Gina Hong

Lorenzos Oil

1. Is Lorenzo Odones still alive? If not when did he die- If yes how old is he and how is he
doing? Lorenzo died on May 30, 2008, when he was 30.

2. Did the familys courage and persistence inspire you? How? The familys courage did inspire
me because if one day one of my kids get gravely ill I would want to be as brave as they
were when Lorenzo was sick.

3. Show how Lorenzos parents used the scientific method to solve their problems. State the
problem, ask a question and use examples from the film to illustrate the steps. First. The
Odones found out Lorenzo has Ald and then they did a lot of research to find a cure to help
Lorenzo. They came up with the hypothesis that if they have Lorenzo a put a different fat
into Lorenzo diet, his saturated fat would go down. They tested it and it proved that their
hypothesis was right.

4. From the description of the disease, ALD, sketch what Lorenzos neurons mostly likely
looked like after a year. Include a sketch of a normal neuron. On separate sheet.

5. Do a pedigree chart tracing Lorenzos disease through his family. On separate sheet.

6. What is Lorenzos Oil (be specific and give ratios)? How does it work? Use sink model from the
film. Lorenzos oil is a mix of erucic acid and oleic acid, with a 1 to 4 ratio of the oils. It works by
forcing the enzyme to create more of the harmless fatty acid and less of the harmful very long
chain fatty acids. For the sink model, it increases the flow of one faucet, which slows and stops
the production of the other.

7. Why did the olive oil not work completely? Trace the developments in the different kinds of oils
discovered. The study demonstrated a significant association between the development of MRI
abnormalities and a plasma hexacosanoic acid increase. The researchers concluded that
Lorenzo's oil therapy should be given to asymptomatic boys with X-linked adrenoleukodystophy
who have normal brain MRI results to delay the onset of disease. Comparative autopsies
showed that treatment enriched erucic acid in plasma and tissues, but not in the brain.

8. How did Augusto use modeling (paper clips) to solve a scientific problem? What did his dream
help him understand? It helped him understand that both of the fats have the same enzyme in
common and while it broke down the good fat, it builds up the bad fat. The dream Augusto had
helped him understand what oils to use, and helped him better understand what was going on
with Lorenzo's blood levels. When Augusto wakes up he says some thing like "They're the same
Gina Hong

Enzyme!" he finds out how he can prevent the saturated fats from building up in Lorenzo's
blood.

9. Why did the medical community resist the Odones treatment ideas? Why did the parent
support group resist? Give example of arguments for and against. The medical community
resisted their efforts for a few reasons, they were already proceeding with research, they did
not want amateurs telling them what to do, and as professionals, they needed to adhere to a
strict ethical and scientific protocol. The parents' group resisted because they had faith in their
doctors, and did not want to give parents a false hope that there was a cure.

10. How do analogies help you to understand the scientific problem? How did modeling help solve
the scientific problem? Can you think of other great discoveries that employed the use of
models? Analogies allow the comparison of simple, familiar things to explain new or more
complex idea. Modeling helps you because you know what you are doing better because it is
right in front of you. Pharmacogenomic was discovered by using cell based models.\

11. We can learn anything we want to. Most of us will and should regard ourselves as lifelong
learners. How did Augusto and Michalla demonstrate life-long learning? They both learned
something new about ALD every day, and eventually learned how to cure the disease by using
"Lorenzo's Oil"

12. Defend the positions that diseases that affect a small % of the populations should not get as
much money for research as the big killers like cancer and heart disease. I think since there
arent so much people with the disease that the government doesnt want to fund it, since they
probably think it is a waste of money unlike cancer, since so many people have it.

13. What do you think is the role of support groups? How did the support group affect the Odones?
I think support groups are made so you wont feel so stressed out and that you are the only one
doing it on your own. The Odones were not too pleased though because the family that
was running the conference was trying to benefit themselves rather that talking about the
children. So the Odones took everything upon themselves and stopped listening to
everyone that was saying he was not going to make it and they tried to figure out what
they could do to cure their son.

14. What was found out from the Polish Biochemist? What was the purpose of the ALD
Symposiums? What happens when scientists work in isolation? This is a natural component of
rapeseed oil. The oil is given to Lorenzo in late 1986, and he subsequently shows signs of
improvement. When Scientists work in isolation they probably get more work done.

15. Where was the myelin research being done? What was the experiment? How could this
experiment help Lorenzo? The myelin research was being done at the University of Wisconsin.
The Myelin Project was established in 1989 with the aim of funding research to find a cure for
Gina Hong

demyelinating diseases, such as the leukodystrophies which are genetic and multiple sclerosis
which is acquired. This experiment could help Lorenzo because it could help him find a cure.

16. How did the treatment for ALD really happen by accident? Can you think of any other times in
medical history where an important discovery happens by mere chance? It happen by accident
because Lorenzos mom was just skipping of pages until she spotted an article reading about the
rats, which if you overflow the body with a different kind of fat it could heal Lorenzos body back
to normal. X-rays were discovered by accident, too.

17. What was Augusto Odones plumbing example used to explain? How do analogies often help us
understand a scientific problem? Augusto Odone was using plumbing to show how Lorenzo's
"plug hole" was blocked to not recieve enzymes needed to function. Much of science involves
things we can't readily see. If an analogy can be made in the physical realm, it makes the
abstract concept or unseen object easier to understand.