As of this blog, I am working on the initial phase of my final project paper. This phase deals with writing the "Material and Methods" section, as well as a brief summary of the outcomes of the various DNA extraction protocols I tested. I have also collected the protocols together into a series of appendices that will be included in the final result.
In between this, I have been doing an intense amount of studying. For some reason, my classes this semester require a lot of self-driven learning and repeated in-class exams. This is a bit of a change from previous semesters, so I have had to adjust my study habits accordingly.
For the science portion of this week's blog, I looked at infection rates for malaria and potential treatments. Malaria infects human erythrocytes when the organism Plasmodium falciparum is transmitted into the bloodstream via the bite of the Anopheles mosquito. While parasitic malaria infection has a wide range of symptoms, and typically presents as chills, fever, sweating, and vomiting, it is potentially fatal, particularly in those with a weakened or underdeveloped immune system. The primary method of death involves the disruption of blood flow to vital organs. According to a 2015 report by the World Health Organization, infection rates have declined by 47% globally since the year 2000, yet severe malarial cases still kill an estimated 584,000 people per year, primarily African children.
Drug-resistant strains of malaria have mutated and proven difficult to treat with conventional methods. However, according to a study by Nobel laureate Sidney Altman recently reported on in Medical News Today by Catharine Paddock, malaria cases can be treated by disrupting the gene expression of P. falciparum by RNA. Researchers used a tool called a morpholino oligomer to disrupt expression, which resulted in slower development rates of the parasite. The lower development rates delayed the onset of full-blown infection. This new technique is a promising development in the treatment of drug-resistant strains of the infection.
I am including links to a number of articles, and the abstract for the published study. Please enjoy them!
Centers for Disease Control: http://www.cdc.gov/malaria/about/disease.html
Medical News Today article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/299207.php
World Health Organization: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs094/en/
Source for the journal publication about gene therapy:
Targeting protein translation, RNA splicing, and degradation by morpholino-based conjugates in Plasmodium falciparum, Aprajita Garg et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, doi:10.1073/pnas.1515864112, published online 8 September 2015
Link to the abstract: http://www.pnas.org/content/112/38/11935.abstract
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