Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

I'm doing a science fair project on sharks and how they can not receive cancer. After doing research I found that this is wrong, and only certain sharks can eliminate cancer. This is do to a hormone called the angiogenin inhibitor. So I redeveloped my question into, can the angiogenin inhibitor help other animals eliminate cancerous cells? If anyone has any input on a good experimental procedure or advise towards the actual question it would be much appreciated! Thank you for your time!

Hi ROYCEMASHBURN,

This is such an interesting and novel idea!
I think your actual question is pretty good for now. Of course, as you figure out how you're going to test it, you will likely expand upon your question to make it more specific. (i.e. what other animals, etc); but for now, let's focus on getting a procedure set up.

I think the first order of business is to do a bit of background research to figure out what exactly the angiogenin inhibitor does (i.e. at a biological or chemical level) in these sharks to eliminate cancer cells. Once you figure this out--post back if you have questions with this step--you will likely be able to understand more about what other animals could benefit from utilizing the angiogenin inhibitor in a different way. What animals you choose to investigate will really steer your project in a certain direction.

At this point, as far as I can foresee, there would then be 2 potential ways of testing your question. The more traditional way--of culturing animal cells and introducing the angiogenin inhibitor--would require a lab (probably university level) and a mentor or supervisor. I just wanted to let you know about this necessity so you're aware that you will likely need to reach out for professional help, should you choose to go this way. However, the other way of testing your question would be to use bioinformatics--in other words, write computer algorithms/interact virtually with databases of genes and proteins--to make an informed prediction about how the angiogenin inhibitor could work in other animals as well. These two methods are vastly different, but it's really up to you however you want to test this, provided you can get access to the necessary resources!

I know this may seem a lot to think about right now, but I urge you to consider where exactly in this project your interests lie. I really do think your project has so much potential to be awesome and hope that we can help you! Please don't hesitate to post back with more questions and let us know what you decide.

I hope this helped!
scibuddyAK

Hi there,

I agree with the previous expert that this is a very interesting question and that the most important first step is to find out how the angiogenin inhibitor works in sharks to eliminate cancer cells. Other potential things to think about are what type of animals you're interested in investigating, and do they also produce this angiogenin inhibitor? Under what conditions do sharks and these other animals produce the angiogenin inhibitor? Is this molecule produced all the time or only when the cell is in a certain state? If the angiogenin inhibitor helps sharks eliminate cancer cells, then theoretically this molecule should be produced when sharks have "cancer"--in the case of other animals, do they also produce this molecule when they have "cancer" or is the synthesis of this molecule shut down?

You should definitely do a bit more background research--this will be a great way for you to learn more about the model system but also to discover what interests you the most about this topic! Feel free to post back and we'd be glad to discuss/brainstorm ideas with you!

Best,
Connie