Mateo Sufuentes' Senior Project Blog

Vocabulary to Know:  Eastern Conference Final- The NBA playoffs go as follows. There are two conferences: the Eastern and theWestern Conference. At the end of the regular season, the top eight teams from each conference qualify for the playoffs. The top-seeded team matches with the 8th seeded team in the conference, the 2nd with the 7th, the 3rd with the 6th, etc. Whoever wins the best of seven games in these first-round match-ups, qualifies for the conference semifinals. Then two teams make it to the conference finals. Finally, one team from each Conference makes it to the Finals where the winner out of 7 games is declared the Champion.  Walking bucket- This is an expression for a basketball player that can get the team points essentially whenever they want to because they are THAT good. This is often crucial in the final moments of the game, or in the final game in a series because the teams are so competitive that winning or losing can be a matter of one shot.  Clutch-...

Vocabulary to Know:  Leukocyte/White blood cell- These cells circulate in the blood and are part of the immune system's response to injuries, damaging substances in the body, etc. Blood Vessels/Venules- Both of these effectively mean the same thing for our purpose. This is where the red blood cells and most importantly, the leukocytes are traveling. Endothelium- These layer of cells lines the inner walls of blood vessels. Stuck Leukocyte- This cell is not moving because it is bound to the endothelium. Rolling Leukocyte- This cell is still moving along the endothelium. Ischemic Injury- These are injuries caused by low or lack of blood flow. The muscles do not receive oxygen.  Summary:  My Senior Project is to work at Dr. Jonathan Lindner's laboratory.  He is one of the head cardiologists at OHSU and is allowing me to contribute to the team's current experiment.  researching whether the inhibition of a protein called NLRP3 prevents white blood cells from causing i...