S-STEM/TRAIN Scholar Kimberly Merrill's Blog

 Hello! A bit out of order but, I would like to share my abstract to see if anyone has any suggestions. If you read last week's blog, it will tell you my partial results. I just wanted to see if the abstract is appropriate so I can start building a really solid paper: Abstract             Chiropterans are the only winged mammals in existence. Flight capability aren’t bats’ only distinguishable feature from other members of Mammalia. Notoriously, different species of bats harbor multiple zoonotic viruses asymptomatically. Also, genomic research has shown unique antiviral response characteristics due to a critical protein difference in bats immune systems.             In order to determine correlative influences of genetic immune system distinctions on viral susceptibility, comparative literature reviews have been conducted. Primarily, an investigation of viral transmissi...

 Hello Everyone!  Through literature review, I have concluded the following thus far:  “The strength of evidence that bats are a reservoir of zoonotic viruses is undeniable.” (Wynne and Wang, 2013, p.1). The question remains as to why these species of Chiroptera are hosts of so many viruses. According to Streiker and Gilbert (2020), through evolution, bats obtained wings as homologous structures of hands of humans or fins of dolphins. While advantageous to fly, reproductive yield of the mother’s became limited to the amount of young that could be carried on their backs, which is one to two cubs per year. In view of reproduction, individuals with longer lifespan would genetically be selected upon. This implication alone can explain the genetic adaptation of low rates of tumorigenesis in bats.  Wendy Barclay in “Receptor for bat influenza virus uncovers potential risk to humans,” explains that major histocompatibility complex, MHC, proteins are similar amongst a vari...

 Hello Everyone, I have been having issues with the google sheet for the habitat survey of the bat recordings. Despite our efforts, I am just having to create a new sheet to be copied over.  I have been trying to focus my paper for the bat project. In my search to analyze the greatest cause that answers my research question, I found out that my hypothesis was partially right. There is a genetic and cellular factor that causes some viruses to easily jump from bats or birds to other animals. I believe last week I discussed there may be a correlation to bats tumorigenesis. When bats emerged during evolution with the distinction of flight, their young required to be carried on the backs of their mothers. Therefore, their reproductive yield is 1-2 cubs per year. With small litters per bat natural selection acted on lifespan. Some scientists believe this is where the genetic cells that deter cancerous growths came from.  In correlation, these same oncolytic cells could be why b...

 Hey folks! Since I have had more emphasis in the blog on the bat project, I wanted to focus this week's post on the Plague project. I recently found a really good source that I don't know how eluded me last semester. It is the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. They publish an annual epidemiological report which includes Plague data, which as most of you know I am trying to collect. They don't have reports for 2019 or 2020, yet. I don't know if this is due to a time/review process.  I've reviewed the reports for 2014 through 2018. There were zero cases reported, which is awesome for the people of Europe. However, it is not awesome when searching for data. So, why is this a great source still? Their reports include the numbers reported yearly around the globe (BY COUNTRY, BY YEAR)!!!  I know it doesn't seem really exciting but, this has been really messy statistically. I've had data in ten year blocks from some countries or in months from ot...

 Hello Everyone! Welcome Back! The spring semester is awfully sassy! I never know what to expect out of it now. I, like many of you, have been locked out of everything from Canvas to student email. This week has been a lot of catch-up.  For my Plague project, the background isn't really relevant. It essentially remains the same background information from last semester.  For the bats, I did find out something really interesting when reading through some sources. They have a very low tumorigenesis, which means they don't produce many, if any, tumors. Also, many of the viruses they harbor act oncolytic. Meaning, the viruses actually attack cancer cells and keep them from replicating. This is a really cool mammalian feature, and I hope could be studied and applied to humans.  Overall, I don't believe it ultimately answers, "Why do bats harbor so many viruses?" Cancer typically isn't a huge selective pressure unless it affects a species before or during prime repr...