Hemophilia

What stops bleeding from a cut finger? Our blood contains a variety of proteins known as clotting factors that function to create a clot on the wound to halt bleeding. What transpires, though, if the clotting proteins are ineffective and your body continues to bleed? We’re going to go into the specifics and discover more about the genetic disease known as hemophilia.

Hemophilia A, also known as Classic Hemophilia, is characterized by a deficiency or reduction in the plasma non-enzymatic protein clotting Factor VIII, while Hemophilia B, also known as Christmas disease, is characterized by a deficiency in clotting Factor IX, a vitamin K-dependent glycoprotein that is crucial for the intrinsic pathway for coagulation.

Hemophilia is a sex-linked recessive condition. Meaning the genes that code for Hemophilia are found on the X chromosome. Since there are no clotting factor genes present on the Y chromosome, males are far more likely to develop hemophilia compared to women.

Mobility issues, unexpected bleeding, and chronic discomfort are typical symptoms of hemophilia since the blood does not clot easily in those who have it. These can easily influence the daily decisions people with Hemophilia make because they fear that small injuries could lead to big problems.

I am very proud of how my groups final video came out! We all put in so much time and effort into making a cohesive video that highlighted each of our studied topics. I am most proud of the word usage and conciseness of our video, it makes it much easier for the viewer to understand. Yet there are some things that could be improved, instead of immediately inserting our interview clips, there should have been an introduction of our interviewee. This would make the connection between the interviewee and hemophilia a lot easier to understand. Although with the short amount of time we received for this project, I am so proud of myself and my group for all of our combined effort!

During our group symposium, we were asked many interesting questions from our classmates! I feel that we did a great job answering these questions. Although for me personally, I find that I need to improve on my presenting skills. I struggle with presenting and when I was answering questions I tended to trip up on my words and have a shaky voice. Practicing presenting will continue to benefit me and the cohesiveness of my presentation.

I am very happy with my decision to choose and study the blood condition of hemophilia. I learned so much about its inheritance and the varying symptoms and future treatments! Furthermore, I learned a lot about my family history, especially the life of my grandfather and how he learned to live with this dangerous condition during a time of economic distress in France. I will continue to educate myself and others on this topic as I find it’s very important to have knowledge on the very many dangerous conditions in the world.

Quinlyn Highsmith

 This week, Notre Dame's AP Biology class got a visit from a graduate of the class of 2017 who is in a graduate program to become a genetic counselor. There were many points that stuck out to me and Quinlyn gave some very good advice.

First, she gave some overall advice for college. This included tips like making sure to communicate with your professors and taking classes that you actually have an interest in. She also highlighted the importance of doing internships throughout your college career. Internships are something that had always caught my attention and I think they could be really fun. I enjoyed that Quinlyn included this part because I am applying to and even hearing back from colleges right now and sometimes it can get overwhelming, so having this advice was very helpful. Quinlyn also made it a point to say to take a step back and enjoy the little moments. This is a lesson that I hold dear to my heart. I know time flies and I never want to take any opportunities or any time for granted. I'm glad she agrees.

Quinlyn is still in her graduate program, so she couldn't speak to us about what being a genetic counselor is like. She could only tell us about what she has done. I was still able to learn from what she told us. She said genetic counselors basically analyze DNA results and read them to patients, then they guide them to the next steps for whatever their goal is. One thing that surprised me was that she said there are genetic counselors for all stages in life, I didn't know this. I thought there were only genetic counseling for expecting couples. There are also genetic counselors for specific diseases like cancer and cerebral palsey. You can read more about this here.

I really enjoyed Quinlyn's presentation. She taught me about being a genetic counselor and also just being a college student. She was very grounded and down to Earth. her presentation didn't feel like a lecture, more like a conversation.

Works Cited

“Cancer genetic counseling - Making Sense of Your Genes - NCBI Bookshelf.” NCBI, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK115516/. Accessed 1 February 2023.

“Department of Human and Molecular Genetics - M.S. in Genetic Counseling.” Department of Human and Molecular Genetics, https://gen.vcu.edu/students/ms-in-genetic-counseling/. Accessed 1 February 2023.“Family History of Cancer | Huntsman Cancer Institute.” University of Utah Health, https://healthcare.utah.edu/huntsmancancerinstitute/screening-prevention/family-history.php. Accessed 1 February 2023.

Cracking Your Genetic Code! The New Era of Genomics

 Hi everyone, and welcome back to my blog!

These few weeks so far into the spring semester, my AP Biology class has been diving into the genetics unit. The study of genetics astounds me, especially the idea that millions of genes and developmental information are tucked into individual strands of DNA at a minuscule level that can't even be seen by the human eye!

As part of our learning about genetics, we watched the Nova documentary episode, Cracking Your Genetic Code.

This documentary was incredibly informative and educational; I learned a lot more about modern genome technology and both the upsides and downsides of undergoing personal genome testing.

The documentary started by introducing what a genome is and the impacts of mutations on one's genome. A genome is all the genetic material contained in one's cells. This information can be most accurately gathered through a blood sample, in which the DNA is separated from protein and fat in the blood and is then sequenced to reveal a complete genome.

The human gene is not perfect and mutations, gene "mistakes," often occur. Such mutations can be benign and have no severe impacts on an individual, such as changing the color of one's hair or the shape of their earlobe, but other mutations can be critical or even deadly, such as those that code for certain rare illnesses and disorders.

New technology surrounding genome sequencing allows individuals to trace illnesses or disorders back to genetics. Knowing one's genome can help one take measures, if possible, to prevent future illness or disorders and medicine can be personalized to the patient to provide more direct support. For example, if one takes a genome test and discovers a predisposition to breast cancer through the BRCA1 gene, they may choose to take preventative measures such as surgery to remove their breasts and avoid the risk of developing cancer one day.

Both the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are linked to cancer-causing mutations. Cracking Your Genetic Code focused on discussing the BRCA1 gene.
Image courtesy of Atlas BioMed

The documentary discussed genome sequencing through medical professionals as well as genome tech companies. The most exact genome sequencing is done through medical professionals who directly compare one's individual genome against a copy of the "normal human genome" to look for variances that could potentially cause harm. 23andMe or Knome are two genome sequencing companies that sequence a customer's genome based on a sample sent in by the customer, mainly samples of saliva. These companies do not provide results with the same level of confidence that a doctor can, but they can introduce one to the idea of more serious testing.

Genome testing is becoming popularized with babies, specifically testing immediately after birth. A "heel-prick" blood test takes a sample of a newborn's blood and is immediately run to test for disorders such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's, which would not present immediately at birth but would be crucial for parents to know to take the necessary next steps.

While knowing one's genome can provide the necessary answers to symptoms one may be experiencing or can confirm whether one is a carrier for a certain genetic disorder, knowing one's genome may not always be beneficial. There are certain genes that, if inherited, are unavoidable and will catch up with an individual at one point in their life, and patients must ask themselves if they really want to know if they will inherit such disorders or illnesses such as Alzheimer's on the APOE4 gene or breast and ovarian cancer on the BRCA1 gene.

The APOE gene makes the protein apolipoprotein E and can appear in different forms depending on how the protein binds. The structure of APOE4 changes the function of the gene and protein and coincides with a great increase in the risk of Alzheimer's.
Image courtesy of Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience.

All this information was very impactful to learn and has given me the opportunity to think about testing my own genome when I am an adult, such as when I am planning on having kids to see if I carry any genes that I could pass on and what those risks might be.

While this documentary is a bit dated (almost 11 years old to the present day), the technology presented then has been growing and developing into the modern day. Genome testing has become much more popular, with genetic counseling growing as a career and personal genetic test kids available for purchase on Amazon or 23andMe. As the medical community's knowledge and understanding of genetics continues to develop every year, we can continue to use genome testing to support patients, develop new medicines and treatments for genetic illnesses, and learn more about these genetic disorders, including cancer. The documentary discussed how observing the cancer genome is so critical to learning how to prevent cancer, so using genome testing is incredibly important now and will continue to be important in the future as cancer research develops.

I would absolutely recommend this documentary to all audiences, especially those who are currently questioning if they should undergo genome testing for personal health reasons and are weighing the pros and cons, or for audiences who are interested in the genetic field and want to learn more about the research and study that goes into genome testing. The documentary is very informative and uses an abundance of resources to go in depth into a variety of genes and genetic disorders. The film also discusses the pros and the cons of new and developing genome technology; while such medical advances are incredible, they all have downsides that can negatively impact an individual as well as our society.

After watching, I've been inspired to keep up with new cancer research, specifically surrounding cancer genomes and using genome research to create preventative drugs. What new drugs or treatments for cancer have been produced since this documentary was published that used cancer genome research? I'm also curious to know more about advances in cystic fibrosis treatments, as my current genetic research project focuses on this genetic disorder. I will continue to dig deeper and keep myself updated with new advances in this specific area of genetic testing.

Here's a link to current stories in cancer genome research!

Thank you for reading my blog today! I hope you learned something from my post, and have been inspired to discover more about your own genome! 

Cracking your Genetic Code Documentary and Genetic Conditions

Team AP Bio watched a PBS documentary created in 2012 called Cracking Your Genetic Code which discusses the future of genetic technology and the pros and cons of genome mapping. I found this documentary to be interesting because of the large number of benefits and challenges that come with the development of genetic technology.

I learned that in recent years there has been huge progress in mapping entire human genomes. The first genome that was mapped took 13 years (1990-2003) and cost 3 billion dollars. Now, with improved technology, genome sequencing can be done in a lot less time. The point of genome sequencing is to be able to detect mutations that might cause a genetic disorder for someone in the future or for their offspring. This is so important because it gives us the opportunity to detect and potentially prevent genetic conditions before the disease spreads and grows. It also allows us to detect conditions during pregnancy to allow the parents to prepare.

While there are some amazing benefits of genome sequencing, there are also some serious downsides to learning this information. Would you want to know if you are most likely going to get cancer or Alzheimer's disease when you are older? Similarly, if your sibling was getting tested for a potentially deathly disease that runs in the family, would you want to know if you have it, and would that affect your view on life? There is also a privacy concern with getting your genome sequenced. Companies will have your entire genome, which is more effective than social security numbers or fingerprints. There is a chance that in the future your genome will be something that is added to social media pages and can also play a role in relationships and who you decide to marry.

Multiple members of my family have been impacted by pheochromocytoma, a rare cancer in the adrenal gland (learn more here). Although genetic sequencing was not available when they were sick, I could get tested to see if I am at risk for this when I am older which could be incredibly beneficial to how I live the rest of my life. I am fascinated by genetic testing and love the relief it can provide to families.

Something else I found super interesting from the documentary is that one small mutation, like a C base mutating to an A base, can cause life-threatening diseases. This reminded me of our presentation about CRISPR, a new tool that corrects mutations found in genes. CRISPR technology can be used to cure someone of a genetic condition, which is amazing.

I would definitely recommend this documentary because even if science is not something you are particularly passionate about, genetic sequencing and technology like CRISPR will have a huge impact on medicine in the very near future and it is super exciting to think about. The documentary is yet another thing I have been exposed to in AP Biology that has confirmed that biotech and medicine are what I want to do with my life.

CRISPR & Genome Editing-Rodolphe Barrangou

Have you ever wondered if humans could edit the very genes that make up our cells and give us our unique traits? Well, through the use of the technology, called CRISPR (which has just turned 10 years old!) genome editing is making waves in the science world. In AP Biology class on December 12th, we listened to an engaging presentation by Rodolphe Barrangou, a professor at North Carolina State University and current researcher working with the CRISPR laboratory.

The presentation taught me a lot about CRISPR’s various applications in the Research, Bio-tech, Agriculture, and the Therapeutics fields. I learned how we can edit and cut genomes at a precise location in order to change DNA for medical purposes. 

In the medical setting, CRISPR is being used to cure people of genetically related diseases. For a woman named Victoria Gray, CRISPR helped cure her of her sickle cell disease by correcting a typo in her DNA. Gene editing can then be applied to the organs, cells, and tissues in our bodies to rewrite DNA with the goal of curing people of Sickle Cell Anemia. One long-term goal is targeting Cancerous tissues and engineering cells to trick the immune system into targeting Cancer. Another goal of gene editing is to be used in Antivirals and targeting viruses such as HIV. Professor Barrangou described that researchers hope to increase the number of cells that are edited in a patient with one dosage in order to increase efficiency which will lead to more widespread use of CRISPR. One of the questions that I am wondering is whether a good intention to fix a disease-causing typo in one’s genome could potentially lead to more mutations or Cancer in the long run?

Professor Barrangou also mentioned an example of a type of Butterfly that was genetically edited which I found to be very interesting! By editing a gene that gives the Butterfly a yellow color, the winged butterfly was recolored. The fascinating thing is that the pattern of the butterfly stayed the same. The precision to which genes can be edited is incredible to me. I am wondering whether gene editing could potentially change the color of any living organism (such as the colors of bird feathers)?

CRISPR is also being applied in the Agricultural setting in order to increase the nutrients in vegetables or fruits such as tomatoes, corn, or potatoes. The many applications of CRISPR in Ag, include improving the yield of crops, developing pesticide-resistant plants, developing drought-resistant plants, and making food that has more texture, flavor, and nutrients. I also learned from the webinar about a cool book related to food science that details genetically modified grain and its implications, called Golden Rice.

Professor Barrangou also talked about some common misconceptions that the public tends to believe about gene editing as well as the ethics of CRISPR. One of the common misconceptions is that eating genetically modified fruit will cause humans to become genetically modified. The misconception about fruit is not true because if anything, humans would get more nutrition from healthier fruits. Professor Barrangou also touched on the ethics surrounding CRISPR such as whether scientists should have the ability to edit the germ-line. Editing changes to DNA that offspring would inherit is still an ongoing discussion that people are having but it’s interesting to see how there might be hesitation about one’s offspring not having a say on the gene changes that are going to potentially affect them. I think that the questions about ethics surrounding CRISPR translate to conversations surrounding human embryos and not being able to necessarily get “consent” from unborn babies. However, I agree with Professor Barrangou that if you have the technology to help save lives, it doesn’t make sense to not use it. Just like he mentioned, not using CRISPR is like having a fire extinguisher to put out a fire and not using the extinguisher!

Lastly, Professor Barrangou also highlighted the importance of everyone working together to do their part in terms of editing each other and the media about CRISPR. Overall, I really enjoyed listening to Professor Barrangou’s insightful information about CRISPR. I recently heard about a CRISPR case in which a young girl that originally had an aggressive form of cancer is currently in remission for Leukemia so it’s really exciting how CRISPR is continuously working on ways to save lives. Just like Professor Barrangou stated, CRISPR has only been around for 10 years (considered a very short amount of time) so the technology is only going to keep growing!

One of my last questions is whether we could edit/make an organism’s genome reflect beneficial traits that have worked well for other organisms in the evolutionary process such as having better night vision? In the meantime, I will definitely check out the CRISPR journal!

 

CRISPR Reflection - Exploring by the Seat of Your Pants

The presentation on CRISPR was given by Jesse Hildebrand and Rodolphe Barrangu. 

What is CRISPR?

CRISPR (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats) is a tool used for genetically modifying DNA and RNA by precisely cutting DNA. This creates a gap for the DNA to patch by-itself, and could be considered a mutation or as CRISPR classifies, gene editing.

Before attending the presentation, I thought that gene editing was only used in agriculture. In the grocery store, I often scan items on the shelves for the “Non-GMO” sticker, assuring me that the products I’m about to buy are not genetically modified. However, today I learned that genetically modified organisms can be edited for good purpose in order to add more nutritional value to once ordinary crops. CRISPR technology is used in many fields including: Therapeutics, research, and biotechnology along with agriculture. 

CRISPR in Medicine

In medicine, CRISPR technology has been used to treat patients with sickle cell anemia, a genetic disease that changes the blood cell shape and causes a loss of healthy cells due to the abnormal shape. Today I learned about the first patient to receive CRISPR technology as a form of medicine. Victoria Grey received the technology to target the sickle cell anemia in her genome, which was edited and then released back into her body to correct the genetic disease.

Ethics of CRISPR

An interesting point that one of my classmates brought up was the ethics of genetically modified organisms and if there are consequences to CRISPR. Dr. Barrangu talked about how there are ethical limitations to what genes should be edited. An example he used was germline cells, cells that pass down genetic information through generations, and explained that editing a human genome for someone who has not been born yet is unethical. 

CRISPR will be extremely revolutionary in the medical field for treating countless genetic diseases and has already made an impact on sickle cell anemia treatments however, there is a point when gene editing could become unethical. When I thought about CRISPR in the medical field, I was reminded of the fictional story, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, in which human modification is taken too far, to the point of cloning people in order to harvest their organs. In the book, children are raised in an English boarding school from birth until they are young adults, however, they do not know or realize their purpose in life until they leave the school. The main character, Kathy, has an identity crisis for most of the story because she does not realize that she is a clone, and her sole purpose in life is to donate as many of her organs as possible. The book highlights the ethics of medicine and technology in the modern day, such as CRISPR, and questions how far is too far when editing the human genome. Human cloning is unethical and has not been attempted in this day and age, however, that is not to say that within the next century, Ishiguro’s fictional story is at risk of becoming a reality because of genome editing and copying. 

This is why ethical codes are so important within medicine, a field that is continuously making revolutionary research discoveries such as CRISPR. Technology to that advanced level must be kept in good hands to avoid morally and ethically wrong decisions in genome editing.

Curious question: If a person is using CRISPR to treat a genetic disease, is it possible for their body to reject an edited genome or respond negatively in some way?

Image Source:

Heidt, Amanda. “CRISPR Gene Editing Prompts Chaos in DNA of Human Embryos.” The Scientist, 26 June 2020, https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/crispr-gene-editing-prompts-chaos-in-dna-of-human-embryos-67668. Accessed 12 December 2022.

The Human Immune System

 Have you ever wondered why a bump appears on your arm when a mosquito bites you? This is a perfect example showing how your body is protected by your immune system! The immune system protects an individual’s body from infections, illnesses, and diseases. There are 2 types of immunity: innate immunity and adaptive immunity. While innate immunity are protections already present in the body, adaptive immunity is determined by the human body’s exposure to a foreign substance. The immune system is further broken down into several parts that each have their own role when an invader enters the body. Some may directly attack the pathogen, while others may help the body develop immunity.

Here is a photo giving a summary of what happens when a pathogen enters the human body.

Overall, I am very proud of my first sketch note in AP Bio! I am not the best at drawing, so I was really impressed with the turnout. This method of note taking tested my creativity and organization skills as I had to convey what the immune system is and the process through different forms of media. Something I hope to improve for next time is making the arrows a little more clear. I used a lot and making all of the arrows one color can be difficult for someone to keep track or follow along.

Virus CDQ: How is vaccine inequity affecting global herd immunity?

Hello everyone and welcome back to my website! I hope you enjoyed exploring the biology world through my website so far! Have you ever thought about the distribution of vaccines? Have you ever been curious about which countries are vaccine-deprived? What about the effects on herd immunity? Well, dive into these interesting questions with me. As the end of our unit about viruses in my AP bio class has arrived , me and my hardworking teammates, Ariel and Olivia, created a video to answer our curious question, which may be yours too! We spent 85% of our time researching as planned. A lot was added to my knowledge during this activity and I'm so glad about it. Let's watch the video first. We had to work on our story table before we start making the video and it took a little too long to get approval from our teacher. But as soon as our story table got approved, we spent most of our next days working on the video; even our collaboration time at school :) Our video turned out good actually. We were not expecting it to be done by the due time but we did it! I'm so proud of my team and how we cooperated the whole time and shared ideas. It was a great experience overall. I hope the viewer enjoyed and learnt from this content.

The Mysteries of Water

Oil and water don’t mix; we witness this phenomenon often, such as when we dip bread into olive oil and balsamic vinegar at our favorite Italian restaurant or try to mix our favorite salad dressing. My team and I decided to delve deeper into this concept to understand what was happening at the molecular level, watch the video linked below to see what happened!

 The experimental setup was as follows; we filled one clear glass cup with oil and filled another clear glass cup with water containing pink food coloring for better visibility. We carefully placed a playing card on top of the cup filled with oil and placed it upside down on top of the cup filled with water. When we removed the card to allow the oil to pour into the water, the oil and water did not mix. The oil layer remained on top of the water with a clearly formed border indicating that the liquids did not interact. When we reversed the experiment and flipped the two cups upside down, which placed the water on top and the oil on the bottom, we observed an inversion of the two liquids, but no mixing. The water sank to the bottom, while the oil rose towards the top of the cup. This inversion is due to the difference in densities between water and oil. Water is denser than oil due to the size of the molecule and the bonds being a lot closer together. The chemical properties of oil and water do account for the liquids not mixing. Water is made of one hydrogen atom covalently bonded to two oxygen atoms making water a polar molecule due to an uneven charge distribution. This polarity makes water hydrophilic, which means water attracts other polar hydrophilic molecules. In contrast, oil is a lipid made up of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen molecules and does not have a significant charge, making oil non-polar and therefore hydrophobic. Polar and non-polar molecules do not mix well, and hydrophobic substances don’t dissolve in water, but instead repel the water molecules. 

During this process, we tried to film the experimental procedure and capture our observations live. Overall, I think our experiment was conclusive showing that oil and water don’t mix. However, I think we could have modified the procedure by carefully measuring equal volumes of oil and water. Additionally, smaller volumes of each liquid should have been used, which would have been more appropriate for the size of the cups utilized in our experiment. When we performed the experiment in reverse order we should have started the procedure from the beginning instead of trying to flip the cups which resulted in the water spilling out onto the tray. Our use of pink food coloring in the water made the visualization of the two distinct liquid layers very clear. Unfortunately, we ran out of time and we were not able to fully edit the video, so the video was submitted with a few voice-over errors. Overall, this was a fun experiment.

works cited:

“Why Don't Oil and Water Mix?” Wonderopolis, https://www.wonderopolis.org/wonder/why-dont-oil-and-water-mix. Accessed 31 August 2022.

By: Kayla Kosaka

A Bite Into Rabies

My partner, Yusra Al-Dabbagh, and I did our project on the virus known as rabies. What made me so interested in picking it was that there wasn’t a cure and it makes people go “mad”. I wanted to learn more about rabies, like where the virus originated from or how long rabies has been around. While doing the research, there were so many unique treatments that people came up with. One of these treatments involved submerging people under water. If people didn’t die from rabies, they died by drowning.

 

After doing our research, we found that there were in fact treatments for the early stages of rabies. There is a shot that can be taken to prevent getting rabies and then there is also an after shot if you get bit within a day. I learned so much from this project, like what causes rabies and how rabies can be prevented. Rabies is most commonly known to be transmitted by dogs, so there is a vaccine for animals. Unfortunately, there isn't a vaccine for humans, nor is there a treatment after 24 hours.

Once the symptoms appear, the chance of survival is very slim. When someone says rabies, people think of dogs or raccoons, but the animals infected could be almost any mammal. 99% of cases are transmitted between humans and dogs. This is why so little people survive after being bit, because they don't think the bite is a big deal. As soon as a person is bitten, it is critical that they go get the bite checked out at a hospital because after 24 hours death is basically guaranteed. Overall this project was very informative about the virus and it made me more aware of how critical some of the viruses in the world are.

Spillover - Zika, Ebola, and Beyond

 

I really enjoyed the movie, I was engaged the entire time and found the science and research to be extremely interesting. I found it sort of funny how they kept referring to the “next infection” as something that would happen in the future, and it has now turned into something we have lived through and experienced over the last three years. 

I learned a lot about the characteristics and behaviors of viruses. The movie touched base on different types of transmission possible, the symptoms people feel when experiencing different virus infections, relations/mutations between viruses, and the importance of contact tracing. 

I found the information to be extremely valuable. I think researching viruses is crucial to the state of public health especially in times of crisis, such as what we experienced the past few years. The more we know as a society, the more prepared we will be to fight against whatever virus is threatening our wellbeing. 

I was extremely surprised to learn about the aggressive nature of the Ebola virus. Obviously, Ebola is an extremely dangerous infection, but I never knew quite how intense it really was. The fact that 1 billion Ebola viruses can be found in 1 cubic centimeter of blood was absolutely jaw-dropping to me. 

Some questions that I have:

• Are there any viruses on the rise that we have to be worrying about right now? 
• What are we currently doing to prevent further diseases from spreading? 
• Is the public immediately informed when a new virus or disease is discovered, or do they try to keep it under wraps? 

Movie Link

Spillover Documentary

 

I loved this movie, but I will be honest it scared me quite a bit. Hearing how devastating certain viruses can be and how easily they can spread to a much bigger population made me terrified of what is possible. The documentary was done very well and showcased everything that comes with virus outbreaks. I think watching this movie after COVID puts a lot of things into perspective. I understood right away what they meant by contact tracing because we have been doing it for almost three years. I had a deeper understanding of how quickly viruses could spread and how much they can affect humans, emotionally and physically.

One thing that I learned was how while a virus might not seem bad at first, there are many other factors in play. For example, the Zika virus made people sick, and sometimes some developed a rash, but it was all mild. No one was deeply concerned about it until many children were being born with microcephaly. This is a birth defect where a baby’s head is smaller than expected due to having a smaller brain that might not have developed properly while still in the womb. There are different side effects to a virus that might not even surface until months later. This taught me that even though a virus might now seem bad, it does mean it is still okay to get it. There always be a chance for a virus to cause more complications down the road.

Child with microcephaly (left) and child without (right)

One of the most important things I learned from this movie is that there is a career in tracking down possible outbreaks. I never really considered and even imagined that to be an actual job where people are trained and dedicated their life’s work to look for the next big epidemic/pandemic. If anything, it made me interested in maybe pursuing a career down that path. Organizations and projects like PREDICT are dedicated to detecting viruses that have pandemic potential, and that can move between animals and people. One point that was made in the movie as well was that these deadly pathogens don’t know borders. They don’t care for politics, and poor health care systems anywhere are a threat to everywhere else. We need to work together not only during but before an outbreak to make sure we are all able to overcome it.

Map of where PREDICT is watching global hotspots for outbreaks of zoonotic disease (2015)

I found this information to be very valuable. Given we are still dealing with COVID and all the consequences that came with it, this movie gave a lot of insight into why COVID happened the way it did. It provides information as to why the vaccine for COVID came out so fast. It was because the SARS virus has been studied for years, and we were prepared to create a vaccine. Another reason why this information is valuable is because it gives me more context to events that happened in my childhood. I grew up hearing about Ebola on the news, but all I knew was that it was bad, and I didn’t want to get it. Now having a chance to actually understand what Ebola is and how it affects the body is amazing.

One thing that I found surprising was how lab-grown mosquitoes with modified DNA are being used to combat certain viruses that are spread through mosquitoes. The debate of whether or not modifying different organisms to better serve our society is a good idea has been going on for a while. I guess I didn’t expect actual action when it came to modifying these mosquitoes.

Fiocruz facility in Brazil releasing lab-grown mosquitoes

A couple of questions that I have are the following:

1. How much can lab-grown organisms negatively impact our environment? Does releasing male mosquitoes whose kids will die before fully maturing disturb the natural ecosystem to a larger degree?
2. I am not sure if I truly want to know this, but what is the next possible epidemic/pandemic? Does the fact that COVID happened stall other outbreaks from happening for a certain time or is all based on “luck”?
3. How dangerous is it to travel around the world to collect data samples of the next possible huge & deadly outbreak?