Peptide | Molecules of Life

Gastrin

October 5, 2011 in Peptide

The Molecules of Life Project (MLP) has its debut with Gastrin.

Friday the 13th of October in Mrs Grant’s second grade class at Oxford Elementary School, the MLP took off with explosive force thanks to the creative talents of Jason Dalziel (B.Sc. DAL) and Stephan Schultz (MFA, NSCAD), aided with some pennies, mentos and diet pepsi. Stephan described clearly the molecule of life, “Gastrin as the traffic cop that controls the flow of acid and mucus into the stomach” as well as “Art as that sweet taste on your fingers after you do something fun like sticking a mento into a diet pepsi”. Jason told how “some acids you eat and some eat you” and the students relayed their own stories of the acidic pain of having orange juice squirt into your eye and the feeling of having eaten many bowls of ice-cream or having drunk many glasses of milk. In the process, the students all learned a little about acid, mucus and the workings of the stomach while having great fun experimenting in groups of two together. With eleven more peptides to go, MLP thanked team Gastrin for a marvelous MLP blast-off at Oxford.

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Enkephalin

October 5, 2011 in Peptide

Friday, December 1st, 2006, Halifax, NS, 2nd graders were captivated with neurons firing at full force reading “The Incredible Enkephalin Starring The Nervous System”, thanks to MLP students Rachel Comeau (BSc, DAL) and Ashley Thimot (BA, NSCADU). Attempting to employ citrus fruit to power a light on, Rachel illuminated the students’ interests as she explained that in a similar way but opposite direction as chemical energy is turned into electrical energy and light, the brain can store information from the senses by way of the nervous system. Playing telephone, whispering a word clue from one to another, the students learned of the importance of proper neuronal firing. Equipped with comics and activities, Ashley informed the 2nd graders of their sixth sense, pain reception, and relayed the story of how enkephalin is released from the pituitary gland to cause analgesia, relief of pain after an injury. Taking turns reading the comic aloud, and working individually on activities such as word searches and connecting the dots, the students gained an appreciation of their nervous system and that incredible natural pain reliever enkephalin.

Half way through our first MLP voyage, wIth six more peptides to go, we thanked team Enkephalin for a pain-free MLP learning experience in 2nd grade in Halifax.

Team Enkephalin, Rachel Comeau (BSc DAL) and Ashley Thimot (BA NSCADU) presenting the story of “The Incredible Enkephalin Starring The Nervous System”,

A comic book …

…and activity book, hurray!

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Collagen

October 5, 2011 in Peptide

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007, Halifax, NS, 2nd graders worked together braiding tendons and assembling a skeleton learning about Collagen thanks to the team of Laura Foster (BFA, NSCADU) and Christian Kyle (MSc, SMU). Team work and the strength of the braid versus three single strands was demonstrated by Christian as he used the braid to hoist up the log that could not be lifted by a single strand nor three individual strands. Christian described how nature uses collagen, a braid of three repeating peptide chains, as scaffolding for our bodies. Collagen, which makes up 75% of our skin, controls mineralization and cell shape allowing broken bones to regenerate and wounds to heal. Relating the coiled-coil shape of collagen to braids, Laura led the students through a discussion of the importance of such weaving in the fabric of our daily lives. Working as a team, the students braided their own collagen-inspired braids and subsequently used the braids as tendons to assemble bones together to form a skeleton. Thinking about collagen in shark fins, elephant trunks, their noses and ears…, the students were enwrapped in the magic of the braid.