Molecular Biology from Rita's P.O.V

This week I was wondering about colorblindness. I have some friends that are colorblind and have always wondered what exactly they see. Is it all black and grey or is it just not as vibrant of colors.  So, I did some research and, of course, it is commonly known that colorblindness is genetically linked to the X chromosome, but what I didn't know was that there are several types of colorblindness. Besides complete colorblindness, there is red-green colorblindness and blue-yellow colorblindness. Diagnosis of red-green colorblindness can be determined by the Ishihara color test plate. This test  consists of a number of colored plates, called  Ishihara plates , each of which contains a circle of dots appearing randomized in color and size. When colorblind people are presented with this test, they see the number 21 instead of the number 71. The numbers 7 and 1 are colored in green while the remaining picture is red. However, if presented to someone who is completely colorb...

This week I will introduce a very rare mutation that can be quite sad when you think about it. This mutation I will be talking about is called progeria. Hutchinson-Gilford Progeria is a very rare and severe disease that causes accelerated aging. It affects children and unfortunately, the affected only live to be approximately between thirteen and twenty years old. The cause of the mutation is linked to the LMNA gene, a gene that provides instructions for making several different proteins called lamins. These lamins lead to the production of a protein that provides support to the cell nucleus. When the mutation occurs, these proteins are damaged but they are still being used by the cells. When the cells use this protein, called progerin, they break down more easily. Progerin builds up in many cells of kids with progeria, causing them to grow old quickly. Most babies who have progeria will not show symptoms at birth, but...

Okay, so I had no clue what to talk about this week until my friend told me about something that happened to her while she was pregnant with her second child. Long story short, her child was born nine weeks premature due to something called Preterm Premature Rupture of Membrane. PrePROM for short, this caused her water to break and for her to be stuck in the hospital for six weeks. When her daughter was finally born, she decided to send off the umbilical cord blood to the research lab and she learned how her daughters cord blood could be used to treat and cancers or infections her daughter could contract throughout her life. I found this story of hers interesting because I have never heard of umbilical cord banking until today. When I looked it up, I found so much information out and now I am here to share it with you. Umbilical cord blood banking is used to treat nearly 80 different diseases, including a multitude of cancers, genetic d...