Reflection 1

1. With regard to your chosen seminar topic, what drew you to that particular topic? In choosing this topic, which of your previously taken courses do you anticipate will be most helpful to you in completing your seminar project. The reason that I was drawn to this particular topic was my recent diagnosis of this disorder just weeks into the semester. I didn’t know much and I thought it would be best if I learned what was going on in my body. I think the most helpful course I have previously taken would be fundamental biomolecules. Based on the small amount of reading I have done, receptors seem to play a big part in the mechanism of narcolepsy and fundamental biomolecules helped me understand how receptors work.
2. What is your assessment of your writing ability at this point? Do you feel well prepared for developing a term paper and oral presentation? I have taken some other classes at ODU where I wrote a term paper and developed an oral presentation so I am feeling well prepared.

Reflection 2

1. Think about the broader implications of your topic. What implications does it have for society in general, not just for biologists like yourselves? It is always beneficial for society to understand what others are going through. There seems to be misconceptions about what narcolepsy is. Plus I think knowing how disorders work is extremely interesting, whether you have it or not.
2. Do you also see similar concerns, keeping broader impacts in mind, in the articles you’ve been reading? In the articles I have been reading, I have not seen similar concerns. Researchers are not that concerned about people having misconceptions about narcolepsy because its not dangerous or harmful. Researchers are most concerned about furthering the research because there is still a lot that is not known.
3. Do expert scientists in the various fields that you’ve encountered seem to be thinking about the “big picture”? Give an example of such a case. Yes, scientists do seem to be thinking about the “big picture”. The main concern of scientists right now if figuring out the cause of narcolepsy. Scientists know that in type 1 narcolepsy, hypocretin is being lost, but they don’t understand why. Scientists don’t know the cause of narcolepsy type 2 at all, as people with type 2 have normal hypocretin levels.

Reflection 3

1. Topic area. How has your understanding of the topic evolved? What most surprised you as you dug into your topic area? Did your thinking about the topic area change over the semester? Give an example or two.  At the beginning of the semester, I had very little information about narcolepsy as I hadn’t had a reason to give it much thought. Then a couple weeks into the semester I was diagnosed with narcolepsy and since I knew nothing about it this gave me the perfect chance to research my diagnosis. I was the most surprised on what little information is known about narcolepsy. The cause of type 1 was discovered only 20 years ago and the cause for type 2 is still unknown. My thinking about the topic area did change as I was researching. At first I thought maybe my doctor made a mistake or I was being dramatic, but as I was reading into the symptoms of narcolepsy, I was surprised to find out things I saw as normal my whole life are symptoms of narcolepsy like extremely vivid dreams to the point where I could recall them days after.
2. Your perception of your writing ability. What did you discover about your talents as a writer in the discipline of biology? While I will never credit myself as an amazing writer I found that I am pretty good at summarizing medical jargon so it is easier to understand. There are quite a few things I had to Google while reading into my topic and I figured if I was googling it my readers would probably have to as well, so I would find a way to explain in simpler terms.
3. Suppose you had two minutes to give someone an “elevator talk” – a short, descriptive summary of what your project was about and what important lessons you learned from it. What would you say? The first thing I would do is clear up the misconceptions about narcolepsy. Narcolepsy is excessive daytime sleepiness, not falling asleep uncontrollably at random moments multiple times a day. Narcolepsy isn’t completely understood and is underdiagnosed. The sleepiness stems from the fact that someone who is narcoleptic doesn’t have a regular sleep wake cycle; essentially, the person’s brain doesn’t have control of the ability to sleep or stay awake. This inability comes from the loss of hypocretin, an important molecule in the brain, which regulates sleep. The loss of hypocretin is not known. More research is needed to understand why hypocretin is lost and why people with type 2 narcolepsy still have their hypocretin, but are still experiencing symptoms.