Literature Review

This week, I started the literature review assignment for my research paper. Actually, I just started this 1500 word paper yesterday, of course, being the procrastinator that I am. On top of starting just two days before the rough draft was due, I only got as far as writing a solid forty words that I completely deleted and rewrote today.

Usually, I don't have trouble writing an assignment like this since it is mostly factual and supposed to maintain a neutral and unbiased tone. But for some reason, I could not gather any ideas of what I should write. I would have to say I do partially blame myself for not engaging enough with my sources beforehand. But I also was not sure what exactly this literature review should contain. Yes, I know it's a paper introducing my topic, summarizing and evaluating my sources. But how factual is my tone supposed to be? What goes into my introduction? How is this different from my research paper?

It was not until I turned to trusty google and looked up "literature review." After reading a webpage from UNC College of Arts and Science's Writing Center and an example provided by my professor, I gained a better understanding of what I should include in this Literature Review.

Hopefully, my rough draft of the assignment meets the requirements of a Literature review and receives some positive feedback despite my last minute writing manner. In the future, when the time comes for me to start my research paper, I will start my paper earlier. This way, I will have more time to think about what to write rather than sitting there scavenging for things to say when I am clearly having writer's block. 
After all, they say writing is a process. A piece is never final and complete. 

Neurodegenerative diseases

Transgenic animals have come a long way in the research in the medical field to be a part of the research of neurodegenerative diseases. That's right, who would have thought that a small mouse, a commonly unappreciated rodent, would play such a large role to the human species?

Surprisingly, it's true. Transgenic mice may just be the hero for many patients with neurodegenerative diseases. In a previous post, Beginning the Research, I found an article, that explained how transgenic mice are used to model diseases for scientists and researchers to better understand the disease. According to this article, the triple transgenic mice model is the reason we are one big step closer to finding the cure for Alzheimer's Disease. I'm sure you all agree with me that this is great news because we know how dangerous Alzheimer's can be.

This article sparked my interest and gave me the idea to write my paper on transgenic mice and neurodegenerative diseases.

After doing some more research I stumbled upon two great scholarly sources that I intend to use in my paper.

A Decade of Tau Transgenic Animal Models and Beyond talks about a type of transgenic animal models, tau, and their role in Alzheimer's disease. Tau is a microtubule-assisted protein that is present in neurons. Researchers are experimenting with tau transgenic mice models because they believe that tau proteins triggers the disintegration of microtubules. Tau transgenic animal models identify disease modifiers, express genes and proteins, and develop new therapeutic strategies.

Transgenic animal models of neurodegenerative diseases and their application to treatment development is an article on neurodegenerative diseases in general instead of just Alzheimer's. Instead of focusing on tau transgenic animal models like the other article, this one focuses on the misfolded proteins. Many neurodegenerative diseases, not just Alzheimer's, are caused by aggregate proteins, proteins that are accumulated in areas such as the plasma membrane, intercellular and extracellular spaces. In this research, they use biological mouse models to better understand the pathogenesis and to discover and test new treatments. Each model targets a selective factor and mimic a specific condition of the researched disease.

Both articles remind me of how advanced technology is today. It amazes me how mice can be used to represent not just a disease as a whole, but specific characteristics of the diseases, such as tau and misfolded proteins, to learn how that one thing affects the complex disease. I will be using both articles in my research to show how transgenic animals are significant in the medical world. Centuries and decades ago, people would not have guessed the large role that these little creatures could play.

Asking a Question

We ask questions all the time. Every waking minute of our days, we have questions swarming our curious minds and sometimes, we have trouble keeping them in our minds. But what we usually don't have trouble with is coming up with a question to ask.

Although I have finally pinpointed on a topic I want to research, genetic modification of animals, it was a bit of endeavor to ask a question that I want my research to answer. There are many directions I can take my research towards. My options range from the ethics of genetic modification, the benefits and hinderance on animals for food or medicine use, to just about genetic modification in general and how it affects our daily lives. All of these ideas interest me and initially, I was leaning towards researching the benefits of genetically modified animals on animals versus humans. But in the end, I decided that since I am in the pre-pharmacy major, I want to use this research opportunity to my advantage and focus on the use of genetic modification of animals for medicine.

How is genetically modifying animals helpful towards the medical field?

I realize that this question can be a tad bit difficult when researching for sources, but I will be focusing on the broad aspect of how genetically modified animals contribute towards medicine. These contributions can be whether it's researching medicine, creating new medicine or testing medicine. Hopefully, I will be able to find abundant sources that will uphold my research. 

Embarking on Research

As part of my freshman college English 201 course at the University at Buffalo, I am required to conduct research on the role of animals in science, technology, and culture. Although it is a requirement and sounds painful, I will use this blog to my advantage to just jot down and share some thoughts.

And so here it is, a blog where you will be able to follow me on my path of research. Like a journal, my blog will be a place where my thoughts will be shared. There will be occasions where I will free write about sources and ideas and there will be other times where I will share my experience about where my research is headed.

Now, as far as this research process goes, all I have so far is animal breeding. I have not yet decided what exactly about animal breeding, but I am leaning towards the ideas of selective breeding or genetic modification of animals. Typically, I am not a very opinionated person with strong feelings about controversial ideas because there are always some great arguments for both sides of the argument. However, both selective breeding, the act of cross mating animals for specific traits, and genetic modification, the act of transferring genes from one organism to another, are topics of interest I want to research more not only to learn and write about, but also to inform others about.

Soon enough, I will be posting sources and material that I will discuss and apply towards my research.