The basics of the article, "Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells" can be described rather simply. It is mainly about gaining access to the neurons in the living brain and the information it yields. At the same time, while this information we know is important to making life-changing discoveries, the art of gaining entry to said neurons is a tricky and time consuming task that takes months to master. Recently, researchers at MIT and Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a way to automate this process through the use of a robot arm guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm. The team of researchers determined that the reason why this method is so efficient, is due to the fact that the robot can sense when it touches the cell, and therefore will not pierce the cell membrane, granting a much higher success rate. To describe this process, it consists of bringing a tiny glass pipette in contact with the cell membrane of a neuron, then opening up a small pore in the membrane to record the electrical activity within the cell. This process is known as whole-cell patch clamping. This process done by the robot arm has 90% accuracy when detecting a cell, and can establish a connection with the cell 40% of the time. They have also found an easier way to detect the shape of the cells through injecting dye.
This article was related to humanity, and affects my life since apparently this method could help study some serious disorders. Said brain disorders include Parkinson's Disease, Schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy. I really can say that this is very important for me to know since I know plenty of people who suffer from these disorders. These are very common disorders, therefore any research or discoveries made on them will affect lives on a global scale. The robot also opens doors to many other fields of neuroscience in which robotics could be used.
This article was very interesting, and I found the information relative to my life and the average person's live, which is extremely important. But, there was a ton of information to gather, and it at some points in the article it was hard to follow due to the language used and the length of the article. If you could get past the complicated language and some of the less important points of the article, it was easy to gather the significance of this new method to gaining access to the mysteries of the living brain.
"Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells". Biology News Net. May 6th, 2012. Web. May 6th, 2012. http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/05/06/robot_reveals_the_inner_workings_of_brain_cells.html
This article was related to humanity, and affects my life since apparently this method could help study some serious disorders. Said brain disorders include Parkinson's Disease, Schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy. I really can say that this is very important for me to know since I know plenty of people who suffer from these disorders. These are very common disorders, therefore any research or discoveries made on them will affect lives on a global scale. The robot also opens doors to many other fields of neuroscience in which robotics could be used.
This article was very interesting, and I found the information relative to my life and the average person's live, which is extremely important. But, there was a ton of information to gather, and it at some points in the article it was hard to follow due to the language used and the length of the article. If you could get past the complicated language and some of the less important points of the article, it was easy to gather the significance of this new method to gaining access to the mysteries of the living brain.
"Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells". Biology News Net. May 6th, 2012. Web. May 6th, 2012. http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/05/06/robot_reveals_the_inner_workings_of_brain_cells.html
My classmate, Michael, did an excellent job summarizing the article, “Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells.” First, Michael clearly stated what this article is mainly about in his first paragraph of his review. Secondly, he connected the purpose of this method to everyday life perfectly. He explained how the method of using a robotic arm to identify and record information from neurons can be useful towards Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy. He also stated how accurate the robot arm is when detecting a cell. In addition, Michael also did a good job explaining in detail the process of whole-cell patch clamping.
ReplyDeleteAlthough Michael did a great job on his overall review, there were a couple of things he could have done to improve it. Michael could have done some research on how this technique can help Parkinson's disease, Schizophrenia, autism and epilepsy. He could have also done a little bit of research finding scientific opinions towards this process. Also, Michael could have stated what neurons are in his review, and their purpose inside the brain.
In my opinion, Michael chose a very interesting article. I never knew how advanced scientists were. It surprised me that a process done in the brain can use a robot arm guided by a cell-detecting computer algorithm. Before reading this article and Michael’s review, I also did not know that a robot arm has the ability to sense when it touches the cell, so it will not pierce the cell membrane.
Michael, did an excellent job summarizing the article, “Robot Reveals the Inner Workings of Brain Cells.” Michael started his summary in a great way, by simply stating what the main point of the article was. He also did a great job of using simple language and explaining what the scientists did to preform the experiment. Lastly, Michael did a great job relating the results of the experiments back to our lives when he talked about how this process could help research on disorders such as autism and epilepsy.
ReplyDeleteI would have liked to hear more about how the process would work to help the diseases listed such as parkinsens disease and autism. Michaels also could have talked about the scientists who worked on this experiment and what they did to lead up to their results.
I learned a lot from this article review that I didn’t know about before. I had no idea a robotic arm could be so advanced and to know that it will potentially work to cure/make advancements in the field of diseases that are so common today is fantastic!