How the brain remembers...
“I believe that when basic science is well done it provides vital information for drug development and advanced therapies.” This quote from Deborah Schechtman, a professor at the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Chemistry solidified that her research would be the main topic of discussion for this small newsletter this week. A few weeks ago I created a filter that allows me to get news from some Universities of the Global South straight into one RSS feed. Since then my outlook on how to report on research has evolved somewhat and I am fascinated by what things people in these countries are researching. Initially, I thought much of the research would have to do with problems that plague local communities. However, there are billions of people living in countries that are less developed. One way or another, they will research topics that either deal with global issues (ie. Climate Change) or try to dig deeper into some basic understanding of humans.
And this week, we will travel all the way to Brazil to look at a research paper that tried to understand how our brains remember, in an effort to have a stronger basis for developing therapies and drugs that will help millions of people around the world that suffer from some form of dementia.
“I believe that when basic science is well done it provides vital information for drug development and advanced therapies.”- Deborah Schechtman
First of all, what is Epigenetics?
Some years ago we discovered that a specific protein with the very catchy name PKMzeta (thinking of naming my first child this) is associated with the formation of long-term memories. In this study, the researchers try to find out the mechanism that explains the link of this protein with memories. But before I go into the details of how they do that I need to explain what is the methodology they used to find out that mechanism. This is where epigenetics come in.
If by any chance you have listened to the very first edition of my podcast, I talked with Dr. Joanes Grandjean a neuroscientist studying depression and Alzheimer’s disease. For his work, he also uses epigenetics to figure out different things about the brain. If you are a fan of early podcasts with… questionable audio you should definitely give the episode a listen.
Epigenetics is the study of how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. It's all about how the environment can affect the expression of our genes without actually changing the DNA sequence itself. So, imagine our DNA as a recipe book and epigenetics as the bookmarks. These bookmarks are like little notes that tell your body which genes to read and which to ignore. The bookmarks, in this case, are chemical tags that can be added or removed from our DNA, kind of like adding or removing a post-it note from a recipe in a book. These tags can turn genes on or off, and influence how they are expressed. This process can be influenced by a whole host of factors, such as diet, stress, exercise, and even where you live. So, it's like the recipe book can change based on the environment it's in. It's pretty amazing when you think about it, and it can have a huge impact on our health and well-being.
What “post-it note” did the Brazilian researchers play with
For this specific work, researchers from the University of São Paulo’s Institute of Chemistry and 11 more departments from Universities in Brazil and the US used an epigenetic method called gene silencing by DNA methylation. Ok a lot of jargon to unpack here.
So, we know that DNA is like the blueprint for all the cells in our body, right? But did you know that not all parts of the DNA are always active? Sometimes, genes can be silenced or turned off, and that's where DNA methylation comes in.
You see, DNA methylation is like a chemical tag that can be added to certain parts of the DNA sequence, and it can act like a light switch, turning certain genes on or off. When a gene is methylated, it's like it's been silenced, and the cell won't make the protein that the gene codes for.
Now, you might think, "What's the big deal? It's just a tiny light switch, no harm done." But in reality, these switches can have a huge impact. They can shut down whole genes and affect everything from embryonic development to cancer.
But here's the kicker: scientists are actually using DNA methylation to their advantage. By adding or removing these stickers, they can turn genes on or off, which could potentially lead to new treatments for all kinds of diseases.
The Ph.D. candidate that did much of the experiments, stated that they conducted several tests to see if the methylation of the PKMzeta gene would lead to decreased levels of the protein with the same name. The PKMzeta gene produces the protein when another protein with the equally catchy name of CREB1 binds to it. However, when these genes are methylated the CREB1 protein couldn’t bind to the PKMzeta gene which in term didn’t produce the PKMzeta protein. These tests confirmed that the protein CREB1 is required to produce the protein PKMzeta and that methylation explains the drop in the levels of that protein.
Next steps…
The researchers didn’t stop there (because nothing is EVER good enough). They also checked to see if the methylation affects other genes in the central nervous system. And indeed, they showed that methylation isn’t confined to the PKMzeta protein and it could possibly be associated with other pathologies. The future holds endless possibilities for the research teams since they could see if even more genes are affected by DNA methylation. Or they could further investigate what the PKMzeta protein exactly does in the central nervous system. We know that it is involved in long-term memories but we have no idea how exactly.
The work could provide great insight and is a step forward toward finding out solutions to problems like Alzheimer’s, depression and even chronic pain conditions. You can read more about the research and statements from the lead author in the article from Neuroscience News here.
A Project to bring renewable energy to lower-income communities in Kenya
There's a new project called African SCENe, and it's aiming to bring clean energy to low-income suburban communities in Nairobi. This 12-month feasibility study will identify schools that could become clean energy hubs and generate, store, and distribute renewable energy for the communities they serve.
The best part is that this project is not just about providing clean energy, it's about empowering the community. By providing access to adequate, affordable, and reliable light in the evenings and energy for cooking, African SCENe will make a positive impact on people's lives. And not just that, they're also enhancing awareness and education of those living in the area, particularly children, by using energy as the vehicle for STEM education. Read more about the initiative in the article from DPAO on the net here.
I personally would be very interested to see how this project will develop. In the last few years, I have heard of a lot of initiatives that were meant to help local communities but never included the input of the local communities in the implementation. I hope that this project will succeed in its goal and I will try to keep it on my radar for the next 12 months to see the results.
Any more news?
People in academia are constantly coming up with new and exciting things so if you need more to quench your curiosity here are some more headlines.
Global Consortium to Improve Human Antimicrobial Use, by Mirage News
A myth no more: Cranberry products can prevent urinary tract infections for women, by SciMex
Don’t Forget: Why does the giraffe have a long neck?
That’s all for this week! I hope that the rest of the week will be calm and rewarding. Did you like this newsletter? If you did you can subscribe to it at the top of the page and why not share it around using this sexy little button here
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Until next week… take care and be kind [=