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Good morning, this is UniScoops! Think of us as your intellectual designated driver: keeping you sharp while everyone else is in a brain fog.
Here’s a taste of what we’re serving today:
Apoptosis 🧬
PLUS: Fatherhood and Poetry, Alzheimer’s and the Immune System, and The Problem with Meeting Minutes 📝
BIOLOGY
Apoptosis 🧬
Cells are highly complex, with numerous biochemical processes that make up their metabolism occurring constantly and with remarkable accuracy. However, sometimes things can go wrong, and the consequences can be lethal. Fortunately, cells have evolved mechanisms to prevent damaged or abnormal cells from continuing to divide, one of which is apoptosis, a form of programmed cell death. There are two main pathways of apoptosis: extrinsic apoptosis, in which proteins bind to receptors on the cell surface membrane to activate the cell death pathway, and intrinsic apoptosis, in which apoptosis is initiated within the cell in response to factors such as DNA damage, faulty replication, or developmental signals.
Moira Rose looking for (developmental) signal
After apoptosis is triggered, the inner membrane of the mitochondrion is damaged and pores form, through which cytochrome c (part of the electron transport chain) is released. At this point, the cell is committed to apoptosis. In the cytoplasm, cytochrome c binds to other proteins to form the apoptosome, causing the activation of the apoptosis cascade. The nucleus and cytoplasm can then be broken down into small vesicles and packaged off to be phagocytosed by nearby cells. The protein p53 can trigger apoptosis and acts as a tumour suppressor gene.
💡 Things to consider
Dire consequences: As you have read, one of the purposes of apoptosis is to prevent the continued replication of cells with dangerously mutated DNA, which the cellular proofreading mechanisms in place cannot fix. Why is this important? What might be the consequences of not having this mechanism for a unicellular and multicellular organism respectively?
Extrinsic apoptosis: Extrinsic apoptosis is usually triggered by the immune system in multicellular organisms. During this process, T cells analyse proteins (or parts of proteins) being displayed in MHC Class 1 proteins located on the cell surface, so that cells can be monitored to ensure correct proteins are being synthesised. In what context(s) might it be beneficial to induce extrinsic apoptosis?
Necrosis: There is another way cells can die, known as necrosis. This can happen as a result of direct trauma including mechanical damage, heat or cold, pH changes etc. When cells die this way, their contents are not packaged up into easily phagocytosed packages, but sometimes spill out of the cell as it ruptures, which can activate an immune response. Knowing this, why do you think it’s important that cell contents are phagocytosed rather than simply released? What might be the consequences of an immune response being triggered?
🔎 Find out more
🍒 The cherry on top
📝 Fatherhood and Poetry: This essay explores the surprising relationship between becoming a father and creative expression, challenging the idea that parenthood gets in the way of artistic work. It looks at poets including Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Robert Lowell, whose writing changed dramatically after having children, alongside recent neuroscience research into how fatherhood can reshape the brain. A fascinating read if you're interested in Literature, Psychology, or History!
🧠 Alzheimer’s and the Immune System: This article explores a surprising new idea about Alzheimer’s disease: some of the immune response that contributes to brain damage may actually begin outside the brain, in the lymph nodes. It looks at how dendritic cells can activate T cells, which then enter the brain and contribute to inflammation and neurodegeneration, and how targeting these immune cells could potentially lead to new treatments. A fascinating read if you're interested in Biology or Medicine!
📝 The Problem with Meeting Minutes: This article explores what gets lost when real conversations are turned into written records, and why historians need to be careful when treating meeting minutes as an accurate account of what was actually said. From the Cuban Missile Crisis to Soviet Politburo meetings, it shows how disagreements, ambiguity, and even important details can disappear through editing, memory, and “spin”. A fascinating read if you're interested in History, Politics, or Sociology!
👀 Keep your eyes peeled for…
Wednesday 14th October:
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Monday 20th October:
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That’s it for this week! We’d like to thank this week’s writer: Oliver Eyre.
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