Reflection: This was one of the first group projects we worked on. The goal for this assignment was to make the original article more understandable for middle school students. I think we did an okay job in splitting up the work evenly. At first I had trouble with it because I was thinking, “how am I suppose to explain something I don’t understand to others”. After looking at everyone’s work I was able to do a better job.

Group 3

Leidy Luciano, Shreya Raghavan, Stefanie Villas, and Bertrand Appia 

Article Title: FAK (focal adhesion kinase) regulates dynein localization and cell polarity in migrating mouse fibroblasts

Target Audience: Middle school students taking the state science test 

(Shreya) Main Idea

Cell division and movement are extremely important in maintaining the processes of plants and animals. Cell division, specifically mitosis, is a type of cell division that results in two identical daughter cells. During cell division, parts of cells called microtubules, fibers that help the cell divide, are also in charge of the movement of cell organelles (which are the different components of a cell that are in charge of particular cellular functions). In this study, researchers looked at a specific protein called FAK (focal adhesion kinase), which helps these microtubules in cell movement in animal and bacterial cells. This study focuses on showing the interaction of FAK with dynein, specifically in mice fibroblast cells, which are special cells found in connective tissue such as blood, bone, and cartilage (such as that found on the outer part of your ear). Dynein is another set of cytoskeletal motor proteins that moved along microtubules, which are parts of a cell that help in movement. Dynein also transports various cellular cargos, provides forces and displacements important in mitosis or cell division, and drives the beat of eukaryotic cilia and flagella, more motor components in a cell. The centrosome, which is an organelle near the nucleus of the cell, is also important in organelle movement, especially during cell division. This study found that proper centrosome positioning in the cell is dependent on FAK and dynein. Essentially, the study found that the interaction between FAK and dynein is extremely important in cellular movement and mitosis. 

 (Leidy) Main Points 

Focal adhesion kinase is a protein tyrosine in charge of cell behavior. Sort of like a parent or teacher who decides what everyone will do. In this case it decided on the spreading or migrating of Fibroblast throughout an animal’s body. Fibroblast is a cell in an animal’s connective tissue that produces collagen and other fibers, used mainly to heal wounds. Focal adhesion kinase works with dynein and paxillin which are two other proteins to complete its task of spreading fibroblast throughout. Dynein can be compared to batteries or a car engine because it gives the cells energy by converting ATP into mechanical work. Giving the cells enough force to spread out. Paxillin is like glue. It helps the cells stick with one another and stay where they are needed. Especially to the extracellular matrix which is made up of enzymes, collagen, and glycoproteins that produce new cells while getting rid of bad ones. 

(Stefanie) Interesting Details 

Throughout the conduct of this research, there have been questions that had been left unsolved. Such as, the interaction between FAK and the protein paxillin within fibroblasts was left unknown as well as the role they played during polarization. Yet, the intake from this investigation has brought much more. The results have shown the interaction of FAK with dynein. Through the interconnection, the regulation of dynein at focal adhesion within the cell has been noted. This suggests that the interaction between these two proteins is needed in order for precise centrosome positioning. As the studies furthered the presence of FAK had been noted to be essential in many aspects of cell polarity. This has brought about the proposition of dynein inside focal adhesions providing corrections to bias dynein on microtubes bringing correct centrosome positioning in front of the nucleus. With the many discoveries found within this research has led to investigations of the significance and role of the protein, FAK, when targeting cancer therapy. 

(Bertrand) How it relates to the targeted audience

The research on FAK’s effect on the fibroblast cells of mice is something that can end up increasing our knowledge of cells and as a result, help a lot of people in the future. The basic use of FAK is its ability to help with the recovery of new cells through cell division. Imagine having something like a cut, do you ever wonder how it heals overtime? A cut is able to heal because it uses the new cells from cell division to replace the cells that died, closing the cut. The research on FAK can help us understand what happens inside the cell and the steps taken before it breaks apart. FAK is basically the person in command that sets everything up with the connecting points of the microtubules with the help of dynein. Learning more about FAK will help us learn how to manipulate or correct things inside of the cell to ensure that it’s able to divide properly. This research will be useful in our war against cancer. Cancer is a disease in which cells divide uncontrollably and destroy body tissue. Since the research on FAK deals with the steps taken in cell division we hope we can find a new possibility in treating cancer.