Activity

Mutations: when change is not for the better

Characters:

Ana María Lluch Hernández

Theme: Mutations

Competencies

Competence in Linguistic Communication

Mathematical competence in science, technology and engineering

Personal, social and learning to learn competence

Subjects and year by Educational System

Spain > Biology and geology > 4th ESO > Genetic and evolution

Enunciation

<img title="Women's Legacy logo" src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/images/LogoWL.svg" /><hr />Cancer is caused by alterations in the control mechanisms that regulate cell division. These changes are usually the result of mutations that can affect only a few nucleotides or cause major changes in chromosome structure.&nbsp; Both small and large mutations can affect cell behavior and may lead to the development of cancer. &nbsp; Ana Lluch Hern&aacute;ndez, Professor of Medicine at the University of Valencia and researcher in oncology, specialized in breast cancer, has participated in the detection of these alterations.  In particular, it is worth mentioning her contribution to identify and evaluate tumor markers that serve as prognostic and predictive factors of therapeutic response in breast cancer.&nbsp;
In the following activity we will work on mutations.
<img src="//inclusion.womenslegacyproject.eu/uploads/resume/attachment/4606/Captura_de_Pantalla_2024-02-12_a_las_19.40.54.png" alt="Human genomic map with some of the known genetic diseases." width="784" height="666" />
Source: Wikipedia
Activity based on the Biosfera project of the Ministry of Education and Science.
a) Locate the following diseases on the chromosome where it is located:&nbsp; &nbsp; Alzheimer's disease: &nbsp; Breast cancer:&nbsp; Malignant melanoma:&nbsp; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: &nbsp; Familial colon cancer:&nbsp; &nbsp; b) If, as a consequence of excessive exposure to UV rays from the sun, mutations appear in skin cells that give rise to cancer, will that person's descendants inherit the cancer? Why?

Observations and context

Ana Lluch Hernández is a contemporary of María Blasco Marhuenda, director of the Carlos III National Cancer Research Center, specialized in the study of telomeres. She is also a contemporary of Anna Veiga Lluch, specialist in stem cells, as well as Margarita del Val, specialist in virology.

Throughout history, the field of Biology and Natural Sciences has been plagued by women researchers, such as Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), who was one of the most multifaceted and influential women of the Middle Ages in 12th century Western Europe. Mystic, abbess, theologian, writer of an extensive epistolary and religious texts and scientific books on plants and minerals and their healing powers, as well as the functioning of the human body. The naturalist Maria Sybilla Merian (1647-1717); the anatomy professor Anna Morandi Manzolini (1716-1774); Laura Bassi (1711-1778) who promoted the constitution of a network of experimenters that connected Italy with the scientific culture of France and England; or Eunice Foote (1819-1888), who from her kitchen was able to identify the greenhouse effect and work on global warming.

They are women of her generation: Jane Morris Goodall, known for her 55-year study of the social and family interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania; Rita Colwell, a researcher in oceanography and bacteriology. Tu Youyou and Josefina Castellví i Piulachs also belong to her generation. The first of them is a Chinese scientist, known for discovering artemisinin (also known as dihydroartemisinin), used to treat malaria that in 2015 won the Nobel Prize in physiology and medicine. Finally, Josefina Castellví was an oceanographer, the first Spaniard to participate in an international expedition to Antarctica in 1984.

Description

The activity consists of two parts, the first one is to identify in which chromosome the genes responsible for some diseases are located. The second part asks about the consequences of exposure to mutagenic agents on the offspring.
Both questions are framed within the mutations and their relationship with the appearance of some types of cancer.

The first activity is based on one of the Biosphere project of the Ministry of Education and Science.

Mutations: when change is not for the better

Enunciation

Observations and context

Description

Answer

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