TRAIN Scholar James Head's Blog

          Dopamine is our bodies “feel good” chemical, that is produced as a reward our brain gives us when we do something it likes. Dopamine produced by gaming can trigger these excitatory effects, enticing us to play more, which can lead to addiction.             Even though dopamine is considered an excitatory neurotransmitter, the chemical messenger can encourage or discourage an action depending on the receptors present. There are 5 different dopamine receptors (D1-D5) that control things like attention, impulse control, decision making, learning, memory, and sleep. When dopamine is received by an excitatory receptor, we feel pleasure and want to continue the behavior. When it is received by an inhibitory receptor, it may negatively affect impulse control and decision making.           Epigenetics can impact the production and regulation of dopamine, as well as dopamine transporter and  receptor production.   Altering these proteins can lead to addictive behaviors. 1)    An und

  Today the super microbiome group met to discuss some new research and technology. One of the topics was determining if you could identify a person by the bacteria left behind with their fingerprints, and how long ago those prints were made, primarily for forensics.  Unlike fingerprints themselves, the skins microbiome is constantly changing. This makes positive identification of the person it belongs to a challenge. Every time you touch something, you are picking up new microbes, thus changing your personal composition, at least briefly. A small study conducted showed that this would not be an accurate way to identify a person due to variability.  A second study was conducted to determine if you could tell when a person left the fingerprint by looking at bacterial growth and death rates. For example, if bacteria X reproduced 10 times, could they estimate that it took 4 days to do so. Once again there was not enough consistency for this to be an effective tool. One last point made was

 I had to write a paper for my English 102 class, explaining a concept, so I chose epigenetics to give me a start on my STEM research project. I found it difficult to keep it "short and sweet"  because there are so many interesting things to cover. At the start I had no idea what it was or how it worked. After doing this research I feel even more motivated by some resent lifestyle changes I had made. After being a smoker for 26 years, I finally quit last year. I recently swapped to a vegan diet (most days), and started exercising again. I knew I would be healthier for it, but had no idea it could impact gene expression. Here is the paper if you are interested. I haven't covered this in a class yet, so I hope it is correct: James Head Professor John English 102 08 Oct. 2021 Epigenetics: How to look better, feel better, and stay healthy. Within almost every cell of our bodies there are molecules called “genes”, which contain the instructions on how to build new ce

 The word of the day is disheartened. I have attempted 3 different projects so far, and every one has been unsuccessful for one reason or another. I won't say "failure" because I did learn some things in the process. The hours I spent on research, however, have not brought me closer to my goal. Not having even a successful outline at this point makes me feel unacceptably behind, and I am very uncomfortable about it.  Attempt number 4. Lit Review: "What role, if any, does epigenetics play in _________ addiction." After speaking with Josh and Amanda, this seems like an interesting topic that will hopefully be narrow enough, and yet have some research out there. We had discussed sugar addiction, but so far I have not found much research on it. I may have to swap to a different addiction, like cocaine or alcohol. Next week, if things go to plan, I will discuss what epigenetics is. It is a fascinating topic that I hope you all will find as interesting as I do.