Houston Methodist Research Institute ScienceDay Activities Book

Explore • Observe • Experiment • Create

Activities Book

Science makes the impossible become possible.

At the Houston Methodist Research Institute, we spend our day asking questions and coming up with fun experiments to find answers.

Our scientists have created this activity book to teach you all about what we can do with science.

Explore our fun-filled world of science!

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Hungry Dendritic Cell Immune cells feast on silicon microparticles labeled with bacterial proteins.

Jeweled Endothelial Cell An isolated endothelial cell is decorated with scattered silicon microparticles. One particle has been engulfed by the cell and is covered by the cell membrane.

Silicon Shapes & Sizes Silicon particles can be made in many shapes and sizes.

Cellular Hug The silicon microparticle is covered in cellular arms.

We hope you had fun coloring the fascinating shapes on these pages. These photos show images that are normally too small for your eye to see, but cells like these are contained in your own body! Here, we explain what you’re seeing: the immune system cells and the particles that deliver medicine to them.

Hungry Dendritic Cell

Jeweled Endothelial Cell

Dendritic cells live in tissue that comes in

Endothelial cells line blood vessels and keep

contact with the outside environment, like your

blood circulating smoothly throughout the

skin or the inner lining of your nose. These cells

body. Problems in the blood vessel’s lining

devour and engulf anything foreign to the body

(called the “endothelium”) can cause many

and then present the digested bits (called

different heart and vascular (blood vessel)

“antigens”) to train your body’s immune system

diseases. Silicon microparticles can deliver

how to recognize—and attack—foreign invaders.

medicine directly to the endothelial cells— after they are devoured by the endothelial cells and the medicine they contain is released into the cell.

Silicon Shapes & Sizes

Cellular Hug

Silicon particles are made in all shapes and

A helpful drug can be loaded on a particle, but

sizes—which affects what drugs they can

it still needs to get into the cell. Some particles

carry and which cells will take up the drug.

stick to the cell and release loaded drugs into

All cells have receptors that take up particles,

the area around the cell, which are then engulfed.

but each type of cell has its own unique type

Other particles are devoured as a whole by the

of receptor. Scientists create particles that

cell, which throws what look like arms around

only interact with certain receptors—like a

the particle. These cellular arms, which are

key that only fits in one type of lock. In this

extensions of the cell membrane, are filled

way, only certain cells with those special

with special proteins that allow for movement.

receptors can devour the particles and receive

Not so good at giving hugs, but great at

the medicine the particles carry.

grabbing things!

Help guide the particle to the cancer cell.

Science Word Search Y

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G K N Q E E X H U A N A R Z O E T U R E M S H C E N R H R O I F T P I

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E E C S H N T E O P H Y S I C S R E W B T D V W F L S L S Y S E L E G R W R A

I R E T C A B O L G T C L L P

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J Z T A B F H Y M L A P C

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V N A N O U E P O C S O R C I M A B

ATOM

EARTH

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BACTERIA

ELECTRICITY

PARTICLE

BIOLOGY

ELECTRON

PHYSICS

CARBON

ENERGY

PLANTS

CELL

GRAVITY

SILICON

CHEMISTRY

LIGHT

SPACE

DENDRITE

MICROSCOPE

TECHNOLOGY

Light microscope Invented in the 1600's, the light microscope allows for imaging at the macroscale using lenses and light.

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Connect thethe dots and color to reveal revealaascene scenefrom from Connect dots and colorthe thepicture picture to thethe lab.lab.

Electron microscope Invented in 1952, the scanning electron microscope allows for imaging at the nanoscale by scanning the object with a focused beam of electrons.

Color thethe picture usingthe thescanning scanningelectron electron microscope.

Color pictureof ofaascientist scientist using microscope.

Even big scientific discoveries start in a small lab eers n i g n e and s t s i t n y and d u t Scie s r to e h t e g o at is h t b a l work t in a s g n se i u h t y e a k d a y m ever r o f r e t used la

From the sm all pill to the la est rgest rocke t, scie nce is in eve rythin g

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Elephant Toothpaste Activity Description Are you in a hurry to see a reaction?

Then you will want to use a catalyst!

They can make a chemical reaction go faster without being consumed in the process. In this experiment, the catalyst is the yeast and it is added to hydrogen peroxide to produce foam. This foam looks exactly like what an elephant would use to brush his teeth!

Materials • Empty Plastic Bottle • Funnel • Hydrogen Peroxide (3-­6%) • Food Coloring • Dawn Dish Soap • Dry Yeast • Hot Water

Directions 1. Using the funnel, pour the hydrogen peroxide in the bottle and add a few drops of food coloring. Then add the dishwashing liquid.

2. Mix a teaspoon of yeast with two tablespoons of hot water (not boiling) in a bowl.

3. Again, using the funnel, pour the yeast mixture into the bottle. Immediately remove the funnel and step back.

4. The liquid starts to bubble before turning into foam, splashing out of the neck of the bottle.

It looks like a huge mass of toothpaste squeezed out of a tube.

How does it work?

Over time, hydrogen peroxide breaks down into water and oxygen. When you add a catalyst, in this case yeast, this process happens much faster. The yeast binds to the hydrogen peroxide and breaks it down into oxygen and water at a high rate. The oxygen produced combines with the dish soap and produces a large amount of foam. Part of the water becomes steam and the rest remains in the bottle with the dissolved yeast.

Mentos & Coke Activity Description Squirting a jet from a bottle of a fizzy drink is fun, but is it science? Of course it is! It is an example of nucleation, a process that produces many bubbles from a point called “nucleation centers.”

In this case, the fizzy drink releases so much gas that it cannot be contained in the bottle.

Materials • Bottle(s) of a Diet Cola (e.g. Diet Coke) • Paper or Card • Toothpick • Mentos Mints (white)

Directions 1. Roll a piece of paper or cardboard into a tube and place it into the neck of the bottle. Use a toothpick to secure it into place.

2. Make sure the toothpick rests on the edge of the bottle. Put four mints into the tube, resting on the toothpick so they do not fall into the bottle.

3. Drop the mints into the bottle by pulling the toothpick. Immediately remove the cardboard tube and move a few steps away before the eruption.

How does it work?

Fizzy drinks have carbon dioxide dissolved into the liquid. The small cavities on the mint’s surface become nucleation centers where the carbon dioxide is allowed to accumulate. Once the carbon dioxide bubbles begin to accumulate within one of these nucleation centers, more and more bubbles begin to form very quickly, causing the liquid to explode from the bottle.

Liquid Slime Activity Description This experiment demonstrates the characteristics of polymers and their capability of behaving as a solid or a liquid. Though this particular slime is a liquid, it behaves as a solid. Liquid typically flows, but if you play with liquid slime, you will discover that it sticks like a solid.

Directions

Materials • Corn Starch • Bowl • Water • Spoon • Food Coloring

1. Take ½ cup of corn starch and pour into a bowl.

2. Slowly add water, stirring constantly.

3. Continue to add water until the dough is sticky, but do not add too much!

4. Add food coloring and stir to mix well.

How does it work?

Plastic and slime are both made of polymer chains, which are made up of individual molecules bound together. This chain structure makes materials stronger and more flexible. The “plastic component” in this experiment is constituted by starch. Vinegar binds to the starch to form strong chains, while the addition of glycerin makes them more flexible. As a result, the slime behaves more as a liquid than it does as a solid. Starch is a polymer made by plants to store energy and it is made by small molecules called monomers which join together to form a polymer.

Violent Volcano Activity Description Everyone’s heard of the vinegar and baking soda volcano! What actually is happening is the mixture of an acid (vinegar) and a base (baking soda). The product of their interaction is neither acidic nor basic, but neutral. These reactions can be very impressive, especially when we add foam and food coloring!

Directions

Materials • Empty Plastic Bottle • Hot Water • Baking Soda • Red Food Coloring • Dawn Dish Soap • Sand • Vinegar

1. Fill the bottle ¾ full with hot water.

2. Add two tablespoons of baking soda and cover the top.

Shake the bottle to dissolve the baking soda.

3. Add five drops of red food coloring to the vinegar.

4. Add generous helping of dishwashing liquid to the bottle.

5. Wet the sand and pile around the bottle, giving it a cone shape.

Do not cover the mouth of the bottle and be careful to not drop sand into the bottle.

6. Pour the colored vinegar into the bottle until the volcano begins to erupt. If it stops, you may pour in more vinegar.

How does it work?

Acids react with bases, resulting in the production of a salt and water. Vinegar contains the acid while the baking soda contains the base. When they react together, they produce sodium acetate (the salt) and carbonic acid (the acid). The acid is immediately divided into carbon dioxide and water. The carbon dioxide mixes with the dish soap to create the foam.

Credits Hungry Dendritic Cell Image by Dr. Ismail Meraz, Dr. Jianhua Gu and Dr. Rita Serda, Houston Methodist; courtesy of ACS Publications.

Jeweled Endothelial Cell Image by Dr. Rita Serda and Matthew Landry; courtesy of Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. Silicon Shapes & Sizes Image courtesy of Dr. Xuewu Li, Houston Methodist.

A Scientist Taking Images Using the Scanning Electron Microscope Image by Chiara Ferrari.

Scanning electron micrographs were taken using the FEI Quanta 400 FEG and the Nova NanoSEM 230.

HMRI Office of Communications & External Relations | ADMN-EXEC-17-00092 | 250 | 06.2018

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