Hi all! I have had quite the exciting and fun past 2 weeks with my internship and a river trip on the Rogue.
I had some more learning filled days working with Professor Will. I continued to search for and chart the synapses on TS1 (toric spine 1). This particular task took some time to master. Finding a synapse takes focus,hours, and a sharp eye. The synapse is characterized by a gathering of a majority of available vesicles against a thickened cell membrane. On the computer this looked like a bunch of little dots grouped together against the darkest and thickest part of TS1. My search for synapses on TS1 took 2 of my final three days in lab, and I was only able to locate 20 of the 24 synapses present. I was shocked at the time it took to map just one spine on on dendrite of 1 neron and at the fact that there are 86 billion neurons and 100 trillion synaptic connections. Due to these high numbers charting a human brain will take many many decades.
The final day of the internship was a review of the most important aspects of neuroscience. Here is a short overview of what I learned. The neuron consists of an axon and a dendrite. The dendrite receives information from another neuron cell and turns it into a electrical signal. The signal moves through the cell body and then into the axon. The axon then transmits that information via a chemical signal onto the dendrites of a neighboring neuron cell. Also located on the dendrite are small branches called spines. These spines receive input from the axon of different neuron cells. The spines take the information they receive and either integrate it (combine) or detonate it (use the signal that is the strongest). The toric spine that I worked with is particularly interesting as it has an extreme potential for plasticity. Plasticity means that there is an a ability to form new connections and break old ones. This concept is a key in our ability to learn. In my research at UC Davis I learned more about brain function and plasticity. Since new connections between different neurons are so readily available in the toric spines owls are able to constantly learn and expand their brains. The same idea is present in humans although we have yet to find spines in humans.
At the end of my internship I left California and headed up to the Oregon coast. For the past week I got to kayak the beautiful rouge river! I had the most incredible time on the river and in the lab all thanks to Will and Melody.
——————-I am unable to upload pictures at the moment but I will update this post as soon as I am able to!——————–
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