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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nThe gut-microbiome is the total population of bacteria\nliving within our digestive tract. These bacteria are critical for digestive\nhealth, but also for our immune system and mental health. For example, we harbor\nbacteria capable of digesting plant fibres we otherwise could not digest. And\nif you\u2019ve been told that probiotics are good for you, that\u2019s because probiotics\ncan change the gut microbiome in a positive way, allowing for increased bacterial\ndiversity associate with improved health. These bacteria communicate with each\nother through chemical signaling but also communicate with us. Tryptophan, for\nexample, is an amino acid produced through bacteria metabolism and is a precursor\nfor serotonin, a brain-signaling chemical which causes feelings of happiness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When the gut communicates with the brain, we call this, the \u201cgut-brain axis\u201d. Grace\u2019s work narrows in on the gut-brain axis and more specifically, how one bacterial species in particular impacts autism spectrum disorder. To further complicate things, the gut-microbiome helps to regulate estrogen levels, and we also know that autism is a disorder found primarily in biological males. Which leads Grace to one of her biggest questions: are the bacteria involved in endocrine system regulation in women, also that responsible for this variation we see. Grace uses a mouse model to elucidate underlying mechanisms at play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Step one is to feed the mice bacteria that have been\nfound in elevated amounts in people with autism spectrum disorder than in\nneurotypical peers. These bacteria will colonize in the gut, and mice will go\nthrough several behavioral tests to determine if they are exhibiting more behaviors\nassociated with autism. Grace performs three types of tests with the mice: one to\ntest inclination to form repetitive behaviors, one to test anxiety, and one to\ntest social behaviors. One test is a marble-burying test, in which a mouse more\ninclined to form repetitive behaviors will bury more marbles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n After behavioral testing is complete, the mice are\nsacrificed and different regions of the\ngut are taken to look for presence of bacterium. Tissues taken from the mice\nare used to look for transcriptional markers. The transcriptome is collected for\nboth the mouse and the bacteria present, or the sum total of all genes that are\nread and converted to RNA. RNA are able to be isolated and sequenced using distinctive\nmarkers such as a \u201cpoly-A tail\u201d. After this data is collected, Grace can\nfinally move to the computational side of her work which involves combining biological\nand biochemical data with her behavioral studies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to her work on\nautism spectrum disorder, Grace also has a side project working in a honey bee\nlab, looking at the gut microbiome of honey bees in response to probiotics on the\nmarket for beekeepers. But Grace is one very busy bee herself because in addition\nto her lab work, she\u2019s also involved with an art-science club called \u201cseminarium\u201d.\nThe club is filled with scientists interested in art and artists interested in\nscience. Grace is a painter primarily but is also working on ink illustration. The\nfocus of this group is that art and science are complimentary, not at odds. The\ngroup has produced some collaborative projects, including a performance for a lab\nstudying a parasite that effects salmon. The group put together a collage of\ninterpretations of the parasites and had a performance in which one member played\npiano while someone else drew the parasite live. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Grace moved to Oregon from\nSt. Louis Missouri. She completed her undergraduate degree in biological sciences\nwith minors in chemistry and psychology at a small engineering college, Missouri University of Science and Technology,\nwhere she was a radio DJ! Grace first became involved in research during a\nsummer internship in a microbiology lab at Washington University. There she studied\nthe vaginal microbiome and how it effects pregnancy outcomes. Grace went back to\nthis lab for the next couple summers and produced 4 publications! Ultimately,\nGrace graduated college early after they offered her a full time research position\nwhere she worked for a year and a half as a research tech. Through this\nexperience, Grace came to realize that medical school was not her path,\ncanceled her scheduled MCAT and signed up for GRE. Grace looked for schools in\nthe PNW because she knew she wanted to live there, got an interview at OSU, loved\nit, and here we are! <\/p>\n\n\n\n Join us at\n7 pm on Sunday, August 11th, 2019, to hear more about Grace\u2019s research and her journey\nto OSU. Stream the\nshow live<\/a> on KBVR Corvallis\n88.7FM or check out the episode as a podcast<\/a> after a few weeks.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Trillions of bacterial cells are living within us and they\u2019re controlling your brain activity. Grace Deitzler is a 2nd year PhD student in microbiology working in Dr. Maude David\u2019s lab on the gut-microbiome and its relation to autism spectrum disorder. The gut-microbiome is the total population of bacteria living within our digestive tract. These bacteria […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9274,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1375,17670],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1725","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-college-of-science","category-microbiology"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9274"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1725"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1731,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1725\/revisions\/1731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1725"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1725"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/inspiration\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1725"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/osu-wams-blogs-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs.dir\/2150\/files\/2019\/08\/IMG_4887-e1565558486822-768x1024.jpg\")
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