Oculus Science Journal
Issue 4
Coronavirus: The Scientific Breakdown By HUGH KANG
We know the coronavirus. We know what it can do, how infectious it is, and how we can defend ourselves from it. But how many people truly understand the science behind the virus? This article will explain to you the exact science of the virus and why the protective measures that we always hear about are effective.
The Family
What we know as the “coronavirus� is actually a part of a family of coronaviruses (CoVs) and this family consists of viruses that cause intestinal and respiratory sickness in animals. There are actually seven different known types of coronaviruses that have infected people. Obviously, COVID-19 is one, but SARS and MERS were also caused by viruses that are part of the coronavirus family.
The severity of the symptoms caused by coronaviruses can vary immensely, starting from a mild cold to severe respiratory symptoms, exhibited by both the SARS and MERS epidemics.
So what do these little coronaviruses exactly look like?
The coronaviruses are essentially little spherical shells that contain genetic material, with protein spikes connected to the outside membrane layer of the virus. These spikes of protein are the key player in why they are so infectious. They allow the virus to bind, enter, and take over the cells in our body. Fortunately, these spikes are also helpful to us, because they help our immune systems detect and identify the viruses. Currently, these spikes are also being used as a way to develop vaccines and antibodies against the current epidemic. Inside this membrane is the genetic material of the virus, otherwise known as the genome. Typically viruses usually have genomes that consist of DNA, similar to that of the human cells. However, the genetic material of coronaviruses consists of RNA, which allows them to change and mutate more frequently than their DNA counterparts. Scientists believe that this is the reason why the virus was able to mutate from a virus that infects the cells of bats to a virus that could also infect humans.
Where does the name ‘coronavirus’ come from?
An interesting fact; the spikes mentioned in the previous paragraph are the reason behind the name. These spikes on the virus give it a very distinctive appearance from other viruses. It makes the virus look like it has a crown on (so ‘the King of Viruses’ would be a fitting name). In Latin, ‘corona’ means crown, which is why it is called the coronavirus.
Why are we told what we are told?
Before moving on, we need to understand how viruses stay viral. In simplest terms, viruses need to hijack another cell in order to function and reproduce. Without a host cell, viruses won’t be able to cause any sickness in the host organism. However, even if the viruses don’t invade other cells, they can still stay viral for long durations. As they find their host cell, they remain the body of the host organism. This is why we are told that the coronavirus won’t show symptoms until around 2 weeks after contact: the viruses are spreading, but they simply aren’t actively invading the cells until after the 2 weeks.
We also need to understand how our hands allow entry for the viruses into the body. According to the study made by Kowk, Gralton, and McLaws, people touch their own faces around 23 times per hour, which amounts to a daily average of 552 touches. Of these touches, 44 percent involved touching a mucous membrane, or the mouth, noses, or eyes. This means that the average human touches allow viral entry for viruses on their hands around 243 times per day. This is the reason why we are told not to touch our own faces. Sneezing into our elbows is also crucial because it will keep the viruses off our hands, which comes into contact with other objects and humans much less frequently than our hands do.
What does washing your hands do?
Finally, we get to the science behind washing our hands. According to Kelli Jurado, a virologist at the University of Pennsylvania’s Perelman School of Medicine, washing our hands
is “simply the best method to limit transmission”. If you properly wash your hands, there are several ways scrubbing your hands together can combat the virus.
The first way washing hands is effective is the way we all know— the rubbing and scrubbing “physically removes pathogens1 from your skin. “ says Shirlee Wohl, a virologist at John Hopkins University.
The second way it’s effective is by incapacitating the viral envelope. The coronavirus, and all other viruses, have a coating on the outside that allows it to bind to other cells and ultimately invade them. These envelopes consist of fatty substances, and soap molecules also contain fatty substances. When these fatty substances interact and come to close proximities with each other, they break each other up, causing the virus to have an incapacitated envelope and inability to bind to human cells.
1
pathogen-
any microorganism that can cause illness
What do hand sanitizers do?
Hand sanitizers work in a slightly different way. They also target the viral envelope of these viruses, but instead of breaking up the contests with brute force, the alcohol(isopropyl alcohol or ethanol) in the hand sanitizer distorts the chemical properties of the envelope. According to Benhur Lee, a microbiologist at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, the alcohol causes the viral envelope to be “less stable and more permeable�.
The alcohol attack does not just stop there. After weakening the surface, the alcohol penetrates the envelope, attacking and breaking down the proteins that are inside the virus, ultimately inhibiting the virus from functioning properly.
According to Lee, “should not be considered a replacement for soap and water.� Although hand sanitizer may be effective at sterilizing the germs on your skin, it will not clean them off as effectively as simply soap and water.
Next time you're counting to 20 while washing your hands, don’t ever second guess yourself, because the power of washing your hands correctly has been proven scientifically numerous times. Now that you know exactly what the enemy is, you can now stay inside and fight the virus.
Works Cited Thebault, Reis. “Stop Touching My Face? Why the Easiest Way to Prevent Coronavirus Is so Hard.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 3 Mar. 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2020/03/03/coronavirus-prevention-face-touch/. Sauren, Lauren M. “What Is Coronavirus?” What Is Coronavirus? | Johns Hopkins Medicine, 5 June 2020, www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus. “What Are Coronaviruses?” UKRI, 25 Mar. 2020, coronavirusexplained.ukri.org/en/article/cad0003/.
Stem Cell-Derived Organoids Capable of Forming Natural Hair-Bearing Skin By JOSHUA NAM
The study of stem cells has been an emerging field in biology and healthcare for a considerable amount of time now, and its potential continues to grow even further. As a unique breed of cells that can differentiate into a large variety of specialized cells, stem cells pose a potential solution for many different health conditions that plague the world today - cancers, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and many more. By being able to take on the role of many different types of cells in the body given the proper requirements, stem cells can act as a healthy replacement for a plethora of different tissue varieties - something that was largely difficult to acquire without the use of more costly and difficult methods like organ transplantation. Areas like the skin, in particular, can be strongly benefitted by the application of stem cells, as transplantation or grafts of foreign skin are known to cause a large number of complications like bleeding, infection, or tissue contraction.
The use of stem cells has long been limited by the complexity of the human body, however. The body consists of countless different cell types, and even a single organ consists of a diverse array of cell types. These cell types support each other by filling out distinct roles to keep the organ in shape. In other words, they maintain an intricate, interconnected harmony in order to function properly as a part of the body. As such, differentiating stem cells to fit into this complex composition of cells is quite a daunting task.
Pretty complex huh
The skin, while seemingly a simple organ, is also an area where stem cell application is difficult. As a multilayered organ with a diverse collection of cells including simple skin cells, immune cells, melanocytes (produces pigments), etc. the structure of the skin poses a significant challenge for the integration of stem cells. To properly apply stem cells in the treatment of damaged skin, one must first need to figure out how to replicate the numerous elements of the skin in a natural, non-problematic way.
However, recent findings published by researchers at Harvard, Johns Hopkins and Indiana University show that this may be possible in the near future. The researchers succeeded in constructing a hair-bearing skin organoid (a miniature version of an organ) entirely from stem
cells, complete with hair follicle structure similar to the skin found on human embryos - in other words, just like real skin.
Differentiation of pluronic stem cells using signaling pathway modification
Starting off with a sample of pluripotent stem cells (stem cells capable of becoming any cell within the 3 germ layers of our body, a.k.a basically any part of the body) the researchers used a number of different growth factor signaling pathways to differentiate the stem cells into embryonic skin. More specifically, they configured the transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) and fibroblast growth factor (FGF) signaling pathways. TGFβ activation within the stem cells was inhibited in order to elicit a response that promoted the formation of outer skin cells, whereas FGF was activated in order to promote the formation of facial skin cells that are needed to generate mesenchymal cells, which in turn are needed for the formation of connective tissues within the skin.
After configuring the pathways, the researchers noticed the formation of small buds on the surface of the organoids, which developed into hair germs over the course of around 70 days. More importantly, the formation of hair follicles followed a pattern similar to the formation of
follicles within mammals, further validating that skin organoids formed by stem cells are capable of replicating complex structures.
Comparison of RNA sequencing within an organoid(left) and epithelial mesenchyme (right) shows consistency between the two
Furthermore, the researchers discovered that the cells within the organoid were similar in composition to that of cells within human embryos. RNA sequencing of the organoid cells revealed that they possessed similar groupings of cell clusters to that of surface epithelia (sheets of cells on the exterior) found within embryos, particularly those undergoing the second trimester of pregnancy. Such groupings showed that organoids were consistent with embryonic skin, and points to the potential capability of organoids in being compatible with natural skin.
Grafting of organoids onto mice skin show integration over time
To verify compatibility, the researchers tried grafting grown organoids onto nude mice. Astoundingly, some of the organoids were able to integrate themselves into the mice skin to an extent as time passed. One sign was that a network of neurons not previously present developed into the organoids, wrapping around the hair follicles in a fashion that resembled embryonic follicles. Another was that the grafted organoids, while initially taking on the look of a cyst on the mouse skin, later became planar/flat. Of course, the extent of integrations was limited, with complications like ingrown hairs or cancerous growths occurring in some of the organoids and increasing over time, but nevertheless the level of integration showed demonstrate that the organoids can mature after implantation.
The research showed the potential viability of stem cell-derived skin organoids for a number of different purposes; some explicitly stated included the use of organoid samples for drug testing and skincare products. But even more exciting is that such organoids could be used to treat patients with severe skin damage. These organoids could be implanted in damaged areas to become new and healthy skin, solving countless cases of skin burns, cuts, and perhaps even cancer. There remain many hurdles that need to be overcome before such treatment would become reliable and safe, but organoids remain as one of the most powerful and promising advancements in skin health to date.
Works Cited https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2352-3 https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/mesenchyme https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780124017306000223 https://www.sinobiological.com/resource/cytokines/what-is-tgf-beta https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC138918/
Quantum Computers: the Superman of Modern Data Analytics By JIWON LEE
In relatively recent news, Google’s quantum computer has succeeded in completing a complex calculation that would have taken modern supercomputers more than 10,000 years to solve in just 200 seconds. This novel achievement has only seen light in the last few months, but the research to make this science fantasy a possibility has been a continuous exploration since the 1980s.
A quantum computer, similar in variation to the one developed by Google
Used for complex calculations above the common, daily-life sphere, supercomputers have taken over much of the repetitive calculations required in a professional setting. However, as modern science and mathematics have proven, these supercomputers have also begun reaching their limits. Fundamentally, a computer is a binary model. When it receives information and the command to process it in some manner, the computer breaks this information down into a series of codes, consisted entirety of 0s and 1s. These codes form a list of binary integers, which are numbers expressed in base 2. Each of these digits works as a mini on-and-off sign. For example, the digit 1 may represent an “on” sign for a particular circuit, while alternatively, the digit 0 may represent the “off” sign for the same circuit. Thus, to process an input, the computer must break it down into a series of 0s and 1s, command for each circuit represented by the 1 to be turned on, and for each circuit represented by the 0 to be turned off. The specific set of circuits that are turned on then work to churn out the appropriate output.
For the mundane household desktop or laptop, this format of data processing is no issue. However, for supercomputers required to perform intricate tasks, the conventional binary model poses a hefty problem. For supercomputers to be able to execute multi-step calculations, they must have a very large computer of these on-or-off circuits. To be able to squeeze these many binary routes into a single computer, scientists have worked to decrease the size of computer parts. This effort, however, has reached its physical ceiling, with individual computer parts reaching the size of an atom.
In the average computer, a bit is the smallest unit of information. A bit is a number that can be either 0 or 1, and a series of bits are used as information processors for computers. In quantum computers, however, the bit is replaced by the qubit. The qubit, which works in a similar manner as the bit, has just one major difference; while a bit ​needs t​ o be set as either a 0 or a 1, a qubit does not. In the quantum world, which often defies the logic that sets the rules in the mundane scientific realm, the qubit does not need to be set as any one of these two values; it can be in any proportions of both states at once, a phenomenon called superposition. As soon as the value of a qubit is measured, however, it defines itself as a fixed value. Therefore, as long as a qubit is unobserved, it remains in a superposition, and retains the potential to be either a 0 or a 1.
This is interesting and all, but why does this particular characteristic of quantum mechanics provide such a remarkable breakthrough in the world of computers? This is because using qubits allows for the number of codes necessary to represent and process certain pieces of information to be reduced exponentially. For instance, a series of five bits would only be able to represent one piece of information, while a group of five qubits would be able to store 2 to the power of 5, or 32, times that much. Increase the number of qubits to a few hundred, and the amount of information that the series of qubits can represent becomes exponentially larger when compared to the amount of information that the same number of bits can represent. Thus, instead of endeavoring to increase computer capacity through making individual computer parts smaller, we can extend the capabilities of computers through utilizing quantum mechanics, which will
essentially reduce the amount of space and time that information processing takes up in a computer.
Memory: How Does It Work, Really? By: ERIC YOON
Our perception of the world, though driven by what we sense in the present, is the culmination of all our past experiences and observations. The skill of being able to encode, store and ultimately recall information is thus crucial not only for decision making but also for creating an identity that lasts through the passage of time. This process, what we call memory, can be broken down into three major parts: sensory, short term, and long term memory.
First, sensory memory: as the name suggests, everything you hear, see, feel, smell and taste falls into this category. Retained for only a few seconds, a barrage of information from one’s senses is sent to the brain. The brain takes all this information and decides what is important, transporting that to short-term memory (what we consciously remember on a given basis that is happening in the moment).
Short-term memory’s limited capacity means only a few items exist in the mind at a given time, and last for about 15 to 30 seconds. Readily accessible, these ‘memories’ are what we perceive as our current thoughts and dissipate easily. The step of encoding is what transfers memory in STM to long-term memory, which has infinite capacity and can last up to one’s lifetime. This depends on whether the memory is recalled in the first few days of entering long term memory, where it goes from the hippocampus to the cerebral cortex.
Finally, long term memory takes on the role of storing memories for extended periods of time, and is where retrieval takes place. On a microscopic scale, the process of forming memories occurs between the neurons of the brain via synapses, which strengthen based on
repeated use. Each time a memory is recalled, however, it must be encoded once more, which leads to slight changes in our memories. You may have experienced this over time.
The significance of how our memory works has guided the discovery in improving memory. “Grouping” items, for example, efficiently organizes a large set of information into less, more dense chunks of information, allowing short-term memory to hold more information. Memory “olympists” take this to the extreme with organizing a wide spread of information into more manageable bits.
The process of finding out how memory works and creating models for it also came with exploring unique cases. Henry Molasion, known as the man with no memory, lost his hippocampus in a life saving surgery. Previously, the function of the subsection of the brain was unknown, but it became clear with H.M.’s case that it was involved in encoding memories from STM to LTM. Perhaps most striking was the fact that “muscle memory”, or the body’s ability to hone/remember a certain motor task via repetition, was still maintained; even if H.M. could not remember doing an action, he would get better at it by doing it over and over. This allowed different parts of long term memory to be defined: declarative (facts and experiences) and procedural (playing an instrument, riding a bicycle, motor skills). Memory is an intricate, amazing process, and understanding how it works makes life all the richer.