Telomerase+Immortality+and+Cancer

Connor Forlini, Chris Gerace, Peter Seliga
 * [[image:dna_image.png width="153" height="46"]] || Why is it called the "Blueprint of Life?" || What is it a blueprint for? || What reads the blueprint? ||

Describe your Topic below: We've decided to change up our project and focus more on the epigenetics of telomeres and what different environmental effects may negatively effect the shutting off/turning back on of telomerase.

Brainstorm what you know and what you would like to know:


 * = ** What we (think) we know ** ||=  ||= What we would like to know / understand ||
 * < We think we know that telmoeres, when turned on, can allow cells to keep dividing without the effects of aging. The problem with this is many types of dieases and cancers are known to have their telomerase turned back on.

Different environmental contributions help to promote the healthy or unhealthy behavior of telomerase. ||  ||< We would like to know if there is a possiblity of the telomerase being turned back on without causing any types of damage such as cancer.

What are the specific types of factors that help contribute to telomerase behavior? ||

State the essential question or problem statement for the project. The statement should encompass all project content and outcomes, and provide a central focus for your inquiry. Driving Questions can’t be Googled! Driving questions are: Provocative – Do Commercials paint an accurate picture of the United States? Open-Ended – Should the United States have used the atomic bomb in WWII? Go to the heart of a discipline or topic – How Safe is our drinking water? (Biology Chemistry principles applied in context – judgment and evaluation required) Are challenging – When are people justified in revolting against the established government? Can arise from real world dilemmas that you find interesting – How could we effectively prevent texting while driving?
 * Craft a Driving Question: **

What environmental factors, starting from birth, help to positively and/or negatively effect the turning on/off/on of telomerase?

As you conduct background research on your topic upload useful finds here. This could include ANNOTATED LINKS, ARTICLES, EMBEDDED VIDEOS, GRAPHICS. For all resources site the source (usually the url)
 * Background Research **[[image:Kngine.png width="279" height="89" align="right" link="@http://kngine.com/"]]

ABC Nightly News Video talks about telomeres. The mice in the videos are prematurely aged and scientists added an enzyme to stop and reverse the aging. The enzyme repaired and lengthened the telemeres in the mice and they were better functioning, had better memory ect. The brain in a mouse with Alzheimers had a brain that shrunk because of the disease, when the telomeres were turned on the brain returned to the normal size. TED talk (curing aging) NOTHING Telomerase reactivation reverses tissue degeneration in aged telomerase-deficient mice- Article Pretty hardcore article, really hard to understand, the first page sounded more like a medical journal than an article for HS students. Scientific America Good solid background in the first half of the article. An article within the "journal" connects telomeres to cancer, and the future of cancer and telomeres. Its some good stuff and a nice article there may or may not be a strong driving question somewhere in the article.

Are telomeres the key to aging and cancer? this page has great basic information about telomeres and the effects of telomerase and what may happen if turned off and on. Recommend site for information.

Confusing Link 1 Confusing Link 2 Answers.com Telomerase University of Utah Epigenetics (Wow)

Epigenetics of Telomerase

Epigenetics & Chromatin scholarly journal type format, important but really indepth to the point of confusing. Epigenetic regulation of telomerase seems to talk more about HIV than anything else? Are we refocusing on something different? Epigenetic and genetic mechanisms " we propose that EGCG is effective in causing cell death in both MCF-7 and HL60 cancer cell lines and may work through different pathways involving both anti-oxidant effects and epigenetic modulation" Epigenetis's telomeres 2 articles this seems to only be a bibliography or something. I think the link below is the actual article. Epigenetic's telomeres 2 articels (real)

Methalization of Telomerase