ISSUE 1 2011 VOLUME 1

� CONGRATS STAR CLASS

OF2011! .......................... 1

� RESPIRATORY CARE

LUNCHEON....................... 1

�STAR 2011 ................... 2-3

� WEEK 1 IN SNAPSHOTS. 4

� FUTURE SCIENTISTS ..... 4

The Shooting STAR THE EXPERIENCES AND MEMORIES OF STAR 2011...

"Any fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

- Albert Einstein

CONGRATULATIONS

STARS OF 2011

WELCOME STAR STUDENTS!!!! I

would like to congratulate you all on a

successful first week within the Ochsner

STAR program. Throughout this past week,

we participated in a series of tours spanning

the Ochsner campus in which we learned

about a variety of medical departments.

Amongst these departments were those of

Anesthesiology, Medical Illustrations,

Radiology, and the Ochsner Cancer

Institute. This series of tours encompassed

the mornings of the past week.

Meanwhile, our afternoons were spent

learning about gene cloning and expression

with Dr. Jawed Alam. With Dr. Alam we

were mentored on an effective procedure to

Respiratory Care Luncheon with Mary LaBiche It’s the first week of STAR and we are all off to a great start! Every week STAR students will have a

learning lunch in which they’ll listen to a lecture about a medical department at Ochsner. This week’s

lecturer was Mary LaBiche. She introduced students to the Respiratory Care aspect of healthcare. Ms.

LaBiche is the Respiratory Care program director at Ochsner Hospital. In her lecture Ms. LaBiche shared

knowledge, experience and kindly answered many questions from this year’s students. Throughout the

lecture she explained certain diseases that are commonly associated to smoking. Ms. LaBiche also

demonstrated to students how uncomfortable nasal oxygen tubes and masks can be, which they also got to

keep. Some of the things students learned include the importance of deep breaths, or diaphragmatic

breathing and an interesting fact regarding inhalers. Did you know most people use them the wrong way?

Just in case you’re wondering, the correct way to use an inhaler is that there must be a distance of about

two fingers over your lips, instead of placing the inhaler in your mouth. That way the medicine is breathed

in, instead of having it end up on the back of your throat.

isolate the human insulin gene from DNA.

Aside from being lectured on the process in

the STAR classroom, we were also afforded

the privilege to partake in a hands-on

investigation of this procedure inside the

Ochsner iLab. Wednesday afternoon was a

special one as it entailed the distribution of

our Ochsner lab coats. We finished off the

week by nearly completing the investigation

and playing a fun, educational trivia game.

This week looks to have another series of

interesting activities highlighted by the use

of the Da Vinci robot at the commencement

of this week. The STAR experience has

gotten off to a great start and looks to have

very promising adventures and

investigations in the weeks to come!!!

{Jaylen Parquet}

{Linda Arellano}

STAR 2011

STAR Administration:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mrs. Melisa Enclade Sobia Arshad

Senior Team Leader Junior Team Leader Xavier University- New Orleans: Student

Patrick F. Taylor Academy : Graduate

STAR Class of 2011:

Bristol Bell Linda Arellano Kara Alexander Kassidy DeTiege- Jeffreys

Metairie Park Country Day Patrick F. Taylor Academy Riverdale High School John Curtis School

Claire Franklin Valeriya Kozmenko Neda Khoshkhoo Jaylen Parquet

Ben Franklin High School Haynes Academy Haynes Academy Patrick F. Taylor Academy

Dua Farhoud Zachary Melchiode Ekuase Ogunbor Abigayle Rhode- Pausina

Thomas Jefferson Academy Ben Franklin High School Destrehan High School Mount Carmel Academy

Chelsie Wilbon Saya Menzies Alex Soniat Kevin Kirchner

Destrehan High School Ursuline Academy Patrick F. Taylor Academy Archbishop Shaw

Future

Scientists... Afternoon labs with Dr. Jawed Alam

Our first week of STAR, we

looked inside and found our

inner scientist. On the first day,

all of us took a lab safety class,

learned how to make an agarose

gel (a gel used in gel

electrophoresis used to separate

the population of DNA

fragments in a given specimen of

DNA) and became masters at

pipetting. The following day, we

started our gene cloning lab. As

the week passed by, we learned

all about the process of cloning

and came together as groups to

make insulin for a diabetic

patient.

By using our heads and

our helpful friend Google, we

came to this consensus:

� Isolate the human insulin

gene [1,000 out of 3 bil]

� Prepared plasmid DNA-

open by using restriction

enzyme which does the

cutting of the DNA

fragments

� Insert DNA into the plasmid

ring

� Insert plasmid back into the

bacterial cell

� Select recombinant bacteria

or ligation (recombination of

sticky ends) [1 out of 10,000]

� Plasmid multiples

� Target cells reproduce and

cells produce insulin

proteins

WEEK 1 IN SNAPSHOTS...

� Purify insulin

� Give insulin to patient

Dr. Alam lectured to our STAR

class about how to clone a gene

coding for insulin that can be

put into a new cell to produce

insulin. This then can be given

to diabetic patients, as we

predicted. The last day of our

busy first week, we observed

our cells and compared it to

what it should look like. Some

were successful while others

kind of struggled with the

processes along the line. In all, I

think that we had a great time

playing trial and error and

having a great time in the lab

while wearing our legit

laboratory coats.

“we learned all about the process of cloning and came together

as groups to make insulin for a diabetic patient”

EKUASE OGUNBOR