Weekly Report #24 “Tulips, TV, Targeting channels” (Week of March 18, 2024)

During Spring Break I did basically nothing. I went to the beach with my family, and played some volleyball with my friend. I also went to a tulip garden which was incredibly pretty. I got a few tulips home and they look really cool. I even got some buds so that I could plant them at our home. Other than that I just sat at home and saw movies like "Ace Ventura", and series’ like "The Brothers Sun" and "Peaky Blinders". I’ve been seeing the Peaky Blinders for quite a long time but I’m STILL not done with it. It is really interesting but at the same time really long too. I watched season 3 and it was CRAZY. They killed off Grace and John who were my favorite characters. Grace’s death was very impactful, but I feel like they did John dirty. He was in the army but they made him die so easily.

Anyways, other than seeing tulips and TV, I did do some work before spring break. I was working on my 18th Assessment for ISM and I got an idea for my research plan that I want to discuss with my mentor. I thought that in AT2 cells, we could observe whether the channels actually do have an effect on the cell mechanics, by using channel blocking drugs to compare the effects of blocking the channel or reducing the function of the channel, to the change in gene expression of SLC34A2. Over a period of time, we can observe the effects of both samples and form findings on whether the ion channel actually affected the cell enough to develop cancerous cells. Using the knowledge from this we can see whether to focus on the ion channel or not. This will help clear up stuff a bit, but I was also thinking that even though the ion channel may not be a direct effector of change in cell mechanics, it could still be targeted for cancer therapies if it can change the cell mechanics somehow. Although, maybe we can see whether it would be beneficial or not to look at the effect of ion channels because if it wasn't the major factor, therapies would just block it and not address the main issue which may just lead to a resurface of cancer cells. For the next week, I plan to discuss this with my mentor and see where to go from here, as even doing this in the first place would require a lot of planning and may not be possible. Although, I will still try my best to continue my research in a way that would  help me in the future. Even if I can’t do this now, I could try in the summer.