విజ్ఞాన సాగరం – నమూనా జీవులు

This is our first podcast in Telugu – the sixth in an ongoing series titled ‘Sea of Science’, or ‘ విజ్ఞాన సాగరం ’.

This podcast is a joint venture with Deepthi Tadepalli and Sumana Chavali.

Deepthi works as a freelance writer with a background in biotechnology and communication. Sumana is an engineer working at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

This episode is part of our ongoing effort to make science podcasts in many Indian languages. Click and listen to this podcast in Tamizh, Hindi, Marathi, Kannada and Assamese.

Here is an English transcript for this Telugu podcast:

Deepthi: Hello! My name is Deepthi and I am a freelance writer with a background in biotechnology and communication. 

Sumana: Hi! My name is Sumana and I am an engineer working at Indian Institute of Astrophysics.

Deepthi: This podcast is a collaboration between us and IndScicomm, a science communication collective. In its ongoing efforts, IndSciComm has published podcasts as well as written articles that discuss interesting aspects of scientific research, the researchers involved in this effort, their discoveries and the effects of scientific progress on the past, present and future of human society. IndSciComm also collaborates with Indian scientists, researchers and writers at all levels of the scientific enterprise in creating its science communication materials.

Sumana: We are very happy to present this podcast in Telugu, which is one of the national languages of India. With the help of other collaborators, IndSciComm is publishing this podcast in other Indian languages as part of its ongoing project.

Deepthi: In this podcast, we will be talking about model organisms that are used in biological research. Now, let’s discuss model organisms. Here are some examples of model organisms that are used to study aspects of the human body’s growth, development, functioning and disorders: different species of microbes, flies, zebrafish, birds, mice, rats, guinea pigs and monkeys.

In the context of biomedical research that is done to understand human biology,  the foremost reason for the use of model organisms is that it is not possible to conduct some forms of biological experiments on humans. So, scientists have chosen organisms that are a close enough match to humans in terms of their genes and other biological features, and use these as model organisms for their research.

Sumana: Apart from how similar model organisms are to humans in terms of their genes and genomes, there are other important reasons for some organisms being chosen as model organisms rather than others. The ease with which certain organisms can be reared and maintained in the laboratory and the kind of experiments that they can be used for… These are the factors that scientists use to choose the appropriate organism to use as a model, to answer questions about specific biological phenomena.

Deepthi: Sumana, could you give us some examples of model organisms that are used in specific areas of biological research?

Sumana: Specific model organisms are used in different areas of research. For example, regeneration is studied using certain species of worms. The relationship between genes and the environment is researched using certain species of flies. Zebrafish are preferred model organisms for researching embryonic development. Zebrafish larvae have transparent bodies which makes observing their internal organs really easy. Another example is the use of mammals like mice in biomedical research.

Deepthi: Is there an advantage to using model organisms like mice in biomedical research?

Sumana: Some diseases take years to show symptoms in human beings. But, in certain lineages of model organisms, diseases can show symptoms in relatively reduced timeframes, like weeks. Due to this, it is easier to conduct research about certain diseases in such model organisms. This is why scientists use model organisms like mice to conduct research about medicines or treatment methods for some diseases.

Deepthi: But, there are some disadvantages in using model organisms for biomedical research. Despite the similarities between humans and model organisms in terms of their genes, there are some unavoidable differences between them. Due to these differences, some cause and effect relationships seen while using a species of model organism are not apparent or reproducible in other organisms and humans.

In addition, it is often difficult to directly apply or modify the experimental protocols used for one species or type of model organism to another.

Sumana: The take home message from all this is that the use of human volunteers is essential, for the validation of therapeutic methods or drugs that are developed in model organisms, before such therapies are used to treat human patients.

Deepthi: We humans have a strange relationship with model organisms. Despite the differences that exist between us, we share some fundamental similarities. It is due to these similarities that research on model organisms yields results that can be applied to humans. But, why do our similarities make it necessary to use model organisms in an ethical manner? And how do scientists put ethical considerations into practice?

Sumana: Scientific research is always a struggle between what is necessary and what is possible. This struggle attains an ethical aspect in biological research. This is because most living organisms can feel pain and bodily suffering just like humans do.

So, it is unethical to cause unnecessary suffering to model organisms. Bound by this principle, scientists enforce the ethical treatment of model organisms in different ways. These include reducing pain in model organisms using medication, providing comfortable living conditions and making efficient use of the available animal resources.

Deepthi: Scientific research methodology is very difficult, whether it is to figure out how to ethically treat model organisms or solve complex biological problems…scientists have very difficult jobs. But without the contribution of model organisms, their efforts would not have yielded any results. The use of model organisms has led to many societal and medical benefits.

The use of antibiotics like penicillin to combat microbes, blood transfusions and organ transplants, vaccines for diseases like polio, the management of diseases like diabetes… we could keep adding to this list and this podcast will never end! The sheer number of invaluable human lives that have been saved using these discoveries is uncountable.

Sumana: Model organisms are an important tool in biological research in order to understand the mysteries of the human body in disease and in health. Scientists have discovered how many drugs and treatments work based on their experiments on model organisms. Supported by these advances, doctors have been able to cure many human diseases. Scientists are working hard in order to understand many more diseases and processes such as growth and metabolism in humans.

Deepthi: In our next episode of this podcast, we will be talking about the use of mice as model organisms. Until then, dear listeners, you can enjoy much of our scicomm work on our website indscicomm.blog, http://www.wayfarerstories.com and our twitter handle @indscicomm.

Until we meet again, on behalf of Indscicomm this is Deepthi and Sumana. Namaste.

Intro, Interlude and Outro music – adapted from travelLight by airtone (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/airtone/56883