Bradykinin

Motilin

The Molecules of Life Project flows creatively with Motilin. Monday, the 15th October in Mrs Grant’s second grade class at Oxford Elementary School, thanks to the Motilin Maidens, Becka Viau (BA, NSCAD) and Karen Schurman (BSc SMU), all eyes were drawn into the intestine as hands squeezed mimicking the peristalsis motion of the digestive tube. [...]

Bradykinin

Vasopressin

Friday, November 24th, 2006, Halifax, NS, 2nd graders grasped their kidneys and learned about vasopressin, thanks to an impressive performance by three MLP students Katie Nizio (BSc SMU), Anna Sprague (MFA Concordia) and Cody Stephenson (MFA NSCAD). Starting out with basic questions about water its importance in the body, particularly in blood, Katie brought us [...]

Angiotensin

The Molecules of Life Project feels its blood pressure rise with Angiotensin Wednesday the 15th November in Mrs Grant’s second grade class at Oxford Elementary School, Amy Trottier (BSc DAL) was asked to pump up the peptide jam solo. Providing a solid background on the circulatory system and that most important muscle the heart, Amy [...]

October 10, 2011 in Peptide

Wednesday, December 13th, 2006, Halifax, NS, 2nd graders captured a Jararaca snake in Brazil as they were transported to 1949 and the event of the discovery of Bradykinin, thanks to Stephanie Melanson (BSc DAL) and Emmelyne Pornillos (MDes NSCADU). All were intrigued as Emmelyne traced the silhouette of a volunteer student on a large piece of paper, and engaged answering Stephanie’s questions as the silhouette was filled in with various cartoon images (of germs, vaccines, white blood cells etc.) to create a visual story of the student’s immune system and its function as the body’s defense against illness. Bradykinin, the body’s sensitizer to inflammation, was clearly understood by one student, who described it as the equivalent of “the school alarm bell that rings in case of fire”. Seat belts were fastened and we traveled to São Paulo, Brazil, where we learned a little Portuguese and encountered the Bothrops Jararaca snake (Brazilian lancehead snake) and its poisonous venom with which Dr. Maurício Rocha e Silva and colleagues used to detect Bradykinin in animal blood plasma. Coloring and assembling those ever useful end-of-the-roll carton cylinders, the students created their own Jararaca as they listened to Brazilian Samba music.

Finishing our seventh MLP presentation in 2006, wIth five more peptides to go in 2007, we thanked team Bradykinin for amplifying the MLP signal in 2nd grade in Halifax.

Team Bradykinin, Emmelyne Pornillos (MDes NSCADU) and Stephanie Melanson (BSc DAL) creating a visual story of the immune system