Venus (501) Meeting 3

In this meeting, we discussed and reviewed the information we had collected regarding muscle cells and their membrane potentials, and we thought of ideas for our nanomachine design. Through our research, we all had a better understanding of how the potential in the muscle cells works. We learned that an action potential is sent down a motor neuron to the axon terminal where vesicles release acetylcholine. The acetylcholine then binds to receptors on the muscle fiber membrane, which opens up the sodium channels. This allows the sodium to diffuse into the cell and potassium to diffuse out creating an action potential. This action potential sweeps down the cell membrane opening up more sodium channels. After the action potential has passed, the sodium channels close and the resting potential is restored. With this knowledge we could then begin designing a device specifically aimed at restoring and regulating the membrane potential in skeletal muscle cells.

The first thing we decided on regarding our device was that our design would be much more meaningful if it had a focus. We chose our focus to be the disease Myasthenia Gravis because we thought it would be neat to not only have a device that could regulate the membrane potential in muscle cells, but one that could possibly help people suffering from this disease. Myasthenia Gravis is a disease in which the muscle membrane is lacking acetylcholine receptors because the membrane has been distorted from its original folded shape and because of the presence of antibodies. This makes the membrane less sensitive to acetylcholine and thus makes it less likely that a nerve impulse will cause an action potential in the muscle.

After much brainstorming, our team thought up three initial ideas for our design. The first idea is to have tubes that would be inserted into the membrane to act as more channels for the sodium to diffuse into the cell. These tubes would open when the existing channels were activated. Our second idea is to have a pump outside each (or one) of the existing channels that would pump the needed amount of sodium into the cell to create the action potential. Our final idea is to re-create the protein channels, encapsulate them in a myselle and have them fuse into the membrane to form more channels. Also, we thought we could use the carbohydrates that are attached to membrane proteins as a location mechanism or a binding site. Lastly, we came up with a catchy way to introduce the presentation of our device design, but it will be kept a secret. For our next meeting, we are going to do more research on the disease and on each of our ideas, so we can pick the best one.

Team Mercury Meeting 1

We had our first meeting with Dr. Wasser about a week ago. We all researched the topic before the meeting to give us some general background on our cells, pancreatic beta cells. We learned that these cells produce insulin and when the membrane potentials are not correct, the production of insulin stops and diabetes is the result. In our meeting, Dr. Wasser gave us ideas on how find more information and what kind of things we need to consider in the design of our nano machine. After our meeting with Dr. Wasser we decided that everyone should continue general research on the cells so we all could get a better understanding of how they do their job. Our second team meeting is scheduled for Sunday October 2. We will use this meeting to prepare our research and ideas for our meeting with Dr. Wasser on Wednesday.

Team Mars

Team Mars met Wednesday during lab time to discuss our findings on the research we were suppose to do. We decided that we would need a surface on our machine that would mimic fatty acid tails to attract fatty acids because we could not find another material to do so. We also decided we would need a protein activated by ATP to open our cannel just wide enough to let sodium ions through. Harrison found a really good material for our machine, a conductive polymer, and information on sensors for the polymer, that will really work well in our machine. Based on the research that was done, we completed our concept of our "machine." The team is now going to start on the PowerPoint/presentation part of the assignment. We decided since it is so early in the process we would split up the information needed in the presentation and begin to "draft" PowerPoints. We are then going to get together and modify/uniform all of the slides. Here is a list of topics each person was assigned to start working on:

Problem - Alejandra
Failed Approaches - Matt
Materials - Carlos
How it Works - Harrison
Controls/Protien Size - Jordan
Physiological Problems/Allergic Reaction - Nick
Natural Sodium Ion Pump - Courtney
Advantages/Disadvantages - Lauren

We do not have another meeting planned yet, because we decided we are very ahead. We were going to wait and see how everyone was doing with the information for the Power Points and if people needed help, talk over WebCT.

Here is the website about the conductive polymers:
http://cuhwww.upr.clu.edu/~npinto/papers/1ncur2001.PDF

Here is the website about the sensors:
http://www.emsl.pnl.gov/new/highlights/200310/

Team Jupiter Entry 1

Team Jupiter met for the first time on the 21st. There we discussed the type of cell we were assigned for the nano tech project. Our cell, the gastrointestinal epithelial cell, lines the intestinal wall. Some pertinant points include the following:

*The cells die very quickly due to the stress of being exposed to intestinal environments. They die in as few as 2-5 days, unlike 2-3 months like some epithelial cells in the pancreas.
*The cells are columnar, with tight junctions preventing materials from crossing directly into the blood stream. Glucose must pass through the cell.
*They have folds on the lumin side of the intestines so as to have the greatest surface area for diffusion

We concluded that it would be difficult to treat the cells with machines entirely in the cell because they die and sluff off so fast. This means our machines would need to be able to move quickly to the next cell or more likely the treatment would involve constant unflux of new machines.

The advantage of GI intestinal cells is that they are easily accessable. Our delivery system could be daily oral intake of nanomachines (most likely in pill form).

Another thing to consider is the abundance of intestinal pathogens that adhere to/take advantage of the nature of GI epithelial cells. We could emulate these in the creation of our machines.

Team Venus (502) Meeting

Last Thursday, Team Venus met with Dr. Wasser to discuss the ideas and concerns we had regarding our design project. We are to design a device that maintains membrane potential in a skeletal muscle cell. To better understand our task, a basic comprehension of how skeletal muscle cells work is needed.
When a neuron sends a signal to a muscle fiber to "move", an action potential moves down the neuron. At the junction between the neuron and the muscle fiber (the synaptic cleft), the neuron releases acetylcholine, which jumps across the cleft and attaches to the motor end plate. This in turn sends an action potential down the muscle fiber, into the t-tubules, touching the sarcoplasmic reticula, releasing calcium, which in turn causes muscle contraction. When the acetylcholine is removed from (broken down) on the end plate, the action potential ceases, and contraction ends.
Here's our problem: When the acetylcholine reaches the motor end plate, the action potential isn't sent down the muscle fiber. We need to find a way to get this potential down the fiber, into the t-tubules, etc.
This is just the beginning. We know that our device needs to sense when an action potential is needed, and that it needs to respond in kind and regulate appropriate levels of sodium and potassium ions inside and outside the muscle cells, keeping the action potential "alive."
We plan on meeting tomorrow to start working out the basics of our project.

Team Venus: Meeting 2

Team Venus met with Dr. Wasser last Wednesday to discuss our team’s progress. When we came into the meeting, we did not know much about the membrane potential or how it affected muscle cells. After the meeting, however, we had gained the much needed knowledge to pinpoint the areas we needed to research. We learned that the cell membranes of muscle cells have to undergo action potential, in which the inside membrane potential has to start negative, change to positive, and then change back to negative. This action is necessary for muscle contraction. The motor neurons, attached to muscle cells through a motor endplate, are also involved in this process. So, the nanomachine we design has to be able to know when to contract the muscle. In order to do that, we need to devise some way to monitor the motor neuron’s activity. We also need to think about how to get the machine to a specific location because we will need it to go to the cell, find the motor neuron, and do its job.

The meeting also addressed other, non-specific aspects of the nanodevice. First of all, it needs to be an actual device, so I think that means our gene-splicing idea is no longer acceptable. Also, we need to do research and find out how tiny our device should be. Lastly, there is the topic of materials. The materials we use must be biocompatible, which could involve incorporating some biological components like phospholipids, proteins, and antibodies. For now, we have decided to continue with our research by finding specifics on the role of the action potential in muscle cells and the role of the motor neurons. After we study and understand this process, we will be better prepared to create a device design.

Team Mars

Team Mars met today and determined what type of machine we would like to "make." We had some really good ideas, but some unaswered questions. We have a pretty solid draft of what we are doing but we need to know the answers to these things before we move any further. We split up these unknown items among the group to be researched so that when we meet again on Wednesday we can make sure our machine is feasible. Here is a list of things we are researching and who is looking them up:

Nanomaterials (insulating) - Nick
Nanomaterials (conductive) - Harrison
Power Sources (natural) - Lauren
Power Sources (manmade) - Jordan
Gradient Detection (natural) - Matt
Gradient Detection (manmade) - Carlos
Protiens Specific to Neurons/Things unique - Alejandra
Material that Attracts Hydrophobic Fatty Acids - Courtney

We also have a rough drawing of our machine which will become more solid after some of these things are known. That's about all for this meeting and we are meeting again on Wednesday.

Also, we have a question for you Dr. Wasser.
Do we have to invent our own power source, is there something already, or can we just assume we have one? Thanks!

Team Neptune

This Wednesday our group met with Professor Wasser for the first time to talk about the cell our group will be developing a nano machine for. Team Neptune has the cardiomyocyte cell and before the meeting we all did some preliminary research to understand more about our cell. From the preliminary research we discovered the cardiomyocyte cell makes up the majority of the heart and can be affected by thing such as heart attack and heart disease. At the meeting Wednesday, Professor Wasser was able to explain more about the design project and gave us some more ideas of where to look for information on our cell. He also let us know that we want to focus on creating a machine the helps restore a cardiomyocyte's ability to transfer ions across its membrane.

Mercury (Post 2)

After our meeting, we have been researching how to make our nanobot. We must decide what to make it out of, how it will enter the cell, how the bot senses the amount and kind of ions in the cell, and how the bot remedies the problem. Right now, we want to have a robot the fixes any problem of the cell regardless of what is wrong, but we may have to focus in on a specific malfuncion of the cell if it gets too complicated.

"Help you I can, mmm yes!"

This week in lab we had our first device design group meetings with me and I wanted to put up a short post with my overall impressions. I pretty much like what I heard from all the groups. You'all clearly went out and, at the very least, began the background research necessary to understand your particular assigned cell type and the general concept of membrane potential and how it is regulated in a normal cell. This is exactly where you should have started.

The next step will be to continue and deepen your research based on what you have learned so far and on your discussions with me. Next week (assuming the University is back up and running after Hurricane Rita) we'll plan to meet using the chat function of WebCT. I also encourage you all to query me via the WebCT discussion function as question arise in your design project.

Let me just take this opportunity to reassure you that, while it is unlikely your finished design will be a nanomachine we could build with today's technology, do not doubt that, if nanotechnology research progresses at its current rate, machines much like the ones you are designing will be buildable within 5 to 10 years or so! Do not be distressed by the "extension" of current technology that will be necessary for your project assignment. Run your ideas past me and I will let you know if they fall within the realm of acceptable futurism or not. Think big, think creatively.

Finally, an instructive story about the great, late biochemist and Nobel Prize winner, Linus Pauling. When asked by an interviewer how it was that he kept coming up with so many great ideas he replied "First, have lots of ideas!".

Stay safe this weekend and I will see you all after the storm!

(Section 501) Team Venus-Meeting 1

Team Venus’ first meeting was basically an informational meeting, in which we gave out contact information, discussed the project, and thought of ideas. We began the meeting by choosing a Blogmaster on the basis of semester hours, location of residence, and internet access. Consequently, I was chosen as the Blogmaster because I am only taking 14 hours, I live on campus, and I have easy access to the internet. Then we passed a paper around for everyone to write down his/her cell phone number, so Harry can send an e-mail with all the phone numbers to the other team members via Web-CT. In our meeting, we also discussed meeting times. We decided that we would meet in person every week after lab, and we will also meet some other time online to discuss the project through the chat feature on Web-CT. One of our group members, however, does not have internet access at home, so we will try to make the online meeting time on days where she is here at College Station.

Also during our meeting, we discussed the project and ideas. To begin, some of our group members did not understand what we actually had to do for this project, so Thomas, who seemed to understand it the most, explained the objective to everyone else. If our understanding is correct, we need to create a device that will restore the gradient, or the voltage, across the membrane so ions will be able to diffuse through the membrane. We then brainstormed ideas of devices to accomplish the objective. One idea was to somehow create channels in the membrane to allow the ions through. Another idea was to do gene splicing and alter the genetic makeup to cause the cell to produce some protein to fix the problem. Our last idea was to create an artificial ion pump to pump the ions in and out of the cell. We also decided that our device should not just focus on restoration, but also on future prevention, and that it should be minimally invasive.

Our assignment for our next meeting is to collect information on skeletal muscle cells. We need to find out specifics of how a skeletal muscle cell works and what its special characteristics are. This is information we need to know to effectively design a device targeted for the skeletal muscle cells.

Team Mercury (post #1)

Our team has been assigned to fix pancreatic beta cells. We first meet with Dr. Wasser this Thursday, so we hope to know what these cells do by then. Also, we decided that the three Kyles in the group will now go by Borque, Berlin, and K-Chap.

Master Yoda says, "Post to the Blog you must. Hmm yes!"

As threatened in my opening remarks to the class this semster, I have set up a new group weblog (Blog) for our use in the Physiology for Bioengineers course sequence (VTPP 334 and 335). Once I have assigned you to your Device Design Project Groups (which I will be doing tomorrow!), you must elect a "Blogmaster" who will do the actual posting to the web for your group. The other group members should e-mail their posts to the Blogmaster. That is how this is going to work!

Now--what do I want you to post? I'm interested in the process by which your group makes decisions as you work on the device design project later this semster. You will be meeting (a lot) with me and with each other and you will find that you must come up with multiple ideas, sift through them, reject some, and accept others. How you make these decisions, what information you use to make your choices, and how you interact as a team--that is what I want to see posted to the Blog.

This is a novel tool for this course and I view it as part of the evolutionary development of teaching physiology to bioengineering and radiological health and safety students. We will simply need to do it this semester and see where it leads us. In the words of Master Yoda, "Try not. Do or do not, there is no try!"