Unit 1 Study Guide

we are all getting 100%

What does ELISA stand for?

Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay

Step 1 of ELISA

Add antigens to wells

What do the antigens do once in the wells?

Stick to the sides

What do we do after the antigens sit in the wells for a while?

incubate; wash out the wells *2

What is step 2 of ELISA (after washing)

Add primary antibodies

What do we do after adding the primary antibodies?

incubate; wash out the wells *2

What is step 3 of ELISA? (after washing)

Add secondary antibodies

What do we do after adding the secondary antibodies?

incubate; wash out the wells *2

what is step 4 of ELISA (after washing)

add substrate

What happens after the substrate is added?

The substrate will bind to the enzyme on the secondary antibody

What will happen if the test is positive?

A color change

What is the point of a serial dilution

used to compare to a patient’s test so see what level of infection they have (how much of the antigen is present)

What are the basic steps of a serial dilution?

Add dilution buffer; add antigens to the first well; extract an amount substance from that well and add it to the next one; repeat with well 2 to well 3, well 3 to well 4 and so on, diluting by a certain proportion each time.

Meningitis

Inflammation of the meninges- caused by bacteria (Neisseria meningitidis / meningococcus) or virus (pneumoniae, Hib, tb), which is less severe

Central dogma

DNA info becomes RNA info becomes Proteins

*DNA transcriptase breaks this flow

What color is Guanine on the sequencing

Black / yellow

What color is Thymine

Red

What color is Cytosine

Blue

What color is Adenine

Green

Why identify a pathogen before treating it

to ensure proper treatment and prevent overtreating with antibiotics which can lead to bacteria gaining immunity

Bionformatics

combining technology, statistics, and biology

Why is bioinformatics important in biology

the advancement of technology in biology allows us to better analyze information

Give a general overview of an outbreak investigation

Identify individuals involved and identify their connections with one another and each persons predispostion to disease. Try to identify what the disease is with symptom analysis and bionformatic testing

7 categories of medical interventions

Genetics

Surgery

Diagnostic

Immunology

Devices

Rehabilitation

Pharmacology

Medical intervention vs epidemiology

Medical intervention is broader, and it deals with the actual treatment process as well, rather than just the investigation

PCR

Polymerase Chain Reaction

Purpose: replicate DNA sample to use

Ingredients: taq polymerase, nucleotides, primers, original DNA sequence

Process: heat to seperate the DNA, cool to attach primer and what not

DNA Sequencing

Purpose: Read the sequence of bases

Ingredients: Normal nucleotides, fluorescent terminator nucleotides

Process: using the power of randomness, the terminator nucleotides a, c, g, and t will attach to versions of the sequence, causing each fragment to be a different size. then they are run through electrophoresis to separate each by size so that is can be determined what the order of each base is

BLAST analysis

Basic Logic Alignment Search Tool

Take the DNA sequence of a pathogen and run it through a database- it will regurgitate what protein / pathogen that sequence corresponds to. Can be used for other things like people, not just pathogens

Define medical intervention

prevention, diagnosis, treatment of diseases

What would cause no readable output in DNA sequencing?

The nucleotides don’t properly connect; the “hills” in the output are all small/overlapping

Define B cell

Immu

Define antiobody

Proteins that stick to the antigens of pathogens and makes them easier to kill

Define antigen

Markers on pathogens that antibodies recognize them by

Define pathogen

Invasive microorganism

Define enzyme

Protein that usually acts as a catalyst