Making Connections

Curated Paper #2

Brain injuries and disorders, micro-biomes, drug effects and genetic therapy. Those are some dense topics that have their own fields of study but looking at them together, a lot of overlap can be seen. For example, with a brain injury, that is going to affect the body and likely will result in drug use to minimize symptoms, thus understanding the effects of those drugs is important. We have evidence that microbes in the gut can alter brain development; can gene therapy be used to make it so our bodies select for only the beneficial microbes? Can CRISPR eventually be used so that we incorporate “super-human” genes into our genome so that we no longer need to worry about brain injuries or taking drugs? Granted, those last view are hypothetical but it’s easy to see that each of these topics could very well cross over into the realm of each other. With that in mind, I want to explore each topic a little more to see what other connections can be made.

Starting with the brain, I have always been fascinated with brain physiology and brain functions. It also amazes me how there is still so much to learn about the brain. As of now, scientists have been able to map out regions associated with certain functions but there are still brain processes that aren’t well understood. For example, it is believed that the Hippocampus deals with memories but how is that long term memory is essentially infinite? How is it that we can remember every word to a song that we haven’t heard in years? Is there a link between brain structure or genetics and intelligence? Then of course, there are so many disorders/diseases that alter regular brain processes and offer up more questions that call for answers.  

Diving into those disorders and diseases of the brain, I feel like I know less and less about them the more I try to learn. For example, I was completely surprised to find out that M.S prevalence is linked to certain latitudes. Like how could latitude possibly drive the immune system to attack myelin sheaths? Seems ridiculous but as we saw in class, there is a correlation. Of course, correlation isn’t the same as causation but still, it’s a very interesting pattern. Doing a little research on this, it seems there are some exceptions to the pattern but studies indicate that there is a definite relationship between the disease and latitude globally, possibly linked to difference in UV radiation. The expectations to the pattern are believed to be due to cultural-behavioral differences in unaffected areas (Lucas, R. 2014). As such, we now have an observable connection between the brain/brain disorders and geography, which is fascinating to me.

Onto physical brain damage, I think it is fair to say that it is common knowledge that brain injuries are not to be overlooked. What I don’t think is common knowledge is how truly detrimental these injuries can be. To be honest, I hadn’t even heard the term, “Traumatic Brain Injury” (TBI) until this course. Nor was I aware that 5.3 million Americans are disabled due to one of these injuries. Granted, that is less than 2% of the United States population but that is still more than I expected. I think what interests me the most about these types of injuries is that no two are the same. Even if two people experience a TBI under extremely similar circumstances, they could very well have vastly different symptoms as a result. Due to this, it makes sense now why mood disorders and related complications, caused by TBIs, are so hard to treat. Since the brain is the body’s control center, the ramifications of altering the brain’s normal function are numerous and severe. Damage to the frontal lobe can result in a complete personality change, which is a scary fact to me. Even a small imbalance of chemicals in that portion of my brain can lead to me functioning/thinking like a new person. If brain damage is altering mood and physiology then is it safe to say that gene expression is also altered? Could that be something fixed by something as easy as CRISPR modifications? Establishing a connection between TBIs and gene therapy could be a game-changing research project. When it comes down to it, our whole identify can potentially be limited to the level of chemicals and how we use them in our brains. Interestingly enough, we can take drugs that alter those chemicals as well so if you think about it, we can change our identity just by popping a pill too.

Rounding out my thoughts on brain injuries, I want to share a personal story associated with the subject. I played high school football as a sophomore and as many may know, concussions are commonplace in the sport. One night, I had a helmet to helmet collision with another player and as a result I was pulled aside to undergo the concussion protocol. To start, I was given a set of five words to remember as I would have to recite them at the end of the examination. A series of questions and tests followed to measure my mental state. I successfully passed off all the required tests and questions, including remembering those five words: elbow carpet apple saddle bubble (in that order). It’s been nearly 6 years since I had that experience. For whatever reason, those words are permanently stored in my memories as if my brain sees them as crucial information. Could it be possible that I did sustain a minor injury that led to my brain to storing that useless information? As we’ve learned, brain injuries can lead to altered brain function so maybe a knock to the head resulted in a period of hyperactive memory function? It’s impossible to say for sure but who knows? That’s why I think it’s important to learn all we can about TBIs and their impacts on the brain.

Now onto the next topic, let’s get into micro-biomes and their interesting role in the body. I’ve spent a lot of time studying microbiology and yet I was still amazed to hear the impact of microbes on the human body. Gut microbes affecting the development of the brain? Feces of thin mice given to obese mice counteracts obesity? Absence of bacteria leading to anxiety and antisocial behavior? Safe to say, I never knew any of that before this class. It makes me think of mitochondria and the endosymbiotic theory. Here are these separate organisms yet they have this important role inside our bodies. As previously mentioned, micro-biomes come into play with brain development but how can they relate to the other topics? Obviously, taking drugs such as antibiotics will alter the state of the the micro-biomes in the body. Moreover, gene therapy could play a role in gene expression which could be targeted to select for certain microbes. A stretch? Maybe, but we’ve learned about more surprising things in this class.

Finally, I’m going to move on to gene therapy. To me, gene therapy represents an incredible gateway into a world with near endless possibilities. For better or for worse, gene therapy has the potential to dramatically change medicine to health care. Genetics is a fascinating field of study and as of now, I don’t even know where I stand when it comes to what we should be able to change and what we shouldn’t. Should we be able to “play God” and alter the course of human growth and development? Is it possible to take gene therapy too far and cross a line that we should cross?

As someone who has aspirations of working in healthcare, the idea of using gene therapy to get an edge over diseases and disorders is exciting to me. A world without genetic disorders seems like science fiction but could that be reality in the next 20-30 years? Even sooner? Will it be possible to genetically modify everything to make some sort of “perfect human”? That all sounds like a goal to shoot for but there has to be drawbacks right? For whatever reasons, many might see manipulating the human genome as unethical and something that shouldn’t be under our control. On the flip side though, how do you tell a parent that you could of extended their child’s lifespan by 50 years but chose not to because “it isn’t our place” to do that?

Cutting away from the dramatic hypotheticals, I wanted to talk about genetics and health insurance. I had never really thought of a downside to getting my genome sequenced. I figured it would be fun and insightful to see my heritage and where my ancestors came from. It never occured to me that that information could actually be used by someone else. Of course, that information is quite literally my identity and as such, shouldn’t I be protecting it? If my insurance company got ahold of that information, should they be able to use that against me to raise my premiums and hold me back from getting quality care? Looking at it from the other side, we live in a capitalist environment where businesses have the right to choose how they charge their customers so should they be denied information on clients? In my eyes, I believe everyone deserves access to quality healthcare so if health insurance companies limit that through discriminating based on genomes, I am against them having that information.  

Taking it all in, it is so hard to know exactly where I stand when it comes to gene therapy. On one hand, I think it is our duty as humans to further the growth and prosperity of our race. That being said, I think there is a limit to what lines we should be able to cross. Who is to say what genes should be allowed and what shouldn’t? If we can prevent diseases, should we also be able to make it so all offspring are perfectly genetically fit? I most definitely do not know so at this time, I can not pick a side. I’m truly excited to see how this field of study process as I’m sure things are only going to get both more exciting and terrifying.

Bringing it all together now, I hope I was able to swing you on connections between these topics. Going over these topics and thinking about balance, it just goes to show that you really never know what two concepts can overlap and be related. From M.S being linked to latitude and gut bacteria being linked to brain development, there is so much evidence to everything being connected. This class has been eye-opening and I’m interested to see what other connections will be made during the rest of this course.

Works Cited:

Lucas, R. (2014). Faculty of 1000 evaluation for Latitude is significantly associated with the prevalence of multiple sclerosis: A meta-analysis. F1000 - Post-publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature. doi:10.3410/f.724307212.793501551