Mid-semester Reflection

 As we reach the middle of the semester, my learning, both, inside and outside the classroom has slightly changed. I have begun skimming through the previous sections of the chapter covered in the last class period and the chapters we will cover in the upcoming class period; this method has allowed me to be more engaged in class and be able to formulate questions that can help me further understand the material. As time goes by, I continue to see and understand the relevance between what I am learning and my future career, as a psychiatrist PA. The main focus of the past few lectures has been protein sorting and transporting; this is relevant to my future career because many psychiatric disorders are thought to involve abnormalities in the transport of proteins within and between brain cells. Abnormalities in protein transport have been linked to several psychiatric disorders, such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. While I have tried, and continue to try, many different learning and studying strategies, reading and connecting the readings to pictures, drawing, and creating analogies/stories, have seemed to work best for me. While I have already had a general idea of my learning style, I have recently discovered something called brown noise. I have begun listening to this brown noise while I study and complete assignments; this has helped me block out any intrusive and distracting thoughts allowing me to be more proactive while I study. The two most important things I have learned so far are how proteins get transported after they leave the nucleus and where they get transported to; this is important because proteins are essential to many biological processes in cells and organisms. The proper distribution of proteins to their destined locations is critical for their functions therefore, a disruption in protein transport can lead to different diseases and disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. Two things that currently confuse me the most are how proteins get transported to and throughout the mitochondria and chloroplast, more specifically the functions of the different Tims, Toms, Tics, and Toc's. Some things that could be done in order to help me better understand the functions of these different protein complexes include simply taking more time to review, draw, and explain it to someone else because the key to learning is repetition. The more I learn in this course, the more I find myself researching the molecular mechanisms of certain diseases and disorders, out of my own curiosity. The information I have learned so far in this course has allowed me to grow a new appreciation for the human body. The fact that human bodies naturally function in very specific ways without being instructed by anyone is incredible. The different mechanisms that take place within a cell are truly mind-blowing and it makes you realize that our bodies are like constantly working factories that were perfectly and carefully made.