Winning Essays
Twelfth Annual
7th and 8th Grade Essay Contest
"What's the Point of Bioscience Research?"
2007
Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research
Post Office Box 1163
Camp Hill, Pennsylvania 17001-1163
www.psbr.org
PSBR 7th and 8th Grade
Essay Contest Winners
The Pennsylvania Society for Biomedical Research is pleased to announce the winners in its twelfth annual essay contest for 7th and 8th grade students. A total of 347 students from 34 different schools wrote on the topic question, "What's the Point of Bioscience Research?"
PSBR congratulates the winners and applauds the efforts of all the students, teachers, and judges who took the time to help make this contest a great success.
First Place
7th Grade Student
St. Ignatius of Antioch School
Yardley, PA
Bioscience research, exploring life's processes and diseases, has high importance in the world and affects everyone. Whether you realize it or not, this research affects your every day life. Because of bioscience research, we have the ability to make the correct choices to take care of our health and avoid things that can hurt us.
Scientists use the basic scientific method: observe and ask questions; form and test hypothesis; and analyze data and draw conclusions; as the basic guidelines for their research. However, scientists have more in-depth research methods. These methods include: simulations, in vitro (Latin for "in glass") tests, animal models, human clinical trials, and epidemiological studies. Scientists generally use simulations to imitate and comprehend living systems, generate new ideas, and work out problems in the early stages of research. Although they need information from other methods to perform simulations, it lessens the number of animals used in tests. In the early or middle stages of the research process, scientists use in vitro tests, which let them examine one effect of a solitary substance. In test tubes or lab dishes, cultivated cells from humans, plants, or animals are tested. These tests are simple to control and reproduce. The next step in bioscience research is using animal models. Animal models help scientists to observe something in a living being that responds like humans. When scientists need to know how a human will recuperate after surgery or react to specific substances, they turn to animal models. Subsequently, as long as they know that a substance is safe to test on a human, scientists will conduct human clinical trials. These trials demonstrate how a substance will work on a human. In this stage of research, half of the human volunteers will get an experimental medicine while others get a "control" drug. The fifth and final phase of research is epidemiological studies, which sort out the causes, allotment, and control of diseases in groups of people. Scientists will gather information on whom, how, and where a human might get a disease. They also look for connections to the disease and research for possible causes of the specific disease.
The three types of bioscience research are basic, applied, and clinical. First, basic, which is not aimed to treat a certain illness, aids scientists to figure out life processes and how certain disorders work. Second, applied, which is aimed toward curing something specific, employs a scientist's knowledge to finding a treatment. The third type of research is clinical. It takes place on humans and has three periods. During the first, only a small number of humans are tested. For the second and third periods, a larger number are tested, though the third period is to test for long term side effects.
There are some diseases for which scientists have not been successful in finding cures such as Alzheimer's, cancer, cystic fibrosis, diabetes, heart disease, multiple sclerosis, and schizophrenia. Another disease that scientists are still working on is AIDS. Currently, they are using in vitro tests to find any anti-HIV activity. If they have any success, they will move on to animal models. Parkinson's disease, a disease in which brain cells are lost, is also being researched by scientists. They are trying to determine the effects of certain treatments through clinical trials. Through drug tests, they are working hard to treat symptoms. From the scientists' efforts, they have discovered (up to date) that Parkinson's disease may have originated from hereditary elements.
Nevertheless, bioscience research is very useful and has helped scientists to make remarkable progress in finding cures. For example, scientists have been able to identify how HIV works, how it multiplies, and why it makes people sick. Through applied research, scientists have designed drugs that may stop HIV from spreading, and have established the shape of HIV proteins by using x-ray crystallography. Also, through bioscience research, scientists have discovered that tobacco smoke is one cause of lung cancer, and they know about the sun's effects on our body. Due to basic research, scientists now use blood transfusions, organ transplantation, gene therapy, new medications, and imaging procedures.
Second Place
7th Grade Student
Pleasant Hills Middle School
Pleasant Hills, PA
What's the Point of Bioscience Research?
Have you ever gotten injured playing a sport, had strep throat, an ear infection, wear contacts, used sunscreen, or even had acne? If you have, you have been affected by bioscience research. Before bioscience research, many people, including children, have suffered from diseases and serious conditions. Now, some of these diseases or conditions are almost unheard of, because of bioscience research. The goal of bioscience research is to find cures and treatments for existing diseases and conditions, and is very successful so far.
All scientists use the scientific method to achieve their goals. Before using products such as shampoo, toothpaste, and medicine that they create, they also must test it and make sure it is safe. This is done through research. Teamwork, through the use of the scientific method, is essential in bioscience research. Haven't you ever heard that two heads are better than one?
There are five research methods that these teams utilize. They are simulations, in vitro tests, animal models, human clinical trials, and epidemiological studies. Simulations are merely simplified versions of reality. In vitro tests are studies that are completed in lab dishes or test tubes. They use small cells or tissues to see how they will react to the invented product. The only problem with these two methods is that they don't demonstrate how a whole body will react to the substance. Since it is still too soon to test with human subjects, scientists study the effect of the product on animals. The methods already used have cut back on the number of test animals required. Next, human clinical trials use human volunteers to test the substances. Finally epidemiological studies empower scientists to try and figure out the causes of diseases, in their search of a cure.
Three versions of bioscience research are basic, applied, and clinical. These are the building blocks for the future. Basic research isn't directed at discovering cures for a specific disease or condition. It is used for determining causes of diseases, how they work, and acquiring information about life processes. Applied research is when doctors and scientists try to find cures for diseases, and how to prevent the diseases. Clinical research is testing what transpires in humans. It measures the effectiveness and the safety of treatments.
Not many people pursue science-based careers. This is a major problem. If there are no bioscience researchers, people will continue to die as a result of the debilitating diseases or conditions.
As you can see, bioscience research is a big deal that affects and helps everyone. It has been successful in discovering numerous treatments for serious diseases, and even small everyday problems. It is extremely vital, and needs to continue to help save innocent people who have diseases or serious conditions.
Third Place
8th Grade Student
Russell Conwell Middle Magnet School
Philadelphia, PA
What Is The Point Of Bioscience Research???
There are many points of bioscience. It is the study of all living things, such as humans, plants, and animals. The first point of bioscience is to explore life's processes and diseases. Many scientists have been doing this for a very long time. For example, scientists have been seeking a cure of the deadly disease/virus "AIDS" for the past ten years.
Moreover, bioscience research gives us a great deal of information; such as it decides what choices we make in life. For instance, it influences what medicines we take to cure diseases/illnesses and how the medicine will react in our bodies. However, bioscience research can take a very long time. The scientific method used in research has four major steps. They are:
1. Observation
2. Form and Test Hypothesis
3. Analyze Data/Information
4. Draw a Conclusion
Furthermore, bioscience research is a very complex and difficult process. Many scientists use different research ideas and methods, which leads to discovery and success.
Most of all, scientists depend on many variables in their research, such as using different species of plants and animals in their experiments. Some animals used during research are mice, guinea pigs, and rats. Scientists use animals as specimens and test subjects to see how chemicals and substances will react in their bodies before they try it on human beings. Animals allow scientists to do many things that human beings will not allow. For example, animals can be injected with dangerous test chemicals (medicines/drugs) that law prohibits researchers to use on human beings. Also, animal models are helpful because they give researchers information on how a certain disease /virus is spread and contracted. For instance, several animal models were used to see how the herpes simplex virus was spread and contracted among animals.
On the other hand, simulation methods are used in bioscience research. Simulations are helpful in the early stages of research. They help scientists understand and simulate living systems. They give scientists a simplified version of reality.
Yet, scientists use in vitro (Latin-"in-glass") for early and middle stages of research. These studies are conducted in laboratory dishes, glass and plastic tubes. In addition, cells and tissues are used as specimens to be tested. By using cells or tissues, scientists can examine one single affect of substances by itself. In vitro tests are easily controlled, so that results are accurate.
Lastly, epidemiology is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes of diseases in populations of human beings. Scientists collect information on how, why, and where people contract diseases. Also, they look at variables that impact the condition or disease. The studies they have conducted are sometimes completed years after exploration. Bioscience research has led to the cure of many sicknesses, such as the flu, fever, virus, etc.
In conclusion, bioscience research is very important to everyone on Earth. It finds cures, drugs, and medicines to keep human beings, plants, and animals healthy. That is the point of bioscience research.