December 2011

Wednesday the 7th

Thanksgiving was just after my last post. I hope that all of you had a nice holiday and a good meal. Fortunately, I was invited over to the house of an Aussie who is friends with Americans that I know through the Rotary scholarships. We had a traditional dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, succotash (I made this), cranberry sauce, and sweet potato and pumpkin pies. Both the food and the company made the evening very enjoyable despite the balmy weather.

The next night was the QIMR Student Christmas Party. The term “student Christmas party” simply means an end-of-the-year party with plenty of grog and food at a local hotel that is cheap for students; besides the name of the event, there wasn’t anything related to Christmas (in Australia, a hotel is a place that has a restaurant, bar, pokies, and entertainment). It was a popular and fun night, and I got to meet some new QIMR students.

The night after that was the Rotaract Christmas Party at a member’s house. It was another fun night with a great group of people. As you can tell, this time of year brings many social events in Queensland because there are currently no public holidays between August and the end of December. However, beginning next year, the Queen’s Birthday will be on 1 October (previously in June) so that Queenslanders have a long weekend-holiday in the second half of the year. Tomorrow, our lab is having a morning tea for a member’s 30th birthday. Friday is the QIMR Christmas Party with a jungle theme, and our end-of-the-year lab floor party is on the 15th. The frequent social gatherings maintain high spirits and productivity among the lab staff.

I have been working hard when not on Rotary trips or volunteering and am pleased to finally give you an update about my research project:

The compound my lab is studying derives from the fruit of an Australian rainforest plant, Blushwood from Northeast Queensland, and localized injections of the compound have been found to destroy solid cancer tumors in animals.

We want to determine how it does this in human cancer tumors and cells (i.e. determine mechanism of action).

We know the compound affects the distribution and subsequent activation of a particular protein, which itself controls cell death, proliferation, and migration (AKA metastasis, Gr. “next placement”).

There are several types of this protein called isoforms.

Three isoforms have not been investigated in determining the mechanism of action and may be essential for the causal chain of molecular events that lead to the observed anti-cancer effects of the rainforest compound.

In order to investigate these isoforms, I created three custom expression plasmids that each encode for one of the three isoforms and also fuse a fluorescent tag to the protein isoform. Plasmids are extrachromosomal rings of DNA (DNA maintained outside of chromosomes).

I am currently inserting these plasmids into cervical cancer cells (this is termed transfection) called HeLa cells, which are named after Henrietta Lacks whose cancer cells are now used around the world. The cancers cells maintain the plasmid and express (make) the protein with the fluorescent tag. I then treat the transfected cancer cells with the rainforest compound plus controls and use a fluorescence microscope to see where the proteins move in cells (translocation). The protein will move from the cytoplasm (region between nucleus and membrane containing all other cell contents and organelles) to the surrounding membrane of the cell if it is activated, as shown below:

I will repeat this experiment several times to test the effects of altering cancer cell type, isoform type, treatment concentrations, and treatment times (e.g. 1 hour vs. 2 hours). Several controls will be used throughout the experiments for comparison.

I will then confirm my microscopic observations by breaking open (lysing) the cancer cells and separating the contents into cytoplasmic and membranous fractions (the same areas where I am measuring fluorescence). Each fraction will be probed with antibodies that recognize the protein isoforms; the amount of attached antibodies is then quantified. During this stage, I will also probe for other classes of proteins that may be targeted by the rainforest compound and help cause the death of cancer cells. All collected data is expected to clarify the mechanism of action so people in need can eventually utilize the power of the novel chemotherapy.

Besides participating in Rotary volunteering events and fundraisers, like sausage sizzles, raffle ticket selling, and community projects, I recently started volunteering for a local organization called Hunt4Homeless, which is named after the founder John Hunt. The organization provides Thursday dinner and then lunch on Saturday and Sunday, days and times during which the area’s largest homeless shelter is closed. My time there so far has been very rewarding; the people we help are grateful and have interesting stories. Also, the volunteers I work with are welcoming and friendly. Since most of the food is privately funded and all of the services are provided by volunteers, I am figuring out ways to raise funds so that the days of operation can be extended. Any ideas are most welcome!

I have found that regular, long-term volunteering at a specific location is much more rewarding than one-off or transient events because recurring arrangements allow me to develop more meaningful partnerships with the other volunteers and a better understanding of the people we are trying to help. Nonetheless, the gross amount of good produced for recipients (people with a need of some sort) by either type of volunteering may be the same in certain instances.

In addition to my research and volunteering, the second half of my scholarship period is starting to fill up with trips planned to Sydney, Perth, Mackay, and New Zealand. I am also hoping to see Darwin, Melbourne, and Tasmania. When my parents come in mid-June, we will at least visit Cairns, Alice Springs, and Uluru.

Sunday the 18th

The QIMR Jungle Christmas Party was a blast! The venue was along the river, and about 150 staff, students, or partners attended. A significant portion of attendees were dressed up as animals or other types of people that belong in the jungle. I was a jungle warrior and, along with my mate from the same lab floor, won the prize for best male costume. The ladies who won best female costume are also friends and dressed in a similar fashion in a jungle disco/boogie theme. We had a good time dancing to the bongo band and several soloists who were all from some part of the QIMR.

That weekend, I went with Philip to the home of his family doctor for a housewarming party. Philip is very good friends with his doctor, and we had helped with a few chores several months ago so that he could make improvements to his yard. The doctor and his wife are both Indian, so they prepared or had friends bring delicious and authentic mains and deserts. This was probably some of the best Indian food I've had!

I completed my second round of raffle ticket selling with members of my host club and volunteered with Ashgrove-The Gap Rotary by helping them collect donations. I will be volunteering each day between 26 and 30 December at Hunt4Homeless.

Tonight, Philip and Fran took me to a party hosted by their friends, Greg and Christine Stevens. Greg operates a fuel tank and radiator service (custom builds and maintenance), and Christine buys and sells hand-operated brass car horns. Greg’s shop is impressive because of all the custom equipment required for making his copper radiator cores or repairing old units. Dozens of old gas pumps, company signs, automobile parts, and pedal cars are strewn about his shop and around their home. Since they are in business for vintage car enthusiasts, Greg and Christine own several vintage automobiles. You can check out the details on their website.

I was lucky enough to get a ride in their 1928 Morgan Super Aero Trike. This is a very unique car for several reasons: it has three wheels, a V-twin cylinder engine, two forward speeds but no reverse, and the body is polished aluminium (Americans would say aluminum). More details can be found on their website. As you can see in the pictures, the engine is at the very front of the car and totally exposed. The long brass exhaust pipes off of each cylinder produce a nice throaty sound and, when the throttle is increased (there is no gas pedal but, rather, a throttle lever on the steering wheel), the sound is deafening and gives the car great character. The shifter can be seen in the picture below Greg’s elbow on the outside of the vehicle!

Lastly, my official Australian nickname is Azza (courtesy of Rotaract) because of some informal rule that changes r to z when making Aussie nicknames or slang. Check out the interesting article attached to the bottom of this page from University of Queensland News about Aussie slang.