After a just-about-but-not-really-one-month break from classes following the Fall 2021 semester, things are starting up again here at Johns Hopkins. While it feels like I handed in my ten-page final for Behavioral Assessment of Animal Models of Cognition and Neuropsychiatric Disorders just yesterday, I’ve had quite a bit of time to decompress and explore interests over the past few weeks. Between pre-season workouts and AO3 scrolling, I’ve kept myself busy in honing my knitting skills—a few hats here and there, and an “in progress” fingering-weight tee that has tortured me for the past six months.
Aside from being mocked by lightweight wool, I’m a man who is being chased by the dreaded, ever-nearing medical school application cycle. How do I cope with my fears of MCAT registration and personal statement workshops? Naturally, I sacrifice half of my winter break to lab work. I’ve recently transferred to the Dawson Lab in the Johns Hopkins Institute for Cell Engineering, and am helping out a post-doc with his research on the role of the gut-brain axis in Parkinson’s Disease onset. If you’re like me, you’re wondering how a faulty G.I. tract contributes to neurodegeneration. Basically, bad bacteria in our digestive system can enter our intestinal tissue and cause protein misfolding in cells. These misfolded proteins can aggregate, creating oligomers, and these oligomers can also aggregate, creating fibrils. In the case of certain proteins (alpha-synuclein is one of the main culprits in Parkinson’s), these fibrils can spread throughout the body via the neurons in our G.I tract, ultimately reaching the brain and messing around with stuff up there. What this means is, if you have a stomachache, start taking memory supplements ASAP.
Tried to Walk 