I chose the topic of cancer and chose the cancer meningiomas specifically. I’m pasting the instructions/requirement for my paper.
Graded Project: Biomedical Conditions and Biochemical Research
Overview
The focus of this project must be the in-depth discussion and analysis of an original published research study.
One of the most vital reasons for studying biochemistry is for the purpose of biomedical research. Practically all human conditions or disorders can be described on a biochemical level, and almost all medical research toward finding a way to ease those conditions involves biochemical research. Scientists must understand biochemical pathways and biochemical interactions among molecules to produce most medications. It’s necessary for the production of the medicine to combat whatever the condition is and also prevent negative interactions in other biochemical pathways.
Select a topic that interests you from one of these two categories:
One of the medical conditions or disorders discussed in the course textbook (human-focused)
One of the approved veterinary-based diseases or disorders (listed in the following instructions section)
After selecting your topic, find a peer-reviewed original scientific research study published in an academic journal where the researchers used one or more of the biochemical research techniques overviewed in this course to investigate some aspect of that disease, disorder, or condition. You must select an original scientific research study, not a review of research studies conducted by other scientists. The original research study you select for this project must be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal with an impact factor rating greater than 2.
Before you begin the in-depth discussion and analysis of the scientific research study you’ve selected for this assignment, you must first describe the disease, disorder, or condition and its biochemical origin that the research study investigated. This background information should be limited to only a few paragraphs maximum since the focus of this assignment must be the in-depth examination and analysis of the research study.
The research study must be an original study conducted to explore an aspect of one of the diseases, disorders, or conditions covered in your course textbook or one of the approved veterinary diseases/disorders.
The research study must utilize one or more of the biochemical techniques covered in this course, or discussed in the current literature, to research an aspect of the disease, disorder, or condition you chose for this assignment.
Examples of biochemical techniques include:
Gel electrophoresis (PAGE – polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Polyacrylamide just refers to the type of gel that is used)
Types
Native-PAGE
SDS-PAGE
Reducing SDS-PAGE
Isoelectric focusing
Blotting methods
Types
Western blot
Southern blot
Northern blot
DNA-based techniques
DNA sequencing via Sanger method
Polymerase chain reaction
RT-qPCR
cDNA library
Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA)
Types
Direct
Indirect
Sandwich
Molecular-biology techniques
Basic principles
Molecular cloning
Bacterial transformation
Centrifugation and Chromatography
Gel filtration (size exclusion) chromatography
Ion-exchange chromatography
Affinity chromatography
Instructions
Choose one of the diseases, disorders, or conditions that have been mentioned in the textbook for this course or an approved veterinary-based disease, disorder, or condition.
Here’s a list of approved veterinary-based diseases, disorders, or conditions:
Cancer: Any type of cancer
Diabetes: Type 1 or type 2
Pancreatitis
Hypothyroidism/hyperthyroidism
Immune-mediated disease of joints/tissues (IMPA/SLE/pemphigus/IMHA/IMTP)
Ketosis
Hepatic lipidosis
Once you choose a disease, disorder, or condition, find a relatively recent original research study (published within the past 10 years) that addresses some aspect of the medical condition or disease you’ve selected. The research study must use one or more of the biochemical research techniques reviewed in this course.
The research study must be published in a peer-reviewed academic journal with an impact factor rating of at least 2. Go to Sci Journal to determine the impact factor rating of the journal.
You can search a journal title in one of two ways (use either method identified below -1 OR 2 – to search for the journal title):
Enter a specific journal title in the search bar at the top of the page. (located just to the right of the words “SCI JOURNAL”) OR
Select all journal titles at once:
Select Journal in the bar at the top of the page.
In the drop-down, choose Biochemistry or Biochemistry, Genetics, and Molecular Biology.
Choose one of the journal titles listed to read an analysis of its impact factor.
Click here to view a PDF with more specific instructions for this portion of the assignment.
The research study must discuss one of the biochemical techniques mentioned in this course, or in the course textbook.
Possible focus topics include the following:
Understanding the mechanism of a disease or disorder, such as through fluorescence labeling, looking at products on an SDS-PAGE, or various analyses: Researchers use many techniques to explain which proteins may be involved in the manifestation of a disease or disorder and can be very creative with the techniques used in this process.
A possible pharmaceutical to combat your chosen disorder or to function as a treatment: Many techniques are used in the process of discovering, synthesizing, and testing various possible medications. These compounds are usually some sort of agonist, antagonist, or inhibitor.
Procedure
The focus of this project must be the in-depth discussion and analysis of an original published research study.
The components of your paper must include the following:
Discussion of the appropriately selected disease, disorder, or condition
A detailed explanation of the biochemical technique(s) used in the study
Analysis of an original published research study investigating some component of the disease, disorder, or condition
The research study is to be the focus of the project, not the disease, disorder, or condition you’ve selected from the textbook. You’re required to explain and analyze the research study, including, but not limited to, the hypothesis, the technique, the results, and the authors’ conclusion. There should be only a few paragraphs of background information, so the reader understands the disease, disorder, or condition and the biochemical technique(s) used in the research study. The discussion, examination, and analysis of the research study must be the focus of this project.
The first half of your paper is where you’ll present background information. You should give the reader a basic understanding of both the condition you selected and the biochemical technique that’s used in the study you selected. You’re encouraged to research various reference sources to present a comprehensive and detailed discussion of the disease, disorder, or condition—including the biochemical basis for it; the metabolic or signaling pathways involved; and the treatments and cures—as well as the biochemical technique used in the study. For the first half of the paper, please research multiple sources to gather the information you need to address the required content (the questions that must be answered in sentence and paragraph form).
The second half of your paper is where you’ll present the study, explain it, analyze it, and then evaluate it. For the second half of your paper, use only the research study you selected to address all of the required content.
Once you have an appropriate research study that fits all the criteria, begin to write your paper. Every question/point listed below in the project requirements must be addressed. The grading rubric can be found at the very end of the list of requirements.
Because this must be written as a professional paper, you must include a cover page, in-text citations, and a references page, and the entire paper must be formatted according to APA style guidelines.
Best Practice Tip: Use the following criteria as a checklist to confirm you’ve satisfied each component of this detailed assignment.
Required Content
All questions/points must be addressed and included.
Background Information
Describe the disease, disorder, or condition.
Clearly introduce the disease, disorder, or condition you chose.
Describe the symptoms and how this condition manifests.
If it’s a genetic disorder, is it heritable? If not, where does it come from?
If it’s a disease, how do people contract it?
If it’s a condition, what causes it? Is it chronic or acute?
Describe any treatments. Don’t just list medications—explain what these medications do. For dietary changes or therapies, explain why they help.
If it’s a disease, what’s the cure? If there’s no cure, what are the common treatments?
If it’s a condition or disorder, what are the common treatment options?
Describe what issues researchers are still facing.
If there’s no cure, why not?
If there are issues with the treatment options (such as side effects), what are they?
If the metabolic or signaling pathways affected aren’t fully understood, what are researchers currently focusing on in hopes of discovering something important?
If there’s hope that a new technique will be very good for treatment (for example, CRISPR-Cas9), are there any issues researchers are still attempting to overcome before it can be fully successful?
Is there a particular enzyme, protein, RNA, or segment of DNA that researchers don’t understand and need more information about? If so, what’s difficult about obtaining important information (such as structural information) about the molecule?
Describe the biochemical basis for the disease, disorder, or condition.
Describe the normal behavior of the biochemical pathway or structure that’s affected by your chosen disease, disorder, or condition (that is, in individuals without it).
If fatty acid metabolism is affected, describe fatty acid metabolism in detail.
If glucose metabolism is affected, describe the section of sugar metabolism affected in detail.
If there’s a particular protein affected by the condition, make sure to explain that protein’s normal function.
Describe how the disease, disorder, or condition affects this biochemical pathway or physiological structure.
How does it result in physical symptoms?
Which biochemical macromolecules are affected?
If it’s a gene mutation, which gene? How is it mutated? What’s the result of this mutation—loss of protein function? Lowered rate? Or a different type of reaction entirely?
Is there a homeostatic imbalance? What is it? Which reactions occur at a different rate from before? Which chemical equilibria are affected?
If it’s a structure, what about it is different? What biochemical changes result in the structural differences?
Describe the biochemical technique(s) used in the research study you’ve selected.
Clearly identify the biochemical technique or techniques (you’re not yet to be discussing the research study; you’re first providing the reader with background information about the biochemical technique or techniques that were utilized in the research study you selected to examine).
Describe the general theory behind how this biochemical technique works. You’re not explaining how the technique was used in the research study you selected for this project; rather, you’re explaining to the reader how this technique is used for any research or any study.
Why would this technique be used?
What is the process?
Describe any principles necessary for understanding how the technique works. (For instance, with SDS-PAGE, the gaps between polyacrylamides are what impede proteins based on their different molecular weights and sizes.)
Describe the steps involved in using the biochemical technique. Explain how researchers would physically go about setting up an experiment.
What materials are needed to perform this biochemical technique?
How must samples be prepared?
What sort of controls are used? If none are used, why not?
Explain the type of data obtained from the biochemical technique and how it’s interpreted. (For example, in SDS-PAGE, the final product is a gel with bands on it. The bands must then be compared to a molecular ladder of known molecular weight that was run side-by-side. The weight of the ladder bands can be graphed versus the distance moved, and the distance of the sample can be compared to the graph to obtain a molecular weight.)
Describe the types of scenarios in which scientists would choose to use this biochemical technique. (For example, SDS-PAGE is used to obtain molecular weight during processes such as protein purification to check for purity, checking for molecular cleavage, or for other molecular alterations that involve changes to molecular weight.)
Describe the limitations or drawbacks of the biochemical technique and how they may be compensated for. (For example, with SDS-PAGE, some proteins with strong charges can outweigh the effect of SDS and can cause a protein to “run heavy,” making the technique no longer useful for finding out the molecular weight of such a protein. However, knowing the amino acid sequence of a protein can help know the molecular weight of the protein without using SDS-PAGE.)
The Research Study
Introduce the study and then explain the study (multiple paragraphs).
First, clearly identify the research study—name of the study, journal in which it was published, publication date, and authors.
Summarize the overall hypothesis of the research study. What aspect of the disease, disorder, or condition were the scientists investigating? What was the purpose of the research study? Make sure not to quote directly. Instead, use your own words to describe what the authors are proving or disproving with their original research study.
How does their research relate to your chosen condition?
Is it a direct connection, or does the research focus on an affected protein in a metabolic or signaling pathway affected by the condition?
Describe how the authors used the biochemical technique you explained in detail in the previous section in their research study.
Summarize the materials and methods used for the technique in this particular study (do not quote directly—explain in your own words).
Describe any substrates and summarize how the samples were prepared (explain in your own words).
Explain any controls that were run or baselines formed.
Describe the data obtained using the technique.
Describe the units of the data collected and give an example of one of the data points, if possible.
If there’s a figure, describe it in detail and how the data was used to obtain it.
Describe the axes, what the points on the graph or figure may represent, and then how this data would be interpreted.
Explain why the figure helps explain the data obtained from the technique better than a table or other method. If a table is used instead, explain why the table is sufficient for explaining what the data shows.
Summarize the conclusions the authors of the paper reached about their data using the technique. Don’t quote directly, but summarize what they say the technique showed them or what it was used to conclude.
Offer your opinion: Do you think the authors did a fair job of interpreting the results of their data using this technique? Make sure not to use “I” statements; instead, focus on facts from the paper and your knowledge of the technique and its limitations. If you agree with the assessment, defend the position by mentioning the shortcomings of the technique and how the authors addressed them.
You must explain your opinion based on specific evidence and conclusions the authors of the study reached. You must provide an in-depth and detailed explanation of your opinion.
Describe the conclusions the research study reached (multiple paragraphs).
Summarize the conclusions that the authors reached in the research study. Again, be sure not to quote directly, but rather summarize them in your own words.
Summarize what the authors say about their conclusions in relation to the disease, disorder, or condition. How does it impact the study of the condition by medical professionals? Does it answer any important questions that had existed about the condition? If they don’t mention the condition directly, summarize how it affects the research on the condition yourself based on your knowledge of the current understanding of the condition.
Summarize what the authors say about future directions or possible applications for their research.
What do they say their research will impact?
Could it lead to possible cures or treatments?
Does it expand the knowledge of the signaling or metabolic pathways in this condition?
Offer your opinion: Do you feel the conclusions of the authors were fair and relate properly to their obtained data? Again, defend your position based on the research you conducted of the disease, disorder, or condition, as well as the research you conducted of the biochemical technique.
You must provide an in-depth and detailed explanation of your opinion based on the following:
Specific evidence from the study results and the conclusions the study authors reached
Specific information regarding the disease, disorder, or condition you gathered from your research
Other Considerations
Make sure to address each of the questions in complete sentences and organize the information in paragraph form. The paper should be organized so that it flows seamlessly from one paragraph to the next.
The entire paper must be formatted according to APA guidelines.
Include a cover page, APA-formatted in-text citations, and an APA-formatted references page.
The paper should be no longer than five pages. (However, the five-page maximum does notinclude the cover page and references page, so the maximum, including these, would be a total of seven pages.)
Format the paper in 12-point Times New Roman font, double-spaced.
Use correct grammar and spelling, proper sentence structure, and correct punctuation.
Avoid using the first-person voice (as in I think or I believe) and instead stick to general statements (for example, “Although the authors of the paper conclude that their hypothesis is correct, the data shows that …”).
Visit the Penn Foster Virtual Library for help with APA formatting.
Visit the Penn Foster Virtual Library A–Z Databases page to find credible sources of information, including the journal article upon which you base the paper.
Gale Power Search is a search tool that searches all Gale databases at once. This includes Academic OneFile Select, Nursing and Allied Health Collection, and Opposing Viewpoints.
