TekTalk Episode 1: Eric Sun
TekTalk Episode 1 Transcript
Introduction
Seon Woo: Welcome to the first episode of TekTalk. This podcast is produced by Teknos, the TJ science journal team. We will be featuring recent scientific news, as well as hosting interviews with students and teachers. Today, we will be talking about a study regarding the genetic link revealed by octopuses’ response to ecstasy. This will be followed by an interview with Eric Sun, a senior who was involved in the research in the JUMP Lab.
Science News
Crystal: In a study conducted by the Johns Hopkins medicine department, researchers have discovered a potential evolutionary link between octopus and human behavior. The octopus is known to be a particularly anti-social but intelligent creature, and this intelligence is what led scientists to speculate genetically between the behavior of octopuses and humans. They found that the genetic sequences for neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, are strikingly similar for octopuses and humans. Using serotonin-binding transporters, ecstasy binds to brain cells and promotes prosocial behaviors in humans and other vertebrates. The researchers studied the effect of the drug MDMA, or ecstasy, by exposing the octopuses to a liquefied form of MDMA. After absorbing the drug through their gills, they were placed in experimental chambers for thirty minutes and the behavior was observed. The results showed that the octopuses tended to stay in groups and become more inclined towards physical interaction. They often hugged the cages of other octopuses, and sometimes even latched on with their mouths. This trend is similar to that of humans’ reaction to MDMA and may be influential for future models in brain research.
Interview
Lilia: We have Eric Sun here as our first interview today. Eric is a senior currently taking part in the neuroscience senior research lab. He is also a lead researcher and coordinator of the JUMP Lab.
Lilia: Hi, Eric.
Eric: Hi, Lilia.
Lilia: To start off, what is JUMP Lab?
Eric: So, JUMP Lab is the Jefferson Underclassmen Multidisciplinary Projects Lab. So, it's a research lab right in the Da Vinci commons where underclassmen from ninth grade to eleventh grade can apply, and then if they’re accepted, they can conduct their own research project similar to that of a senior research project, except in ninth grade through eleventh grade.
Lilia: How did you first get started with JUMP Lab?
Eric: So I got started with JUMP Lab my freshman year when I started my first project looking at DNA damage in insect cells.
Lilia: What was it that got you interested in this topic?
Eric: So I was, um, really interested in seeing, like, what is biomedical research really like? So, in ninth grade I already, like, really had a passion for biology except whatever I learned in the textbook wasn’t really applicable, so I was like, “Let’s see what I can come up with. Let’s see what I can test.” I decided to apply for the JUMP Lab in fall of freshman year.
Lilia: What did you learn in that first year of experience with JUMP Lab?
Eric: Um, I think my first year of JUMP Lab, freshman year, I really got, like the basics of techniques. So, like cell culture, and a lot of just bio, biomedical research techniques.
Lilia: Now that you’re a senior, what's your role in the JUMP Lab?
Eric: So my main role now in the JUMP Lab is to mentor students, make sure, pretty much, the lab is functioning. So, coordinating with Dr. James to make sure we have all the reagent needed for all the additional molecular cellular biology projects in the JUMP Lab. And just, pretty much, you know, be helping underclassmen this year conduct their projects.
Lilia: What other kinds of research have you been working on lately?
Eric: So, since sophomore year, I’ve been working on this project with CRISPR-Cas9 and drug resistance. So, I’ve been studying the use of CRISPR-Cas9 to reverse drug resistance in breast cancer. So, we’ve been studying—pretty much essentially we take these breast cells, cancer cells that are drug-resistant, um, to chemotherapy drugs. Then, we treat them with CRISPR-Cas9, and then afterwards, just look at the cells and see whether or not they’re still drug-resistant.
Lilia: Can you tell us a little bit more about the CRISPR technology that you use?
Eric: There are a lot of CRISPR systems that exist, like CRISPR 12—or CRISPR-Cas12, CRISPR-Cas13a. All of these are different systems in how they work, but specifically CRISPR-Cas9, which is the most commonly used CRISPR system, is what I used. So, CRISPR-Cas9, um, is a system in which there is a Cas9 nuclease—so, a protein that can cut the DNA—and there’s also something called guide RNA, or sgRNA. So, this guide RNA is what actually ends up going to the genomic region. It hybridizes, meaning it forms like, streak(?) hydrogen bond interactions with the DNA of interest, and then it will cut—the Cas9 nuclease will cut at that specific area. So, like a common example, or common metaphor that’s been used to describe how CRISPR-Cas9 system, um, is like a word processing. So, in word processing, you have a document and you can specifically edit the middle of the document. What you can do with CRISPR-Cas9 is that the guide RNA is like your pointer. You can choose where you want to delete, add, or modify. And from there, your actual backspace or delete button is the Cas9 nuclease which can cut, snip, and you can add whatever there is to be added to the document.
Lilia: How were you first introduced to the CRISPR technology?
Eric: So, in my freshman year, um, Ms. Holman was my IBET teacher, and I think around halfway through the school year she invited me to go to this lecture series in D.C., it was in this one afternoon. So after school, I took the metro, went to D.C., and then I went to this talk given by ____(?), who’s this, um amazing guy—he’s an amazing researcher. He works at the ____ (?) institute, and he’s one of the top-level researchers out there. He’s doing, like, cutting-edge CRISPR research in multiple types of CRISPR systems and from there, freshman year, I was really inspired by him to start my project at CRIS—like, using CRISPR, and drug resistance was one of the first ideas that came about.
Lilia: Besides CRISPR, what are some other kinds of genome editing techniques?
Eric: So, CRISPR is actually a relatively new gene editing technology. There’s been a few other commonly used gene editing technologies since, like, the 1990s. So, these include Zinc Finger Nucleases, which are ZFNs, and TALENS. So, both of these are techniques that have been used for many years now.
Lilia: Why did you decide to use CRISPR for your project?
Eric: So, CRISPR is, um, unique in the fact that it’s very modular in design, meaning, um, it’s—well, in one respect, CRISPR is a lot cheaper than both Zinc Finger Nucleases and TALENS, so, we can still do gene editing at a significantly lower cost and it’s still very effectively.
Lilia: In all of your research so far, what are some challenges that you’ve run into?
Eric: Um, so, one of the main challenges we’ve had with this project, this CRISPR drug resistance project, was that, um, we were trying to create a drug resistant cell line at the very beginning. So, my sophomore year when we first hit off this project, we spent pretty much a year culturing normal breast cancer cells and treating them with chemotherapy drugs to stim—to stimulate them and make them drug resistant. So essentially, any cells that—any cells that were drug resistant would be able to survive, they’d be able to continue to divide, and then you would just treat them with increasing concentration until all of them are pretty much drug resistant. Except, the problem is, it takes many, many years to actually get this done. We didn’t even realize that our, our cells could barely survive maybe like a millionth of the amount of drug needed to be deemed drug resistant. So that was one of the major problems we had during sophomore year. And what that led to was, um, collaboration with other labs at the NIH who were willing to, like, give us the cells that they’ve already made that were drug resistant.
Lilia: Outside the JUMP Lab, can you tell us a little bit about what you’re working on in the Neuroscience Senior Research Lab?
Eric: Yeah. So, my Neuroscience, uh, Research Lab Project is actually pretty different than the other two projects on DNA damage and drug resistance. I’m looking at Parkinson’s Disease, and specifically I’m looking at—I’m using this mouse cell line called the P19 Cell Line. And what I’m doing is I’m taking these cells, I’m differentiating them into dopaminergic neurons—so, neurons that respond to dopamine—and then from there I’m treating them with plasmid that has—that encodes for this protein called alpha-synuclein, which is really responsible for Parkinson’s Disease. At least, all of the research shows that alpha-synuclein is directly involved in Parkinson’s. So, after these cells pretty much have Parkinson's-like symptoms, I’m treating them with various types of neurotransmitters and then looking at the amount of alpha-synuclein, pretty much the electrophysiology of these cells, as well as doing some flow cytometry testing as well to quantify the amount of (indiscernible).
Lilia: What kinds of research have you been working on outside of school?
Eric: Yes. So, for the last two summers I’ve been interning at the NIH, um, specifically in the NCI where I’ve been studying DNA damage. So, the first summer I was there, I was studying histone proteins and how the specific type of histone protein—histone protein is a protein that DNA wraps around—I’ve been studying what its role is in the DNA damage response pathway. And then, this last summer I’ve been studying m⁶A. So, m⁶A is an RNA modification on adenosine—it’s also on DNA but it’s primarily on RNA—I’ve been studying the role that m⁶A has in DNA double-strand break repair.
Lilia: As you conduct research in all these labs, what’s some of the background work that goes in before experimenting in the lab?
Eric: A lot of work definitely has to be done beforehand, and most of that work consists of, first, I would say, reading a lot of literature in the field. So, a mix of both secondary and primary articles are always a good way to go to understand, like, what is going on most recently and what you can add to the field.
Lilia: What are some of your research goals for the near future?
Eric: In the near future, I plan on st—continuing biomedical research overall, but I think I’m really interested in two other fields, which are—well, one of them is the DNA Damage. I haven’t really studied that much during the school years, but it’s what I’ve been doing during the summers, and then—as well as studying RNA biology. So, RNA—like, like DNA, RNA is a very interesting, uh, macromolecule, and RNA modifications are a completely new field that I want to continue studying.
Lilia: You’ve obviously gone into great depth with your research. What advice do you have for new researchers or potential JUMP Lap researchers who are just getting into their projects?
Eric: I would say, um, most importantly, it’s just not to give up at all, ‘cause any research project will have challenges big and small, and most of them probably (?) is to really research what you’re interested in. So, even if a few of those have been studied really well in-depth, there’s still obviously stuff that hasn’t been discovered yet. So, what I’d recommend is truly reading up on it, um, asking, like, questions and thinking about, you know, “Has this been done? Has this been done?” And then testing it out yourself in the lab. And obviously (?), it’s trying—just shoot your shot, apply to the JUMP Lab, apply to a new research lab or institution, and try to conduct that research.
Conclusion
Yujung: Thank you for joining us on this week's podcast. Today, we discussed the impact of ecstasy an octopus and invited senior Eric Sun to discuss his various research experiences. On the next episode, we will be interviewing Dr. Burnett, the lab director for the Biotechnology Senior Research Lab. Thank you for listening to our podcast and see you next time on TekTalk.
Outro
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