Tag: sparks

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Sparks – Malta Genome Project

Hi and welcome to this post which is part of my series on the Sparks exhibition currently hosted at Esplora in Malta until the 2nd week of September 2017. You can read the rest of the series by viewing the Sparks category.

As the Sparks exhibition tours Europe, each host country also creates a local exhibit featuring a local example of citizen science.

In our case, Malta’s featured exhibit is about the Malta Human Genome Project.

 

Your genome is the list of instructions that tells your body how to build itself. There’s a copy inside every cell of your body, and it tells what colour your hair and eyes should be, your height, your gender, and lots of other things.

A person’s genome can also contain mutations (changes) that cause diseases such as breast cancer or thalassaemia. Unlike catching a cold, which is caused by a virus entering your body, these diseases are caused by “mistakes” in your genetic instructions.

The idea behind the Malta Human Genome Project is to create copy of a reference (typical) genome of a Maltese person, and then any other Maltese person’s genome can be compared to the typical copy, to see if there are any important differences. Spotting these differences can reveal a lot about a person, including providing clues about whether that person is vulnerable to certain types of genetic diseases.

The reference genome needs to be based on the Maltese population, because typical genomes are different in different parts of the world. For example a typical Maltese genome builds a person who is short with brown hair and eyes, while a typical Scandinavian genome builds a person who is tall, with fair hair and light-coloured eyes. Just as our physical appearance differs, so to the genetic diseases to which we are susceptible (for example the incidence of pernicious anaemia is relatively high in Scandinavia).

If a person has already been diagnosed with a genetic disease, then comparing their genome to the typical genome can provide clues about which particular genes can cause that type of disease.

The Sparks exhibition is all about citizen science, and the Malta Human Genome Project falls under citizen science because people can volunteer to contribute their genome to the project.

For example, there is a particular type of thalassaemia (a blood disorder) which is found in Malta, and it causes low levels of haemoglobin in the blood which greatly affects the person’s quality of life, because the current treatments can have serious side-effects. The MHGP researchers were able to obtain blood samples from members of Maltese families with a genetic mutation that causes high levels of haemoglobin, and they hope that this will lead to a potential treatment for thalassaemia.

Another focus of the MHGP is on heart disease, which is one of the top health issues in Malta.

At the moment it costs about €1000 to sequence a human genome, and the project has around 50 in its records – the plans are to eventually sequence up to 4,000 Maltese genomes, which is around 1% of our population.

The Maltese exhibition features a video showing one of the researchers using an app to compare a Maltese genome to the reference genome and look for differences. The video isn’t very easy to understand, and a crucial part of the recording is missing from the bottom (showing the reference genome) but it’s still very interesting and worth watching a couple of times.

 

The display case includes some information about the Malta Human Genome Project, and examples of materials and tools used in a genetics lab.

Blue loading dye used for electrophoresis.

There’s also a table where you can use origami to create a fragment of DNA, which twists around itself in a shape called the double helix. If you missed it and you’d like to try it out, the template and instructions are available online.

 

If you’re interested in DNA, don’t miss out on the Chemistry section in the top floor at Esplora, where you can join base pairs together and magnetically form your own DNA double helix! There’s instructions on the wall and don’t forget to look up at the ceiling to see a special pool noodle model.

 

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Sparks – Citizen Science – I Like Clean Air

Hi and welcome to this post which is part of my series on the Sparks exhibition currently hosted at Esplora in Malta until the end of August 2017. You can read the rest of the series by viewing the Sparks category.

In my previous post I wrote about Doreen Walther’s Mosquito Atlas in Germany, and how she’s using citizen scientists to perform data collection all over the country.

This story is also within the “Citizen Science” theme, only here we see Shazia Ali-Webber take it in a different direction, using citizen science as a tool for social and environmental activism.

Shazia is a solicitor who lives in London, and she became concerned about the levels of air pollution in her neighbourhood, especially since she has three young children, and young children are worse affected by pollution than adults.

Shazia and three kids waiting to cross a busy road.
Credit: Martin Godwin for The Guardian.

Everyone should have access to clean air. -Shazia Ali-Webber

She formed a group called “I Like Clean Air” – it’s made up of concerned parents (and their children) who live nearby, and they campaign for better air quality in London (which has very high, illegal levels of pollution) through measures such as reducing the number of diesel vehicles on the streets.

Unlike other groups featured in the Sparks exhibition, this group is not a citizen science group per se – however it uses citizen science as a tool, and that is how the group members became involved in air quality monitoring.

By plotting the results of their samples on a map, campaigners can gain valuable information. On a practical level, they can find out which are the most polluted areas and streets, and avoid them when travelling through the neighbourhood, such as when walking to school. The second important use for this data, is that is serves as proof to back up their complaints, so that they can’t be easily dismissed. It’s not enough to just gather data, you also need to turn it into information, and then use it to further your cause. This same approach can work well for other community issues too.

Credit: Angela Moore

The members of Shazia’s air pollution campaign group also claim that they noticed that their children’s wheezing and coughing corresponded with spikes of air pollution and episodes of smog, and this has made them even more determined to campaign for better air quality.

Shazia uses different types of air monitoring devices to measure pollution. Here she is attaching one of them to a traffic light pole in the street. Many of the tools her group uses are provided (along with training) by professional scientists, which helps to ensure that the data is accurate (and can therefore be taken seriously).

Shazia on a stepladder attaching a monitor to a pole.
Credit: Angela Moore

Shazia’s group was helped by Mapping for Change, which helps community groups like this one to collect data and then map and analyse it. I Like Clean Air was responsible for organising the installation of diffusion tubes in many locations across their neighbourhood, and then sent the used tubes to Mapping for Change for analysis. Besides an air quality map, Mapping for Change also has a map for monitoring high noise levels, and another for street accessibility issues for people with impaired mobility.

Another monitoring device, which Shazia helped to develop, is called the BuggyAir, and it’s designed to hang from the handles of a buggy while a parent pushes their child around the neighbourhood.

A view of the electronics inside the BuggyAir.
Credit: Science Museum

The Sparks exhibition includes material used in Shazia’s campaigning for better air quality, examples of the monitoring tools which she uses to track air quality in her neighbourhood, and an interesting short film.

An exhibition display of Shazia's campaign materials.

Citizen science is not the main focus of Shazia’s I Like Clean Air group – instead their main push is a petition. However citizen science has an important supporting role, and this story shows how science and technology can be used both to have a terrible effect on our environment and quality of life, but also to help us reclaim what we’ve lost.

Are you passionate about improving the effect of human impact on the Maltese environment? Could a citizen science group help further your cause?

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Sparks – Citizen Science – Mosquito Atlas

Hi and welcome to this post which is part of my series on the Sparks exhibition currently hosted at Esplora in Malta until the end of August 2017. You can read the rest of the series by viewing the Sparks category.

The exhibition has three themes, one of which is Citizen Science. Well really that’s also the theme of the whole exhibition!

A sign saying "Citizen Science"

The idea behind citizen science is that anyone can ‘do science’, you don’t need to be a scientist. There’s a whole spectrum of citizen scientists – some are running huge science projects of their own, while others are much less involved but contribute in small but meaningful ways to science projects being run by others (who may or may not be professional scientists).

The first story in this theme is about Doreen Walther and the Mosquito Atlas.  Doreen is a biologist and the head of a lab in a German agricultural research centre, and she set up the Mosquito Atlas project in 2012. There are two main parts to the mosquito project. The first part is to track what mosquito species are found in Germany, where and how many, and also see if they are carrying diseases. The second part takes place in the lab, and involves breeding different kinds of mosquitoes and studying how they can transmit diseases.

A mosquito researcher at work.
Credit: Angela Moore

In my previous post about Pieter van Boheeven, we saw how he is trying to crowdsource the discovery of a new antibiotic – he’s hoping that by having a bunch of citizen scientists looking in unusual places, they might find something new and useful.

Doreen is also tapping into the power of crowdsourcing, but instead of asking participants to look for solutions, she’s asking them to perform data collection for research. In this case, involving the actual collection of mosquitoes!

I work with the public to monitor dangerous mosquitoes. -Doreen Walther

Research scientists working on a project are often working with or for an institution (like a University) and are physically in one place, together. If the project calls for collecting data from various locations, then the researchers have to travel to those locations to do field work, and if long distances are involved, then that quickly gets expensive and uses up precious funding.

The Mosquito Atlas project gets around this by asking citizen scientists who are already in those locations to do the data collection instead. This is a lot cheaper than sending researchers on field trips all over Germany, and it also gives better coverage.

There are of course some downsides to this approach. One of them is that you’re asking people who are not researchers, or even scientists, to do something scientific, and they might get it wrong. One safeguard against this in Mosquito Atlas, is that all the identification and processing of the mosquitoes is done by actual scientists back in the lab – the citizen scientists just have to capture the mosquitoes and send them in by post.

What about the capturing though? Again, the Mosquito Atlas project addresses this by providing very clear instructions for mosquito hunters on how to capture mosquitoes without damaging them, and how to kill and ship them. Shipping costs must be paid by the citizen scientist, but in return, the project will reply back to the person via email, with information about the captured specimens.

A pile of envelopes and parcels of captured mosquitoes.
Credit: Mosquito Atlas

I like how the mosquito hunting guide also explains the scope of the project, and encourages participants to avoid “the senseless killing of insects” – instead, it explains, only capture mosquitoes, and that this is for the greater good (aiming to prevent the transmission of diseases by mosquitoes).

The Sparks exhibition includes a map showing some of the mosquitoes that were sent in to the Mosquito Atlas.

A map indicating mosquito captures.
Some of the Mosquito Atlas data.

I love the mini stories, such as how the date of a capture led to insight about a particular species being frost resistant, or how a family sent in no less than 20 mosquitoes caught while on holiday.

Mosquitoes preserved in plastic.

You can also view the actual Mosquito Atlas map online!

The children’s letters look adorable – citizen science projects like this one are a great way to introduce children to the concept of scientific research (and hopefully sow the seeds of life-long scientific interest).

Letters about mosquitoes sent by children.

 

The exhibition also features the Spanish smartphone app called Mosquito Alert, which people can use to report mosquitoes and send in photos of them.

Photos sent in using mobile phones.

 

We have similar reporting projects available in Malta – here’s your chance to jump in as a citizen scientist (and get the rest of your family to join in too!) Maybe you could even start your own…

Spot the Alien Fish

Spot the Jellyfish

Malta Biodiversity Monitoring Network