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Exploring the role of ADP-Ribosylation in DNA repair

Review written by Jessi Hennacy (MOL, G5)

Preserving the integrity of DNA is crucial to maintaining a cell’s functions and life cycle. However, DNA is regularly under attack by chemical and physical agents, such as toxins and UV rays from the sun, that can cause breaks in the chemical backbone that holds a strand of DNA together. This DNA damage can lead to dire consequences if left unaddressed, with effects ranging from cell death to uncontrolled cellular proliferation, which leads to cancer. Thankfully, our cells have evolved mechanisms of repairing broken DNA in order to alleviate the risks of accumulating DNA damage.  

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‘Which side are you on?’ with Patricia Hoyos

In this episode of The Highlights, we’re joined by Patricia Hoyos, a graduate student in the Princeton Neuroscience Institute (PNI). We discuss her work on the development of spatial biases in school-aged kids, the challenges and perks of working with children, and her experiences transitioning her work from undergraduate independent work to a graduate project.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Patricia Hoyos is a graduate student in the Kastner Lab of PNI. She can be reached at phoyos@princeton.edu.

To view the transcript for this episode, click here.

Additional resources:

Princeton Insights coverage: The development of visual-spatial biases in children

Original Paper: Development of spatial biases in school-aged children

Credits:

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Crystal Lee GS

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Munisa Said GS and Crystal Lee GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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Attention, Awareness, and the Right TPJ

Review written by Amy Ciceu (2024)

Have you ever found yourself in deep thought in a public setting only to come to your senses and arrive at the uncomfortable realization that you’re making eye contact with another person? Such is the dilemma that faces us when we lose control of our awareness. Awareness—a module of behavior that allows us to be conscious of stimuli in our environment—is fundamentally distinct from but similar to attention—the process of selectively focusing the mind on certain stimuli at the expense of others. In an insightful new study led by graduate student Andrew Wilterson of the Graziano Lab at Princeton University, researchers used stimulus-prediction tasks and MRI imaging to investigate the interrelated nature of awareness and attention in the human brain. 

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Understanding the entirety of the Vibrio cholerae biofilm lifecycle: First insights into biofilm dispersal

Review written by Kimberly Sabsay (QCB, G2)

Individual cells go through life cycles, in which they grow and prepare for cell division. Similarly, in certain bacteria, groups of cells go through a synergistic cycle involving the formation and disassembly of biofilms. Biofilms are essentially groups of cells that surround themselves in layers of self-made extracellular matrix proteins and polysaccharides. A biofilm is a way for cells to protect themselves from dislocation or death by predation and are present in both beneficial and pathogenic bacterial microbiomes. The sticky extracellular matrix is a structure that pathogens such as Vibrio cholerae (the bacteria that causes Cholera) can hide in to avoid detection by immune cells and thus increase their virulence. In this way, biofilms essentially provide protective armor for bacterial cells that inhibits our ability to fight pathogenic infections. 

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Decoding Mosquitoes with Zhilei Zhao

Episode 3 of Princeton Insights: The Highlights

In this episode of The Highlights, we're joined by Zhilei Zhao, a former graduate student in the McBride Lab of the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and the Princeton Neuroscience Institute. We discuss his experiences working in the lab during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as his study of the delicate neuroscience of mosquitoes and its potential impact on the fight against malaria and other insect-borne illnesses.

This episode of The Highlights was produced under the 145th Managing Board of The Daily Princetonian in partnership with Princeton Insights. Zhilei Zhao is a post-doc in the Goldberg Lab at Cornell University. He can be reached at zz367@cornell.edu.

Additional Resources:

Princeton Insights coverage: Infectious mosquitoes decode the unique smell of humans to pick their next meal

Original Paper: Chemical signatures of human odour generate a unique neural code in the brain of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes

Coverage by the Daily Princetonian

Credits:

Written/Hosted by Thiago Tarraf Varella GS and Olivia Duddy GS

Produced by Isabel Rodrigues

Original Insights Coverage by Olivia Duddy GS

Subscribe to The Highlights on Spotify, Podcast Addict, or wherever you get your podcasts! And subscribe to the Daily Princetonian to get the latest news at Princeton!

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dSPRINT: Machine learning for uncovering protein-ligand interaction sites

Review written by Sara Geraghty (QCB, G3)

Proteins are ubiquitous in our cells. Currently, it’s estimated that the human body contains between 80,000 and 400,000 protein molecules, all busily performing the many tasks that keep your cells running smoothly and ultimately go into making you. Not only do proteins form the structural framework of your cells, but they also protect your body against foreign pathogens, help digest your food, and send and transmit signals around your body. However, they don’t do this in isolation: proteins are constantly working hand-in-hand with other proteins and molecules in your body, like your DNA, RNA, small molecules, and ions. When your DNA is replicated, or an ion is actively transported, the proteins doing the job need to recognize those molecules (and often bind to them) in order to carry out their task properly. This fundamental process of a protein binding to a partner molecule, or ligand, is critically important in biological processes ranging from development to cancer. And yet, we know surprisingly little about what proteins bind what ligands, and where -- knowledge that is key in understanding, and possibly manipulating, the inner workings of cells.

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How the egg drives its own development

Review written by Olivia Duddy (MOL, G4)

How do animals produce a healthy egg cell? To answer this, many developmental biologists investigate the complex choreography of factors required for successful egg cell development, called oogenesis. This process is crucial to the survival and reproduction of many vertebrate and invertebrate species and, remarkably, diverse species often employ a common strategy where the growth of the egg cell is supported by an interconnected network of germline, or reproductive, cells. Like cellular factories, the job of the germline cells is to produce and export nutrients to the egg via connecting cytoplasmic canals. The nutrients these support cells supply to the egg include proteins and the nucleic acids that code for them, called RNA transcripts. 

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Minute Insights: Olivia Duddy

Welcome to our new segment, Minute Insights! This segment will highlight research or high-level experimental techniques conducted and used by graduate students in different departments at Princeton. In this video, learn about Princeton Insights writer Olivia Duddy’s research in the Bassler Lab.

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Newborn mice form memories of their mothers that last a lifetime

Review written by Amy Ciceu (2024) & Adelaide Minerva (PNI, G2)

As youngsters, we develop memories of and connections to our parents, who nurture us throughout not only our childhoods but also much of our lives. These memories and relationships play vital roles in teaching us how to navigate the world. Do other animals form similar memories? A recent study published by the Gould Lab in Princeton’s departments of Psychology and Neuroscience discovered that mouse pups form memories of their maternal caregivers within days of birth and that these memories endure as the pups age into adulthood. 

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Toward personalized medicine: how the gut microbiome shapes patient response to drugs

Review written by Truc Do (CBE, post-doc)

Our microbial residents and their impacts

It has been estimated that there are at least as many bacterial cells in our bodies as there are our own cells1. The vast and diverse collection of bacteria and other microorganisms that live within and on us is known as the human microbiome. We are colonized with microorganisms from birth, but the structure (composition) of our microbial communities evolves throughout our lives2. In recent years, it has become increasingly apparent that human health is inextricably tied to the state of our microbiomes. For example, Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease of increasing prevalence. Changes in the composition of the gut microbiota, as a result of diet and other environmental factors, have been associated with severe Crohn’s disease states3.

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