Lecture: DNA control of gene expression and the brain

Well, there were 2 lectures today. One was about the control that we and other species have of DNA expression and it stressed mainly on processed that affect transcription. The other lecture was about the external features of the brain.

Lecture 1
I was more awake during this lecture and I could organize my notes. I think this was because the lecturer was talking slowly. The good thing about this lecture was that everything here was repeated. So it was all familiar and this was more like a revision. With todays lecture I listened and read before writing. I managed to get everything written down.

An area of improvement was I think the lecturer could have had better time management, he ended up rushing in the end(to be fair he was substituting for another lecturer). I realized that aiming to do the recommended reading in the morning is not working at this moment because I wake up late. Therefore, I should switch to doing the reading the night before, it should take 15-30mins. Maybe I should have a 'time-line' of the whole cellular events, so with each lecture, I will update it.

Lecture 2
I felt like I what we were covering was familiar. What I learnt about myself that, I can memorize the names during the lecture by association such as 'falx cerebri' <-- that actually took me a while... I need to find a more effective method of memorising in lectures. I learned that during lectures I need to mentally review what we went through from the time it started.

My problem is quick recall. Recalling the information is difficult. What can I do about it? What has worked for me in the past? Well, going over the objectives really helped. I feel like I need to dedicate a day of the week to gather information and commit to memory the information so far. The best day would be after the lab lessons or on friday afternoon. In the lecture, I think it would be more effective to have a mind-map rather than taking linear notes because a lot of things overlap.

The future
I just find it fascinating that the brain; something so small, so light, is in charge of our life. It's just really interesting. I would really like to know the organization of the brain. The relationship between structure and function. Is there a possibility of regenerating ones' brain? I want to have a holistic approach with the brain, how it is in charge of all the processes going on in the body. I think I will need to review my past lecture notes but this time with interest. Why don't lecturers start their lectures with an interesting way their concept can be implemented in the real world.
What is the future of brains? That is my question.

The beauty of control of gene expression is that we have an idea of what is happening in the nucleus, however, can we mimic this process? when will it be used?

identifying the citizens of a cell

Is there a way of identifying all the proteins active in a cell and how they interact with one another?

What is the perfect method of understanding intracellular protein-to-protein interaction? The best method so far lies in knock-outs/in experimentation, where mutation is induced. However, this method takes a longer time and even though the exact mechanism of interactions unknown.

What we need is a way of taking one cell and identifying the proteins involved, then tagging the proteins and observing how they interact with one another. The important question is HOW can this  be done??

Parkinson's disease

The limitation in Parkinson's disease is a problem with the dopaminergic neurons in the the substantia nigra.

Now a days, there is a process of implanting specific ion channels that open/close up when a specific wave length is shined onto them. This would be useful in increasing the dopamine secretion on the brain. however, these studies have not been experimented on humans.