How has your week been dear viewer? Oh, it's been not terrible? That's always nice to hear. You think this conversation is kind of one sided? Yeah, it is. Well, since you are here let me tell you what you want to hear: what happened in my life this week. In all honesty, not a terrible amount happened but nevertheless I will tell you all about it.
Since I am essentially the only one in the office who knows really how to input the data from the PGX study (Carol forgot since I have been doing it for the past four weeks and she isn't too good with computers), Carol was going to have me train someone from the office on how to input the PGX data. BUT, apparently some people are too good to be trained by some kid in high school (or they were too busy but I wanted it to be more dramatic). So, I didn't end up training anyone which would have been cool, because I would have been able to showcase my expertise at looking at papers and then typing what is on the papers into a computer.
Since no one wanted to be trained this week and their was no more data to input, I decided to learn why exactly these twelve genes were chosen and how exactly the tests work.
If you take a look at this picture which I included in my last post, then you will see that 6 out of the 12 genes that are being tested for begin with the letters CYP. Now, why is that? That is exactly what I was trying to figure out this week by doing my own investigative research. It turns out that all of the genes listed in this study correspond to enzymes that have the same name. So, the CYP2C9 gene codes for the CYP2C9 enzyme. Super cool! Apparently, the CYP genes are all part of a family of genes called the cytochromes P450. These enzymes are produced in the liver, like many enzymes, and are responsible for the breaking down of over 100 different commonly used drugs. It all makes sense now!
As I got deeper and deeper into my research I realized how much chemistry and biology are related. For instance, the CYP enzymes are all proteins that need a cofactor called Heme to function. Heme has a very specific shape of four five-membered rings containing a nitrogen atom all connected by methine bridges (=CH-). Lower levels of Heme can result in a patient not being able to metabolize some drugs as effectively, because then the CYP enzymes will not function at the normal rate.
Moving forward I am planning on doing more research into the biochemical properties of enzymes and how they relate to genes and their ability to metabolize common drugs. Hopefully doing this research will allow me to accurately explain the complicated science behind the PGX test. Next week I am taking my spring break so I will have a week off of my project. It should be fun. I am planning on relaxing pretty hard. I hope you all have a good time on spring break too! WOOOOOOOO SPRAAAANG BREAAAAAK
