This blog is devoted to BIOL 6988, a graduate level seminar in the biological sciences at Youngstown State University. While targeted towards graduate students, BIOL 6988 actively incorporates undergraduate participants in their scholastic endeavors in the biological sciences. This blog is intended as a educational tool not just for YSU students and faculty, but for anyone who wishes to contribute to an active-learning environment.
On January 31st, Dr. Walker presented his work entitled "Myogenic Gene Expression;
Comparison of Proteomic and Functional Genomic Approaches". Tell me what you think!
I enjoyed Dr. Walker's presentation. He seems to really have a passion for his area of interest and wants to share that with others. I do feel that if the presentation had been in a setting other than science majors that there would have been some confused looks with some of the jargon. Having seen his cells before, it is nice to see how the cultures and the data work together.
I agree that being able to see his research first hand has made listening to the presentation more enjoyable in the way that the material work together.
Dr. Walker's beginning to his current work was in intriguing story. I enjoyed how he incorporate humor into his presentation, and his passion and keen interest in studying titin (after examining the patient with rippling muscle disease) truly speak about his lifelong career of being a scientist. Dr. Walker did well in providing the background information for his research, keeping most of his content broad and in layman's terms so that most educated individuals could understand what he was talking about. There were some more area-specific terms which he could have defined so that he wouldn't lose some of his audience if given to anyone outside of the Biology Department, but overall his delivery was effective and concise. He included the essential parts of research (background, hypothesis, methodology, results, and conclusions for future work) and was able to answer any questions that the students had.
Dr. Walker's presentation was interesting in that it gave us a window into his early career as well as his work on muscle development. Though the terminology was a bit area-specific in some areas, the information was still broadly based and the small bits of humor were delightful. I personally found the bit about rippling muscle disease interesting and that Dr. Walker synthesized a cloned protein from one of the muscle fibers in a patient only to find out that it was TITIN. The one discussion question that I have is how would scientists cope with completely changing their research objectives when faced with results similar to what Dr. Walker got when he found out that TITIN played a role in developing muscles within patients that have contracted rippling muscle disease.
Having worked with Dr. Walker as an undergraduate student on this project, it is nice to see how it has progressed over the past few years. Despite not working in a cellular/molecular lab anymore, I still work with muscle tissue so it still intrigues me. I am still, however, curious in the level that titin plays in muscle development and what over-expression of this would do to the muscle throughout sarcomerogenesis. I am excited to see what data the lab has found on growth media change though. Overall a very good talk!
I really enjoyed listening to Dr. Walker's presentation on his research with myogenic gene expression. My favorite part was watching the video on rippling muscle disease. I took cell culture methods and protein analysis with Dr. Walker, so I have had the privilege of working with muscle stem cells and have seen a little bit of his research in person. The presentation was very interesting; Dr. Walker is such a knowledgeable and well experienced researcher.
Dr. Walker's presentation on myogenic gene expression was interesting since I work in his lab but have not seen much of his research yet. I had heard of rippling muscle disease before but it was fascinating to see the muscle cells contract in culture. As many of you already touched upon, interweaving humor into a lecture increases the chance of students paying attention and the overall enjoyment of the presentation. Though my favorite part of Dr. Walker's seminar was his advice about not being scared to change a goal because it's applicable to all fields. Being able to change and adapt is a quality that I think should be important to every person regardless of their major or position of employment.
I hadn't heard of rippling muscle disease prior to Dr. Walker's presentation. Seeing the muscle cells contract in culture was neat. It kind of made me think of tetanus, though I imagine the etiology is different. I knew a little bit about titin prior to Dr. Walker's seminar, but everything else was new to me. As mentioned by some of the others he was a bit heavy on the inside baseball at points, but not outlandish. All in all, it was a great presentation that offered a glance into a subject matter I didn't know that I didn't know anything about.
I very much enjoyed listening to Dr. Walker present his passion. Being one of Dr. Walker's graduate students, I have seen first hand his research with myogenic gene expression, and how his research has progressed over the past two years. His upcoming work utilizing scratch plate analysis is especially of interest to me, as I had the pleasure of showing Dr. Walker how to run the scratch assay in the lab. As mentioned above, it was refreshing to hear Dr. Walker mention that the changing of your goals is completely acceptable.
Working as Dr. Walkers graduate student it was an engaging an interesting lecture to listen to. With my extended background I had no issues understanding and following the flow of the presentation. However, I believe that some of the jargon may have been a bit too advanced for some of the undergraduates and a quick background slide would have been beneficial. I am excited to see where the next steps of his research takes him.
I enjoyed Dr. Walker's presentation. He seems to really have a passion for his area of interest and wants to share that with others. I do feel that if the presentation had been in a setting other than science majors that there would have been some confused looks with some of the jargon. Having seen his cells before, it is nice to see how the cultures and the data work together.
ReplyDeleteI agree that being able to see his research first hand has made listening to the presentation more enjoyable in the way that the material work together.
DeleteDr. Walker's beginning to his current work was in intriguing story. I enjoyed how he incorporate humor into his presentation, and his passion and keen interest in studying titin (after examining the patient with rippling muscle disease) truly speak about his lifelong career of being a scientist.
ReplyDeleteDr. Walker did well in providing the background information for his research, keeping most of his content broad and in layman's terms so that most educated individuals could understand what he was talking about. There were some more area-specific terms which he could have defined so that he wouldn't lose some of his audience if given to anyone outside of the Biology Department, but overall his delivery was effective and concise. He included the essential parts of research (background, hypothesis, methodology, results, and conclusions for future work) and was able to answer any questions that the students had.
Dr. Walker's presentation was interesting in that it gave us a window into his early career as well as his work on muscle development. Though the terminology was a bit area-specific in some areas, the information was still broadly based and the small bits of humor were delightful. I personally found the bit about rippling muscle disease interesting and that Dr. Walker synthesized a cloned protein from one of the muscle fibers in a patient only to find out that it was TITIN. The one discussion question that I have is how would scientists cope with completely changing their research objectives when faced with results similar to what Dr. Walker got when he found out that TITIN played a role in developing muscles within patients that have contracted rippling muscle disease.
ReplyDeleteHaving worked with Dr. Walker as an undergraduate student on this project, it is nice to see how it has progressed over the past few years. Despite not working in a cellular/molecular lab anymore, I still work with muscle tissue so it still intrigues me. I am still, however, curious in the level that titin plays in muscle development and what over-expression of this would do to the muscle throughout sarcomerogenesis. I am excited to see what data the lab has found on growth media change though. Overall a very good talk!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed listening to Dr. Walker's presentation on his research with myogenic gene expression. My favorite part was watching the video on rippling muscle disease. I took cell culture methods and protein analysis with Dr. Walker, so I have had the privilege of working with muscle stem cells and have seen a little bit of his research in person. The presentation was very interesting; Dr. Walker is such a knowledgeable and well experienced researcher.
ReplyDeleteDr. Walker's presentation on myogenic gene expression was interesting since I work in his lab but have not seen much of his research yet. I had heard of rippling muscle disease before but it was fascinating to see the muscle cells contract in culture. As many of you already touched upon, interweaving humor into a lecture increases the chance of students paying attention and the overall enjoyment of the presentation. Though my favorite part of Dr. Walker's seminar was his advice about not being scared to change a goal because it's applicable to all fields. Being able to change and adapt is a quality that I think should be important to every person regardless of their major or position of employment.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of rippling muscle disease prior to Dr. Walker's presentation. Seeing the muscle cells contract in culture was neat. It kind of made me think of tetanus, though I imagine the etiology is different. I knew a little bit about titin prior to Dr. Walker's seminar, but everything else was new to me. As mentioned by some of the others he was a bit heavy on the inside baseball at points, but not outlandish. All in all, it was a great presentation that offered a glance into a subject matter I didn't know that I didn't know anything about.
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed listening to Dr. Walker present his passion. Being one of Dr. Walker's graduate students, I have seen first hand his research with myogenic gene expression, and how his research has progressed over the past two years. His upcoming work utilizing scratch plate analysis is especially of interest to me, as I had the pleasure of showing Dr. Walker how to run the scratch assay in the lab. As mentioned above, it was refreshing to hear Dr. Walker mention that the changing of your goals is completely acceptable.
ReplyDeleteWorking as Dr. Walkers graduate student it was an engaging an interesting lecture to listen to. With my extended background I had no issues understanding and following the flow of the presentation. However, I believe that some of the jargon may have been a bit too advanced for some of the undergraduates and a quick background slide would have been beneficial. I am excited to see where the next steps of his research takes him.
ReplyDeleteThis is Mykaela
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