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https://ib.bioninja.com.au/

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Attention BioNinjas: New Course = New Website!!!

The IBO have released a new syllabus which will begin in August 2023.

This syllabus is markedly different from the current course and thus requires a new website!

Please note: There is currently no content on this site - it is just a sitemap.

I hope to start loading content by the start of next year (2024).

If you are interested, please look at the format and send me your thoughts.

In terms of the organisation of the new website:

I have organised the content in two structures (Themes and Topics).

They have the same content, but promote different methods of content delivery.

Once the content is added (not until 2024!), I will try and make powerpoints, etc.

For northern hemisphere teachers beginning the new course in August 2023:

I have created a proposed course planning document that might help: Planner

I am using a different website building program to construct the new website, so it should hopefully be better optimised on phones

Currently, the only parts of the site that have content are the Themes and Topics (the entire syllabus is mapped out in these sections)

Welcome to the BioNinja Website - your one-stop resource for everything IB Biology related!

This website is designed specifically for the new IB Biology syllabus (2016 -)

This site is still under development, so new features will be periodically added

This site was optimised for Safari - certain features may not work on other browsers

For access to the old website (2009 - 2015 syllabus), click

Looking for a specific assessment statement? Try searching the site for it!

What is coming in the future:

The following features are planned for the future (order of completion will depend on demand):

All of the options and a PSOW guide

BioNinja App (iPhone/Android)

Topic summaries in PDF form, online quizzes and an e-book

Video tutorials and biology songs (currently available on the old site)

Higher Level Topics: Why the change?
While the new IB syllabus covers much the same content as the old syllabus, the style has changed significantly:

The old syllabus was organised into dot points, each of which included a specific command term that identified the level of knowledge required

The new syllabus is organised into assessment statements that do not include command terms - this makes the knowledge requirements broader and vague

To reflect this change, the new website no longer addresses content as an itemised list, however every assessment statement is still specifically covered

For each sub-topic, assessment statements are grouped and organised by subject matter and explained as part of the core content

Additional information that helps with understanding but is not specifically referenced by an assessment statement is included as extra content

The new layout is not as concise as the old layout, but this is because the new syllabus is not as concise as the old syllabus

The new layout is a lot prettier than the old layout though - hope you like it!

I am keen to receive (constructive) feedback and have set up a dedicated email account to hear your thoughts: bioninjaib@hotmail.com

Is there a problem with the site? (i.e. broken links, etc.)

Don't like the new format and have a better idea? (no such thing as a bad idea)

What feature would you like to be added next? (features will be added in order of demand)

Any ideas for further improvement? (are there areas where more/less information is required?)

Just want to tell me how great I am? (I don't mind... seriously! ;P)

Just remember: This is still a work in progress, so be constructive and considerate with any feedback (bioninjas hate trolls)

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An IB Biology website for BioNinjas everywhere!

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http://highered.mheducation.com/sites/dl/free/0072437316/120060/ravenanimation.html

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View full color, dynamic animations to help you visualize key biological processes.
You have the ability to control the animation by turning on or off the narration,
playing the animation with or without text, and can
start, stop, or rewind the animation to any point you choose.

Click on a Chapter Link below to view an Animation, a new window will pop up.
To return to this menu, close the chapter animation window when finished.

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View full color, dynamic animations to help you visualize key biological processes.You have the ability to control the animation by turning on or off the narration,playing the animation with or without text, and canstart, stop, or rewind the animation to any point you choose.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/misterleescience

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I've created videos for the entire IB Biology SL and HL syllabus that I teach including Options A, D, and E. I have used the powerpoints, notebooks, and othe...

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IB Biology videos tutorials for the course arranged by standard, including many written explanations - narrowed down to exactly what you need to know. This site is not affiliated with the International Baccalaureate (IB). Stephanie Castle is an IB Biology Teacher at the United Nations International School (UNIS) in New York City.

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https://www.youtube.com/user/amoebasisters

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biology "life science" "amoeba sisters" "ameba sisters" "ameoba sisters" science biologia microbiology genetics "ap biology" "high school biology" #biology #...

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We are two sisters on a mission to demystify science with humor and relevance by creating videos, GIFs, comics, and resources. Our content is focused on high school biology (Pinky is a former high school biology teacher), though we do receive comments that some of our content is useful for intro biology courses at the college level as well.

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https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX6b17PVsYBQ0ip5gyeme-Q

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history biology literature learning education science humanities school "world history" ap tests smart fun chemistry psychology apush whap study "crash cours...

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At Crash Course, we believe that high-quality educational videos should be available to everyone for free! Subscribe for weekly videos from our current courses! The Crash Course team has produced more than 45 courses on a wide variety of subjects, including organic chemistry, literature, world history, biology, philosophy, theater, ecology, and many more!

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www.biologyforlife.com

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https://ibresources.org/ib-past-papers/

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ibresources.org is a student-led initiative to list and rank the top online IB Resources & Websites for International Baccalaureate (IB) students. The IB is a rigorous curriculum, where students strive to be 21st century learners. With the growing accessibility of digital resources, IB students can better develop understanding and broaden their knowledge outside of the classroom. The goal of ibresources.org is to showcase the top online resources that have helped IB students learn, study and revise for their IB exams. Results are periodically updated to give new & current IB students an updated analysis of the resources available. All copyrighted materials belong to their respective copyright owners. This page links to resources on other websites. No copyrighted material is hosted on this website.

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IB Past Papers Updated 2022 [Free & Official] | IB Resources

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ibresources.org is a student-led initiative to list and rank the top online IB Resources & Websites for International Baccalaureate (IB) students. The IB is a rigorous curriculum, where students strive to be 21st century learners. With the growing accessibility of digital resources, IB students can better develop understanding and broaden their knowledge outside of the classroom.

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https://ibpublishing.ibo.org/server2/rest/app/tsm.xql?doc=d_4_biolo_tsm_1408_2_e&part=3&chapter=1

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Introduction

The content of the guide is divided into:

core topics for standard and higher level students

additional higher level topics

options with core sub-topics for standard and higher level students and sub-topics for higher level students only.

It is hoped that teachers will be able to use the sections that make up each sub-topic to put together their lesson plans so that the material can be presented in an individual manner suited to the students, the resources available and individual nuances of location and context, while still maintaining a common grounding in their subject for the students.

The sub-topics are laid out as shown.

Essential idea: This lists the essential idea for each sub-topic.

Understandings:

This section will provide specifics of the content requirements for each sub-topic.

Applications and skills:

The content of this section gives details of how students are to apply the understandings. For example, these applications could involve demonstrating mathematical calculations or practical skills.

Guidance:

This section will provide specifics and describe constraints on the requirements for the understandings and applications and skills.

International-mindedness:

Ideas that teachers can easily integrate into the delivery of their lessons.

Theory of knowledge:

Examples of TOK knowledge questions.

Utilization:

Links to other topics within the Biology guide, to a variety of real-world applications and to other DP courses.

Aims:

Links to the group 4 subject aims.

Essential idea represents the overarching theme and focus of this sub-topic.

Nature of science (NOS) statement is a subject-specific example relevant to the statement and the contents of the sub-topic.

The remainder of the table is divided into two columns. The left-hand column, with understandings, applications and skills and guidance, makes up the required content of the sub-topic.

Understandings describe the content in terms of theoretical understanding. These may be taught together or interspersed with other sub-topics.

Applications and skills are practical examples for the use of the understandings in context. This section may also include a compulsory area for practical investigation.

Guidance is designed to clarify aspects of the understandings, applications and skills that were considered in need of additional explanation in terms of depth or content.

The right-hand column consists of sections on international-mindedness, theory of knowledge, utilization and aims. These sections are designed to put the sub-topic into the larger context and add interest and variety.

International-mindedness draws attention to areas where an international approach has been or could be beneficial to the pursuit of understanding.

Theory of knowledge looks at a subject-specific example to explore an underlying TOK question. These discussions help the student to make connections with the issues covered in TOK, allowing them to bring subject examples to their TOK classes, as well as bring their TOK thinking into their subject classes.

Utilization is intended to provide links to related sub-topics within the subject, but also with other DP subjects where the same or related subject matter is covered, albeit from an alternative angle or perspective. This cross-referencing allows for connections to be made within and between subjects as well as with utilizations in the outside world, making for a more holistic approach to the whole programme.

The final section on aims shows links to the group 4 aims within the sub-topic. Although the aims may refer to other applications and skills within this sub-topic, these references are suggestions only and provide added opportunities for elaborating on the content.

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The content of the guide is divided into: core topics for standard and higher level students additional higher level topics options with core sub-topics for standard and higher level students and sub-topics for higher level students only.

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https://www.thinkib.net/biology/page/26434/intro-to-cells-quiz-11

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Subscription websites for IB teachers & their classes

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This is a quiz of multiple choice style questions about the introduction for cells topic 1.1.

They are self-marking questions, so you can click on 'check' to see whether you have the answer correct.

Each question has a helpful note written by an examiner. Great for revision.

Teachers can control access to this quiz for their groups in the 'student access' section.

Students - If this is an assignment - remember to click the "SUBMIT" button at the end so your teacher can see you have finished.

The 'Cell theory' states that all living things are made of cells.

Which of the statements below also form part of the 'cell theory'?

According to cell theory, living organisms are composed of cells.
Cells come from pre-existing cells and cells are the smallest using of life.

Some people say that the cell theory isn't a good theory because there are exceptions.

Which of the following could be considered an exception to cell theory?

Exceptions to cell theory are : multinucleated striated muscle the giant single celled Acetabularia algae?
Also, organisms consisting of only one cell carry out all functions of life in that cell. e.g. Paramecium, Chlorella.

There are seven processes which are said to be possessed by all living things.

This venus fly trap has just caught an unfortunate fly. The fly is trying to escape from the trap.

Which characteristic of living things, shared by both plants and insects, is illustrated by the action in this photo?

The characteristics of living things (Mr H. Gren - metabolism, response, homeostasis, growth, reproduction, excretion & nutrition)

The fly is responding to the closing trap, and the trap has responded to the presence of the fly.

Which ratio is thought to limit the size of cells?

Surface area to volume ratio is important in the limitation of cell size.

When muscle cells form cardiac muscle tissue in the heart they can pump blood.

If you only ever studied individual cardiac muscle cells you would never see the blood pumping properties.

What is this type of property called?

Multicellular organisms have properties that emerge from the interaction of their cellular components. (Emergent properties)

A single stem cell can form a range of different daughter cells.
Which of the statements best describes how this happens?

Specialised tissues can develop by cell differentiation in multicellular organisms.

Differentiation involves the expression of some genes and not others in a cell.

Which of the following are special properties of stem cells which make them so useful for new medical treatments?

Stem cells can divide and this help researchers to grow them in the lab.

They can differentiate along different pathways in embryonic development which makes stem cells useful for therapeutic uses (e.g. Stargardt's disease) because they can be grown into many different tissues.

The electron microscope image below shows a scale bar marked with 10µm.

It has been measured to be 3.5cm (i.e. 35 mm) long by a student using the rule shown.

What is the magnification of the image?

Calculate the magnification of an electron microscope image from a scale bar?

Convert the ruler measurement to the same units written on the scale bar,

then divide the ruler measurement by the number on the scale bar.

The image below shows a small food vacuole in a cell.

Using the scale bar, estimate the diameter of the vacuole. Which answer is the best estimate

Calculate specimen size using a scale bar?

You can often estimate the size using the scale bar and your thumb?

The erythrocytes below were imaged using an electron microscope.

The magnification is x3000 and the ruler measures the central cell as being 2 cm in diameter.

Estimate the actual size of this erythrocyte.

Calculate specimen size using magnification?

First change the size measurement into µm units = 20000µm

Then divide by the magnification. 20000 / 3000 = 20 / 3 = 6.6 µm

Some people are excited about the potential benefits from stem cell research and other people have deep concerns.

Which of the following is not a potential benefits of the use of stem cells?

There are ethical concerns about the use of embryo stem cells.

The research is expensive, and potential treatments are also likely to be expensive, and probably not available to all.

Many people who are against stem cells say that it is because cells are taken from human embryos, which have the potential for human live, and should be protected. There are other sources of stem cells, they argue.

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multiple choice questions for intro to cells topic 1.1

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This is a quiz of multiple choice style questions about the introduction for cells topic 1.1.They are self-marking questions, so you can click on "check" to see whether you have the answer correct.Each question has a helpful note written by an examiner.

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http://www.ncbionetwork.org/iet/microscope/

https://www.biologycorner.com/2020/07/04/virtual-microscope/

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DNALC animations feature stunning visualizations of cellular and molecular processes. Journey inside a cell as you follow proteins in Cell Signals. Zoom along a three-dimensional rendering of 650,000 nucleotides of human chromosome in Chromosome 11 Flyover. Processes like DNA translation, transcription, replication, and more are explained in interactive animations.

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DNALC animations feature stunning visualizations of cellular and molecular processes. Journey inside a cell as you follow proteins in Cell Signals. Zoom along a three-dimensional rendering of 650,000 nucleotides of human chromosome in Chromosome 11 Flyover. Processes like DNA translation, transcription, replication, and more are explained in interactive animations.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XBn80AmvMs

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How to do statistics in IB Biology Internal Assessment

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In this post, we give you 50 IB Biology IA Ideas to help you speed up your research process.

Within each topic listed below, we include the basic reasons for investigating each topic, what the possible independent variables and dependent variables are as well as the basic experimental setup!

Remember! It's very important that you consider if whether you can apply these topics to your own life, as this shows personal engagement.

Download our Guide: How to Write a Perfect Biology IA (Click Here)
If you're interested in getting additional support for your Biology IA, we have a team of expert IB Biology tutors that can help you plan, structure and execute your assignment. Click here to learn more
Testing Effectiveness of Types of Toothpaste/Mouthrinse

Toothpaste is supposed to block bacterial growth. How do different kinds of toothpaste compare?

Experimental setup: Choose different types of toothpaste/mouth-rinse and create diluted solutions of them (mix them with water). Then use agar plates and bacteria to test their effectiveness by seeing how many bacteria grow in the different plates! Heres a link to a scientific article that did something very similar, copy their method.

Independent Variables: Different toothpaste manufacturers (Colgate vs Sensodyne vs Crest vs Aquafresh)

Dependent Variable: Success of bacterial growth (seen by growth on an agar plate)

Comparing milk spoilage

Milk goes off because of lactobacilli reproduction and growth. This can become interesting because you can test how different conditions affect milk's spoilage

Experimental setup: In this experiment, you can compare milk spoilage. To measure the rate, you can either measure how quickly different species grow, or one of the other factors described below. A full experimental setup can be found on this link

Independent Variables: Temperature, Sunlight variation, Skimmed vs Whole,

Dependent Variable: Rate of bacterial growth (on agar plates), pH of milk

Reaction time with Age

Many say that as we get older, our reaction times slow down, see if this is true!

Experimental setup: Gather participants for the study and compare how quickly they can catch a ruler (measured in cm). Check out this link for more details

Independent variables: Age of participant/Age + sensory stimuli (how to hearing, seeing and touch-based reaction rates change)

Dependent Variables: Time taken to catch ruler between fingers /Time taken to clap when they see light

Challenges: getting enough people to get reliability, controlling variables

Spread of Disease with Weather

Different diseases spread at different rates in different weather conditions depending on how they are passed between organisms (Skin contact, Blood-Blood contact, Cross-species barriers). Use the epidemiological data to measure rates of change

Experimental setup: Follow this link to for more information of modelling!

Independent Variables: How temperature affects transmission viral diseases, How different methods of transmission affect rates of spreading

Dependent Variables: Rate of spreading

Challenge: Statistical analysis Website with loads of data on infectious disease: http://globalhealthgovernance.org/blog/2017/12/1/how-to-find-data-on-infectious-disease-outbreaks

Comparing colour vision

Use online colour vision tests to see how different factors affect colour blindness

Experimental setup: Follow this link to find out more about colour blindness and how to investigate it.

Independent Variable: Age, Tiredness, Gender, Eye Colour

Dependent Variable: Accuracy of Eye Test

Challenge: Gathering enough data, Pollution affecting species growth,

Antibiotics on germination of seeds

Antibiotics are used to treat plants for bacteria. But how do antibiotics affect the growth or successful germination of plants?

Experimental Setup: Grow germinating seed in environments with different types of diluted antibiotics, see how many succeed in each environment. You can find more information here

Independent Variable: Different Antibiotics, Different Seeds

Dependent Variable: Success of Germination, Rate of Germination

Challenge: getting access to antibiotics

Preventing vegetable decay

Vegetables decay over time but how can we slow down the process? For this experiment, you'll investigate how different variables affect the rate of decay!

Experimental Setup: Create different environments for vegetables to decay in and measure the decay over a fixed period. Read more about it here.

Independent Variable: Temperature, Salts, Humidity, Oxygen availability

Dependent Variable: Rate of Decay - measured by pH, mass or temperature change

Download our 2022 Biology IA Guide (Checklist) to help write the perfect Internal Assessment.

The ripeness of Fruit and Vit C content

Similarly to the experiment on the rate of decay, you can also measure how quickly fruits ripen, and which factors affect this ripening.

Experimental setup: Set up an experiment that measures the ethylene or CO2 levels of fruits over time, and expose different fruits to different independent variables. Read more about it here.

Independent Variable: Temperature, Oxygen availability

Dependent Variable: Ethylene levels, CO2 production, qualitative assessment.

Challenges: Being consistent in assessing the fruit ripeness

Investigating sucrose concentration of rate of yeast respiration

Increasing sucrose concentration makes more sugar available for Cell Respiration but it also draws water out of yeast by osmosis, which could kill it. This begs the question, is there an ideal concentration of sucrose for yeast growth?

Experimental setup: For this experiment, combine a fixed mass of yeast with increasing concentrations of a sucrose solution and measure the rate of CO2 production! Read more about it here

Independent Variables: Concentration of Sucrose

Dependent Variable: Respiration Rate (measure with respirometer or gas probe detecting CO2 formation.

Effect of Temperature on transpiration rates in Halophytes/Xerophytes/Normal plants

Halophytes and Xerophytes have different adaptations to control transpiration rates, how do they each respond to temperature changes?

Experimental setup: Find a xerophyte (eg. cactus) and a halophyte (eg. Atriplex amnicola) and expose them to increasing increments of independent variables, observing how their transpiration rates change. Read more here

Independent Variable: Temperature.

Dependent Variable: Rate of transpiration (measure with a Potometer)

Challenges: Getting the plants, Setting up a Potometer

Effect of different types of stress on ventilation rates

Ventilation rate is a measure of how quickly you breathe. There are obviously many different factors influencing the rate of ventilation, you can investigate which those are!

Experimental setup: Find a few friends willing to participate and measure their ventilation rates with a respirometer (the human version) and then subject them to different stimuli.

Independent Variable: Temperature/Psychological Stress (scary movies?)/ Studying

Dependent variable: Ventilation rate. Heres a useful link for ventilation rates

Household cleaning products on the growth of house plants

How do cleaning products affect the growth of house plants? Test how different household cleaning products affect seed germination!

Experimental setup: In this experiment, you will expose seeds in a germinating environment to different household products solutions at increasing concentrations. The will (hopefully) impact the success of germination.

Independent Variable: Different household cleaning products/increasing concentrations of cleaning product.

Dependent Variable: Rate of Seed Germination

Effect of Salt on Different Seed Germination

IB Biology IA Ideas

Halophytes grow in Salty conditions whereas normal plants don't. How do halophyte seeds respond to increasing salt concentrations compared to normal seeds?

Experimental setup: construct a seed germination experiment with different seeds and add increasing solutions of NaCl, observing the impact of increasing salt concentration in different seeds.

Independent Variable: Halophyte seed vs Normal Plant seed

Dependent Variable: Success of Germination, Rate of Germination

Colours of light on the effectiveness of phototropism

IB Biology IA Ideas

Auxin hormone is largely responsible for controlling the direction of plant growth. Does it matter what type of light the plant is exposed to affect the growth of auxin?

Experimental setup: Place a corn seed in a dark cupboard with a single light source. Observe how changing the colour of the light source impacts the success of phototropism!

Independent Variable: Colours of light

Dependent Variable: Degree of growth of plant towards a light source

Abiotic factors on the Biodiversity in a habitat

IB Biology IA Ideas

Different abiotic factors affect the growth of different plants, test the different conditions and then note how plant species change in their presence.

Experimental setup: In this ecological experiment, you will use quadrat sampling to test how successfully different plant species grow in environments. Read more about quadrat sampling here

Independent Variable: Soil pH, Nitrates in Soil, Oxygen concentration

Dependent Variable: Presence or absence of certain species

Challenges: Providing biological context for why you're measuring certain factors.

Stomatal Density in Different Conditions

Stomata are the areas of gas exchange in leaves. Different plants that live in different conditions will have different requirements for gas exchange.

Experimental Setup: F ocus on how leaves in different conditions vary in their stomatal density. Test the stomatal density of different leaves exposed to variable conditions using a microscope.

Independent Variable: Light exposure, Different Species, Atmospheric CO2 concentration

Dependent Variable: Stomatal density (seen under the microscope)

Challenges: mathematical analysis

Comparing different plant species transpiration rate changes in response to stimuli

Different plants will change their transpiration rates in response to the environment. Investigate how different species of plants respond differently to environmental stimuli.

Experimental setup: Use a potometer to measure the rate of transpiration. Change the different conditions in which the plants are found as well as the species.

Independent Variable: Plant species + humidity/temperature/ light intensity

Dependent Variable: Rate of transpiration

Whats next?

We hope our list of Internal Assessment Ideas was useful.

If you're looking for guidance on how to actually write an IA once you've chosen your topic, check out our IA Checklist post!

If you're struggling with the Paper 2 Data Based Questions, we also have a post about that here.

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50 IB Biology IA Ideas that are Easy to Use and Score High Marks!

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A simple list of tried and tested IB Biology IA Ideas popular both with the examiners. Includes Independent variables, dependent variables and links!

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https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/triplet-code

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This animation describes how many nucleotides encode a single amino acid, which is a key part of the genetic code.

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https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/sickle-cell-disease

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This animation explores the genetic causes and biological effects of sickle cell disease.

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https://www.mrgscience.com/ibdp-biology.html

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Committing yourself to this course is one of the best decisions you have made. As part of your daily life you will be hearing about a wide variety of biology related topics in the news. (continue below)

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QR Challenge:DNA Replication for HL Students (InThinking)

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QR Challenge:DNA Replication for HL Students (InThinking)

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Physiology Video Games, Virtual Labs & Activities

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Physiology Video Games, Virtual Labs & Activities

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https://biomanbio.com/HTML5GamesandLabs/Physiogames/physiology.html

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Video computer games, virtual labs and activities for learning and reviewing biology content. Great for students and teachers.

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https://www.the-mad-scientist.net/g11-hl-ib-biology-madlab/chapter-9-plant-biology

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Mission 1: Plant Highways, Exit 1: Xylem
Mission Objectives: You should be able to...
1. Draw the structure of primary xylem vessels in sections of stems based on microscope images.
2. Measurement of transpiration rates using potometers.
3. Design an experiment to test hypotheses about the effect of temperature or humidity on transpiration rates.

The structure of xylem vessels allows them to transport water inside plants efficiently. Xylem vessels are long continuous tubes strengthened by lignin so that they can withstand low pressures without collapsing. The pressure inside xylem cells is usually lower than atmospheric pressure. Water is attracted to the cellulose and other substances in the cell walls, which causes adhesion.

The low pressure generates a pulling force that is transmitted through the water in the xylem vessels down the stem and to the ends of the xylem in the roots. This is called the transpiration pull and is strong enough to suck the water upwards, against gravity, to the top of the plant in question. This is a passive process. The pulling of water upwards in xylem depends on the cohesion that exists between water molecules.

Transpiration is the process by which moisture is carried through plants from roots to small pores on the underside of leaves, where it changes to vapor and is released to the atmosphere ( USGS, 2016). Transpiration is essentially evaporation of water from plant leaves. Plants minimize water loss through stomata using guard cells. These are the cells that are found in pairs, one on either side of a stoma. Guard cells regulate the opening and closing of a stoma.

Image courtesy of bioninja.

Below is an example of how to draw a xylem.

Water is absorbed into root cells by osmosis. This happens because the solute concentration inside the root cells is greater than that in the water in the soil. The solutes in the root cells and the soil are mineral ions. These concentration gradients are established by active transport, using protein pumps for each type of ion the plant requires. Mineral ions can only be absorbed by active transport if they make contact with an appropriate pump protein.

Plants transport water from root to leaves to replace losses from transpiration. See Figure 11 on page 409. Be able to explain the pathway of water from the root to the leaf.

Let's talk about the structure of a leaf.

One of the things you have to know is how to use a potometer to measure transpiration. We don't have potometers, but here's a video to show you how one works. I'm trying to figure out if we can construct a bootleg potometer.

We can't construct an actual potometer, but you have to learn how to analyze experimental data. So we will do Lesson #238 in class today. You will need your workbook and access to Excel or Google Spreadsheet. Answer the questions and we'll discuss.

2. Identification of xylem and phloem in microscope images of stem and root. Mission 2: Plant Highways, Exit 2: Phloem
Mission Objectives: You should be able to...
1. Analyze data from experiments measuring phloem transport rates using aphid stylets and radioactively-labeled carbon dioxide.

3. Describe and explain the structure-function relationship of phloem sieve tubes.

Phloem tissue is found throughout plants, including stems, roots & leaves. Phloem are composed of sieve tubes, which are themselves composed of columns of specialized cells. Individual sieve tube cells are separated by perforated walls called sieve plates.

Phloem transports organic compounds throughout the plant. The transport of organic solutes in a plant is called translocation. Phloem links parts of the plant that need a supply of sugars and other solutes such as amino acids to other parts that have a surplus. See Table 1 on page 413. Sources are areas where sugars and amino acids are loaded into the phloem and sinks are areas where the sugars and amino acids are unloaded and used.

​Image courtesy of Bioninja.

Active transport is used to load organic compounds into phloem sieve tubes at the source. Sucrose is the most prevalent solute in tree sap. It is not as readily available for plant tissues to metabolize directly in respiration and therefore makes a good transport form of carbohydrate as it will not be metabolized during transport.​

Aphids are insects that feed on the sap extracted from phloem. Their feeding tubes are called stylets. Pages 417-420 discuss aphid stylet experiments. Read and work your way through the DBQs. Phloem transport using aphid stylets.

Below is some sample data from Bioninja.

Mission 3: Growth
Mission Objectives. You should be able to...
1. Explain how plants grow.
2. Describe the role of mitosis in stem extension and leaf development.
3. Define "micropropogation."
4. Explain the role of auxins in plant growth
​
Mitosis and cytokinesis in the shoot apex (tip) provide cells needed for extension of the stem and development of leaves. Cells in meristem tissue are small and go through cell division repeatedly to produce more cells via mitosis and cytokinesis. These new cells absorbed nutrients and water and therefore increase in volume and mass.

Each apical meristem can give rise to additional meristems including protoderm, procambrium and ground meristem. These give rise to different tissues. Protoderm turns into epidermis, procambrium becomes vascular tissue, and ground becomes pith (that white stuff that you peel off oranges and other citrus).

Image from brittanica.com.
Growth in plants is confined to regions known as meristems. Meristems are composed of undifferentiated cells that are undergoing mitosis. Apical meristems are found at the tips of stems and roots. The root apical meristem is responsible for the growth of the root and the shoot apical meristem is at the tip of the stem. Shoot growth is a tad more complicated than root growth. Details are on page 423.

Auxins are hormones that have a broad range of functions including initiating the growth of roots, influencing the development of fruits, and regulating leaf development. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) is the most common auxin. You should know the relationship between IAA concentration and plant growth.

Plants respond to the environment via phototropism and gravitropism. Phototropism is when plants turn towards the sunlight. Stems grow towards the brightest light source, causing them to bend. In the absence of sunlight, they grow upwards, against gravity. Growth in response to gravitational force is called gravitropism.

If the plant is exhibiting phototropism, then auxin is transported laterally from the side with brighter light to the side that is more shaded. Higher concentrations of auxin on the shady side of the stem causes greater growth on that side so the stem grows in a curve towards the light source. Gravitropism is also auxin-dependent. The pattern of auxin effect is opposite to what happens in the shoot. In the shoot, auxin promotes elongation but in the root, auxin inhibits elongation.

Mission 4: Baby-Making Greens
Mission Objective. You should be able to...
1. Draw internal structure of seeds.
2. Draw half-views of animal-pollinated flowers.
3. Design an experiment to test hypotheses about factors affecting germination.
4. Explain the difference between pollination and fertilization.

Flowering plants are called angiosperms. There are two classes of angiosperms: monocotyledons (monocot) and dicotyledons (dicot). Monocots have one seed leaf and dicots have two. Below are comparisons of monocots and dicots from the Pearson text.

Continued research has refined these classifications but for this class, we will focus on monocots and dicots. In both types, animal-pollinated flowers have the same parts in common. The entire female part of the flower is called the carpel. The entire male part of the flower is called the stamen. Meiosis occurs in the stamen and carpel to produce gametes.

​Put a sketch of the flower in your notes.

There are four types of flowers: (1) complete, (2) incomplete, (3) staminate, and (4) carpellate. Define each of these types and provide an example.

All plants show two different generations in their life cycle. There is the gametophyte generation (GG), which is haploid, and the sporophyte generation (SG), which is diploid. This process is called alternation of generations. They are so named due to the reproductive cells they produce.

GG produces plant gametes by mitosis. SG produces spores by meiosis. If you were looking at a flowering plant such as a cherry tree, what you are seeing is the sporophyte generation. The tree grew from a zygote and produced new cells via mitosis. When the tree produces flowers, haploid spores are formed and develop into haploid bodies referred to as gametophytes. Sperm form within male gametophytes and eggs form within female gametophytes.

On your own, describe and explain the differences between pollination and fertilization.

Seeds are the means by which an embryo can be dispersed to distant locations. It is a protective structure for the embryo.​ Dicot seeds contain the parts described below. If conditions are favorable, the seed will germinate (above video). This is the development of a seed into a plant. Favorable conditions include (1) water, to rehydrate the seed tissue, (2) oxygen, to allow for aerobic respiration, and (3) appropriate temperature, for enzyme action.

On your own, answer the following: Why is light so important to plants? This is not as simple a question as it looks. You need to address the issue of flowering plants in particular.

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Mission 1: Plant Highways, Exit 1: XylemMission Objectives: You should be able to... 1. Draw the structure of primary xylem vessels in sections of stems based on microscope images. 2. Measurement of transpiration rates using potometers. 3. Design an experiment to test hypotheses about the effect of temperature or humidity on transpiration rates.

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3. Muscle contraction  detail Concept   Cell Biology

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https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLU9wEyzVsaZVggPxFvWHUCPuOxdOTBFL-

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IB Biology (New Syllabus) Option A - Neurobiology and Behavior

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This playlist is good for the IB Bio 2009 Syllabus with FINAL Exams taking place in May 2015.

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Make sure you have reviewed and understand the 'Nerves' component of 'Nerves, Hormones and Homeostasis' - particularly focusing on synaptic transmission.
Ideas for IA Lab investigations can be found here.
Pages: Core Content: Biology guide (official page) Additional Higher Level (Guide) More resources:
Neurotic Physiology blog - lots of articles on neurobiology from Scientopia

Now protect that brain that you've been cramming full of knowledge!

.........o0O0o.........

Non-IB Unit: Learning About Learning

.........o0O0o.........
Animation Collection:
North Harris College has stacks of useful links.

Funny video: " Synaptic Cleft," from the Tomcfad - if you get it, you're doing well.

Here is a really interesting animated talk from RSA Animate - a great resource for short videos. In this talk, Dan Pink talks about what motivates us as humans. Does reward really lead to improved performance? What TOK links can you think of in this talk?

.........o0O0o.........
Image sources:
Brain maturing, from http://www.loni.ucla.edu/~thompson/DEVEL/dynamic.html

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Make sure you have reviewed and understand the 'Nerves' component of 'Nerves, Hormones and Homeostasis' - particularly focusing on synaptic transmission. Ideas for IA Lab investigations can be found here. Pages: Core Content: Biology guide (official page) A1 Neural Development A2 The Human Brain A3 Perception of Stimuli Additional Higher Level (Guide) A4 Innate and Learned...

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https://youtu.be/u84bTjqrt7k

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Bacterial Isolation on Petri Dish - Biology Lab Techniques

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https://youtu.be/UA-jO6HtfLU

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How to Do a Gram Stain? - Biology Lab Techniques

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http://ibchristie.weebly.com/51---evolution.html

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5.1 U1 Evolution occurs when heritable characteristics of a species change.
5.1 U2 The fossil record provides evidence for evolution.
5.1 U3 Selective breeding of domesticated animals shows that artificial selection can cause evolution.
5.1 U4 Evolution of homologous structures by adaptive radiation explains similarities in structure when there are differences in function.
5.1 U5 ​Populations of a species can gradually diverge into separate species by evolution.
Continuous variation across the geographical range of related populations matches the concept of gradual divergence.

5.1 A1 Application: Development of melanistic insects in polluted areas.
5.1 A2 Comparison of the pentadactyl limb of mammals, birds, amphibians and reptiles with different methods of locomotion.

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5.1 U1 Evolution occurs when heritable characteristics of a species change. 5.1 U2 The fossil record provides evidence for evolution. 5.1 U3 Selective breeding of domesticated animals shows that artificial selection can cause evolution. 5.1 U4 Evolution of homologous structures by adaptive radiation explains similarities in structure when there are differences in function.

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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Jr-NoBEpP4aF9n4Ssrgq-V-es8QbKTZr

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https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1m3dF2ayPwvFm2uhuZNXnfmIARBvAy6YI

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This class is a university-level introductory biology course offered at standard level (SL) and higher level (HL). The content of the IB Biology syllabus consists of 6 core topics at standard level, plus 5 additional topics for students enrolled in the higher level course, and one of four options for all students.

The headings below link to Google Drive folders I have created for each topic and subtopic. Because there is such a wealth of IB Biology resources globally, I generally use other educators' presentations and study guides as support material. (Why reinvent the wheel?) I can't take responsibility for the vast majority of the IB Biology resources available here. Chris Paine, Assistant Head of Science at Dulwich College in Shanghai and author of the extraordinary biology Weebly Bioknowledgy, is responsible for most of the materials we use in my classes. I've simply amended them in a few places and converted some of his files to the Google Docs format to simplify sharing through our Google Classroom platform. In particular, I would like to thank Chris Paine in Shanghai for so generously sharing his incredible Slideshare presentations, revision notes, and Bioknowledgy weebly site.

The core topics in IB Biology are as follows:

The additional higher level topics in IB Biology are:

IB Biology also includes a study of at least one of four options. Each option may be studied at both the standard level and the higher level.

Because my undergraduate degree is in ecology and resource conservation, I will strongly encourage all students in my class to take Option C - Ecology and conservation. If a student is determined to study one of the other three options, s/he may; however, s/he will be working largely on his or her own with somewhat limited input from me as I support the rest of the class. Students studying options independently have historically performed poorly on their IB Exams at the end of 12th grade.

At the start of the final year of the Diploma Program, students conduct an independent, in-depth investigation into a subject of their choosing. This Personal Exploration accounts for the Internal Assessment portion of a student's overall grade in IB Biology.

A deep understanding of the IB command prompts is critical for success on the IB Biology exam at the end of the course. Knowing how to answer a question is almost as important as knowing the answer itself. Here's a great presentation from master IB Biology teacher Stephen Taylor:

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Welcome to IB Biology! This class is a university-level introductory biology course offered at standard level (SL) and higher level (HL). The content of the IB Biology syllabus consists of 6 core topics at standard level, plus 5 additional topics for students enrolled in the higher level course, and one of four options for all...

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Using light microscope  Lab practice https://www.ncbionetwork.org/iet/microscope/ 

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Using light microscope  Lab practice https://www.ncbionetwork.org/iet/microscope/ 

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https://docs.google.com/document/d/1tT_HzrrD3FFvGa7uGlhxrtZ7Y1GrOSECf-LiXshQcYM/edit?usp=sharing

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Simulations and online lab activities that can be used for asynchronous learning or hybrid classrooms.

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Online Labs for schools - Developed by Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and CDAC Online Lab

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The OLabs is based on the idea that lab experiments can be taught using the Internet, more efficiently and less expensively. The labs can also be made available to students with no access to physical labs or where equipment is not available owing to being scarce or costly.

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StarGenetics is a Mendelian genetics cross simulator developed at MIT by biology faculty, researched-trained scientists and technologists at MIT's OEIT. StarGenetics allows students to simulate mating experiments between organisms that are genetically different across a range of traits to analyze the nature of the traits in question. Its goal is to teach students about genetic experimental design and genetic concepts. For more information on StarGenetics click here.

Using StarGenetics

StarGenetics is freely accessible via the web. Press the Start button to get started.

Overview

StarGenetics can be used to teach simple genetics concepts that are appropriate for high school biology students as well as complex genetics concepts that are appropriate for advanced biology undergraduate students.In addition,StarGenetics allows for instructors to customize the exercises presented to the student. To find out how to create your own StarGenetics exerciseand for more information on the concepts that can be taught using StarGenetics, click here.

StarGenetics simulates genetic experiments using known model organisms such as Mendel's garden peas, flies ( Drosophila melanogaster), and yeast ( Saccharomyces cerevisiae). StarGenetics simulate crosses in cows, which can be use to explore traits in organisms with similar genetics to humans. In addition, StarGenetics can simulate crosses between non-model organisms such as "smiley faces", which are typically used for introducing genetic concepts to younger audiences. The following are the currently available visualizers for StarGenetics:

Examples of genetic experiments in each of the different StarGenetics visualizers (from left to right, clockwise): Fly, Peas, Cow, Smiley Face, Fish, andYeast visualizers. (Click on the image for a larger view)

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StarGenetics is a Mendelian genetics cross simulator developed at MIT by biology faculty, researched-trained scientists and technologists at MIT's OEIT. StarGenetics allows students to simulate mating experiments between organisms that are genetically different across a range of traits to analyze the nature of the traits in question.

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Some simple methods for the Prescribed Practicals

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Some simple methods for the Prescribed Practicals

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In this activity, students further explore the short film Popped Secret: The Mysterious Origin of Corn, by working through the mathematical concepts behind George Beadle's claim that teosinte is the wild ancestor of maize.

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Empowering Educators. Inspiring Students. Real science, real stories, and real data to engage students in exploring the living world.

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Thanks to Lorne Young, (IB facilitator) for creating and sharing the original document with us and to DAvid Dasari for sharing it.

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The purpose of the teacher support material

Welcome to the Biology teacher support material (TSM). The biology subject guide for first assessment in 2016 represents a significant shift, in a number of aspects, from the previous biology course and this TSM is specifically designed to assist both new and experienced teachers to build or revise their course design so that it reflects the new guide.

The TSM is designed to:

support experienced and inexperienced teachers alike in structuring and delivering a course

support teachers with the organization of practical work

complement IB professional development.

The TSM is structured to cover generic issues such as the nature of science and international-mindedness in the new science guides, as well as subject-specific considerations for the teaching of Diploma Programme (DP) biology at both higher level (HL) and standard level (SL). There is a section on organizing the contents of the sub-topics into classroom activities, which supports the overarching concepts and guidance on the organization and assessment of the individual investigation, as well as other useful information on the practical aspects of the course.

This biology teacher support material has been written by experienced biology practitioners to support teachers in designing and delivering biology in their schools. It is not intended to be prescriptive or an exhaustive way of addressing every issue regarding the IB biology course.

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Welcome to the Biology teacher support material (TSM). The biology subject guide for first assessment in 2016 represents a significant shift, in a number of aspects, from the previous biology course and this TSM is specifically designed to assist both new and experienced teachers to build or revise their course design so that it reflects the new guide.

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Skip to Main Content

It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results.

Conclusion

YOUR CONCLUSION MUST ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTION!

The conclusion should reiterate your key findings and main points developed in the body of the essay and provide a resolution to your research question.
Recommended word count for the conclusion: 350-450 words.

When writing your conclusion, you should:

Respond to the actual research question as stated on your title page.

Comment on any inconclusive findings or multiple interpretations if that is what your research has indicated.

Disprove your thesis if your evidence has lead you to this conclusion.

Offer an evaluation of the value and limitations of the methodology or sources you have used.

Mention any unresolved or additional questions that have arisen as a result of your research and explain why answering those questions goes beyond the scope of your current work.

Summarize the key points raised in the main body and synthesize them into a final analysis.

AVOID:

Introducing new material.

Offering no conclusion at all.

Including any personal statements.

Including any accusations.

Answering a question that is different from the one on your title page.

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LibGuides: Extended Essay - Criteria: Criterion C: Critical Thinking

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Skip to Main Content It looks like you're using Internet Explorer 11 or older. This website works best with modern browsers such as the latest versions of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge. If you continue with this browser, you may see unexpected results. YOUR CONCLUSION MUST ANSWER THE RESEARCH QUESTION!

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Topic 9: Plant biology (13 hours)
9.1 Transport in the xylem of plants: Structure and function are correlated in the xylem of plants.

Understandings:

∑ - Transpiration is the inevitable consequence of gas exchange in the leaf.

CO 2 is needed for photosynthesis to take place in the leaves and O 2 is released as a by-product of this process

***Data Based Question 407***

∑ - Plants transport water from the roots to the leaves to replace losses from transpiration.

Video on Transpiration - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv_0udatlh8

∑ - The cohesive property of water and the structure of the xylem vessels allow transport under tension.

∑ - The adhesive property of water and evaporation generate tension forces in leaf cell walls.

Video on Root Absorption - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHCaVLF37mY

β - Application: Adaptations of plants in deserts and in saline soils for water conservation.

Xerophytes are plants that are adapted to grow in very dry conditions.

Adaptations

Reduced leaves

Conifers and cactus plants both have reduced leaves; conifers have needles and cacti have spines. This decreases the surface area available for transpiration, thus decreasing water loss.

Rolled leaves

Stomata exist inside of rolled leaves. This creates local humidity within the rolled leaf, thus decreasing the leaf's exposure to air currents because water vapour evaporates into the small air space inside the rolled leaf rather than the atmosphere. This decreases water loss through transpiration.

Reduced number of stomata

Some xerophytes have a reduced number of stomata. By reducing the number of stomata, water loss through transpiration is decreased because there are fewer holes for evaporation to take place.

Thickened waxy cuticle

Thick waxy cuticle makes the leaves and in some cases stems, more waterproof and impermeable to water. This prevents water loss through the epidermal cells.

Stomata sunken in pits and presence of hair creates local humidity by trapping moist air close to the leaf.

Other adaptations by xerophytes are deep roots (maximum water absorption),water storage tissue (specialized cells store water in cacti), CAM and C4 plants (have specialized techniques of CO2 fixation) and opening of stomata at night

β - Application: Models of water transport in xylem using simple apparatus including blotting or filter paper, porous pots and capillary tubing.

Nature of science:Use models as representations of the real world-mechanisms involved in water transport in the xylem can be investigated using apparatus and materials that show similarities in structure to plant tissues.

β - Skill: Drawing the structure of primary xylem vessels in sections of stems based on microscope images.

Measurement of transpiration rates using potometers. Design of an experiment to test hypotheses about the effect of temperature or humidity on transpiration rates.

If there is no wind, the air surrounding a leaf becomes increasingly humid thus reducing the rate of transpiration.

Aims: The introduction of image processing software and digital microscopes increases further the ability to gather more data to ensure reliability. Measurement of stomatal apertures and the distribution of stomata using leaf casts, including replicate measurements to enhance reliability, are possible experiments.

9.2 Transport in the phloem of plants: Structure and function are correlated in the phloem of plants.

Nature of science: Developments in scientific research follow improvements in apparatus-experimental methods for measuring phloem transport rates using aphid stylets and radioactively-labelled carbon dioxide were only possible when radioisotopes became available.

Understandings:

∑ - Plants transport organic compounds from sources to sinks.

Good Video - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK7l9YH0UiU

∑ - Active transport is used to load organic compounds into phloem sieve tubes at the source.

***Data Based Questions p. 414-415***

∑ - The incompressibility of water allows transport along hydrostatic pressure gradients.

***Data Based Questions p 415***

∑ - High concentrations of solutes in the phloem at the source lead to water uptake by osmosis.

∑ - Raised hydrostatic pressure causes the contents of the phloem to flow towards sinks.

At the source, sugar and other organic molecules are loaded into the sieve tube members thus increasing solute concentration within the sieve tube cells (decreases water potential).
Water from surrounding tissues enters the sieve tube members by osmosis following a concentration gradient.
The water absorbed into the sieve tube creates a hydrostatic pressure that forces the phloem sap to flow (bulk flow) towards the sink
Applications and skills:

β - Application: Structure-function relationships of phloem sieve tubes.

β - Skill: Analysis of data from experiments measuring phloem transport rates using aphid stylets and radioactively-labelled carbon dioxide.

9.3 Growth in plants: Plants adapt their growth to environmental conditions.

Nature of science: Developments in scientific research follow improvements in analysis and deduction-improvements in analytical techniques allowing the detection of trace amounts of substances has led to advances in the understanding of plant hormones and their effect on gene expression.

Understandings:

∑ - Undifferentiated cells in the meristems of plants allow indeterminate growth.

∑ - Plant hormones control growth in the shoot apex. Auxin is the only named hormone that is expected.

For gravitropism, auxin is redistributed to the side of gravity
Auxin, in this case, inhibits cell elongation and as the top part of the root grows and extends, the root turns towards the direction of the gravitational pull
This is the opposite to phototropism

Absorption of light is by photoreceptor proteins called phototropins

Video on auxin: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-2DZo2ppAY

∑ - Auxin influences cell growth rates by changing the pattern of gene expression.

You can also store little plantlets for long periods of times in liquid nitrogen, which would be valuable with endangered species

***Data Based Questions p.424***

β - Application: Micropropagation of plants using tissue from the shoot apex, nutrient agar gels and growth hormones.

β - Skill: Investigations into tropisms could be carried out.

Could develop a lab with tropisms to use for the internal assessment
Theory of knowledge: Plants communicate chemically both internally and externally. To what extent can plants be said to have language?

Video on if plants can talk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yEJxvymDcE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-4w5xYLwiU

9.4 Reproduction in plants: Reproduction in flowering plants is influenced by the biotic and abiotic environment.

Understandings:

∑ - Flowering involves a change in gene expression in the shoot apex.

It has been determined that the length of the night (darkness) not the length of the day (light) determines flowering in short-day and long-day plants.

∑ - The switch to flowering is a response to the length of light and dark periods in many plants.

∑ - Flowering in so-called short-day plants such as chrysanthemums is stimulated by long nights rather than short days.

Pollination is the process in plants in which pollen grains (male gametes) are transferred to the female gametes (ovules contained within the carpel), thereby enabling fertilization and sexual reproduction.

***Data based questions p. 430***

∑ - Success in plant reproduction depends on pollination, fertilization and seed dispersal.

∑ - Understand the differences between pollination, fertilization and seed dispersal

Pollination

***Data Based Questions p.432***

Applications and skills:

β - Application: Methods used to induce short-day plants to flower out of season.

Growers can influence flowering of flowers out of season, by controlling the length of days and nights
This is useful to produce flowers out of season used during specific holidays
Florists can use this to cause certain flowers such as Poinsettias to flower earlier in the season (Thanksgiving instead of just Christmas)

Link h ttp://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/ornamental/the-texas-poinsettia-producers-guide/cultural-characteristics/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPAsEyFI8r4

β - Application: The University of Göttingen, in Germany, conducted an extensive review of scientific studies from 200 countries for 115 of the leading global crops in 2005. They found that 87 of the crop plants depend to some degree upon animal pollination, including bees. This accounts for one-third of crop production globally.

β - Skill: Drawing the internal structure of seeds.

Nature of science: Paradigm shift-more than 85% of the world's 250,000 species of flowering plants depend on pollinators for reproduction. This knowledge has led to protecting entire ecosystems rather than individual species.

Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3DJL9krbJOM

β - Skill: Design of experiments to test hypotheses about factors affecting germination.

GERMINATION PROCESS

Seeds need water for germination. Water rehydrates the seed's tissues causing the cells to expand and metabolism to become reactivated.
Once metabolism has been reactivated embryonic growth can begin.
The appropriate temperature is needed to allow enzymes to work efficiently during metabolic reactions.
O2 is needed for aerobic respiration to take place in the seed.
Some plants have seeds that require specific variables in order for germination to take place, such as fire or smoke, disruption of the seed coat, or removal of surface inhibitors by water.
* Water is absorbed by the seed through the micropyle and the seed coat.

* Water causes the release of a hormone called gibberellin or gibberellic acid (GA).

* GA causes the cells to expand and elongate, eventually allowing the root to break through the seed coat (testa).

* GA also stimulates the production of enzymes (specifically amylase) that hydrolyze starch located in the seed's endosperm into maltose.

* Maltose is further broken down into glucose which can be transported to areas of growth in the cell.

* Glucose is used in aerobic respiration to produce energy for the growth of the embryonic root and shoot.

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IBWorld.me - IB Biology Review Notes - Topic 9 Plant Science

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Topic 9: Plant biology (13 hours) 9.1 Transport in the xylem of plants: Structure and function are correlated in the xylem of plants. Understandings: ∑ - Transpiration is the inevitable consequence of gas exchange in the leaf.

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Search the Models Library: Select a model

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Al convertir nuestras simulaciones en HTML5, éstas estarán disponibles en varias plataformas y dispositivos. No importa si tienes un portátil, iPad, chromebook o BYOD, tus simulaciones favoritas de PhET siempre se sentirán bien entre tus manos.¡Haz parte de nuestra misión hoy mismo y transforma las experiencias de aprendizaje de los estudiantes de todo el mundo!

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Classroom Resources > Against All Odds: Inside Statistics > 1. What Is Statistics?

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Index of /IB PAST PAPERS - SUBJECT/Group 4 - Sciences/Biology_SL/

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Duration: 1 hour

Weighting: 20%

40 multiple-choice questions on core and AHL material

The questions on paper 1 test assessment objectives 1, 2 and 3

The use of calculators is not permitted

Answer every question! There is no penalty for an incorrect answer. So, narrow down the answer choices, and if you must... then guess!

​
Tips for Paper 1:

1. Cover the answer choices! Try to answer the question before you read the options . This prevents you from becoming "muddled" with wrong answers.

2. Only change answers if you are ABSOLUTELY SURE the current answer is incorrect. Don't second guess yourself!

3. On the actual exam, you'll be able to write on the test. Mark it up like crazy!

Duration: 2 1⁄4 hours

Weighting: 36%

The questions on paper 2 test assessment objectives 1, 2 and 3

The use of approved calculators is permitted.

Section A: Data-based question, short-answer and extended-response questions on core and AHL material

Section B: Choice of two out of three extended response questions on core and AHL material

Tips for Paper 2:
Tips for Paper 2 Section B:

​Write your final response using your outline as a guide. Be sure to use legible handwriting that is dark enough to read from a scanned image. If your response is illegible or not visible, you will not earn points.

Lastly, include a sentence for each prompt (A, B and C) that ties the prompt to the others in the question. You can earn two "quality of construction" points for a response that connects the parts of the question together.
Read the question options carefully and select which you will answer. Your "gut instinct" for which questions to answer might not be the best. Take a few minutes to think of answers to EACH question before selecting the one you feel like you can best respond. Remember, you want to select the question in which you know the most overall about parts A, B and C. Be sure you know what the question is asking. For example, don't answer a question about speciation with a response about the limitations of the term species.

Once you have selected which question you will respond to, begin writing an outline to your response to each part. Play attention to the command terms, so you actually address what the question is asking. The command term "discuss" is one in which students often mistakenly "explain." When asked to discuss, be sure you address alternative hypothesis and/or give arguments for and against a claim. If you are asked to "compare", be sure to include both similarities and differences and to include differences for both items. For example, if asked to compare spermatogenesis and oogenesis, you would not get a point for saying, "spermatogenesis creates 4 sperm." You would get a point for saying, "spermatogenesis creates 4 sperm, whereas oogenesis forms only 1 egg."

Each question includes the maximum number of points possible. As you are drafting your response, predict how points will be awarded on the mark scheme. The general rule of thumb is that the mark scheme used by the assessors will have 1.5X the number of "point earning" ideas as there are points that the question is worth. For example, if a question is worth 5 points, aim for AT LEAST 8 ideas. You will not earn more than 5 points but including extra responses is a good idea (just don't contradict yourself).

Use the following as a guide:
Rephrase what the question is asking to do... for example:
"Outline the mechanisms used by the ileum epithelial cells to absorb specific food molecules."

1. Define any key terms in the question.

2. Where does the process happen? (In what type of cell? In what system? Where in the ecosystem?)

3. What happens? What is the outcome of the process?

4. How does the process happen? Think of drafting a flow chart to show the process.

5. When does the process happen? What triggers the event?

6. Why is this process important? What is the reason, purpose, and/or benefit?

7. Give an example.

8. Draw a labeled diagram.

9. Are there any pros/cons? Alternatives? Limitations?

Duration: 1 1⁄4 hours

Weighting: 24%

Section A: answer all questions, two to three short-answer questions based on experimental skills and techniques, analysis and evaluation, using unseen data linked to the course material.

Section B: short-answer and extended-response questions from one option.

The questions on paper 3 test assessment objectives 1, 2 and 3

The use of approved calculators is permitted.

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1.1.U3 ​Cell Surface to volume is an important limitation to cell size.

​Outline the activities occurring in the volume and at the surface of the cell.

Calculate the surface area, volume and SA:V ratio of a cube.

Explain the benefits and limitations of using cubes to model the surface area and volume of a cell.

Describe the relationship between cell size and the SA:V ratio of the cell.

Explain why cells are often limited in size by the SA:V ratio.

List three adaptations of cells that maximize the SA: volume ratio.

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1.1.U3 ​Cell Surface to volume is an important limitation to cell size. ​Outline the activities occurring in the volume and at the surface of the cell. Calculate the surface area, volume and SA:V ratio of a cube. Explain the benefits and limitations of using cubes to model the surface area and volume of a cell.

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1.3.U1 Phospholipids form bilayers in water due to the amphipathic properties of phospholipid molecules. [Amphipathic phospholipids have hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties.]
1.3.U2 Membrane proteins are diverse in terms of structure, position in the membrane and function.
1.3.U3 Cholesterol is a component of animal cell membranes.

1.3.A1 Cholesterol in mammalian membranes reduces membrane fluidity and permeability to some solutes.

​1.3.S1 Drawing of the fluid mosaic model. [Drawings of the fluid mosaic model of membrane structure can be two dimensional rather than three dimensional. Individual phospholipid molecules should be shown using the symbol of a circle with two parallel lines attached. A range of membrane proteins should be shown including glycoproteins.]
1.3.S2 Analysis of evidence from electron microscopy that led to the proposal of the Davson-Danielli model.
1.3.S3 Analysis of the falsification of the Davson-Danielli model that led to the Singer-Nicolson model.

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1.3.U1 Phospholipids form bilayers in water due to the amphipathic properties of phospholipid molecules. [Amphipathic phospholipids have hydrophilic and hydrophobic properties.]1.3.U2 Membrane proteins are diverse in terms of structure, position in the membrane and function.1.3.U3 Cholesterol is a component of animal cell membranes. 1.3.A1 Cholesterol in mammalian membranes reduces membrane fluidity and permeability to some solutes.

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Oils from plant seeds provide the basis for many aspects of modern life that are taken for granted, being used to make cooking oil, soap, fuel, cosmetics, medicines, flooring, and many other everyday products. Whether derived from olives, oil palm, rapeseed, soybeans, peanuts or sunflowers, the major energy-rich constituents of these oils are lipids containing fatty acids made in the plants' chloroplasts. While most of this process by which plants make fatty acids is well-known, the mechanism by which these important molecules get out of the chloroplast was unclear.

But now biologists at the Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich have discovered a previously unknown transport system for fatty acids in plant cells. LMU biologist Dr. Katrin Philippar and members of her research group have shown in a paper publishing today in the open access journal PLOS Biology that a novel chloroplast membrane protein plays a central role in the process of transporting fatty acids from where they are generated in chloroplasts out into the cell cytoplasm before they become incorporated into lipid molecules. The work may open new routes to improve the production of biofuels.

Fatty acids are the major constituents of lipids. In plants, fatty acids are synthesized exclusively in the chloroplasts, and must be exported into the cell cytoplasm -- the aqueous interior of the cell in which the chloroplasts are suspended -- before they can be incorporated into lipid molecules. "However, the mechanism for how fatty acids are transported across the membranes of the chloroplast was thus so far unclear," says LMU biologist Dr. Katrin Philippar. She and members of her research group have shown in the paper publishing in PLOS Biology that a member of a previously uncharacterized protein family plays a central role in this process.

The researchers identified an integral membrane protein in the inner chloroplast envelope of the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. They subsequently named the protein FAX1 (for 'fatty acid export 1') on the basis of studies on Arabidopsis strains that had either lost the capacity to produce FAX1 or synthesized FAX1 proteins in excess amounts. These investigations revealed that FAX1 is essential for the synthesis of the fatty acid- and lipid-rich layers that coat pollen grains and form the general waxy layer on the plant surface. In addition, in plants that are unable to express FAX1, the lipid content outside chloroplasts is decreased. In lines that overproduced FAX1, on the other hand, the researchers observed the opposite effect. In particular, levels of so-called triacylglycerol lipids (TAGs) were found to be significantly higher in leaves and flowers of these strains than in wild-type plants.

"Furthermore, we were able to show that, when introduced into yeast cells, FAX1 can transport fatty acids. On the basis of all these findings, we conclude that FAX1 in Arabidopsis mediates export of fatty acids across the inner envelope membrane of the chloroplast. Thus, our work elucidates a novel and previously entirely unknown mechanism of fatty acid transport," Philippar explains. "FAX1 also has an influence -- probably indirect -- on carbohydrate metabolism in the cell because lipids and carbohydrates serve as the primary sources of metabolic energy in plants," she adds.

The significance of FAX1 function for the synthesis of TAGs is of special interest, because TAG-rich plant oils provide the basis for the production of biofuels. "Our experiments indicate that overexpression of FAX1 increases the overall level of TAGs in Arabidopsis. So further investigation of the members of this protein family may lead to new strategies for the manufacture of biofuels," Philippar concludes. Interestingly, proteins found in vertebrate mitochondria, whose biological role has remained unknown as well, are related to the FAX family. Further study of the FAX proteins therefore promises to throw new light on the function of these enigmatic gene products as well.
Story Source:
Materials provided by PLOS. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

Journal Reference:

Nannan Li, Irene Luise Gügel, Patrick Giavalisco, Viktoria Zeisler, Lukas Schreiber, Jürgen Soll, Katrin Philippar. FAX1, a Novel Membrane Protein Mediating Plastid Fatty Acid Export. PLOS Biology, 2015; 13 (2): e1002053 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1002053

Cite This Page:

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cell biology; molecular biology; genetics; botany; acid rain; renewable energy; grassland; pollution

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Oils from plant seeds provide the basis for many aspects of modern life that are taken for granted, being used to make cooking oil, soap, fuel, cosmetics, medicines, flooring, and many other everyday products. While most of the process by which plants make fatty acids is well-known, the mechanism by which these important molecules get out of the chloroplast was unclear.

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DNA with Man-Made Bases Functions Just Fine

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DNA with Man-Made Bases Functions Just Fine

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DNA with Man-Made Bases Functions Just Fine

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These “unnatural base pairs” are a first for synthetic biology

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Routine DNA Screening Moves Into Primary Care

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Routine DNA Screening Moves Into Primary Care

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If you have a genetic mutation that increases your risk for a treatable medical condition, would you want to know? For many people the answer is yes. But typically such information has not been a part of routine primary care.

For patients at Geisinger Health System, that could soon change. Starting in the next month or so, the Pennsylvania-based system will offer DNA sequencing to 1,000 patients, with the goal of eventually extending the offer to all 3 million Geisinger patients.

The health system's test will look for mutations in at least 77 genes. Many have been associated with medical conditions - dozens of them, ranging from heart disease to cancer. Others have been linked to variability in how people respond to certain medicines based on heredity.

"We're giving more precision to the very important decisions that people need to make," says Dr. David Feinberg, Geisinger's president and CEO. In the same way that primary care providers currently suggest checking someone's cholesterol, he says, "we would have that discussion with patients: 'It looks like we haven't done your genome. Why don't we do that?' "

But some physicians and health policy analysts question whether such genetic information is necessary to provide good primary care and whether handling such testing is feasible for many primary care physicians.

The new clinical program builds on a research biobank and genome-sequencing initiative called MyCode that Geisinger started in 2007 to collect and analyze its patients' DNA. That effort has enrolled more than 200,000 people.

Like MyCode, the new clinical program will be based on " whole exome" sequencing, analyzing the roughly 1 percent of the genome that provides instructions for making proteins, where most known disease-causing mutations occur.

Using this analysis, clinicians could tell Geisinger patients whether they have a genetic variant associated with Lynch syndrome, for example, which leads to an increased risk of cancer of the colon and some other cancers. Or doctors could offer guidance to patients found to have an increased risk for familial hypercholesterolemia, which can result in high cholesterol levels and heart disease at a young age.

Still other patients who undergo the exome sequencing might learn they have an increased susceptibility to malignant hyperthermia, because of a gene variant that causes a severe reaction to certain medications used during anesthesia; the reaction can be fatal.

Geisinger spokesperson Wendy Wilson says that what the company plans is very different from direct-to-consumer services like 23andMe - which tests customers' saliva to determine their genetic risk for several diseases and traits, only some of which are medically actionable, and makes the results available in an online report.

"Geisinger is prescribing DNA sequencing to patients and putting DNA results in electronic health records and actually creating an action plan," Wilson says. "We are preventing disease from happening."

Geisinger says its program will work like this: Samples of a patient's blood or spit will be used to get a DNA sample. After analysis, the results will be sent to the patient's primary care doctor.

The doctor will then take a 30-minute online continuing education tutorial to review genetic testing and get more information on whatever specific susceptibilities have turned up in that patient's results.

After that, the patient will be informed and invited to meet with the primary care provider, along with a genetic counselor if desired. At that point the doctor and patient can discuss treatment and prevention options, including any particular lifestyle changes that might reduce the risk of developing the disease or condition.

About 3.5 percent of the people who have already been tested through Geisinger's research program had a genetic variant that could result in a medical problem for which clinicians can recommend helpful steps to influence their health, Feinberg says.

In the clinical program, only actionable mutations will be communicated to patients. The health care team, for example, won't inform patients if they have a variant of the APOE gene that somewhat increases their risk for getting Alzheimer's disease, because that information wouldn't change anything about their medical treatment. (Geisinger is developing a policy for how to handle these results if patients ask for them.)

Insurance companies typically don't cover DNA sequencing and do limit a patient's coverage for adult genetic tests for specific mutations, such as those related to the breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 or BRCA2, unless the patient has a family history of the condition or other indications they're at high risk. For each of the patients it tests, Geisinger will absorb the estimated $300 to $500 testing cost.

"Most of the medical spending in America is done after people have gotten sick," says Feinberg. "We think this will decrease spending on a lot of care."

But some clinicians and academics outside Geisingeraren't so sure. One of them is Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a professor at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice who has written books about the hazards of overdiagnosis and overscreening, including, Less Medicine, More Health.

He credits Geisinger with carefully targeting the mutations in which it looks for actionable mutations, instead of taking an all-encompassing approach. And he acknowledges that for some conditions, like Lynch syndrome, people with certain genetic mutations would benefit from being followed closely. But he questions the value of DNA sequencing to identify some other susceptibilities, such as some of the genetic variantsrelated to cardiovascular disease.

"What are we really going to do differently for those patients?" he asks. "We should all be concerned about heart disease. We should all exercise; we should eat real food."

Welch says he's also concerned about the cascading effect of expensive and potentially harmful medical treatment when a genetic risk is identified.

"Doctors will feel the pressure to do something - start a medication, order a test, make a referral," he warns. "You have to be careful. Bad things happen."

Other clinicians question primary care physicians' comfort with and time for incorporating DNA sequencing into their practices.

A survey published this month in the journal Health Affairs queried nearly 500 primary care providers in the New York City area and found that, in the past year, only a third of them had ordered a genetic test, given patients a genetic test result or referred someone for genetic counseling.

Only a quarter of the survey respondents said they felt prepared to work with patients who had genetic testing for common diseases or were at high risk for genetic conditions. Just 14 percent reported they were confident they could interpret genetic test results.

"Even though they had training, they felt unprepared to incorporate genomics into their practice," says Dr. Carol Horowitz, an internist and professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, who co-authored the study.

A busy primary care practitioner herself, Horowitz questions the feasibility of adding genomic medicine to regular office visits.

"Geisinger is a very well-resourced health system and they've made a decision to incorporate that into their practices," she says, adding that in Harlem, where she practices, it could be a daunting challenge. "Our plates are already overflowing, and now you're going to dump a lot more on our plate."
Kaiser Health News, a nonprofit news service, is an editorially independent program of the Kaiser Family Foundation and not affiliated with Kaiser Permanente.

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Routine DNA Screening Moves Into Primary Care

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If you have a genetic mutation that increases your risk for a treatable medical condition, would you want to know? For many people the answer is yes. But typically such information has not been a part of routine primary care. For patients at Geisinger Health System, that could soon change.

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With ‘Downsized’ DNA, Flowering Plants Took Over the World

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With ‘Downsized’ DNA, Flowering Plants Took Over the World

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When people consider evolutionary events related to the origin and diversification of new species and groups, they tend to emphasize novel adaptations - specific genes giving rise to new, beneficial traits. But a growing body of research suggests that in some cases, that deciding factor may be something much more fundamental: size. In a paper published today in PLOS Biology, a pair of researchers studying the angiosperms, or flowering plants, has named genome size as the limiting constraint in their evolution.

The success of flowering plants, a group that includes everything from orchids and tulips to grasses and wheat, represents a long-standing puzzle for biologists. (In an 1879 letter to the renowned botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker, Charles Darwin called it an " abominable mystery.") Terrestrial plants first appeared nearly half a billion years ago, but flowering plants arose only in the past 100 million years, beginning in the Cretaceous period. Yet, once angiosperms emerged, their structural and functional diversity exploded - far outpacing the diversification and spread of the other major plant groups, the gymnosperms (including conifers) and ferns.

Today, the 350,000 flowering-plant species, which have flourished in the vast majority of environments on Earth, constitute 90 percent of all plants on land. Since Darwin's time, biologists pursuing the answer to that abominable mystery have sought to explain how the flowering plants could possibly have achieved this level of dominance in such a relatively short time.

Perhaps the answer has been so elusive because those scientists have usually focused on the physiological traits that set the angiosperms apart from their relatives. In the PLOS Biology paper, however, Kevin Simonin, a plant biologist at San Francisco State University, and Adam Roddy, a postdoctoral fellow at Yale University, argue that it's the genome sizes underlying those individual adaptations that really matter.

The Advantages of Genome Downsizing

Species diverge hugely in genome size, without respect to the organisms' complexity; in an oft-cited example, the onion has five times as much DNA as humans do. In the new study, Simonin and Roddy demonstrated what that variability in genome size means for large-scale biodiversity. They compiled vast amounts of data on genome size, cell size, cell density and photosynthetic rate for hundreds of angiosperms, ferns and gymnosperms, then traced the correlations among those traits back through time to weave a cohesive evolutionary narrative.

The emergence of angiosperms was marked by many events in which lineages of plants duplicated their whole genome. This process opened a door for greater diversification because the extra copies of genes could evolve and take on new functions. But because carrying so much genetic material can also be physiologically taxing, natural selection typically followed up these duplication events by aggressively pruning unneeded sequences. This "genome downsizing" often left flowering plants with less DNA than their parent species had. In fact, by following the family trees of the flowering plants back to their base, researchers have determined that the very first angiosperms had small genomes. "We now know that this not only contributed to their diversity, but may have given angiosperms the metabolic advantage to outcompete the other plant groups," Simonin said.

He and Roddy posited that angiosperms' small genomes set off a cascade of effects that over time flowed from their physiology into their structure and ultimately into their ecological role. Less DNA made it possible for the flowering plants to build their leaves from smaller cells, which in turn allowed them to pack more of certain cell types into the same volume. They could therefore have a higher density of stomata - the pores that facilitate the intake of carbon dioxide from the air and the release of water vapor - and a higher density of veins to provide enough water to keep those pores open. And the flowering plants did not have to sacrifice a high density of photosynthetic cells to achieve these benefits.

As a result, flowering plants could turn sunlight into sugars through photosynthesis much more efficiently. The rise of their superior capacity for hydration and gas exchange also coincided with falling levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide during the Cretaceous period, which contributed further to the angiosperms' competitive edge over their green-plant peers. According to Simonin and Roddy, phylogenetic evidence shows that changes in genome size and the relevant physiological traits occurred together.

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With 'Downsized' DNA, Flowering Plants Took Over the World | Quanta Magazine

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When people consider evolutionary events related to the origin and diversification of new species and groups, they tend to emphasize novel adaptations - specific genes giving rise to new, beneficial traits. But a growing body of research suggests that in some cases, that deciding factor may be something much more fundamental: size.

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Copy cats: pet-cloning in China – in pictures

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Copy cats: pet-cloning in China – in pictures

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Copy cats: pet-cloning in China - in pictures

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As Chinese spending on pets increases by up to 27% year on year, a Beijing firm has created its first cloned kitten

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A Patient Hopes Gene-Editing Can Help With Pain Of Sickle Cell Disease

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A Patient Hopes Gene-Editing Can Help With Pain Of Sickle Cell Disease

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Victoria Gray slides open a closet door, pulls out a suitcase and starts packing piles of clothes.

"My goodness," says Gray. "Did I really bring all this?"

Gray, who has sickle cell disease, is the first patient with a genetic disorder whom doctors in the United States have tried to treat using the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR.

Today, Gray is getting ready to finally go home to Forest, Miss., after months away from her four children so she could undergo the experimental treatment, which involves infusions of genetically modified bone marrow cells.

"I'm very excited," says Gray, who has been living in a temporary apartment in Nashville, Tenn., for several weeks since getting discharged from the nearby TriStar Centennial Medical Center. "I know it's going to be emotional for me. I miss the hugs and the kisses and just everything."

NPR has exclusive access to chronicle Gray's journey through the highly anticipatedclinical trial.

"Victoria is a pioneer in this. And we are very excited," says her doctor, Haydar Frangoul.

"I feel hopeful for the future," Gray says.

Sickle cell disease is a devastating genetic disease that afflicts millions of people around the world, including about 100,000 in the United States.

The disease is caused by a genetic defect that turns red blood cells into hard, sticky, sickle-shaped cells that don't carry oxygen well, clog the bloodstream, damage organs and cause torturous bouts of pain.

"The pain is excruciating. It's like being in a car accident and having lightning in your chest. It's a pain that makes a grown woman like me scream," Gray says. "It's an overwhelming pain."

Like many sickle cell patients, Victoria had to drop out of school, quit work and spend weeks in the hospital away from her family. Since many sickle cell patients don't survive past their 40s, Gray worries whether she'll live to see her children grow up. She just turned 34.

"It's horrible ... knowing that I could have a stroke or a heart attack ... at any time because I have these cells in me that are misshapen," Gray says. "Who wouldn't worry?"

But Gray has hope now, because in July doctors infused billions of her own bone marrow cells back into her body, after editing them with CRISPR.

Scientists used CRISPR to modify a gene in the cells to make them produce fetal hemoglobin, a protein that babies usually stop making shortly after birth. The hope is that the protein produced through the gene-editing treatment will give sickle cell patients like Gray healthy red blood cells.

CRISPR enables scientists to make very precise changes in DNA, raising hopes that the technique will lead to new ways to prevent and treat many diseases.

The sickle cell study is part of a wave of studies that are moving CRISPR out of the lab and into the clinic.

The two companies sponsoring the sickle cell study announced this year that they had used CRISPR to treat the first patient with a similar blood disorder, beta thalassemia, in Germany.

In July, one of the companies revealed the first hint that the approach might be working, at least in beta thalassemia: The patient's edited cells started functioning in the bone marrow, the company reported.

Doctors are also trying to use CRISPR to treat cancer. Most of those studies are underway in China. But three patients have been treated for cancer in a CRISPR study at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and another study recently started recruiting cancer patients in the U.S. and Australia.

Later this year, doctors in Boston are planning to use CRISPR to edit cells in patients' retinas in hopes of restoring vision in patients with an inherited form of blindness.

Gray calls her edited cells her "supercells."

"They gotta be super to do great things in my body and to help me be better and help me have more time with my kids and my family," Gray says.

She adds with a laugh: "I'm just genetically modified now. I'm a GMO. Isn't that what they call it?"

Before Gray heads home, she has to seeFrangoul, medical director of pediatric hematology/oncology at HCA Healthcare's Sarah Cannon Research Institute and TriStar Centennial Medical Center in Nashville.

"This is a big moment for Victoria and for this pivotal trial. Because if we can show that this therapy is safe and effective, it can potentially change the lives of many patients," Frangoul says.

The study is being conducted jointly by Vertex Pharmaceuticals, in Boston, and CRISPR Therapeutics, in Cambridge, Mass.

Frangoul's site is one of eight recruiting patients in the U.S., Canada and Europe. Up to 45 patients ages 18 to 35 will eventually be enrolled.

"We are very hopeful that this will work for Victoria, but we don't know that yet," Frangoul says.

So today nurses take 15 vials of blood from Gray as part of the testing to determine whether her edited cells are producing enough fetal hemoglobin to help her. She will return to the hospital once a month for four months for similar blood tests as well as a bone marrow biopsy.

Gray will also keep a detailed diary to track her health, including how much pain she is experiencing, how much pain medication she needs, whether she needs blood transfusions and whether she experiences any complications from sickle cell disease. The hope is that the treatment will reduce the severity of her disease's symptoms.

In addition, Frangoul will monitor Gray for years to check for any signs of side effects from the treatment itself.

"My hope and dream for Victoria is to allow her to spend quality time with her family - go to the park with them, play with them - without having to struggle with pain and weakness," Frangoul says.

"I would love Victoria to be able to live a healthy, normal life. And she can see her - not only her children's graduation from high school but from colleges and getting married and having grandkids," he says.

Victoria hopes so too.

"Not just for me but for other people. This would be mind-blowing," Gray says. "I can't imagine the lives that could be saved if this thing actually works. Yeah, oh my God. Just to not have to deal with that pain anymore is enough."

She knows it's unclear when she will know whether it's working.

"I try not to focus on dates and when I'm going to find this out, because I don't want to stress," Gray says. "So I think about just looking forward to the future and just see what comes of it. I've done it. So the hardest part is over. So now it's just waiting."

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A Patient Hopes Gene-Editing Can Help With Pain Of Sickle Cell Disease

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She's the first patient with a genetic disorder to be treated with the powerful gene-editing technique CRISPR. The treatment has wrapped up, and now she's waiting to see if it brings relief.

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Dolly the Sheep’s Fellow Clones, Enjoying Their Golden Years

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Dolly the Sheep’s Fellow Clones, Enjoying Their Golden Years

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Trilobites

The four clones created from the same cell line as Dolly the Sheep. Scientists found that they aged as normally as sheep that were not cloned. Credit... University of Nottingham

Dolly the Sheep started her life in a test tube in 1996 and died just six years later. When she was only a year old, there was evidence that she might have been physically older. At five, she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis. And at six, a CT scan revealed tumors growing in her lungs, likely the result of an incurable infectious disease. Rather than let Dolly suffer, the vets put her to rest.

Poor Dolly never stood a chance. Or did she?

Meet Daisy, Diana, Debbie and Denise. "They're old ladies. They're very healthy for their age," said Kevin Sinclair, a developmental biologist who, with his colleagues at the University of Nottingham in Britain, has answered a longstanding question about whether cloned animals like Dolly age prematurely.

In a study published Tuesday in Nature Communications, the scientists tested these four sheep, created from the same cell line as Dolly, and nine other cloned sheep, finding that, contrary to popular belief, cloned animals appear to age normally.

"They are not monsters," Pasqualino Loi, a scientist who studies cloning at the University of Terama in Italy and was not involved in the research, wrote in an email.

Video

In 1997, Scottish scientists revealed they had cloned a sheep and named her Dolly, sending waves of future shock around the world that continue to shape frontiers of science today.

Dolly's birth, 20 years ago this month, blew the world away. Scientists had taken a single adult cell from a sheep's udder, implanted it into an egg cell that had been stripped of its own DNA, and successfully created a living, breathing animal almost genetically identical to its donor.

But Dolly's health challenges, along with other cases in which cloned animals developed symptoms of diabetes or obesity, made it harder to grapple with the ethical and safety controversies of the procedure. Not only did many countries, including Canada and Australia, ban reproductive cloning in animals, but the United Nations banned all kinds of cloning in humans in 2005. Last year the European Union made importing food from cloned animals or their offspring illegal.

The inefficiencies of cloning have fed into these prohibitions. Few embryos make it to the fetus stage, fewer fetuses develop past the age of one or two, and even fewer become adults. Many blamed cloning when mature animals appeared to show signs of early aging.

Now, based on results of this new study, researchers have confirmed what most scientists believed years ago: Cloning does not lead to premature aging.

Dr. Sinclair and his colleagues started studying aging in these 13 sheep, which were originally intended for studies on efficiency and artificial reproduction, after Keith Campbell, who was in charge of Dolly's relatives, died in 2012.

The cloned sheep were between the ages of 7 and 9, about 60 in human years.

To detect subtle signs of aging, the scientists conducted a battery of tests to check for symptoms of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and osteoarthritis.

"All we wanted to establish was: Are they normal?" Dr. Sinclair said.

For the most part, they were. Glucose tolerance and insulin resistance tests revealed nothing abnormal, and their blood pressure was fine. The sheep were flexible and reactive in musculoskeletal tests, but some did show early signs of osteoarthritis. Debbie's X-ray indicated her arthritis was slightly more advanced, but Dr. Sinclair said it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Similar evidence disproving premature aging in cloned animals was previously found in mice and cows, said Jose Cibelli, who studies reproductive cloning at Michigan State University. The study of the sheep confirms that once cloned animals survive the first few years of life, they won't die any sooner than other animals.

"It really changes the perception of how people look at cloning," said Charles Long, a scientist who studies artificial reproduction at Texas A&M University and was not involved in the study.

Many scientists hope that changes in perception will lead to advances in reproductive technology that will enable us to provide food for a growing global population, save endangered species and develop advanced therapies. Scientists involved in and separate from the study don't think it will mean we might clone humans anytime soon, nor do they condone it, but they can't say someone won't try.

But is cloning safe?

"If they could speak, they would say, 'Yes; it's perfectly safe,'" said Dr. Sinclair. "For them, their whole process worked perfectly. But there are others who struggled to adapt after birth."

Cloning won't be truly safe until embryos survive at rates similar to those produced through natural conception or in vitro fertilization. Even then, welfare and ethical concerns will remain.

With recent advances, some scientists think safe and efficient cloning procedures will emerge in five to 10 years. " Cloning is entering a new era," said Dr. Loi.

Dolly's relatives are expected to live for about another year. Scientists will then search for other abnormalities that may be lurking undetected. Meanwhile, Debbie is taking ibuprofen with her breakfast cereal.

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Dolly the Sheep's Fellow Clones, Enjoying Their Golden Years (Published 2016)

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Trilobites Dolly the Sheep started her life in a test tube in 1996 and died just six years later. When she was only a year old, there was evidence that she might have been physically older. At five, she was diagnosed with osteoarthritis.

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS-Why is it so hard for scientists and the public to agree about the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture? Proponents argue that tweaking a crop's DNA can increase nutritional value, pest resistance, or yield to help feed the world's growing population. But many remain vehemently opposed to the technology. Some fear that big businesses like Monsanto will monopolize the agricultural industry by claiming intellectual property rights over GM crops. Others aren't convinced that GMOs are safe to eat.

Philosopher of science Daniel Hicks of Western University in London, Canada, has studied how sociopolitical and ethical concerns-for example, fears about abuse of intellectual property rights-get mixed up with the technical questions about food safety in the GMO debate. His current research seeks to document how people on either side of the controversy collect and use evidence about the claim that GMOs increase crop yields. He presented a poster titled "Why is the GMO debate so intractable?" here at the annual meeting of AAAS, which publishes Science. Hicks sat down with Science to answer a few questions about the GMO debate.
Q: How are some philosophers of science explaining the GMO debate?
D.H.: A philosopher named Heather Douglas has a model that emphasizes what she calls inductive risk. Consider a claim like "GMOs are safe for humans to eat." If you're a proponent of GMOs, you might think it's really important to develop and implement them to feed the world, so you might set a relatively undemanding threshold for statistical significance [in food safety studies.] But if you're opposed to GMOs-if you're really worried about the downstream consequences-you might set a more demanding threshold. And then if we have a body of evidence that's somewhere in between these, that will be sufficient for the proponents, but opponents won't be able to accept that claim. There won't be enough evidence. But a limitation of the inductive risk model is that it doesn't directly address sociopolitical and economic concerns.
Q: How have you tried to address those? Q: Why do you think that happens? Q: How does this affect the GMO controversy?
D.H.: My approach is to look carefully at sociopolitical and economic concerns and the ways in which they're lost. One way is that they're often misrepresented as health and safety concerns. Another way is that they're dismissed. For example, proponents of GMOs will say that intellectual property isn't really relevant to evaluating the technology, and so we should set these concerns aside and focus on the technology itself. And a third way is that these concerns will be acknowledged (proponents will say they're concerned about intellectual property, for example), but then they just won't respond to these things. They'll go on to say, "But we have evidence that shows they're safe, and we need GMOs to feed the world." This isn't really engaging the concerns that motivate a lot of opponents.
Q: Do you think the debate will become less "intractable?"
D.H.: The thing about health and safety concerns is that we've figured out ways to measure them objectively, in ways where everyone can agree on the risks at hand. ... But we don't really have institutions for dealing with sociopolitical and economic concerns. Or to the extent that we do, they're not really powerful. And so I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of scientists sort of see the squishiness or the fuzziness or the vagueness here and back away, and retreat to health and safety claims that are much more comfortable for them.
See more of our coverage from AAAS 2014.
D.H.: At the very least, I think that it means a lot of the concerns of opponents of GMOs don't really get addressed. And if I'm concerned about something, and my concerns aren't being addressed, I'm not going to go away. I'm not going to feel satisfied. I'm going to keep raising those concerns.

I should add that I think often even opponents of GMOs sort of mix up [different types of] concerns. They'll go back and forth, sometimes raising health and safety concerns, sometimes raising concerns about the intellectual property rights and power of [agribusiness giant] Monsanto.

D.H.: I honestly don't know. I don't think there's any sort of magic science communications algorithm that we can apply to improve the quality of the discussion. What I would emphasize to scientists and other science communicators is really keeping clear when are we talking about health and safety, when are we talking about other kinds of concerns. And when we're talking about those other kinds of concerns, making sure we're addressing them directly.

I've spoken to a few scientists about this, who are themselves worried about intellectual property. To these scientists, I would recommend, when you start up a conversation with an opponent of GMOs, start with that point of common ground. Neither of you is a big fan of the way a lot of new organisms are developed. So start with that point of common ground, and from there, you can build up goodwill to talk about stickier issues.

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Q&A: Why Are We Still Shouting About GMOs?

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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS-Why is it so hard for scientists and the public to agree about the use of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) in agriculture? Proponents argue that tweaking a crop's DNA can increase nutritional value, pest resistance, or yield to help feed the world's growing population. But many remain vehemently opposed to the technology.

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Keep doors open for constructive dialogue between religion and science

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Keep doors open for constructive dialogue between religion and science

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A meeting between the Pope, patients and researchers acknowledges how the two sectors can help each other.

Dilia is the oldest of an unusual crowd of people due to meet Pope Francis this week at the Vatican. The 79-year-old widow from rural Colombia married into a family whose members carry the gene for Huntington's disease, a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder. Fate was cruel. Of her 11 children, 9 inherited the disease. Five have died and the remaining four are sick. The next generation is affected, too. One grandchild has died and five more show symptoms.

Those symptoms - involuntary, jerky movements accompanied by mood swings and cognitive decline - are aggressive and carry stigma. Patients and their families often live out of sight and in dreadful conditions, especially in developing nations. Dilia's village has limited access to running water.

Despite their own hardship, many have helped research into the condition - with little tangible reward. Most of them are Catholics, so their meeting with Pope Francis is a thank you from the scientists who arranged the event. These researchers are acutely aware of how much they have relied on the patients - the gene that causes Huntington's was discovered thanks to tissue donations from poor Venezuelan families - and that they have not been able to do anything to change their dire situation.

The fact that Pope Francis quickly agreed to meet the families speaks to his hallmark philosophy of reaching out to poor and disadvantaged people. But it is also further evidence of a new openness towards science, which has followed a 2015 encyclical - a letter of guidance on particular themes written by a pope to his bishops - called Laudato si'. The encyclical argued for better stewardship of the planet and excited scientists with its forthright pronouncements on the need to control greenhouse gases and with its implicit acceptance of the principles of evolution in well-informed discussion of the need to protect biodiversity. It also acknowledges the value of scientific and academic freedom in society, and the need for open scientific debate on advances in biology.

The Huntington's event is a gesture that shows in a small but significant way in which religious leaders and science can work towards a common goal.

While the Vatican has supported its elite Pontifical Academy of Sciences for more than 80 years, other grass-roots initiatives are emerging. For example, last month Italian researchers collaborated with The Lancet to organize a conference in Rome called (with undeniable hubris) The Future of Humanity Through the Lens of Medical Science. Attended by Nobel laureates and Vatican officials, its discussions ranged beyond biomedicine to encompass themes such as climate change and migration, mirroring the spectrum of Laudato si'.

There is a chasm between religion and science that cannot be bridged. For all its apparent science-friendliness, Laudato si' sticks to the traditional Vatican philosophy that the scientific method cannot deliver the full truth about the world. However, there is still much to be discussed on how each side can help the other to converge on shared goals.

The Catholic Church has more than 1.2 billion members and can thus have broad influence on the acceptance of facts that some politicians choose to distort - such as the existence of anthropogenic climate change. Scientists can provide technical solutions for poor and sick people, thereby assisting the work of missionaries.

In Rome, Huntington's researchers still desperately seeking a treatment for the disease will have an opportunity to discuss with Pope Francis sensitive issues relating to avoidance of the disease, namely contraception and embryo selection. Francis rarely misses an opportunity to reiterate his view of the sanctity of the human embryo (a theologically debatable Vatican position that has hindered important stem-cell research in some countries) but he seems to keep his views on contraception - outlawed by the Church - deliberately ambiguous. The special audience may help to encourage a much-needed move from the Vatican towards the mercy (and reality - Catholics in rich countries routinely ignore the ban) of finally allowing followers, including those with devastating hereditary disease, to take control of their fertility.

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Keep doors open for constructive dialogue between religion and science - Nature

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A meeting between the Pope, patients and researchers acknowledges how the two sectors can help each other. Dilia is the oldest of an unusual crowd of people due to meet Pope Francis this week at the Vatican. The 79-year-old widow from rural Colombia married into a family whose members carry the gene for Huntington's disease, a hereditary neurodegenerative disorder.

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Explore how organisms with different traits survive various selection agents within the environment.

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Express yourself through your genes! See if you can generate and collect three types of protein, then move on to explore the factors that affect protein synthesis in a cell.

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https://pds.ibo.org/DPSciencesInternalAssessmentnanoPDEN/#/menu/5f7f1e90a83b1b3ef41e6594

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DP sciences internal assessment resource