Check out our Cell Wall Campaign poster,commercial and brochure!

Commercial
http://vimeo.com/53910684

Click here for Poster

Click here for Brochure

Cell Wall for President

The cell wall is the main protector of the cell. It is in plant cells and is strong and rigid to maintain the cell shape and hold up the plant against the force of gravity. The cell wall also prevents the cell from excessive uptake of water. Plants, fungi, prokaryotes, and some protists are lucky enough to have cell walls.

The cell wall is a fierce protector of the cell! Without the cell wall the cell would not have structure and the other organelles would be in danger. If you want structure and protection in your cell, vote Cell Wall!!!!!
    

Macromolecule

If I were to be to be any macromolecule I would want to be a protein. Proteins are involved in almost everything. Proteins are the most structurally and  functionally diverse macromolecule. They are involved in enzymes, structure, transport, communication, defense, movement, and storage. Proteins are made of amino acids and can form into polypeptide chains. Amino acids form peptide bonds to form polypeptide chains. Protein function depends on its structure. Proteins can fold into different structures depending on different interactions. This folding is called primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary structure. I would want to be a protein because they are involved in the most functions of the body.
     

Biology Class

At this moment I am taking two science classes. I have noticed that there is a lot overlap between the two classes. In my intro to health sciences class at Grand Valley we learn a lot of anatomical terms. We also learn how to break down the terms into the parts. For example in cytology the root word is cyt meaning cells and the suffix ology meaning the study of. Therefore cytology means the study of cells. Having this skill to break down words has helped me be able to remember words in this biology class a lot easier. Also, we learned about cells in my Grand Valley class and now we are just getting to learning about cells in this class. In my other class we learned about the phospholipid bilayer and hydrophobic and hydrophilic already. This overlap is very helpful because I am getting two perspectives on the information and I am learning it twice.

Biology News

New research has found that adult stem cells can change their epigenome to generate new organs. The genome of every single cell is the same regardless of its function or appearance.Therefor the activity of the tissues and organs and their disorders in complex diseases can't be fully explained by the genome. Epigenetics is the chemical changes in our genetic material and their regulatory proteins.The epigenome is all the epigenetic marks of a living being.

Adult stem cells have the potential to regenerate damaged organs. Using adult stem cells gets rid of the ethical risks of using embryonic stem cells. In this study scientists isolated stem cells from body fat and transformed them into muscle and bone cells. The study shows that the epigenome of the cells made by the experiment closely resemble real skeletal and muscle cells, however they are not identical.

This study has found that the use of epigenetics in determining the degree of maturity and biosecurity of different tissues used in regenerative medicine against different diseases is useful. For more information go to
http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2012/10/02/adult_stem_cells_change_their_epigenome_to_generate_new_organs.htmlutm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+biologynews%2Fheadlines+%28Biology+News+Net%29

Homecoming

Sparta High School does homecoming like no one else. Each grade competes against the others to win the coveted "Red Apple." This years overall theme was musicals. However, each year's theme is different. Each grade gets their own theme under the broad theme of the year. This year because the theme was musicals, each grade got a different musical as their theme. Freshman were High School Musical, Sophomores were Grease, Juniors were Footloose, and Seniors were Rock of Ages. Each grade then has to make a float and make up a dance to go with their theme. This dance is called mock rock, which is preformed to all the other grades on homecoming. On homecoming day we don't go to classes. First the homecoming court speaks and the cheerleaders preform. Then we play a series of games in which each grade gets points for winning. Then each class preforms their mock rock.

Over the years homecoming has always been great and fun. But, it has also always been extremely stressful. On the day though it is always exciting and brings the school together. I participated in float all four years and mock rock for two years. Being a senior always amps up the pressure to win the "Red Apple." I have to admit I was worried if we were going to win or not. But, we crushed every other grade so I am not sure why I was so worried. I am so sad that this is my last year and I will never get to experience homecoming like this again. But I had a great time at the games and at the dance and those great memories will stay with me forever.

Water Pollution

The ocean and the water is something near to my heart. However, as time goes on our waters are getting more and more polluted due to human carelessness. Things like plastic, sewage, oil spills, and dumping industrial waste in our waters all have negative effects on marine life. What a lot of people don't realize is that pollution in our water effects humans too. This is even more of a incentive to protect our water ways. Though there has been many recent efforts to clean and prevent pollution in the water, it has not been enough.

Different types of pollution have different types of effects on the water ways and the marine life contained in them. Sewage water even after it has been treated and cleaned contains high levels of nutrients. When this water is released the high levels of nutrients cause high amounts of algae and cause lakes/ponds to become eutrophic or oxygen depleted. Large amounts of algae deprive underwater grasses of sunlight which deprive marine organisms of habitat. Treated sewage also contain many chemicals. When these chemicals get into the water ways they disturb the endocrine system of fish and other marine animals. Also, some industrial plants pour hot water into bodies of water. This causes the marine organism's need for oxygen to go up.  But warm water contains less dissolved oxygen so marine animals suffocate due to lack of oxygen. Runoff from farms often contains fertilizers. These fertilizers contain nitrogen which cause levels of bacteria in lakes and ponds to go up. These bacteria use up the oxygen supply in the water to break down the nitrogen compound. Because of a depleted oxygen supply it causes the other marine animals to suffocate.   Marine animals can also mistake trash and other pollutants for food, causing them to become ill or die. If humans eat marine organisms the pollution inside the animals can have an effect on humans as well.  Large gyres in the ocean cause trash to collect in certain areas. Plastic is not biodegradable so it just collects and collects. This cause large buildups of trash in the areas where gyres collect.  Oil spills although they are not intentional have a huge negative effect on marine life as well.

The solutions to these problems are relatively simple. Stop dumping wastes into bodies of water. Legislation should be passed to stop and type of industry from dumping any type of waste product into any body of water. Commercial activity near bodies of water should be limited in order to keep trash content down. Oil drilling and transporting technologies should have backup systems in order to contain a spill if one does happen. Some of these things may cost extra money but in the long run it will have a positive effect on marine life as well as all terrestrial life.     Here is a link to a video with more information. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tnUjTHB1lvM

Topics in Class

I had a hard time choosing but probably my favorite topic in class is going to be the Biochemistry Unit. Biochemistry is one of the majors I am considering in college, so i am excited to learn about it. But Heredity and Molecular Genetics are topics that catch my interest as well.

I am least excited to learn about cells though. I feel like I have learned that same things about cells since 5th grade. Although, I do hope we will go more in depth about cells in this class, I am still not excited to learn about them again. Also, learning about enzymes and metabolism does not sound like the most fun either. But, I am hopeful that I will enjoy these topics when it comes time to learn about them.

Introduction

Hello!
I am Kelsey Adkins. I am a cheerleader and a student. My favorite color is aqua and I love the ocean. I also love all the sciences which is why I would like to pursue a medical career. I am currently most interested in the Pharmacy and Biochem fields. But, I am also interested in the Psychology and Nutrition fields.

I am taking AP Biology for many reasons. First, I am very interested in the sciences. Second, I think it will benefit me to have a deeper background in Biology so I am more prepared for college. And third because I enjoyed regular Biology very much. 

I hope to get a deeper background in Biology from this class and gain college readiness. Also, a college credit from the AP test would be helpful as well.