Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Dear Mr/Madam
I have started work on the Creating a Kidney project; however, while I do enjoy learning about the certain soluble factors that are needed to help the developmental process of neural progenitors and nephron cells as well as the ECM proteins made by the alpha and beta subunits I believe that I have made a grave mistake. In my original hypothesis I believed that the soluble factors HGF, INHBA, and Wnt4 would combine to provide the most stable and beneficial secreted and encodedprotein environments for the act of bioengineering a kidney. Have I completely misunderstood this project?
Sincerely,
Jade

Hi Jade,

I'm not sure exactly what your problem is. I skimmed through the "Creating a Kidney" project, and it looks like it is a research project designed to guide you through searching multiple databases, etc., until you can make a hypothesis about what factors (soluble and other) would most likely provide an appropriate environment for bioengineering a kidney. While I don't know what the correct answer is (and in the end, no one really knows entirely), it is certainly possible that HGF, INHBA, and Wnt4 would provide a stable and beneficial environment for this. What makes you think that you have done the project wrong? Did you fill out Table 2 with the information you found? If so, what did you find out about these proteins that makes you think they would make a good environment for bioengineering a kidney. The more information you provide us about what you did and why you made your hypothesis and why you think your hypothesis is now incorrect, the better we can help.

JMP

Hi Jade,

Just to echo what JMP said, realizing that an early hypothesis is wrong is not a bad thing. If you knew all the answers ahead of time, there'd be no reason to do any research! This project is a little different because there's no right answer in the end, but if you've learned something about stem cell differentiation and think you can support your ideas with real scientific information, then I think your project is absolutely a success!

Megan