Lauren+Pyfer

=Week Three:Pharmaceutical Industry = I was not quite sure what to expect going into the Johnson & Johnson visit. My mom has worked at Johnson & Johnson my whole life, but I learned more about the company, their mission, and pharmaceutical research, in the few hours we visited than I could have imagined. Going into the trip, I expected to learn and tour, however after leaving I realized that the day was a complete __experience__. During the tour, other girls and I were commenting on how the building felt like a futuristic world. From the extremely high tech labs, to the treadmill desks: the entire place was systemized down to a T. The whole environment felt progressive and positive. Janssen really tries to embrace the team aspect of their research, and thats exactly how I felt while we were there. Everyone had a highly specific role in their overall objective. All the employees we talked to were extremely friendly, and eager to encourage science to the future generation(us). After our trip, I am extremely interested in pursuing a career in the pharmaceutical industry in some way or another, and wanted to find out a little more about the industry overall.

What Merck Says About Life in the Pharmaceutical Industry....

" At Merck, you'll find rewarding opportunities, diverse experiences and an unwavering commitment to ethics and integrity. As part of our global team, you'll collaborate with talented and dedicated colleagues whose sense of purpose complements your own."

On the Merck website it describes how they have a team of researchers behind each medicine and vaccine that lead their field. Their large commitments are to "scientific excellence and patient safety." Sectors in Merck Research and Development include Discovery and Preclinical Science, as well as Regulatory Strategy and & Safety Operation. The departments listed on the website seem very similar to what we learned at Johnson and Johnson. The one thing that stood out to me differently was Animal Health.It had not occurred to me that these worldwide pharmaceutical companies also develop drugs and vaccines for animals, rather than just humans. Overall, the Merck website gives me a similar impression of a very team based, forward thinking environment, dedicated to making differences in health and safety.

Why the Negative R eputation ? What Can be Changed in Public Eyes? ...  It's no secret that pharmaceutical companies occasionally carry a reputation that is not exactly favorable. It is a shame that these companies at times do not enjoy trust and positive critique from the world around us, as I believe a lot that comes along with the stigma is misunderstood. From what I read, it seems that people occasionally blame large pharmaceutical companies of price inflating their drugs and covering up negative side effects of their drugs. These critics have created barriers to medical progress, and the industry must attempt to make some changes in order to regain an untainted reputation in the eyes of the public. Luke Timmerman writes an article about " 12 Things Pharmaceutical Companies Can Do to Build Public Trust." Some of these suggestions include supporting the FDA, Investing in Employees, and stopping direct-to-consumer TV Advertising. What's your opinion? Any other ideas Luke didn't mention?


 * (http://www.xconomy.com/national/2013/12/09/12-things-pharma-industry-can-rebuild-public-trust/2/)**

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 * Thanks Mrs. Lil for taking the time to plan the trip for us at J&J! I think we all agree that it exceeded expectations in every way!!**

= = =Week Two: All-in on Sustainability = == To be honest, I have to say that I have never been quite the environmentalist. I guess it is part of my personality, or part of my childlike character traits to care about the things I could see in front of my eyes, to be drawn to topics that seemed most exciting or revolutionary. Even this year, I chose my classes with the mindset something like, "Chemistry! I love experiments, and watching things react in front of my eyes, cool!" and "Biology, what could be more important than the study of life!" and lastly... "APES? Honestly that is the boring part of biology, I'd rather not learn about the water cycle and soil science." I have to say right about now I am feeling pretty ashamed. While I do not regret my decision in taking biology and chemistry, I failed to see the importanc e in Environmental Science. After years of thinking about environmentalist as paranoid and ineffective, I now believe sustainability and preservation of our resources and environment is one of the most important topics we can teach to the public. Between the hype around E.E.C, and our trip to Robbins park, I was interested enough to do a little research on sustainability and environmental science. I hope you gain an appreciation like I did, or learn more about the initiative to expand the appeal for sustainability!

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This Ted Talk focuses on the integration of sustainable products in our modern world. Steve Howard is the chief sustainability  officer at IKEA and talks about his quest to sell eco-friendly materials and practices. He refers claims that sustainability is no longer a "nice-to-do" rather a "must-to-do".

== Sustainability Should not be a Compromise! The first sustainable products, such as the detergent that turned whites grayer, and the energy efficient light bulbs that took five minutes to heat up, reminded people that sustainability was a compromise, and did not effectively appeal to the public. Howard describes that now we have choices in the way in which we make our products. Why not make products that are all beautiful, functional, affordable and sustainable. An LED lightbulb is this product, uses 85% less electricity and produces less heat but more light. Howard approaches the idea to create energy from the sun and the wind and go 100% renewable. At IKEA, by 2020 they will produce more renewable energy than the energy they consume throughout the entire company. = = = Global Climate Change: = Almost everyone has heard of global warming and been warned of it's effect. However, I never knew how large of an issue this really can be, or exactly it's causes and effects. The warming of the climate is known to be due to a large part of the green house gas emissions. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration explained that there are seven indicators, that would be expected to increase in a warming world, and three indicators that would be expected to decrease in a warming world. This is precisely what is happening.

= = = = == =**The Green house effect is t**he rise in temperature on Earth as certain gases in the atmosphere trap energy and described in the diagram above.=

Sometimes misunderstood, the greenhouse effect is natural and beneficial to us, however humans over time have interfered with the effect. If the greenhouse effect becomes stronger, there will be more heat trapped, and the Earth could become less habitual for life. = = The Carbon Cycle; The Human Role, Earth Observatory, NASA
 * "**The result is that humans are adding ever-increasing amounts of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Because of this, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations are higher today than they have been over the last half-million years or longer." -

Fossil fuel burning and deforestation release high amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Human induced carbon cycle is much faster than the natural carbon cycle, meaning ecosystems have less chance of adapting to the changes that will result, making the effects even worse. Although the climate has varied throughout life's history, recent warming has been shown to be due to human industrialization processes.



=__**Relation to Class...**__= Our trip to Robbins park and our discussions regarding sustainability and natural resources got me interested in this topic of discussion. The Ted Talk really gave a great perspective of how humans can actually commit to full time sustainability, rather than an occasional luxury. Within the past week I most definitely gained an appreciation for commitment to sustainability, and environmental science and development. = = = = =Week One: Can the Brain Repair Itself? =

After watching multiple Ted Talks, I was particularly intrigued by Sidharthan Chandran's talk regarding the regenerative p roperties of the brain. Learning about the nervous system in class, I always had the impression that the brain did not possessive reconstructive properties, and neurons were one of the few cells that could not replace themselves. Now after watching the video, I feel that there are multiple research opportunities regarding these properties of the brain and can easily be related to diseases in the brain caused by damaged tissue.

media type="custom" key="26005036" Siddharthan Chandran presents a Ted Talk on the possibility of using Stem cells to allow the brain to repair itself fast enough to see results.



Can the Brain Repair Itself? Newly found discoveries has led to the possibility of the brain repairing itself. Research suggests that the brain generates new stem cells. Cellular pathways in humans that have previously been identified in rats, are used to travel to areas in the brain that need new cells. This idea suggests the concept of self reparation. I find this especially intriguing as it has always been thought that neurons are one of the few cells in our body that cannot be repaired or replaced. Many diseases associate with brain damage, or damage to the cells of the brain, and this could be an outlet to treatment for these diseases. We must conduct further research in hopes to determine the way in which to stimulate cells to travel to areas of brain damage. Mike Adams quotes, "The more science looks closely at the human body, the more it will realize that the drugs and surgery approach to treatment is irrelevant to genuine health. The only way to achieve health is to support the body's own natural healing and regenerative processes." This is an interesting outlook on the medical field and current research practices. I think Adams is getting at something when he supports the idea to utilize the human bodies natural healing and regenerative processes. Often in medicine and pharmaceuticals we search for ways to recreate human processes or block chemical signals, rather than support and enable our own regenerative processes.

"undifferentiated cells of a multicellular organism that is capable of giving rise to indefinitely more cells of the same type, and from which certain other kinds of cell arise by differentiation." The establishment of neural stem cells as life-long sources of neurons and glia opened ground-breaking doors in neuroscience research. No longer is the nervous system believed to lack regenerative power.
 * __Stem Cells:__**

What does this mean for the future...? Experiments are being conducted currently using stem cells and engineered nervous system cells. Healing that takes place after a brain or spinal cord injury is extremely complex. The key to the future comes in creating the proper environment so nerve cells and their connections grow and travel to the right place, making the proper connections. A possible branch in research stems from fetal cell transplants.

__Fetal Cell Transplants:__ If tissue is taken from a fetus, it will continue to produce neurotransmitters. Fetal tissue can be used in Parkinson's patients. The fetal tissue produces dopamine in the brain, and the patients function improves. This method provokes ethic concerns, as less controversial use of stem cells will enhance research in the future.

__Brain Plasticity Research: __Brain Plasticity, the ability of the brain to renew itself, is now a hot research topic. Plasticity allows the neurons in the brain to compensate for injury and adjust their activity in response to new situations or changes in their environment. I believe that the more we learn about brain plasticity, the more we can harness it's effects and induce self reparation.

<span style="color: #28ff88; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif; font-size: 130%;">Relation to class... <span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">When learning about the nervous system, I was under the impression that nerve cells were one of the few cells in our bodies that could not be repaired or replicated. It was previously believed that if the adult brain was damaged that it could not form new connections or regenerate, however now information leads to the concept of plasticity as research acknowledges neurons compensating after injury and adjusting to their environments.

After visiting Robins park and working in the preserved sites of water flow, we saw a multitude of different organisms. This got me thinking about other organisms' brain and nervous systems. Here's what I found relating to the brain and nervous system of a frog.
 * __Robins Park:__**

Frog's nervous system consists of a brain, spinal cord, and nerves. Frog's do not have external ears, however have a highly developed sense of hearing. High- pitched sounds are detected with their ears, while low pitched noises detected through their skin. Their highly developed sense of smell is registered by olfactory lobes. This makes up the forward portion of their brain, and allows protection from predators. Frogs have a central nervous system, peripheral nervous system and an autonomic nervous system. Similarly to humans, the autonomic system is made up of sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves.