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Aweeka's Project Page |
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Teacher Intern: Thaddeos Aweeka
Mentor:Jenny Ross
Faculty Supervisor: Helen Hansma
Department:Physics |
2004 Research Project: Binding Mechanism of Tau on Mica
Tau protein is thought to play an important structural and functional role in
the make-up of microtubules in eukaryotic cells. Bundled microtubules make up
the axons of nerve cells or neurons. For neurons to communicate with one another
in the brain, the axons must be long and strong enough to make contact with the
dendrites of neighboring neurons or severe memory lapses may result.
Interestingly enough, tau is found in the axons but not in the dendrites.
Additionally, tau-to-tau attraction and tau aggregations are likely to play an
important role in microtubule structure and arrangement during normal neuronal
development. However, these tau aggregations also present a molecular mechanism
for the tau mediated cell death leading to various Tauopathies, tau associated
neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and front temporal dementia.
The questions we tried to answer over six weeks were: How does tau bind to mica?
And to what extent does tau bind to other tau? We deposited one isoform of tau
on mica in three different concentrations. And we used an Atomic Force
Microscope (AFM) with a nanoscaled cantilever tip to image in an aqueous
environment. We obtained data about the height, width, and volume for the tau
deposits and aggregates.
Download research presentation as a PDF file
2005 Curriculum project: Atomic Microscope Curriculum Unit
My research project gave me the opportunity to image proteins using the
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM), imaging down to approximately 10 nm resolution.
The purpose of my curriculum unit is to relate what students are learning in units
on Scale, Accuracy, and Forces to ‘How do scientists know what they know?’ and
‘What kind of tools do scientists use?’ The National Science Content Standard
that relates to this is “Scientists rely on technology to enhance the gathering
of data… The accuracy and precision of the data depends on the technology used.”
In regard to forces, the students will begin by building a simple force meter
and studying the effects of the force applied by the cantilever… ‘The greater
the displacement of the cantilever (or spring), the greater the force applied
by the cantilever (or spring).’ This is also known as Hooke’s Law.
The students will then build a simple AFM model by varying the type of cantilevers
and sizes of the tips (on the end of the cantilevers.) This meets the National
Science Content Standard, “The construction of artifacts can require the skills
of cutting, shaping, treating, and joining common materials such as wood, metals,
and plastics.”
By varying the tip sizes, students will gain an understanding of the
importance of having small tips available so that small things can be imaged…
An AFM tip needs to be the same size or smaller than what is being imaged to
avoid ‘tip imaging’. And a tip needs to be small enough to move between peaks
of individual atoms or proteins. According to the California Science Content
Standard, “Students will identify and communicate sources of unavoidable
experimental error.”
Download curriculum project
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