Week 6 - Tara

My weeks have been increasingly devoted to the study and treatment of MS, both in the clinic with Dr. Gauthier and in the lab. It’s been a very educational and great experience learning about the details of a new pathology for me. While I had a basic understanding of MS before, it takes a very different approach to bring it in light of a clinical context. The integration of understanding pathophysiological events and information interpreted from diagnostic tools is only part of the picture. As with many diseases, the precise triggers are unknown, and the precise course of events for each patient is different. Yet, in most cases, the treatment options are broadly applied to patients regardless of where they fall in the relative spectrum of the disease. Importantly, the decision for treatment rests greatly on patient compliance. If a patient is more likely to take their medication regularly if its an oral dosing, the physician may be more inclined to pursue this route though the medication itself is less effective than an i.v injection-based treatment. Of course, all parties are informed of the relative efficacy of the treatment options. However, it does make for a compelling thought to have a better balance of more effective remedies to delay the onset of progressive phase for each patient.

The clinical aspect of MS that I have observed over the last few weeks has reinforced the meaning of the laboratory investigations being conducted. In particular, Dr. Vartanian’s lab works to understand the precise environmental or molecular triggers that may be involved in initiating MS. With this idea in mind, understanding precisely what causes the disease may dictate preventative measures and improve the quality of current therapies. Dr. Vartanian’s lab is researching a particular strain of bacteria and its insidious toxin that the majority of the public may be exposed to in the course of their lifetime. If exposed to this toxin, and perhaps in conjunction with some predisposition, a person may trigger the onset of MS. Therefore, the lab aims to develop a vaccine against the toxin and also examine some possible carriers of exposure.  Though my project focuses on the vaccine construct, I have been assisting one of the post-docs in the lab who is looking at finding sources of the toxin. This week was interesting because she was able to detect the toxin in fresh store-bought tilapia fish. Upon heat shock (cooking), the toxin becomes inactivated. However, it certainly is an interesting discovery. She plans to examine other types of seafood, plants and meat to see where else the toxin can be detected.

All in all, the vaccine project is moving forward. I cannot believe we only have one week left! I will probably continue to come back to this lab in August and occasionally afterwards to help them finalize the vaccine construct. Due to some delays in materials, processing, and the usual trial and error period, I would like to finish what I began in its entirety. This necessitates some time in the lab after the program ends and the lab is more than happy to have the help. Next week I will be observing the cardiothoracic surgery, so I look forward to that as well.

So much to do and so little time is how the saying goes. I find it couldn’t be truer here. So far, this immersion term has really been a terrific experience and meaningful in more ways than I know how to express.

Hope everyone else had a nice week too!