Hello, I am planning to do the BLASTing Flu Viruses Project for my Science Fair, Problem is I am trying to find a way to make my data into quantitative data and how I can use multiple trials.
Thanks,
Caleb
[Administrator note: Project: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... lu-viruses ]
BLASTing Flu Viruses Question for quantitative data
Moderators: AmyCowen, kgudger, MadelineB, Moderators
Re: BLASTing Flu Viruses Question for quantitative data
Hello!
That is an excellent question! Excited to see that you want to engage in the full extent of the scientific method
As this Science Buddies project is based on using BLAST to measure the match between a vaccine’s protein sequence and the corresponding sequence of the flu virus of that season, I would recommend expanding your sample size to include a wider range of years. Unfortunately, because there are only set numbers of vaccines used in every flu season, there is not much you can do to employ multiple trials.
However, for quantitative metrics, I encourage you to explore the other parameters that BLAST returns for your comparisons! Percent identity is the most straightforward, in how it quantifies how identical the two protein sequences are – but the other parameters may help you in your comparisons as well. This guide may be helpful for you, particularly the “Results Table” section starting on page 56 of the PDF: https://docente.unife.it/silvia.fuselli ... cs_ch3.pdf.
A possible extension you could use for this project to engage more quantitative data is using a protein modeling platform like ChimeraX or PyMOL to visualize the structural differences between the vaccine sequence and the actual flu virus sequence of that season. You can use metrics such as RMSD and RMSF to quantitatively evaluate how structurally and functionally different the vaccine and actual protein sequences are to better understand how effective the vaccine(s) of that season protected patients from the flu virus.
All the best with your project, and please let us know if we can help you further!
Anika
That is an excellent question! Excited to see that you want to engage in the full extent of the scientific method
As this Science Buddies project is based on using BLAST to measure the match between a vaccine’s protein sequence and the corresponding sequence of the flu virus of that season, I would recommend expanding your sample size to include a wider range of years. Unfortunately, because there are only set numbers of vaccines used in every flu season, there is not much you can do to employ multiple trials.
However, for quantitative metrics, I encourage you to explore the other parameters that BLAST returns for your comparisons! Percent identity is the most straightforward, in how it quantifies how identical the two protein sequences are – but the other parameters may help you in your comparisons as well. This guide may be helpful for you, particularly the “Results Table” section starting on page 56 of the PDF: https://docente.unife.it/silvia.fuselli ... cs_ch3.pdf.
A possible extension you could use for this project to engage more quantitative data is using a protein modeling platform like ChimeraX or PyMOL to visualize the structural differences between the vaccine sequence and the actual flu virus sequence of that season. You can use metrics such as RMSD and RMSF to quantitatively evaluate how structurally and functionally different the vaccine and actual protein sequences are to better understand how effective the vaccine(s) of that season protected patients from the flu virus.
All the best with your project, and please let us know if we can help you further!
Anika