1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,330 Good afternoon, everyone. 2 00:00:02,330 --> 00:00:03,728 My name is Eleanor Demmons. 3 00:00:03,728 --> 00:00:05,870 I'm a junior here at Mount Holyoke. 4 00:00:05,870 --> 00:00:09,820 I'm a neuroscience major and an English minor. 5 00:00:09,820 --> 00:00:13,776 And this summer, I got to go to Ireland. 6 00:00:13,776 --> 00:00:15,000 It was really fun. 7 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:19,806 And I worked in a genetics laboratory in Dublin City 8 00:00:19,806 --> 00:00:22,995 Center at Trinity College for a wonderful man named 9 00:00:22,995 --> 00:00:24,390 Matthew Campbell. 10 00:00:24,390 --> 00:00:27,780 And I also got to see a lot of Ireland. 11 00:00:27,780 --> 00:00:29,460 And I traveled to a few other places 12 00:00:29,460 --> 00:00:32,070 in Europe, which I'll talk about. 13 00:00:32,070 --> 00:00:35,340 So it was a very unique and special experience for me. 14 00:00:35,340 --> 00:00:39,840 And huge thanks to Lynn Cumming for allowing me to go. 15 00:00:39,840 --> 00:00:43,060 So this is me in the lab. 16 00:00:43,060 --> 00:00:44,500 [LAUGHTER] 17 00:00:44,500 --> 00:00:47,700 I just wanted to start with this picture for a few reasons. 18 00:00:47,700 --> 00:00:50,080 One of the most amazing things about my summer 19 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:52,930 was that I worked with some fabulous people. 20 00:00:52,930 --> 00:00:55,170 Not only did I have an exceptional boss, 21 00:00:55,170 --> 00:00:58,680 but my other coworkers were absolutely wonderful. 22 00:00:58,680 --> 00:01:00,750 They were all quite a bit older than I was, 23 00:01:00,750 --> 00:01:03,250 all PhD students and beyond. 24 00:01:03,250 --> 00:01:05,920 So it was interesting for me to be kind of that, 25 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,330 like, goofy 19 year old trying to fit in with these very 26 00:01:09,330 --> 00:01:11,060 well established adults. 27 00:01:11,060 --> 00:01:12,810 However, I did work in a European country, 28 00:01:12,810 --> 00:01:14,660 and everybody is pretty relaxed about life. 29 00:01:14,660 --> 00:01:19,110 So they were happy to kind of have my energy. 30 00:01:19,110 --> 00:01:21,528 And typically, in a bio lab like this, 31 00:01:21,528 --> 00:01:24,510 you should probably having a lab coat and some serious attire 32 00:01:24,510 --> 00:01:26,820 on, but we really didn't do that. 33 00:01:26,820 --> 00:01:28,396 [LAUGHTER] 34 00:01:28,396 --> 00:01:30,520 Not that that's a great idea, but that just kind of 35 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:32,970 shows how happy we were. 36 00:01:32,970 --> 00:01:35,210 We were throwing away old computers this day, 37 00:01:35,210 --> 00:01:36,790 and it was very exciting. 38 00:01:36,790 --> 00:01:40,745 We were getting these print readers. 39 00:01:40,745 --> 00:01:42,730 So I just wanted to talk a little bit 40 00:01:42,730 --> 00:01:44,180 about what this lab focuses on. 41 00:01:44,180 --> 00:01:46,770 So this is an ocular genetics lab 42 00:01:46,770 --> 00:01:48,960 which deals with eyes, which is really cool. 43 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:51,812 So Trinity College is a really big university, very 44 00:01:51,812 --> 00:01:53,020 different from Mount Holyoke. 45 00:01:53,020 --> 00:01:55,680 And they have an entire genetics department, which we only 46 00:01:55,680 --> 00:01:57,513 have a couple of different classes dedicated 47 00:01:57,513 --> 00:01:59,119 to that field of study. 48 00:01:59,119 --> 00:02:00,660 So that was really interesting for me 49 00:02:00,660 --> 00:02:02,450 to be in a lab with only nine people, 50 00:02:02,450 --> 00:02:04,740 but my department was, like, 150 people. 51 00:02:04,740 --> 00:02:06,200 So that was very different. 52 00:02:06,200 --> 00:02:09,210 And so our lab in particular was looking at age-related macular 53 00:02:09,210 --> 00:02:10,380 degeneration. 54 00:02:10,380 --> 00:02:13,740 And many of you may know someone in your life who is starting 55 00:02:13,740 --> 00:02:15,150 to have symptoms of this. 56 00:02:15,150 --> 00:02:19,650 A lot of our grandparents are experiencing partial AMD. 57 00:02:19,650 --> 00:02:23,430 One really good thing to know is that AMD, wet or dry form, 58 00:02:23,430 --> 00:02:27,000 does not completely blind a person 59 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,670 because your peripheral vision remains 60 00:02:29,670 --> 00:02:31,830 intact throughout this disease. 61 00:02:31,830 --> 00:02:34,031 There also is a large genetic component. 62 00:02:34,031 --> 00:02:35,530 So you can imagine that in Ireland-- 63 00:02:35,530 --> 00:02:37,071 and I'll talk about this in a minute, 64 00:02:37,071 --> 00:02:39,360 this can be a really serious problem. 65 00:02:39,360 --> 00:02:41,430 So basically, what you're seeing in this picture 66 00:02:41,430 --> 00:02:44,700 is a lot of cloudiness in the middle of the eye. 67 00:02:44,700 --> 00:02:47,385 All of those lines are mostly just blood vessels, which 68 00:02:47,385 --> 00:02:48,960 you don't need to worry about. 69 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,420 This kind of cloudiness makes it so that eventually, we almost 70 00:02:52,420 --> 00:02:54,430 have a visual hole where it's just black 71 00:02:54,430 --> 00:02:56,711 and kind of looking at nothing. 72 00:02:56,711 --> 00:03:00,180 And that's a huge bummer, obviously. 73 00:03:00,180 --> 00:03:03,260 And this is also caused by drusen buildup. 74 00:03:03,260 --> 00:03:07,380 And I'll talk about what makes that happen a little bit. 75 00:03:07,380 --> 00:03:10,148 And also, this happens in the macular region of our retina, 76 00:03:10,148 --> 00:03:12,390 and our retina is in the back of our eye. 77 00:03:12,390 --> 00:03:14,940 And the macula is really repsonsible for all 78 00:03:14,940 --> 00:03:16,329 of the little things that we do. 79 00:03:16,329 --> 00:03:18,120 And so once you can't do the little things, 80 00:03:18,120 --> 00:03:19,890 the bigger things become harder as well. 81 00:03:19,890 --> 00:03:22,890 So for someone who has lived their entire life 82 00:03:22,890 --> 00:03:24,492 being able to see perfectly fine, 83 00:03:24,492 --> 00:03:25,950 and then getting older and starting 84 00:03:25,950 --> 00:03:28,051 to have a little bit of trouble seeing things, 85 00:03:28,051 --> 00:03:29,800 that adjustment is really hard because you 86 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:33,450 haven't lived your life going about your daily activities 87 00:03:33,450 --> 00:03:34,270 blind. 88 00:03:34,270 --> 00:03:38,010 So it really takes elderly folk out of their homes 89 00:03:38,010 --> 00:03:40,215 where they're independent and really happy and kind 90 00:03:40,215 --> 00:03:41,820 of bombs out their quality of life 91 00:03:41,820 --> 00:03:44,290 because they have to go into assisted living, which 92 00:03:44,290 --> 00:03:46,737 in Ireland is not as good as it is in the United States, 93 00:03:46,737 --> 00:03:48,570 and we don't even think it's very good here. 94 00:03:48,570 --> 00:03:51,092 95 00:03:51,092 --> 00:03:53,175 The other reason that it's important to study this 96 00:03:53,175 --> 00:03:55,335 in Ireland and why this lab in particular 97 00:03:55,335 --> 00:03:57,720 is so dedicated to the research of AMD 98 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:02,720 is that AMD accounts for 20% of all blindness in the world. 99 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:04,680 But its prevalence in Ireland is-- 100 00:04:04,680 --> 00:04:07,270 and actually, this is another world statistic-- 101 00:04:07,270 --> 00:04:11,652 is 7.2% of people who are affected. 102 00:04:11,652 --> 00:04:13,320 And that's pretty large. 103 00:04:13,320 --> 00:04:16,680 And over a million people in Ireland-- 104 00:04:16,680 --> 00:04:20,160 there are over a million people in Ireland-- so many of them 105 00:04:20,160 --> 00:04:25,330 are also affected by AMD because it's a small gene pool. 106 00:04:25,330 --> 00:04:30,860 So 700,000 people in Ireland eventually 107 00:04:30,860 --> 00:04:33,510 have had AMD, and that was another statistic 108 00:04:33,510 --> 00:04:37,488 that my boss told me about. 109 00:04:37,488 --> 00:04:39,945 And also, just good to know that the life 110 00:04:39,945 --> 00:04:43,660 expectancy has risen significantly, 111 00:04:43,660 --> 00:04:45,650 and it's on the rise. 112 00:04:45,650 --> 00:04:48,387 So it's important to start to figure this out and how can 113 00:04:48,387 --> 00:04:49,011 we treat it. 114 00:04:49,011 --> 00:04:52,750 Because it's becoming more of an issue. 115 00:04:52,750 --> 00:04:57,516 So we were focused on a few different proteins that 116 00:04:57,516 --> 00:05:01,360 have a circadian rhythm component to them, just meaning 117 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:04,610 that they come about in the morning and do different jobs, 118 00:05:04,610 --> 00:05:06,860 and then maybe they do different jobs later at night. 119 00:05:06,860 --> 00:05:08,320 So that was kind of interesting for us 120 00:05:08,320 --> 00:05:09,736 because we were working with mice, 121 00:05:09,736 --> 00:05:11,700 so we had to take different samples 122 00:05:11,700 --> 00:05:13,520 at different times of the day. 123 00:05:13,520 --> 00:05:16,985 And one of these proteins that the lab had already discovered, 124 00:05:16,985 --> 00:05:20,540 was really involved, with this protein called claudin-5, 125 00:05:20,540 --> 00:05:22,690 which is responsible for some of the cleaning that 126 00:05:22,690 --> 00:05:23,650 happens of the eye. 127 00:05:23,650 --> 00:05:29,440 So our eyes are exposed to toxins, wind, rain, heat, cold 128 00:05:29,440 --> 00:05:31,740 on a daily basis, and our lenses need 129 00:05:31,740 --> 00:05:34,060 to be cleaned and maintained in order for us 130 00:05:34,060 --> 00:05:35,750 to see all the time. 131 00:05:35,750 --> 00:05:38,710 So when these proteins that are responsible for this cleaning 132 00:05:38,710 --> 00:05:42,120 stop working, the dead lipids and these different toxins 133 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,366 actually build up in the back of our retinas. 134 00:05:44,366 --> 00:05:49,985 And that's what causes these drusen components to solidify 135 00:05:49,985 --> 00:05:52,530 so that we have trouble seeing. 136 00:05:52,530 --> 00:05:55,010 Also what can happen is geographic atrophy, 137 00:05:55,010 --> 00:05:57,556 where we have nothing in the middle instead. 138 00:05:57,556 --> 00:05:59,884 So that's where the wet and dry form of this disease-- 139 00:05:59,884 --> 00:06:02,490 that's the differentiation there. 140 00:06:02,490 --> 00:06:04,650 So yeah, we were in lots of early mornings 141 00:06:04,650 --> 00:06:07,350 and lots of late nights. 142 00:06:07,350 --> 00:06:10,120 And this is just a teeny bit about the hypothesis. 143 00:06:10,120 --> 00:06:12,850 We were looking into tight junction proteins, which 144 00:06:12,850 --> 00:06:15,010 is what claudin-5 falls under. 145 00:06:15,010 --> 00:06:19,210 So I was doing lots of different laboratory techniques 146 00:06:19,210 --> 00:06:20,690 to just check out these proteins. 147 00:06:20,690 --> 00:06:23,811 Lots of small, molecular work, lots of pipetting. 148 00:06:23,811 --> 00:06:24,690 It was lot of stuff. 149 00:06:24,690 --> 00:06:26,784 And then I just had these little mices 150 00:06:26,784 --> 00:06:28,650 down at the bottom of the slide here 151 00:06:28,650 --> 00:06:31,440 to show you that I did do a lot of stuff with mice. 152 00:06:31,440 --> 00:06:34,319 And we did have to sacrifice them often. 153 00:06:34,319 --> 00:06:35,360 And that was sort of sad. 154 00:06:35,360 --> 00:06:37,558 However, they, you know-- for science. 155 00:06:37,558 --> 00:06:39,190 [LAUGHTER] 156 00:06:39,190 --> 00:06:41,540 So we had a really big mouse lab, 157 00:06:41,540 --> 00:06:43,622 and the smell was for reals. 158 00:06:43,622 --> 00:06:45,771 [LAUGHTER] 159 00:06:45,771 --> 00:06:46,270 160 00:06:46,270 --> 00:06:48,519 So just a few things that I learned-- 161 00:06:48,519 --> 00:06:50,894 and this is just the laundry list of scientific exercises 162 00:06:50,894 --> 00:06:53,650 that I got to carry out, which was great. 163 00:06:53,650 --> 00:06:56,350 But I just really wanted to highlight a couple of things 164 00:06:56,350 --> 00:06:58,190 that I got to deal with. 165 00:06:58,190 --> 00:07:00,785 Fluorescent angiography, listed down near the bottom-- 166 00:07:00,785 --> 00:07:04,400 that's a certain type of imaging of the eye which is really 167 00:07:04,400 --> 00:07:05,830 complicated and hard to use. 168 00:07:05,830 --> 00:07:08,800 And it sometimes takes technicians almost two years 169 00:07:08,800 --> 00:07:10,010 to figure this out. 170 00:07:10,010 --> 00:07:12,944 And I got to learn in the summer because my boss was like, you 171 00:07:12,944 --> 00:07:14,110 need to know how to do this. 172 00:07:14,110 --> 00:07:17,150 It's so cool, and it's really hard, and we're going to do it. 173 00:07:17,150 --> 00:07:19,044 And I got to work with MRI machines, which 174 00:07:19,044 --> 00:07:20,210 yeah, we make them for mice. 175 00:07:20,210 --> 00:07:20,850 Weird, right? 176 00:07:20,850 --> 00:07:23,646 They're still huge, but that was really interesting. 177 00:07:23,646 --> 00:07:26,390 And then I also got to use a confocal microscope, which 178 00:07:26,390 --> 00:07:29,050 is a massive microscope that would probably take up 179 00:07:29,050 --> 00:07:30,670 a quarter of this entire room. 180 00:07:30,670 --> 00:07:33,060 And its laser, which is crazy. 181 00:07:33,060 --> 00:07:36,220 And if you break it, that's three million dollars that you 182 00:07:36,220 --> 00:07:36,720 just-- 183 00:07:36,720 --> 00:07:38,232 so, my boss said to me, he was like, 184 00:07:38,232 --> 00:07:39,238 Eleanor if you break this, I have 185 00:07:39,238 --> 00:07:40,529 to send you back to the States. 186 00:07:40,529 --> 00:07:43,222 [LAUGHTER] 187 00:07:43,222 --> 00:07:46,090 And I was like, OK, I won't break it! 188 00:07:46,090 --> 00:07:48,370 So just a couple of things to finish off that I really 189 00:07:48,370 --> 00:07:51,370 learned about myself. 190 00:07:51,370 --> 00:07:52,890 I was so independent this summer. 191 00:07:52,890 --> 00:07:56,000 I really had one really close friend, 192 00:07:56,000 --> 00:07:57,860 but a lot of buddies because I was young 193 00:07:57,860 --> 00:08:00,700 and as much as I was friends with my older co-workers, 194 00:08:00,700 --> 00:08:03,016 there's a little bit of a gap there. 195 00:08:03,016 --> 00:08:05,390 I learned how to be a better science kid, which is great. 196 00:08:05,390 --> 00:08:07,681 And I got to really take a lot of laboratory experience 197 00:08:07,681 --> 00:08:10,550 that I've gotten out here at Mount Holyoke and apply it 198 00:08:10,550 --> 00:08:11,690 and further it this summer. 199 00:08:11,690 --> 00:08:13,330 I felt like I really got to understand 200 00:08:13,330 --> 00:08:17,510 some of the techniques that I've been growing up knowing about. 201 00:08:17,510 --> 00:08:18,707 And I also-- yeah. 202 00:08:18,707 --> 00:08:20,540 So, you know, what to do when you're lonely? 203 00:08:20,540 --> 00:08:22,050 I really ran a lot. 204 00:08:22,050 --> 00:08:23,860 I watched some TV, but I also explored 205 00:08:23,860 --> 00:08:25,803 and that was really great. 206 00:08:25,803 --> 00:08:29,060 And just sort of a little outsider looking in component. 207 00:08:29,060 --> 00:08:31,460 I was living in an English speaking country, 208 00:08:31,460 --> 00:08:34,984 but I was still an outsider. 209 00:08:34,984 --> 00:08:38,020 And I had to be careful about saying I was from the States. 210 00:08:38,020 --> 00:08:38,914 [LAUGHTER] 211 00:08:38,914 --> 00:08:40,950 I'd get made fun of. 212 00:08:40,950 --> 00:08:44,520 It's just kind of interesting to be working so closely 213 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:49,060 with something that was really to do with a disease that 214 00:08:49,060 --> 00:08:51,800 was not directly affecting the US as much as it was Ireland. 215 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,800 216 00:08:54,800 --> 00:08:56,000 So that's my summer. 217 00:08:56,000 --> 00:08:59,650 [APPLAUSE]