Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm currently doing some research to identify genes with irregular expression in cancerous tissue. However, I'm a bit lost concerning how to formulate a testable hypothesis. Say that my hypothesis is: This gene ___________ is hypothesized to do this in the __________ tissue, because of this ______________. How do I fill in the blanks? How do I test this hypothesis? PLEASE HELP ME. I have a background in college-level AP chemistry and a strong determination as well---I can learn whatever AP Biology currently hasn't taught me atm(im learning it right now)--I can learn anything I need to in order to do well and succeed in a unique and innovative project.
Many thanks!

Sounds like an ambitious and interesting project!

Are you trying to figure out what specific genes are different in cancerous cells vs. normal cells? Or are you trying to figure out what purpose the gene has in the normal cell, and how it differs in the cancerous cell?

The former seems more feasible in the timeframe of a science fair project to me, in as much as large research teams spend years trying to figure out the latter. However, that doesn't mean you couldn't do it, it just means it's harder.

For the moment I'm going to assume you want the first one, in which case the hypothesis would be fairly simple: Gene xyz is found to be mutated in such-and-such a way in cancerous cells. \

If the latter, well, you might want to post that question in the life sciences forum.

Hi Ray I know that I can use CGAP to determine genes that are over-expressed or under-expressed in certain cancer-ridden tissues(hinting that the genes' irregular expressions are a source of the cancer). But how is that innovative? It's rather simple...

mk26737,

I suspect there are a lot of hidden gems in the CGAP (http://cabig.cancer.gov/solutions/conductresearch/cgap/) data. Finding over- and under-expressed genes is a start. You could try to figure out clever ways to find what they have or don't have in common or some other patterns in the data.

Use your imagination! Stare at the data for a while. Write little programs to sniff around it. Instead of genes, try looking at the RNAi data.


Heinz Hemken

Thanks! I actually don't have much computer programming experience...although my brother does. Can I still do something without the computer science aspect? Or should I involve my brother in the staring-and-eureka process?