Team:Baltimore BioCrew/Human Practices
Human Practices
For our human practices, we interviewed several professionals, each of which had a different specialty. We interviewed researchers in bioengineering, specialists in mental health, outpatient treatment, and gastrointestinal health. The podcasts are linked here and were also distributed on our Spotify page to make them available to the public. We took the information from these professionals and used it to improve our project as we discuss in the Integrated Human Practices part of our wiki.
Bioengineering
Ms. Ashley Chapin
Ms. Ashley Chapin is a fifth year PhD student in bioengineering at the University of Maryland. Her work consists of designing serotonin sensors to detect serotonin release in the human body. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is important in the regulation of mood and it is responsive to peristalsis, the motion that your gut uses to move food along the digestive tract, by activating the nerves that control those muscles involved in digestion. Ms. Chapin’s work is related to constructing a pill size sensor to detect the amount of serotonin released in order to diagnose the potential disease that a patient may have. This will increase the specificity of disease diagnosis by quantifying the diagnostic standards from asking a patient how they feel to detecting the level of release of a neurotransmitter that is critical to mental health diseases.
Ms. Chapin’s work highly correlates with our team’s work because Joy-biotics aims to increase the production of serotonin in the body. From the interview with Ms. Chapin, our team was able to gain insights on the importance of serotonin in the human body, specifically how it is crucial to regulate the release of serotonin in a case-specific manner. For example, considering the importance of serotonin in regulating peristalsis, mental health patients with diarrheal disease are not recommended to use Joy-biotics even though our product could assist them with their mental health. Taking into consideration the limitations and side-effects of our product is crucial in responsible consumption of psychobiotics.
Podcast:
Psychological Processes
Dr. Mohammad Younus
Dr. Mohammad Younus is a Baltimore psychiatrist who specializes in treating adults, adolescents, and children with mood disorders, anxiety, and ADHD via cognitive behavioral therapy and interpersonal therapy.
His work and input towards our projects is crucial because information and professional advice pertaining to developing new treatments, the effect of serotonin, health disparities, accessibility, methods of approaching clients, and competition against other brands improves our team’s project and outreach. From our interview, we gained insight about the significance of dismantling mental health stigma and educating parents to help people, specifically adolescents, reach out for professional mental health. The mental health of the adolescent community was severely impacted by the pandemic due to a variety of reasons, such as the lack of social interactions. Because of this, we must reach out in ways that target adolescents, and social media is the best method to do so. Additionally, we gained insight on the pros and cons of our product’s easy accessibility. Disadvantaged communities have access, but our product would have to compete against big brands in convenience stores. Mental health is a societal and political divide between the “haves and have nots”. The quality of services gos down due to high demand for service. Lack of representation causes disparities and services to be taken away. With all of this input, we know how to improve our outreach and product.
Podcast:
Dr. Jens Herberholz
Dr. Jens Herberholz is an associate professor at the University of Maryland in the department of psychology. His research focuses on invertebrates such as crayfish and the neural basis of their aggression, and relation to the gut-brain axis. Dr. Herberholz continues to research animal behavior and the nervous system in crayfish. We spoke to Dr. Herberholz about his research and studies on crawfish and neural pathways. Dr. Herberholz’s research analyzes alcoholism in crayfish and its relation to aggression. During the interview, we discussed the neurophysiological processes of crayfish and humans. We also discussed the importance of the neurotransmitter serotonin in these processes. We gained insight into our own product, Joybiotic, and testing a probiotic on crayfish. There is substantial literature on probiotics and crayfish would be a feasible way to test the product. Dr. Herberholz continues to work on analyzing decision-making in crayfish and testing behavior.
Podcast:
Outpatient Mental Health Clinic
Aspire Behavioral Connections: Outpatient Mental Health Clinic (OMHC) is a mental health clinic, located in the Baltimore, Maryland region, specializing in psychological care and social services. They offer multiple drug treatment programs, mental health education and training, residential treatment and care programs, family care and services, and counselling.
In a panel interview, we spoke to director Dr. Ifeoma Dunn, programs director Dr. Melissa Gray, rehabilitation specialist Ms. Letitia Flowers, and clinical director Mr. Keith Jones about the mental health demographic in the Baltimore region. The interview was divided into three topics: mental health, business management, and drug treatment. The rising concern for mental health has only worsened due to the pandemic. Adults and adolescents have had an increase in the prevalence of anxiety and depression due to social isolation, increased stress, and grief over the course of the last two years. As a result rates of addiction and suicide have increased. The OMHC has continued to support and educate their community by assessing and treating patients, along with their community outreach.
Anatomy
Dr. Glenn Treismann
Dr. Glenn Treismann is a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, Maryland. His many areas of expertise include psychiatry, HIV/AIDS, the microbiome, and the gastrointestinal system. Although our interview mainly involves his research on the GI tract, bacteria, and treatment of disease with probiotics as a head of the Amos Center, his work encompasses much more.
During our interview, Dr. Treisman answered questions that allowed our team to better assess in what ways the microbiome was affected by outside factors. Each person has a unique microbiome; our bacteria are integrated into multiple functions of our bodies- many assume that bacteria only aid in digestion, but it is also related to our immune system and mental health. The microbiome has varying degrees of sensitivity to some alterations- a gastric bypass, for example, being one of the more extreme changes to our bacteria.
Podcast: