Mutation Story

Part 1.

I wake up in the Chromosome 17, as a mutated gene in my host, Dave, he is of German and Jewish decent. My mutation was passed down from his mother, it causes me to direct production of ASPA which allows build up of NAA. This build up of NAA causes damage to myelin; a type of fat that surrounds nerve fibers. This causes Dave to have to lack of head control, abnormal muscle tone such as floppy or stiff, he won’t be able to walk, crawl, sit, or talk. Dave will most likely not be able to live past the age of 10. These things started to happen to Dave around the age of 3 – 9 months. Although, Dave’s parents weren’t affected they both carried the Canavan Disease gene and they had passed it down to him. All of this stuff began happening to Dave in infancy, but his first symptom was a seizure at the age of 4 months. As of right now Dave is 9 and a half years old and hes currently in the hospital after his 5th seizure this month, and things aren’t looking too good. The doctors said he had only has a couple of months left, since there is currently no know cure.

children who have Canavan disease

Part 2.

Ask.

What is Canavans Disease?

How does it affect someone?

How does someone get Canavans Disease?

How long does someone with Canavans Disease live?

Is there a cure or treatment?

 

 

Acquire.

Got most of my information from here and here and Wikipedia

Analyze/Apply

Canavan Disease is a progressive, fatal neurological disorder. It begins in infancy and caused by a lack of enzymes.

It affects someone with the symptoms being seizures, lack of head control, and some may not be able to walk, talk, crawl, or sit.

It is given to someone during infancy, and is passed from both the parents having the Canavan Gene.

The average life span is 10 years.

There is no cure, but treatment is treating individual symptoms.

 

Assess

This disease seems like its really serious and a cure for it should be created or at least more research should be done.

 

 

Engineering Brightness Proposal

1. Media Thoughts.

a) Over all Skype experience

I thought that the Skype experience was useful for gathering information, and better then just googling it and getting information off of there. It could have been better if we knew some more information prior to the skype call, then we could have made better questions.

b) some screenshots

screenshot-10_li  screenshot-8_li

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c) Ideas for connection

We could connect with companies that create lights to learn what light bulbs are the most efficient

2. A summary of what I’ve learned so far.

a. We talked to Eladio and Dennis and 2 of their students in the Dominican Republic. We also talked to Ian Fogerty and his students in New Brunswick. We’ve learned that magnets and copper wire will create electricity which will allow us to create our lights.

b. What interested me the most was creating more efficient lights that people in light poverty can use.

c. The whole experience is good, its a different way to do science class and will help out a lot more later in life.

3. What are your group’s plans to help address light poverty in the Dominican Republic?

a. Our general ideas are to create a light that can be charged by movement and magnets.

 

b. So far we have the idea to create lights using electro magnets which you would shake to generate the power.

Rough Draft Drawn by Alhan Z.

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c. Companies that creates lights can help us, as well as electricians. We can also find out a lot of information by using google, or the internet

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