Proteins and Homeostasis
Project Description
This project had two parts, one about proteins and the other about homeostasis. For the first part, we had to research a certain protein, and how it became a functioning protein. When we looked this up and read into it, we learned about Central Dogma, transcription, translation, and folding. The protein that we chose was keratin, the protein that makes things like hair, nails, and the outer layer of your skin. Once we had all of this, we had to get the DNA sequence for keratin. All of this information then had to go into a presentation, which we then presented to the teacher. The second part of the project was with a different group, and in my opinion more interesting. We started by researching homeostasis, what is was, why we need it and examples. The next part of this was to pick one thing that homeostasis regulated, like body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, and design an experimant around that. We chose blood pressure becuase we had seen an article on how music affects blood pressure and were interested by it. The decision made by the group was that we would do an experiment on how different styles of music affected a person's blood pressure. Our hypothesis was that the more intense the music, the more the subject's heart rate would increase. When we got the results, they did not show this. We decided to ask the subjects to rate the songs based on how much they liked them. This brought to light another conclusion. Our data showed that the more a person liked a song, the more their heart rate decreases. We then put this into a poster and lab report. You can see these and our protein presentaion below.
This project had two parts, one about proteins and the other about homeostasis. For the first part, we had to research a certain protein, and how it became a functioning protein. When we looked this up and read into it, we learned about Central Dogma, transcription, translation, and folding. The protein that we chose was keratin, the protein that makes things like hair, nails, and the outer layer of your skin. Once we had all of this, we had to get the DNA sequence for keratin. All of this information then had to go into a presentation, which we then presented to the teacher. The second part of the project was with a different group, and in my opinion more interesting. We started by researching homeostasis, what is was, why we need it and examples. The next part of this was to pick one thing that homeostasis regulated, like body temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate, and design an experimant around that. We chose blood pressure becuase we had seen an article on how music affects blood pressure and were interested by it. The decision made by the group was that we would do an experiment on how different styles of music affected a person's blood pressure. Our hypothesis was that the more intense the music, the more the subject's heart rate would increase. When we got the results, they did not show this. We decided to ask the subjects to rate the songs based on how much they liked them. This brought to light another conclusion. Our data showed that the more a person liked a song, the more their heart rate decreases. We then put this into a poster and lab report. You can see these and our protein presentaion below.
Blood Pressure Lab Report |
Homeostasis Poster |
Keratin Protein |
Terms and Definitions
Protein: A long chain of amino acids that perform most of the funcitons in the cell
Central Dogma: The process in which a fully functional protein is made
Transcription: The copying of the genetic code for the protein from the DNA to the mRNA
Translation: The process by which the amino acids, based off the code on the mRNA, are brought to the ribisome to make an amino acid chain
Folding: The process where a polypeptide chain folds to create a fully functional protein
Homeostasis: The process of keeping stable internal conditions in the body
Blood Pressure: The pressure of the blood on the artery walls
Protein: A long chain of amino acids that perform most of the funcitons in the cell
Central Dogma: The process in which a fully functional protein is made
Transcription: The copying of the genetic code for the protein from the DNA to the mRNA
Translation: The process by which the amino acids, based off the code on the mRNA, are brought to the ribisome to make an amino acid chain
Folding: The process where a polypeptide chain folds to create a fully functional protein
Homeostasis: The process of keeping stable internal conditions in the body
Blood Pressure: The pressure of the blood on the artery walls
Reflection
This was an interesting project for sure. It was a combination of two different topics, and the different groups also made things interesting. For the protein part, I could have done a little more thourough research into folding and protein synthesis. The information I did find was useful, but it was not enough. In the future, I plan on doing more, further in depth research about the topic to help deepen my and my groups understanding. I thought that the homeostasis project was much better for me than the protein one. I had much better research, and knew all about the topic, so the actual project was much easier to do. I also thought that I worked well with my group. We all worked towards the common goal, and split up the work evenly. All the work was done well, and our experiment was thorough and well dont. One thing we could have worked on was time managment. We procrastinated and didn't do things as soon as we should have. This thankfully did not lead to any problems late on, as we were able to complete our presentation in good time. I think in both of these projects, I did pretty well, but as always, there are things to work on and improve.
This was an interesting project for sure. It was a combination of two different topics, and the different groups also made things interesting. For the protein part, I could have done a little more thourough research into folding and protein synthesis. The information I did find was useful, but it was not enough. In the future, I plan on doing more, further in depth research about the topic to help deepen my and my groups understanding. I thought that the homeostasis project was much better for me than the protein one. I had much better research, and knew all about the topic, so the actual project was much easier to do. I also thought that I worked well with my group. We all worked towards the common goal, and split up the work evenly. All the work was done well, and our experiment was thorough and well dont. One thing we could have worked on was time managment. We procrastinated and didn't do things as soon as we should have. This thankfully did not lead to any problems late on, as we were able to complete our presentation in good time. I think in both of these projects, I did pretty well, but as always, there are things to work on and improve.