Kristineberg Marine Research Center

[Reefbaby]

Hi Guys,

I just got back from a work-related meeting that was held in the only "real" fjord in all of Sweden - Gullmarfjörd - at the Kristineberg Marine Research Center. I was actually there for a "Nordic Confocal and Advanced Fluorescence Microscopy Meeting". The cool thing was that all the instrumentation was at the Marine Station and there were several of the Marine Biologists that joined our meeting, so I was able to chat with them.

We found some things in common with one of the groups that studies neuronal regeneration of echinoderms, headed by Michael Thorndyke. In fact, we will have one of their graduate students come to one of our seminars so that we can discuss the similarities between our fields of interest. (We are interested in neuronal regeneration in the adult brain and there are many genes that play a similar role in both of these systems). Here's a link to their group and some of their research:
Introduction

Neuronal Regeneration

Here's what the marine station looks like. It's an absolute fantastic location and a real treat when the weather's good.


I also met a marine biologist, Matz Berggren, who is working on the taxonomy of all marine crustaceans, particularly shrimps.

At any rate, I thought this was a great connection to experts that could possible help us when needing to identify certain organisms, but also as reference point for more detailed scientific information.

I was pretty excited to finally meet some of these guys, because I've been thinking for the past couple years, how I could possibly combine my own field of research with my hobby....maybe there's something in the future for me!

[Astrivian]

Wow Christi that is a pretty cool site. I am always fascinated by research studying marine organisms. Personally, if i were smart like you researchers, just watching shows like Blue Planet would be enough to inspire me! Some organisms have some extraordinary methods of survival, feeding, and breeding.

What is your field Christi?

[Reefbaby]

I'm a neurobiologist studying regeneration and repair in the adult brain...basically, I work with adult stem cells (not the ethically-contensious embryonic ones!) and we're trying to understand how the stem cells that are present in the brain are regulated and how we can influence/control them to contribute to brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's/Parkinson's. That's why it's so interesting to me what these researchers are doing with regeneration in the brittle star. A lot of the mechanisms are similar and a lot of the same genes are regulating the regeneration of new neurons.

was that to scientific??? sorry......

[Rob]

will you marry me??

lol.. ok, just teasing... but anyways, that stuff rocks....
i even say dive deeper.. that stuff is cool, and i love hearing about it..

[CarmieJo]

It must be exciting and fulfilling to be in a field with so much potential to help improve people's lives.

[V]

Yeah, RB's working on a sythetic innoculation of OZitus. Test subjects like myself are a dying breed, so she's trying to work out what makes me tick before the world losses a national treasure & cant be shared by all.

just for the quick drafters.......Echinoderms
are: starfish, brittle star, sea urchin, feather star, sea cucumber ect.

i noticed it had sea squirts in the manifesto RB

[Reefbaby]

Rob - you're too cute! who could resist you??

Carmie - I love what I do. Of course, there's some really boring, week-long projects, sitting in front of a microscope, completely forgetting what it was I was actually doing, but in the long run, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. actually, I don't think I know HOW to do anything else!

V - Sweetie, those OZees are WORLD! treasures, not just national treasures! Saving that breed should become our #1 goal, huh?! It's just...well, honestly...Dr. Banner always scares me off!

[iglowce]

hehe Rob arent u married?

[Astrivian]

Oh cool christi, i didn't know you worked in that field. My wife is a therapeutic recreation director at an Alzheimer's/dementia nursing home here in denver. So your research directly influences what she does! Although no one in my family has the disease, i have seen what it does to the nursing home patients. It is really sad. You can see in their eyes they are still awake, aware and alive but just cannot express it, at least in the beginning. As the disease progresses, you can really see some people give up.

Props on what you do. and i wish you, and all researchers in that field, the best of luck.

[Reefbaby]

Thanks Samuel! You know....some of the most exciting research that we and our colleagues have discovered in recent years is the beneficial effects of exercise. Exercise (at moderate levels of course) is extremely influential in the survival of newly-formed neurons in the brain (I'm talking about adult brains here). So, if you exercise, you form more neurons. The area in the brain that forms more neurons is called the hippocampus - the region in the brain thought to be intimately linked with memory and learning. So, mice that we "train" on running wheels not only produce more neurons in their hippocampus, but they also perform better in learning and memory tasks! Pretty cool, huh?

And, the best part of is, it doesn't matter at what age you start these animals on an exercise program, it's still beneficial. And, an even cooler thing is, in transgenic mice (mice where a gene is changed in order to study the function of it) that we call "alzheimer mice" (because they produce the same amyloid plaques in their brains that human alzheimer patients do) - if they are allowed to be on this exercise regimen, there's a reduction in the amount of plaque in their brain and they perform better on the memory tasks.

So...the cool message is, it's never too late!

I guess the Greeks really had it down thousands of years ago already had it down when they said, "A healthy body makes a healthy mind"!

[Rob]

Yeah, RB's working on a sythetic innoculation of OZitus. Test subjects like myself are a dying breed, so she's trying to work out what makes me tick before the world losses a national treasure & cant be shared by all.

just for the quick drafters.......Echinoderms
are: starfish, brittle star, sea urchin, feather star, sea cucumber ect.

i noticed it had sea squirts in the manifesto RB

hey, maybe we need to start a program to breed more of you..
we can call it Project OZzy

[Reefbaby]

yeah...maybe we should look at the effects of being south-of-the-equator...

[V]

well, gravity's effects are stronger down here @ the bottom, Just to prove it im going to show you the elephant trick......

* turns his pant pockets inside out*

lol

[Reefbaby]

ha ha....

you're such a good V - but, that's why we love you!

[CarmieJo]

I think that since they are upside down the neurons might migrate to the toes

[V]

RB wrote "It's just...well, honestly...Dr. Banner always scares me off! "

as in eric banner RB? one too many gamma bursts ?
or were you coming from another dirrection?


lol @ you guys! all of you make me laugh, which is a good thing so my teeth can bath in the sunshine actually, *opens curtains* it over cast today

[Reefbaby]

[QUOTE=veriann;49443]RB wrote "It's just...well, honestly...Dr. Banner always scares me off! "

as in eric banner RB? one too many gamma bursts ?
or were you coming from another dirrection?


nope.....Dr. Bruce Banner!!!.....okay, now I'll leave it for you to figure out!!

[Reefbaby]

Carmie - that was a good one....I'll have to remember that if I ever give a lecture in Australia!