Download The exPeRiMenT In this experiment using the iPad, you have to take

LAB 5
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Title
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12
The Experiment
Recycling Inside Cells
In this experiment using the iPad, you have to take on the role of autophagy.
The Science
The cells of our body have a built-in surveillance system called autophagy (which means
‘self-eating’ in Greek!). Using autophagy cells can detect and destroy bad proteins or even bacteria
that have entered the cell. When cells don’t have enough food they also use autophagy to eat a bit of
themselves to stay alive. See, even cells know that recycling is good!
At the Babraham Institute, scientists are working to understand how autophagy is turned on and off in
the cell. It is a very important process as it helps keep the cells in our body healthy and us alive!!
Autophagy Off
Autophagy On
You have to protect the cell from bad proteins and damaged mitochondria (these are the power stations
of the cell), and invading bacteria. But make sure you don’t accidently eat and destroy healthy parts
of the cell!!
Try to recycle as fast as your cell!
You get points if you find the damaged proteins and mitochondria that need to be recycled. Tap the screen to remove them
But don’t recycle the healthy proteins and mitochondria, otherwise you will lose points!
For extra points watch out for invading bacteria!
You have 60 seconds for your recycling mission.
Remember your cells do this all day long to keep you healthy!!
Babraham scientists will help you to start the process. Good luck!
Record your results
1. How good were you at autophagy? What was your score?
Increasing autophagy in cells can make some animals live longer and help combat infections. But
sometimes too much autophagy can be bad for cells. To study autophagy we need to be able to watch it
happen in the cell. To do this we use special microscopes that can see the machinery of autophagy. The
first pictures show cells with the autophagy machinery in green and their DNA in blue. When we turn
autophagy on we see lots of green dots. How many can you count? The next pictures show a cell using
autophagy (green) to eat and destroy some bad proteins (red). See how the autophagy spot is right on
top of the bad protein.
2. Name some things in the cell that autophagy eats?
3. Why do our cells need autophagy?
TIP
Recycling the
bacteria will score you
bonus points - without
autophagy, the bacteria
would kill your cells!
Bad protein
Autophagy
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