- Author: Kathy Keatley Garvey
A seven-member team from UC Davis will challenge a seven-member team from Cardiff on questions related to biochemistry and COVID-19. The public is invited register for the Zoom event at https://tinyurl.com/dmnftsuj
UC Davis Chancellor Gary May will deliver the welcoming address.
“We will focus on a theme of protein structures, emphasizing two proteins of public interest--specifically, hemoglobin, the carrier of oxygen from the lungs to the tissues,” said organizer-moderator Walter Leal, UC Davis distinguished professor of molecular and cellular biology and a former chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology and Nematology.
“As I said in class, this protein makes FedEx envious. It carries oxygen from the lungs to the muscles and other cells, drops the load at the destinations, and picks up carbon dioxide and protons to take back to the lungs. It is a multitasking protein. It is never idle unless a person gets COVID-19.”
The March 10th event will actually include three games. Prior to The Big Game will be two preliminary games that will determine the composition of the seven-member UC Davis team that challenges Cardiff.
Ironic Bonds: Catherine Rodriguez, Kelly Brandt, Jiaying Liu, Aly Lodigiani, and Efrain Vasquez Santos
Gibbs Team: Kathryn Vallejo, Yasamin (Yasi) Parsa, Tina Luu, Brandon Matsumoto, and Esha Urs
Game 2 will pit the two champion teams that played off-tube or off-camera.
Alpha Helices: Mary Aina, Daniel Colon, Eva Pak, Stephanie Matsumoto, and Joseph Morrison.
Beta Strand: Shiwani KC, Brycen Carter, Beatrice Ark-Majiyagbe, Samantha Levy, and Erica Arsaga.
The Big Game: “For the UC Davis team that will challenge Cardiff, we will have five players from the winner of Game 1, plus one player from Alpha Helices and one player from Beta Strand,” Leal explained.
While the teams work on the questions, Dr. Dean Blumberg, an epidemiologist and chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, UC Davis Children's Hospital, will answer questions about vaccines and vaccinations.
The Eric Conn Biochemistry Quizzes, memorializing a noted plant biochemist known for his research and teaching, drew fundamental biochemistry questions. (See event on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Y9T9ayRXyYE)
"Remote learning is causing ZOOM fatigue and impairing student's ability to focus," Leal writes on the registration page. " We hope that this educational activity will promote physically distant, socially close interactions between undergraduate students and further our institutions' ties."