand washing with soap and water for at least 20 seconds to remove most of the bacteria that is transmitted through fecal matter. The shigellosis bacterial disease outbreak in Flint is just one of the many problems residents still face in the aftermath of the city’s water crisis. A society’s health, and the trust they have in their government, are not mutually exclusive. People who were essentially poisoned by their city’s officials would not be inclined, by any means, to believe that the problem has been ameliorated. In a city where 40 percent of the population is living below the poverty line, adequate hygiene and healthcare is crucial in creating a decent standard of living for Flint residents.
Steak with a Side of Antibiotic Resistance By Kimanna Nguyen
Antibiotic resistance has been an ongoing concern in the past decade. Scientists and medical professionals have started to realize that bacteria are now becoming resistant to common antibiotics. Even though most bacteria are killed after a dose of antibiotics, there are some that can remain. Those few remaining are the ones that are contributing to the current antibiotic resistance crisis. The surviving bacteria can then mutate, become resistant to antibiotics, and multiply until millions of these bacteria are present in an individual's body. Many assume that is the only way that our bodies develop antibiotic resistant bacteria, however, that is not the case. Individuals can have antibiotic resistant bacteria in their bodies by ingesting animal products because the antibiotic resistant bacteria in animal products can remain in the food. The meat industry is a very unsanitary place. Typically in livestock farms, the livestock are boxed in barns with barely enough space to breathe, let alone move. As a result, disease can be spread quickly. The meat industry is a profit-oriented business. Those in charge of these huge corporations are trying to make a profit so they give these animals numerous shots of antibiotics to make sure they do not get sick, and to make sure that they are able to produce the products people want to buy. In 2011, pharmaceutical companies sold nearly 30 million pounds of antibiotics for the use on livestock farms. That was the largest amount recorded yet to date,
“
which means that 80 percent of all reported antibiotic sales were sold for livestock. Yes, this means essentially that animals that are “food” are taking in more of these drugs than we are. The rest of the sales were for human health care consumption. Instead of trying to heal sick animals, drugs are fed to these animals to make them grow faster, and to prevent diseases that commonly arise due to their unsanitary living environments. Farmers feed antibiotics to livestock at low levels, assuming more good than harm can be done. It may seem reasonable to feed antibiotics to livestock at low levels however, that is when the most harm is done. There is a danger in underdosing for antibiotics because that gives a window of opportunity for bacteria to mutate. Even though this has been a concern as far back as 1996, it was not until 2008 that Congress required companies to report the quantity of antibiotic use for livestock. The Food and Drug Administration is systematically regulating the meat and poultry sold in supermarkets around the country in order to monitor the presence of diseases that cause this bacterial resistance to antibiotics. The FDA can only see what kinds of antibiotic resistant bacteria are coming out of livestock facilities; however, they don’t know enough to know what antibiotics are used. As you can see, feeding antibiotics to livestock is becoming a major health crisis because it is creating the antibiotic resistant bacteria that are infecting people.
animals that are food are taking in more of these drugs than we are
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Fall 2016 N° 3 | 23
OTHER
The Perfect Ingredi By Lexi
“The only thing that scares me more than space aliens is the idea that there aren’t any space aliens. We can’t be the best that creation has to offer. I pray we’re not all there is. If so, we’re in big trouble.” Ellen Degeneres The possibility of life on another planet besides Earth is a concept that has fascinated scientists, sci-fi fanatics, families, children, and even college students like yourself since the first humans looked into the night sky centuries ago. How could a universe be so vast and uncharted yet not have other life forms living within it? However, the possibility of life has been discovered on one of Jupiter’s moons, Europa - a thought that should excite you, no matter how scary aliens may sound. Europa is the largest of Jupiter’s 67 known moons, having first been discovered on January 8, 1617 by “The Father of Modern Science” himself, Galileo Galilei. Although Jupiter seems like a cold and daunting planet, orbiting nearly 500 million miles from the sun, it has a liquid ocean with more
24 | MindScope Science Magazine
water than Earth contains beneath its icy surface. Europa’s ocean acts like a layer of ice over a pond on Earth; in the winter, ice that forms on a pond allows the water beneath it to stay liquid despite the freezing temperatures. Europa’s icy crust protects it from radiation, despite its great distance from the sun. Scientists believe that all of the elements thought to be the key for the origin of life can be found on Europa. Water, energy, and organic chemicals - the gang’s all here! Europa orbits Jupiter every three and a half days and is locked in place by Jupiter’s gravitational pull, such that the same hemisphere of the moon always faces the planet. Europa’s orbit is slightly oval, its distance varying from Jupiter. Because of this, tides are created that stretch and relax its surface. This tide occurs because Jupiter’s gravity is slightly stronger on the near side of the moon than on the far side, and the magnitude of this difference changes as Europa orbits. Flexing from the tides supplies energy to the moon’s icy shell, creating the linear fractures across its surface. If Europa’s ocean existed, the tides might create volcanic or hydrothermal activity on
ients for Galdo
Alien Life
the seafloor, supplying nutrients that could make the ocean suitable for life. From 1995 to 2003, NASA’s Galileo mission made numerous flybys and explored the Jupiter system. It obtained the closet images to date of the moon’s fractured surface, revealing strange pits and domes that suggested the ice could be slowly turning over because of the heat from below. Even more interesting were the regions of “chaos terrain” which contained broken, block landscapes covered in mysterious reddish material. Scientists thought that chaos regions represented places where geologic activity had disrupted the otherwise smooth surface. In 2011, scientists studying Galileo’s mission data announced that the chaos terrains were places where the surface had collapsed above lens-shaped lakes perched within the ice. Then in 2013, NASA reported startling evidence from research using the Hubble Space Telescope that Europa might be actively venting plumes of water into space. Just a year later, scientists also discovered that Europa might host a form of plate tectonics. Previously, Earth was the only known
body in the solar system with a dynamic crust, which is helpful to the evolution of life on the planet. When the U.S. National Research Council’s Planetary Science Decadal issued its 10-year recommendation for NASA’s planetary exploration program, exploration of Europa was ranked as the highest-priority mission. The mission - which would leave no earlier than the late 2020s - would perform several flybys of Europa with a spacecraft orbiting Jupiter. In the mission, there will be nine scientific instruments on board including cameras, radars to peer beneath the ice and try to figure out its thickness, a magnetometer to measure the magnetic field (and by extension measure how salty the ocean is), and a thermal instrument to search for signs of eruptions. With this newfound knowledge, the possibility of life on other planets could soon become a reality. If one of Jupiter’s moons, although 500 million miles from the sun, really has an ocean underneath its icy cold terrain, what else could be out there?
Fall 2016 N° 2 | 25
ENVIRONMENTAL ENRICHMENT FOR CAPTIVE ANIMALS By Megan Edwards
Four walls, a few intentionally placed logs, a semi-maintained lawn, a dirty water bowl, and hundreds of watchful eyes— this has been the basis of daily life for millions of animals living in zoos, aquariums, and other captive facilities. These barren enclosures leave little stimulation for the animals they house, leading those animals to live unhappy and unhealthy lives. With such permanent, lackluster environments, animals are not given the opportunity to exhibit any of the natural behaviors typical of their species. Some animals lose their ability to function properly altogether. This inadequacy and boredom within 26 | MindScope Science Magazine
their environments leads to stereotypic behavior— abnormal behavior with no obvious function, often repeated regularly. Without anything to do, or anything to experience, these animals can literally lose their minds. Fortunately, there has been a recent increased interest in captive animal facilities to integrate enrichment programs into the lives of their animals. In the wild, animals are constantly being faced with sensory information and new problems to solve from their natural environment. These different experiences act as stimuli for these animals to exhibit certain behaviors, such
as interacting with the stimulus, solving a problem, or avoiding a situation. Due to the controlled nature of captivity, captive animals do not have to exhibit the same range of behaviors that their wild counterparts do. Enrichment programs are a way to address this lack of stimuli in captive environments by introducing novel sensory experiences to the animals. By supplementing their environment, animals have the opportunity to respond to new experiences and to exhibit some of their species’ natural behavior. Zookeepers and caretakers work hard to develop species and animal specific enrichment programs that maximize the benefit for each animal. Every species experiences the world in a unique way. This idea, called an “umwelt,” coined by Jakob von Uexküll and Thomas A. Sebeok, helps shape the way that enrichment programs are designed for certain species. The physiology and the way that animals perceive the world may affect how they respond to different kinds of enrichment, some of which may be more beneficial to one species than others. There are several kinds of enrichment that can benefit the animal in different ways by involving the stimulation of different senses or behaviors. Physical enrichment includes activities such as climbing equipment and toys for the animal to play with. Cognitive enrichment involves problem solving games and puzles. Social enrichment includes animal-to-animal interaction or animal-to-human interaction. Sensory enrichment includes the introduction of new scents or sounds to the environment. Nutritional enrichment is when keepers introduce different kinds of foods to the animal’s diet, or manipulate the way that the animal gets food. The most successful enrichment programs, which provide the most benefit and welfare to animals, involve multiple types of enrichment. Caretakers also have to consider the individual animal when developing an enrichment program, because each animal has its own personality, preferences, and tastes. I had the opportunity to get to know the animals at Wolf Park in Battle Ground, Indiana, and to contribute to the design of their enrichment programs. I
used an experimental procedure to pilot the effectiveness of visual discrimination learning with four animals at the park (three wolves and one coyote). Upon the success of the experiment, the goal was to integrate more cognitively stimulating enrichment, such as visual discrimination games, with the animals at the park. To perform this experiment I used one black and one white colored tennis ball that each animal would have to choose between. Each animal was assigned a “correct” tennis ball, for which they would be rewarded for choosing. During the experimental trials, I presented both tennis balls to the animals through the fence, allowing them to choose which ball to touch with their noses. Upon touching the “correct” ball, the animal was rewarded with hot dog treats. I changed the positions of the balls during each trial in order to eliminate any positional bias the animal might have. There was one wolf, Kalaini, who was a superstar with these experiments, consistently choosing the “correct” ball more than 80 percent of the time. She was very enthusiastic and very food motivated, so she loved playing this cognitive game. However, there was another wolf, Ayla, who was somewhat of a space cadet. It was hard to get her to focus and she was easily distracted. If she chose the “wrong” ball twice in a row, she would walk away from me and refuse to come back. Personality and individual uniqueness affect the way that certain enrichments work with each animal, and therefore the staff at captive facilities get to know their animals very well in order to make the best enrichment choices for them. Environmental enrichment has been shown to improve the lives of captive animals in facilities all over the world. As we learn more about the individualities of the animals housed in these facilities, we can design specific environmental enrichment programs that benefit each animal. The push for enrichment for captive animals will continue to grow, leading to better quality of life for animals housed in captive facilities.
Fall 2016 N° 3 | 27
a
THE GENETICS BEHIND COFFEE By Sophie Lawsure
Have you ever wondered what brings millions of people to get that fresh brew of coffee on a busy morning? What about those late night lattes? Or a midday macchiato? Coffee is consumed by people of all ages, at all times of the day, and no one is asking this simple question…WHY? Is it the sugar they add to it? Is it the bitter taste? What is it about the warm aroma that is so enticing? While all of these surely contribute to the habits of many, the underlying cause for the millions of dollars spent on coffee consumption each day ultimately lies within a person’s genetic make-up. An average individual possesses at least 20,000 unique genes made of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) that gives them their physical and mental characteristics. The specific sequences of the four 28 | MindScope Science Magazine
nucleotide bases (Adenine, Guanine, Thymine and Cytosine) in a person’s DNA are the reasons why some people are taller than others, or why some people are smarter than others. These sequences can be altered by chemicals in the body or naturally. For instance, the OCA2 gene nucleotide sequence affects a person’s eye color. If the three-sequence nucleotides on this specific gene in one person were arranged differently than the OCA2 gene in another person, then their eye colors would likely differ. So how does learning about genes relate to coffee consumption? The answer lies within an enzyme located in the liver called CYP1A2. Thank this enzyme when having a cup of coffee in the evening, because without it, coffee would never metabolize or promise an eventual evening rest. This
enzyme accounts for 95 percent of the coffee’s metabolism, and its genetic makeup determines how quickly the body breaks down caffeine. A copy of the CYP1A2 gene is inherited from each parent, but which copies of the variant the offspring actually inherits is the important part. The variations are between Cytosine and Adenine specifically. Adenine being replaced by Cytosine within a specific region of the gene causes reduced CYP1A2 enzyme activity, which results in a slow metabolism of coffee in the liver. In other words, coffee leaves the blood at a rate that is four times slower if there is a 2-to-1 ratio of Adenine and Cytosine within a CYP1A2 gene. So what are the statistics of each side of this genetic spectrum? Research on genes and metabolism rates performed by a company named FitnessGenes came to the conclusion that approximately 40 percent of people contain both the slow and fast allele within the CYP1A2 gene, while 45 percent have proportional fast and slow copies. This leaves only 15 percent of people who contain two copies of the Adenine
allele; this means the effects of coffee may be longer lasting and more proactive on this side of the spectrum. However, there are health risks associated with having the two Adenines. If coffee sits in the stomach for long periods of time, a person can develop high blood pressure, which can lead to cardiac arrest. If this fact is not alarming enough, another population study done by Dr. El-Sohemy and his colleagues acknowledged a 36 percent increase in risk of heart related issues due to the consumption of four or more cups of coffee a day. Nevertheless, the findings of coffee-related cardiac risks are only the beginning of much more research on internal organs being affected by this commonly consumed beverage. Furthermore, the research on how genetic makeup affects a person is endless. By examining these differentiating patterns in DNA, this research will continue to promise the positive physical and psychological outcomes that can be done to and by a person. Maybe the people similarly hooked on coffee every morning all have similar taste buds?
Fall 2016 N° 3 | 29
Animal Agriculture:
And Its Alarming Effect on the World’s Overall Water Footprint By Amanda Matos
Image: Pixabay
Do you turn off the faucet while you brush your teeth to save water? How about taking five minute showers? Have you ever installed energy-saving technology appliances that reduce water usage? All of these methods certainly conserve water, but there is something much greater that can be done to maximize water conservation. The majority of people contribute to the world’s most alarming water usage without even being aware of it. Has anyone ever told you to stop eating meat or even dairy products? Animal agriculture is the leading contributor to the alarming water footprint of the world. To produce just one small, quarter pound hamburger, 660 gallons of water are needed. Imagine a family of five having hamburgers for dinner. Each member has at least one hamburger, and some might have two. If seven hamburgers were eaten by one family at one meal, 4,620 gallons of water were needed to produce just the hamburgers at that meal. Turning off the faucet, taking five minute showers, and installing high tech water conservation appliances only saves approximately 47 gallons of water per day. 47 gallons of water per day is miniscule in comparison to the water footprint of a family meal consisting of hamburgers. 30 | MindScope Science Magazine
Why is water conservation so important? A water footprint is a measure of the amount of water needed for each of the products and services used on earth. A growing water footprint is dangerous because in areas of the world such as California, droughts are occurring. California’s specific economy depends on agriculture and is greatly affected by this drought. As the drought continues, popular products such as almonds and fresh produce will become less and less available because the environment will no longer be suitable for these products. Much of the western United States and a large portion of Europe is lacking water resources as well, ultimately affecting their economies and other resources. All agriculture has an impact on the world’s water usage; however, animal products such as beef and dairy have a much greater impact than plant products such as fruits and vegetables. “Vegetables use about 11,300 gallons” of water per ton, and fruit, “about 38,800 gallons” of water per ton. In comparison, beef consumes “about 145,000 gallons per ton; and butter, some 112,800 gallons per ton,” which is significantly larger than the water necessities of plant products. It is predicted that if everyone ate a vegetarian or vegan diet, the water footprint of the entire world could be reduced by 60 percent. These findings prove that animal agriculture is a primary contributor to the increasing consumption of water (McWilliams). If society continues to turn off the faucet, take shorter showers, and purchase water conservation products, then the water footprint of domestic activities will certainly decrease. However, it is in the kitchen where we can most significantly contribute to conserving the world’s water. Consuming less meat and dairy, or even entirely eliminating meat and dairy from your diet, could potentially help increase the availability of freshwater to consumers, and make regions better prepared to deal with droughts.
SCIENCE IN POLITICS By Lena Syed
Image: ENDLESS EYE
1) Idealistically, how would a population that never die be sustained? Will the future’s food supply rely on GMOs? As crazy as this sounds, I believe humans will eventually leave food and drink behind. They are not really very functional systems. If you designed a brand new entity, you’d never create one that must eat, drink, and defecate. These are poor systems, just like breathing air is. Transhumans will get rid of everything human about us in the future. We’ll get energy from the sun, or fusion, or some other still unknown way. 2) Why did you decide to go outside of the two-party political system? The two-party system is not only un-American, it’s downright a monopoly. So I felt it my duty to do the right thing, which is run on something outside it. I may in the future run in a main party to be more successful, but I’m glad I fought the system now.
Meet Zoltan Istvan, the 2016 election’s science candidate. Zoltan is running on behalf of the transhumanist party, whose goal is to bring science to the forefront of American and worldwide politics. Istvan believes that it is time to declare war on diseases that kill Americans, just like how the government declares wars on countries that threaten our safety. The transhumanist party’s goal is for humans to live forever, which they believe will be achieved by declaring aging is a disease. Zoltan Istvan has travelled across the United States on a bus shaped like a coffin in order to deliver the “Transhumanist Bill of Rights” to the White House. He also created and popularized the sport of volcano boarding, which is done in Nicaragua. He has written for many news media such as National Geographic, Psychology Today, and Huffington Post, and he has spoken on TedxTalk. I had the chance to interview Zoltan Istvan about politics and science.
3) In your opinion, what is the most essential thing that the government must do regarding science? They must classify aging as a disease. Once we look at aging as a disease, all science will work to better humans and make them godlike. Right now, that is not science’s prerogative. 4) Can voters write your name in on the ballot this upcoming election? In at least 11 states they can write me in. And there might be more states too. It’s a pain to get on state ballots, even as a write-in. My campaign in 2016 is really about growing the movement. 5) Do you plan on running for president again in 2020 and how do you plan on expanding the transhumanist party? I do plan on running, but I’ll likely do it for the Libertarian Party. Even though I lean heavily left, I do share some Libertarian ideals, so that party will be a good match for me.
Fall 2016 N° 3 | 31
This year with MindScope By Brooke Lucier
For Mindscope’s first event of the new school year we invited a representative from the Silent Spring Institute to come give a talk titled “What Chemicals are in My Body.” Herb Susmann is a software developer for the Institute with a background in mathematics, statistics, and computer science.
background in science. Susmann had the audience at Simmons play a little game on their phones. We all tried to press a red dot as fast as we could after we saw it appear on the screen. Then, Susmann showed us the results of this game presented in a graph format. He was trying to show us how the results of a test don’t really mean anything without context and that the results are relative. Maybe it took you eight seconds to respond to the red dot, but the average response time is 10 seconds. You don’t know if this is a good thing or a bad thing.
You might think that someone this smart would give an uninteresting, unrelatable presentation. However, that could not be further from the truth. Susmann’s presentation was very relatable and the way he communicated the science and information was very easy to comprehend; he was also really funny at times. The work that is going on at the Silent Spring Institute is revolutionary. They are conducting research that tests people’s blood for the quantity and quality of chemicals present in it. What is different about the Silent Spring Institute is that they believe it is the right of the research participants to know about their results.
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This is what Silent Spring researchers are trying to find out. Scientists want to learn what level of chemicals is bad and what level is okay. Right now when people get their results they don’t know if it is good or bad because there is no data currently out that says when an amount of a certain chemical becomes Susmann carcinogenic.
It takes someone to look Herb
Before Silent Spring, other institutes never told their participants what their results were because they thought it would be too stressful for normal people to handle. They didn’t want to scare them and cause unnecessary harm. Susmann works on a team at Silent Spring that makes the results of the research and the test results easy to read and presents the research in a participantfriendly way. They want people to be able to read and understand their results without needing a
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Silent Spring Institute is a nonprofit organization that is trying to democratize the ability to test yourself for the amount of chemicals in your body. If you are passionate about this kind of research you can learn more and donate at: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/ the-detox-me-action-kit-by-silent- springinstitute/coming_soon
Do you like to write? Edit? Design? Or simply make friends while discussing exciting news in science? Join MindScope! We are always looking for: writers, editors, graphic designers, webmasters, photographers, artists & scientists! Get in touch with us by e-mail at: mindscope@simmons.edu or through our website: simmonsmindscope.org follow us: facebook.com/simmonsmindscope twitter: @mindscopemag