Madison

__**Bio:**__ Hi my name is Madison Ricks, but most people call me Madi! I am going to be a senior at Monte Vista High School in Danville California, go Mustangs! I was born and raised on the East Coast in Fairfield, Connecticut, and ever since I was little I knew that I wanted to go to school in Boston. I love the city and I'm super excited to be here! I have a relatively mid-sized family, I live with my Mom and Dad and I have a younger brother, John who is a rising sophomore in High School, and a younger sister Isabelle who will be a 4th grader come this September. I have a dog named Tuala, she's a soft-coated wheaten terrier and probably the fluffiest, cutest, little ball of fur ever. I've been on the East Coast for over a month now so I am starting to miss California, so I am anxious to get back after this camp. I play many sports, but soccer has always been the one I love. I played competitively up until about one year ago when I got my 5th concussion, which put a halt to my dreams of playing Division I in college. However, I am now an avid runner, and play soccer for my high school! I hope it will always be a big part of my life! I have a pretty extensive background in science and biology, in addition to taking biology in 7th grade, I took honors bio as a freshman, honors chemistry as a sophomore, and AP Biology and Honors Human Anatomy and Physiology as a junior. I also took a marine ecology class as a sophomore, but my knowledge isn't as extensive in that area. I love biology and I'm not afraid to admit that I'm a total bio nerd! I hope to major in some aspect of biology in college, and then go onto the medical field. I love kids! So I hope to go on to be a pediatrician or a pediatric surgeon, but I am always open to new things! I am also very interested in cardiology, when I was in 7th grade I was diagnosed with a condition called AV Heart Block type II. At first I was scared, as anyone would be, but after a couple of months I got used to my condition and started to take a great interest in the heart and how it works! I hope that cardiology will someday play a role in my profession as well. This summer course sounds really cool and I've never studied synthetic biology before so I hope to learn a lot about this topic, and maybe even look into it as a long term profession!

__**Synthetic Biology Design Project:**__

__**What is Human Growth Hormone Deficiency?**__

Human Growth Hormone Deficiency is a condition in which an individual produces little or no Human Growth Hormone (hGH). HGH is a protein that is essential to normal growth in a human, including the bones and tissues. The pituitary gland manufactures hGH and secretes it in response to the signals from the hypothalamus (the part of the brain to which it is connected).

Human Growth Hormone Deficiency may have many causes. Hypopituitarism may be both congenital and acquired. Many times a child is born with a malformed hypothalamus or pituitary gland, other times the child may have a tumor called craniopharyngioma which may be growing or pressing on the hypothalamus. Removal of this tumor usually results in permanent hypopituitarism. Although human growth hormone deficiency can be either congenital or acquired, many times there is no apparent cause for the lacking of the secretion of this hormone in an individual.

The Symptoms of growth hormone deficiency may include an immature face, a chubby body build or the ability to lose weight. The most alarming factor however, in diagnosing a child with growth hormone deficiency, is that the child begins to fall away from the normal growth curve at an early age. This is the number one indicator of human growth hormone deficiency in children.

__**What is the Treatment? **__

Today, the only existing treatment for human growth hormone deficiency is injections of the growth hormone itself. These injections must be daily, once a day for a week or every day for 6 days. How long must these children administer these injections to themselves? It all depends, some people prefer to continue taking these injections only until a normal height is reached, while others continue to use injections of human growth hormone for the rest of their lives. It takes about 6 months to a year for the treatment to begin to show the desired results. It is observed that after a year of these injections the child's growth rate begins to recover, and there is an observed loss of weight. After some people stop taking the injections however, they may gain back the weight that the injections were keeping off. People tend to gain 50 lbs or more after injections are halted. This then puts them at risk for the multiple risks that obesity offers, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, etc. In order to avoid this, many people continue taking injections for the rest of their lives.

__**What is the Source of the Human Growth Hormone? Where Does it Come From?**__

Until recently, the human growth hormone was obtained from the pituitary glands of the deceased. In 1985, it became apparent that a viral disease was transmitted from the pituitary glands of the deceased into several individuals who took injections of the human growth hormone. It was then banned from the market following their death. Fortunately biosynthetic strains of the growth hormone, produced by method of recombinant DNA had just been approved for use in the United States. This type of growth hormone does not come from humans, so there is little possibility that it can transmit disease.

__**So...Why am I Researching This Treatment?**__

The injections of Human Growth Hormone may have very dangerous side effects: (Brand of somatropin (hGH)) In addition to having dangerous side effects, for many people taking an injection of hGH everyday is a burden on their lives. The injections leave bruises and swelling around the areas where the needle goes, and it has greatly impacted their daily lives. To be able to give a patient one injection, and then have bacteria that produce the human growth hormone for them, for the rest of their lives would be revolutionary. It would completely change the treatment of human growth hormone deficiency for the better.
 * Increased pressure in the brain
 * Hip or knee pain
 * A fracture in the ball of the hip joint can occur in children who have endocrine problems and in children who have rapid growth
 * Any allergic reaction you experience to the injection
 * Abdominal pain. Cases of pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas) have been reported in children and adults
 * Carpal Tunnel
 * Increase risk of cancer
 * High cholesterol
 * Increased risk of diabetes
 * High Blood Pressure

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Design: **__

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">1.) Insert the Gene for Human Growth Hormone into a Bacterial Cell (E.Coli) **__ <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Genes for human growth hormone, known as growth hormone 1 (somatotropin) and growth hormone 2, are localized in the q22-24 region of chromosome 17 and are closely related to human chorionic somatomammotropin (also known asplacental lactogen) genes. Biologists have recently synthesized artificial hGH which is much safer than the hGH extracted from pituitary glands of the deceased. The bacteria will then have the gene for human growth hormone, and will be able to synthesize and secrete this hormone and make up for the absence of it in the pituitary gland.



__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">2.) Inject Bacteria into lining of stomach (this is where human growth hormone is normally injected) **__

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px;">hGH is normally injected into the stomach lining, but there are other injection spots as well. Normally, human growth hormone must be injected into

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px;">the subcutaneous tissue, or the fatty tissue beneath the skin. There are other injection sights (outer and inner thighs, top of the buttocks, and the

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px;">backs of the arms. Hypothetically, the bacteria will live in the subcutaneous tissue and secrete the growth hormone out, and the blood will deliver the

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 0px;">growth hormone to other parts of the body.

__**<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">3. Bacteria will secrete human growth hormone in response to niacin (Vitamin B) that the patient will take **__ This could be one hypothesis that the bacteria will have a Vitamin B receptor, and in response to the presence of niacin, the bacteria in the stomach will secrete the human growth hormone in response to the presence of Vitamin B in the stomach lining.

__**Truth Table:**__ __**Expected Results:**__ The Growth hormone will be produced and the patient will no longer have to take injections of hGH because there will be real, living bacteria in the body that do so. __**Potential Error:**__ There may be potential issues with bacteria (E.Coli) living in the blood/stomach lining of the human such as sickness, in addition the acidity of the stomach may kill the bacteria.
 * = Niacin ||= Human Growth Hormone ||
 * = 0 ||= 0 ||
 * = 1 ||= 1 ||